Posts by Craig Ranapia
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Libya, in reply to Russell Brown,
I’m not exactly cheerleading, personally. I have mixed feelings about this development and how it resolves.
Well, who isn’t – anyone who thinks this isn’t going to get a lot worse before it gets better is charmingly, but dangerously, naive. It would be really nice if we lived in an XBox World with cheat codes and a reset button, but we don't.
-
OnPoint: Everything has changed until 2014, in reply to Matt Crawford,
In fact Key has moved repeadtedly to shut down any debate
I've got to admit I'm rather bemused at Darth Key's Jedi mind-powers: "These are not the droids you're looking for..." I'd respectfully suggest that if the bloody Opposition had a coherent and credible policy platform he couldn't do a damn thing to shut them up, since Jar-Jar Binks hasn't doomed the Republic. Yet.
-
OnPoint: Everything has changed until 2014, in reply to Ian MacKay,
Bart I seem to remember a year or so a survey did ask about the need for tax cuts, and the response was largely that if more tax gave better Health and Education Services then let the tax be more.
Yes, but anyone think there’s a fiscal Bradley Effect in play there? I’d almost be tempted to vote Labour if it became party policy tomorrow that the tax code would be changed so the virtuous among us can choose to pay a higher tax rate for the common good. :)
Nothing like a little media deviation.
Oh, go away Ross – I don’t think that allegation needs any further comment here, but your insinuation would be funny if it wasn’t also highly offensive.
-
Hard News: Really good, actually, in reply to Islander,
Thankyou!
You’re welcome. Now, I’ve got to finish two blog posts and a radio piece before bed time. The wages of sin are death; unfortunately, procrastination pays out in more fiendish ways.
-
Case in point: last night’s The Good Word
I’ve finally caught up on this series, and enjoyed it enormously except for that bloody Basquiat-meets-McCahon-in-The-Matrix set. Put it this way: It should be impossible to tear my eyes away from the impossibly soignée Jennifer Ward-Lealand or the tall glass of Manic Pixie Dream Girl Juice that is Emily Perkins. Someone pulled it off, and I am not pleased.
-
so the whole thing had this weird porno vibe even though it’s a book promoting evangelical christianity.
Nope, it’s just astoundingly bad writing – because every female character is described in terms that would have an editor at Mills and Boon sharpening a blue pencil before jamming it into the hapless author’s carotid artery.
-
Hard News: The Wall and the Paper, in reply to John Holley,
until the “Auckland City” culture is replaced with a truly inclusive culture across the region we will see these issues occurring.
Actually, John, I’d really be glad to see the “North Shore” culture taken out behind the barn and given a headshot – though, to be fair, a large part of that was driven by a mayor who didn’t play at all well with others.
But I’m hoping that the libraries are going to be the norm not the exception that proves the rule – while the integration hasn’t been flawless, they just got on with an enormously complex job and (to be honest) did a much better job than I expected. Nobody even remotely connected with reality through it would be a plug and play operation, but I’m not entirely encouraged by folks I’ve talked to who quietly want the whole exercise to fail. (And no, I’m passive-aggressively bitching anyone here.)
Still, taking my own advice, I'm cautiously optimistic that the overwhelming majority of people involved with the Auckland Council are being Tim Gunn about things. But for me, a large part of that "truly inclusive" culture is being able to very promptly admit when you've screwed up. I'm not trolling you, Christopher, but I really think Brown's earned a bare pass on this -- but the worse thing about screwing up is not learning from it and doing better.
-
Hard News: The Wall and the Paper, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,
Mayor Brown wasn’t responsible for graffitti policy that Shields was operating under (Auckland City Council was), and nor could I expect him to get on top of such policy, given he was sworn in less than four months ago.
Christopher: I'll issue a general policy statement, and will be entering into no further correspondence while wearing my floppy (yet surprisingly dashing) sun hat.
You put your hand up for elected office, it's just your job to either know your portfolio or have someone very close at hand who will brief you immediately. The statute of limitation on blaming the other lot is as short for Brown as it was for Banks (and everyone else) -- i.e. non existent.
I'm sorry if expecting simple (if politically inconvenient) competence and accountability from political leaders is a "odd" position to take, but I think I'm entitled to expect as much from my employees.
-
Hard News: The Wall and the Paper, in reply to Russell Brown,
His office has actually been quite helpful to me in pursuing it.
And I'll happily give credit where it's due, but I will stand by my original comment that officials too often are the politically convenient scapegoats for bad policy. But I feel very kindly disposed towards politicians who can just say "we got it wrong, and here's what we will do to put it right" then stop talking.
Perhaps someone can pop along to that Auckland Unleashed Mayoral Summit on Thursday, and suggest one or two people who really need to be put on a very short choke chain.
-
Hard News: What Now?, in reply to Steve Barnes,
“We are all going bankrupt. We are about to lose everything and they will not tell us anything. It’s a complete police state,”
Yeah, one of those police states where people who try and barge past army cordons get shot in the head. I can understand the frustration, but I’m also reliably informed that some of the, shall we say, less constructive rhetoric (and twatcocky abuse) isn’t making the media for very good reasons.
Personally, I'd say "go to, but you do so at your own risk and don't expect anyone you've shat on to lift a finger to help if you get in trouble." Then again, you should all be thankful the world is full of much nicer people than me.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 321 322 323 324 325 … 1235 Older→ First