Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: How much speech does it take?

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  • uroskin, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    I had to shake hands with the queen and swear allegiance to Dick Hubbard.

    I had to shake hands with John Banks before I could become a NZ citizen. Still one of the most traumatic moments in my life here.

    Waiheke Island • Since Feb 2007 • 178 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to uroskin,

    Bomber Bradbury called you a middle class fog horn

    i have a question.

    wtf does that even mean?

    answers on back of postcard to the usual address. this week's spot prize: bowler hat.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to uroskin,

    Bomber Bradbury called you a middle class fog horn

    and "high priest of the aesthetic left"

    spot prize: Karen Walker cloth cap

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg, in reply to uroskin,

    I had to shake hands with John Banks before I could become a NZ citizen. Still one of the most traumatic moments in my life here.

    Kerry Prendergast wasn't too scary...

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    The free afternoons were what attracted me to the job, Geoff: I’d been working as a winder in woollen mills, start at 7am and finish at 4pm (women were not permitted to work the much more lucrative shift hours. ) Then – as a result of a letter to “The Press” complaing about the low hours posties worked – and the relatively high wages they were paid – I ditched being a winder forever. Work between 7 am & 12-1pm 6 days a week? Happy happy! Time for my art & writing? Happier! And the pay was nearly double what I got as a winder…

    which is how I arrived on the Coast. I was based at Sockburn, and a notice came round listing a vacancy for senior postie at Greymouth…goodbye city traffic,
    hello whitebait!

    Remained a senior postie for nearly 2 years, until an eye-disease (superficial punctate keratitis) meant I couldnt wear my contact lens for quite some time (and obviously couldnt go out on the road again.)

    Thus began the drift south…

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Greg Dawson,

    Thanks Greg D-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • DCBCauchi, in reply to Alex Coleman,

    In the same way that AQ don’t represent Muslims. Which is a point the counterjihad movement explicitly reject. And, when you tell them to keep their thoughtcrimes to themselves, one transmogrifies into a cultural marxist.

    I respect their freedom of speech, but it’s not free in the sense of being without cost.

    If being a hypocrite obviated your right to free speech, no-one would be able to think anything at all.

    Since Feb 2011 • 320 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking, in reply to Islander,

    I was a postie 1986-88-ish. I don't recall being required to swear an oath. I do recall being reprimanded for swearing at one of the supervisors, but I think that is perhaps a bit different.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Alex Coleman, in reply to DCBCauchi,

    That would be a killer point, if was advocating denying them the right to speech.

    Especially if I was doing so on the basis of hypocrisy.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 247 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes, in reply to Geoff Lealand,

    You were a postie too? Such a noble profession–and it leaves the afternoons free for other things.

    Like Drinking and Poetry frinstunce, Like Charles Bukowski An Heroic Drunk, and postie for a spell. Who's advice to aspiring writers was "Don't try"

    "Somebody at one of these places [...] asked me: "What do you do? How do you write, create?" You don't, I told them. You don't try. That's very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It's like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it."

    Twasn't the Drink that killed him but the creeping carcinoma, luckless leukemia, in the spring of '94

    I shall now take myself off to the pub
    Neighbourhood bar in Kingsland for those that wish to join me.
    ;-)
    ETA:
    Damn, a bit early, make that about 6

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    an esteemed profession the postie.

    my uncles was one, until he dropped too much acid one day, and was bitten by a monkey as he tried to put letters through a door.

    as you do.

    <100% true story>

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Marcus Turner,

    Can someone who knows about the workings of NZ politics and bureaucracy please tell me what a “white paper” and a “green paper” are? Are there any other colours?

    These terms seem to be used on RNZ News as though everyone already understands their significance.

    Since Nov 2006 • 212 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Rob Hosking,

    And thanks Rob H - it seemed to me, at the time, to be the silliest requirement ever.
    Glad to learn it had gone by the 1980s...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • B Jones,

    The Brownie Promise, as it stood in about 1985, required a bit of mumbletymumble: I promise to do my best, to love God, to serve the Queen and my Country blahblahblah. 8 year old atheist republicans have a hard time of it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    t’s like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it.”

    Yes yes yes! This is the thing 'writing courses' *dont/cant* teach.

    Other famous drunk postie writers? James K. Baxter for a starter.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Marcus Turner,

    Can someone who knows about the workings of NZ politics and bureaucracy please tell me what a “white paper” and a “green paper” are? Are there any other colours?These terms seem to be used on RNZ News as though everyone already understands their significance.

    Here's an idea Marcus

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg, in reply to Marcus Turner,

    These terms seem to be used on RNZ News as though everyone already understands their significance.

    I'd like to know too, because up until about a minute or so ago, I assumed it was something published by the Green Party.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Marcus Turner,

    green paper kind of positions ideas, white papers outline what the big-G Government is establishing as policy. AFAIK.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Che Tibby,

    O cool!

    My family's eccentric relation claim-to-fame is a rather nasty long-dead great uncle, who liked tormenting animals. He tried this on an elephant in a large travelling circus that came to Oamaru, holding a cabbage to her - just beyond trunk-reach.

    After the 3rd go, she leaned forward in her chains, grabbed him round the wrist and whip-cracked him. And then ate the dropped cabbage.

    He spent several weeks in hospital. It made the national news. Other rellies rushed down with especial treats - for the elephant. We were so proud of her.

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Marcus Turner, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,

    Thanks Sofie. The link to “White Paper” from that page was useful, too.

    These seem to be essentially jargon words, that are used in news reports as though they had common currency.

    Since Nov 2006 • 212 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Che Tibby,

    A green paper is ideal when you have no progress to offer and you want the topic to go away until after the election.

    From Sofie's Wikipedia link:

    a tentative government report of a proposal without any commitment to action

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Islander,

    god. where to start. my family has more oddities than bus full of carne folk.

    what about the uncle with a dental nurse girlfriend. she gave him a necklace of human teeth.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Sacha,

    And the White paper is ideal when you want to look like you are doing something when you want the topic to go away until after the election. With responses like " we think we will have to take the ideas to the people because these are things that will have an effect on the middle class" Spoken like a Minister for Social Development.

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to Che Tibby,

    what about the uncle with a dental nurse girlfriend. she gave him a necklace of human teeth.

    My Dad made me a necklace out of sterling silver with titanium brain staples. Something for me to remember seeing as I had no memory of any of my plight.
    And my Dad is the sane one in the family so eccentricity is Pa (sic) for the course really.:)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    They are from UK government practice - I assume they originally were printed on that colour paper, or are still.

    A white paper in an IT technical context is a brochure, only written in more pompous language.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

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