Posts by Paul Rowe
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I suppose the different approaches to the game - top down control in NZ, bottom up in Europe - reflect the different marketing imperatives of the professional game in the two hemispheres.
Yes, the "us & them" nature of the game's administration is short-sighted in the extreme. It's as if the club owners didn't make the connection between what happened in 2003 and the huge (and I mean huge) interest in the game over there following the RWC win.
The RFU doesn't help itself with its defensive attitude either.
Hoorah for socialised rugby! :)
I see that Rob Andrew is making some progress in an agreement between clubs & the RFU that will make players available for England duty and compensate the clubs cash-wise. That will help, but as long as (for instance) there are only four fly-halves in the Premiership eligible to play for England they will struggle.
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Prior to 1986, there was a, what, 40% sales tax on records (thanks Knobz)?. When GST was introduced, at 10%, the retail price remained the same.
When I was working in record retail hell in the early-mid 90s, I was told that the day that GST was introduced, the wholesale record price went up by enough to leave the retail price unchanged.
When I was in the UK CDs were around 10-13 quid each as a rule, the basic price didn't seem to change much. Depending on the strength of the pound or of the dollar, that worked out as cheap sometimes, expensive others. Canada is the place to go. I bought 40 Licks for around C$16, when the price in London was around 16 pounds. Not even close.
I have no sympathy for the music industry when it charges what it thinks it can get for a product, not what it costs to produce, and treats consumers with utter disdain (special tour editions anyone? the only way to get that rare track). The 75% markup we put on tapes & CDs didn't help the price either, but I have no idea about the cost structure that retailers were living with.
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Read the 'Your Views' section on the Herald site -- some of those people really need to pull themselves together.
Quite. I had hoped we'd moved on since 1999 but obviously not. Idiots like Veitch et al don't help matters either
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Sorry Craig, but yawn
I knew that we could rely on you for some righteous indignation where necessary. Actually, after the indented bit in grey, your comment is almost untelligible.
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Hmmm, risky strategy - handing out ammunition to your opponents - but you could be right...
At the moment actual policy seems to be right out. JK doesn't want to say something that might offend anybody. I think that the Nats are relying on voter amnesia and Labour-fatigue as their strongest weapons (and why not? it looks like it is working).
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you would expect a politician to tiptoe rather gently around it or have a specific goal to communicate.
Seems to me to be another example of National trying to be all things to all people - raise some possible policy, see how it plays out in the polls, adopt or reject accordingly. It's not difficult to see a hidden agenda if you are on the left (guilty m'lud) if you look hard enough. It looks like National trying out how much of its old policy is preventing it getting elected and therefore should stay under the tarpaulin until after the elction.
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That's true up to a point, but I'd also note for every Seinfeld and Gervais there's some fraking awful sit-coms based around stand-ups who haven't got their heads around that stand-up and a scripted sit-com aren't identical.
I agree, and would also suggest that sitcoms, whether based on standup or not, fail because the creators reject originality (ie risk) over some tried & true format.
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which she did rather a lot during Dead Like Me's two seasons
Are you telling me there are only two seasons of Dead Like Me? Nooooooo...my favourite programme on telly by far.
That Drawn together is seriously weird, and weirded me out when I happened into it. Trying to describe it to colleagues at work was quite a task.
Oh, and let me put in a plug for The Mighty Boosh on C4. Was screening just as I left the UK and the Gorilla Hell episode was fan-tas-tic. I think they screened it quite early in the evening too. -
God this is demeaning, Canterbury would never have done this to us...
Nope, but Canterbury are responsible for the handy sports bra attachment in the Wallabies & Springboks jerseys that look so godawful....
I believe Haka has an opinion...
http://www.haka.co.nz/haka-column.php?column_name=Hard%20Yards&category=ab
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France can still finish top if Ireland does them a favour. That bonus point might prove very important.
All charity aside, I thought McKay was awful. Mind you, when ITV broadcast the last world cup for the Poms, they were way worse. No experience or insight. Just point the camera & talk.