http://www.stuff.co.nz/0a17218.html

I wonder if the first offence isn't the concrete block walls of Fortress Fendalton & suburban tagging a fair response to the social/civil statement these walls make?

Just looked at stats for violence & traffic on age/gender basis & 30-somethings lead in the punch up stakes and over 40's are far ahead on trasffic crimes.

i can see some condescending cow out there now, "ahmed, i tolja once, i tolja a hundred times... no heiroglyphs on the ancestor's tombs..."

Norman Kirk & "Take the Bikes off Bikies" anyone?

And Giedeon Tait "Never Back Down".

http://www.laworderreferendum.org.nz/Tait.htm

Moral panics about graffiti, but not about middle-aged-white-men with knives.

From Stats NZ

Violence is my age group 30-39

Boy Racers are the over 40s

http://wdmzpub01.stats.govt.nz/wds/TableViewer/tableView.aspx

This is one reason I'm not entirely convinced that 'zero tolerance' and 'broken windows' should be dismissed out of hand. I'm not very familiar with the reasearch, but the conclusion seems to be 'not proven to work in isolation from anything else', rather than 'doesn't work at all'.

Hmmm. Toilets…

The 'broken windows' thing works for graffiti. At least in toilets.

This is one reason I'm not entirely convinced that 'zero tolerance' and 'broken windows' should be dismissed out of hand. I'm not very familiar with the reasearch, but the conclusion seems to be 'not proven to work in isolation…

I'm not 100% sure on the details of the maquillage

heh. clearly remember seeing him on tv and thinking at the time (and you're right, the late 80s), "most probably a cock."

regardless, laws will always be a mustachio'ed, be-mulleted, en-made-up 90s celebrity in my eyes.

I'm not 100% sure on the details of the maquillage, but it's been the same since the late 1980s. Definitely a candidate for a makeunder, in that case.

I thought it was one word, "mascara"?

hmmm... probably a my bad there.

regardless, laws will always be a mustachio'ed, be-mulleted, en-made-up 90s celebrity in my eyes.

and yes, that is celebrity in a pejorative sense.

I don't see why — I know some thoroughly appalling people whose deep love for their families are their sole redeeming feature. Otherwise, still triple-decker turd burgers.

Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I guess I was just musing that sometimes a change in personal circumstances can change one's…

The problem with journalism in NZ, IMHO, is the prevalence of the “Look at me, look at me, look at meeeee” factor.

Eh, but Laws is only a journalist in the most literal "writes for a journal" sense.

I never thought I would miss Frank Haden, but I do. At…

You'd have thought Laws' own recent family troubles – and the accompanying public sympathy, including mine – might have tempered his reflexive tendency to put rhetoric before ethics like a bad high school debater. But no.

I don't see why — I know some thoroughly appalling people whose deep love…

I can't fathom how he (BorisJohnson)) won. Surely it isn't just becoz he's a famous dickhead.

Well, it works in Auckland and Wanganui, why not London?

michael laws: two words, "eye" + "liner".

I thought it was one word, "mascara"?

@ Nick: Thanks for the radio report; perhaps my earlier analogy was not so wrong after all. A person would really have to be thinking like a Nazi to argue that they didn't kill…

I've been thinking about line that today. I'm more shocked that no editor had the good sense and decency to yank it out.

Sorry for being a broken record here, but I'm still trying to fathom why Cate Brett hasn't had the contents of her desk thrown out the nearest…

I'm ranting, raving lunatic with paranoia that our major newspaper publishers are trying kill me (Russ will attest to my freakouts) so this just further cements my fear that New Zealanders have gone mad.

The 'broken window', zero tolerance policy that Guliani…

His lack of empathy on a wide range of issues I cannot…

A long, long time ago, I was researching gender differences in toilet graffiti, and noticed that some rest-rooms had none, while others had large amounts of 'data'. The previous research suggested that prompt cleaning reduced the overall volume, and…

Once a recording or transcript is in the open I'll comment then.

I think the elected mayor concept just encourages egotripping assholes (it's just the same in the UK)..

Boris Johnson won. Get over it. And at the risk of being a tad bitchy, this is about as tiresome as the numptys over on Kiwiblog who think MMP is an unmitigated disaster…

I have seen the Holocaust misused often for petty unsubstantial political agendas, right and left ... but the complaint you make against Laws is real and serious. Frankly, the guy should be off radio and print for that shit. It's outrageous.

I replaced all that time with bourban's & Cokes and plenty of beer.

It's been…

I can't quite understand how he can maitain such bitterness and loathing for others.

Does he have a hard done-by story?

His identifying with the guy who stabbed the youth, is it age, race, class?

Is he finding an acceptable outlet for…

I can't fathom how he won.

Because he was on the other team from Gordon Brown. Simple, really.

Though the fact that Red Ken was actually pursuing a left-wing agenda in London made it far more difficult for Boris than his party-mates had it in the rest of the country.

the horrifying Boris....should i read his first novel "Seventy two Virgins" I wonder??

I can't fathom how he won. Surely it isn't just becoz he's a famous dickhead. Hope it's not becoz voters…

I wouldn't say he's my favourite columnist, but he writes authentically and with some heart.

I know what you mean – the column I read was heartfelt and engaging.

But I feel that his heart is sentimental – and he has no self-irony.

And I find it hard to forgive…

And yes, the gay panic defence was absolutely disgusting and I hope it gets excised from the case law at the earliest possible opportunity.

Don't say that too loudly around McVicar and the rest of the SST/Family Fist crowd. You'll be contributing to the moral decline of society if you…

Russell, is there any way we can read Paul Holmes' winning columns or are they not available on the net? It hurts me physically to think he won a national writing award.

It shouldn't, really. I wouldn't say he's my favourite columnist, but he writes authentically and with some heart.…

So I don't listen to him or read his words. Simple.

Dave Hansford, formerly and controversially of the Listener, won his category and was in the final three for best overall columnist, which was won (cue massed gritting of teeth in the room) by Paul Holmes, who can actually write, dammit.

Russell, is there any way we can read Paul Holmes'…

There is however the partial defence of – I forget what it's technically called – blind rage.

This is basically a defence of insanity, I think, albeit temporary. It's the old "I was out of control and therefore not responsible for my actions" one.

And yes, the gay panic defence…

There is however the partial defence of – I forget what it's technically called – blind rage.

The partial defence (that turns a murder rap into manslaughter) is provocation.

The Law Commission has recommended getting rid of it. It largely stems from a time when the death penalty was mandatory…

michael laws: two words, "eye" + "liner".

He should perhaps also note that if he's going to complain about Teh Gays, it would be wise to not write columns going into quite so much detail about Doug Howlett's pumping thighs.

So on the positive side, Laws has certainly got the attention of his citizens and brought Wanganui into the spotlight.

Personally I'd be happier with a council leader that keeps the pavements in repair and the garbage collected then a failed national politician / minor media commentator out to boost…

Make of it what you will, and it actually happened TODAY
this morning in fact:

Laws always starts his 9am Radio Live show with a 15-20 minute rant to get the listeners stirred up and calling in. At 9.14AM on 12 May 08 he said (I'm…

You are right, it is so f'ed up and offensive. What is the point of trying to punish hate crimes, if the fact that they were gay is a defense.

I heard that the developer had basically been let off.

Quite aside from the court-imposed penalties, he had to front to a "restorative justice" meeting with the locals where he was roundly abused by all and sundry. Sounds like it actually went a bit OTT, but the basic message was,…

Knives don't kill people. Frustration-over-the possibility-of-minor-vandalism kills people.

Genius. Do you think that extends to frustration-over-the-gross-lack-of-talent kills people

I'm going to state the obvious, in thinking that he faces the murder charge because he stabbed someone with a knife and they died, rather than, he got frustrated.

Knives don't kill people. Frustration-over-the possibility-of-minor-vandalism kills people.

And I'm with Jolisa over the Austrian cellar dweller gibe – I've seen…

So the next time I get "frustrated" with Garth McVicar I can come at him with a knife?

Get in line.

Last I checked "frustration" was not a defence to murder.…

No, that happened before Laws. I don't think he can take credit for the main street clean up, the museum, the art gallery, Ucol or even the Rutland Arms.

All I have seen from Laws are sneering attempts to dismantle any "vibrancy".

Yes, in thinking about that issue I was…

I'm reminded of a land developer who willfully cut down ancient Puhutukawas and had no penalty.

Where was that? You're not thinking of the development in Royal Oak? There the offender was ordered to plant replacement pohutukawas, and tend to them for the next 25 years. Smack in the middle…

For some reason, Michael Law's latest column, A Pakeha Fights Back, is among the editors' picks on Stuff this morning.

I've often wondered about those picks, though. They seem pretty random. (Currently, the editor is quite proud of "Showdown will put Tua back on the map" and "Sky TV Web…

but Laws appears to have done a reasonable job making that city vibrant again

No, that happened before Laws. I don't think he can take credit for the main street clean up, the museum, the art gallery, Ucol or even the Rutland Arms.

All I have seen from Laws are…

But it's great that the most embattled and endangered group…

I hate tagging and I simply don't understand the reasons why people do it. But…

[Michael Laws says young offenders have]: "the collective education of an Austrian cellar dweller"

He actually wrote that? Ugh. Just, ugh. What a bizarre and revolting thing to say.

It's tempting to respond that a writer would have to have "the collective empathy of an Austrian child-imprisoning rapist" to turn…

I got the revolution blues,
I see bloody fountains,
And ten million dune buggies
comin' down the mountains.
Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon
is full of famous stars,
But I hate them worse than lepers
and I'll kill them
in their cars.

Neil Young
Revolution Blues

Feel free to read it, but you've read it before: it's the one Laws writes about once a month, contrasting decent, middle-class white families with feckless brown ones.

Dear Cate Brett: I can write equally stupid columns for the price of a carton of butts (Lucky Strikes preferably) shoved through…

Interestingly, in the mid-90s when Guiliani appeared to be making progress in NYC and the Wisconsin mob were in the ascendency,…