Hard News: Limping Onwards
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
The present problem for Labour I feel stems from Helen Clarke and Michael Cullen not sticking around long enough to help bed in successors and assist with developing the opposition mindset (running gear) and strategy
You might want to sit down, folks, but I'm going to defend Clark and Cullen here.
Cullen signalled that he was leaving politics well before the election, and while I don't think Clark was entirely honest during the campaign she's smart enough to know that an ex-leader who won't go away is more of a liability than an asset. It wasn't their job, and I don't think anyone would have thanked them for hanging around.
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nzlemming, in reply to
The development of a modern two stroke diesel powered aircraft with a flight time exceeding 30 hours was a phenomenal challenge and these guys were on to it.
No doubt, but it seems that a) Trevor Rogers can't run a business and b) that he can't even fail to run a business honestly. I hope the judge continues to nail his mendacious arse to the wall.
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Oh, by the way, I always find it hard to suppress a giggle when T' Standard publishes a post about Goff with a stock image of Important-man-strides-down-corridor-with-attendants. That was sooo well parodied by Kubrick with his shots of the Minster in A Clockwork Orange.
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DexterX, in reply to
Yes - but they aren't the dynamic new engine.
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Islander, in reply to
Green outside, Red inside...
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Kracklite, in reply to
“Watermelon” – green on the outside, red on the inside. A common sneer used against Greens, supposing that they’re Marxists disguised as environmentalists, or that there is really no difference. Apparently reappropriated here (hoorah) to suggest that real social justice and environmentalism are one and the same.
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Kracklite, in reply to
Snap.
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Islander, in reply to
So during the 1980s when Labour were selling the family silver you had no problem with giving your vote to them?
We had considerable angst & anguish AFTER it became clear what the Roger Douglas cabal was about (none of those policies had been apparent before the first election.) When it became obvious that those policies were going to continue, we looked at the then Opposition - and realised they'd also continue the cutlery-raiding - only, they'd increase it. As indeed they did-
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
You might want to sit down, folks, but I’m going to defend Clark and Cullen here.
I was sitting down but I almost fell of my chair when I read that. CRaaaiigg come over to the dark side... wooooo.o
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Sacha, in reply to
they aren't the dynamic new engine
that's the point in replacing them, isn't it? sure can't claim they lack the experience to know better.
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We can clone sheep, we can build a cycle way to rival the great wall, we will become a global fund management centre of excellence, we will mine and then not mine the conservation estate, the Black Quacks can rally and make a cricket semi final.
Surely we can expect a bit more than a bunch of cloned sheep as the (governmnet in) opposition.
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Is "Waitakere Man" the NZ equivalent of Howard Dean's "Pickup Truck with Confederate Flag" vote?
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
it seems that a) Trevor Rogers can’t run a business and b) that he can’t even fail to run a business honestly.
The “offence” that he committed was a mere technicality which he, and his wife, dispute, the apparent refusal to hand over intellectual property. While this is seen legally as the property of the company and as such should be handed over to the receiver it is quite unusual for this to go as far as it has. The reason for the continued demands for drawings and descriptions of said properties is evidence of their value, value to whom you should ask, if it were so valuable it should have counted as an asset and as such been accepted as value in the company thus staving off bankruptcy.
I fear that this case smacks of a powerful agent acting against the greater interests of the country as a whole.
It is not against the law or even unethical to be a shockingly bad businessman, in fact many of our more successful entrepreneurs have faced failure at some point in their endeavours. As I said before, I would be swinging more than a handbag if I were being shafted for my ideas for the benefit of a foreign power.ETA.
If you compare the way this case has gone to the appalling behaviour and sheer mendacity of Mark Bryers and his legal team then you can see that justice is not of the slightest importance here. -
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Is “Waitakere Man” the NZ equivalent of Howard Dean’s “Pickup Truck with Confederate Flag” vote?
I hope not, because I think Waitakere is rather nice and the people I know from round there are thoroughly agreeable.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
I hope not, because I think Waitakere is rather nice and the people I know from round there are thoroughly agreeable.
Outrageously so. ;-)
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In that case, the Chimera, fire-spitting, lion-bodied, snake-tailed monster with a goat’s head stuck on it somewhere, to which I referred, is much more agreeable than Trotter/Goff’s imaginary object. I’m glad to know that it is imaginary. Or depressed because they chose to worship it. Whichever.
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Jacqui Dunn, in reply to
Ohhh. Duh!
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DexterX, in reply to
Well put.
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Lew Stoddart, in reply to
What you don’t seem to grasp is that complaining of media bias and operating with the media that we have aren’t mutually exclusive.
This bit I agree with.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, has said the media is biased, let’s sit on our hands.
In fact, this is more or less exactly the view expressed by many disenchanted lefties (and righties, for that matter): since the Em Ess Em is so shite, fuck’em, we’ll DIY.
Least of all Labour’s strategists and comms people.
I don’t know the internal workings of Labour’s strategic comms unit, but I am excruciatingly familiar with the results of their work. If they aren’t appallingly ignorant of how the media works in the real world rather than in some idealised fantasyland where the broadsheets love policy and serious hard-news political issues; and if they aren’t just tonedeaf, with poor timing and emphasis and coordination, lacking senses of synergy and symbolism and narrative congruence – then they are doing an incredibly good job of imitating exactly that.
You seem to think that media analysis leads to inaction. Somehow.
The action they’re conducting as a result of their media analysis: it’s not really working in the real world. It’s not translating into results. Something needs to change, in my view as a media analyst.
L
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Lew Stoddart, in reply to
One of the dirty little secrets is that Waitakere Man doesn't really even live in Waitakere, it's just a nice handle on which to hang a set of stereotypes. Chris' Waitakere Man lives in Wanuiomata and New Plymouth and Balclutha and Wanganui (not Whanganui, clearly).
(None of which places I'm dissing, by the way -- I grew up in one of 'em, after all.)
L
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nzlemming, in reply to
He went bankrupt (you can argue all you like about the reasons) and refused to hand over assets of the company to the liquidator. That’s not a technicality. But you go ahead and hero-worship the "lone entrepreneur” if you like, Steve.
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nzlemming, in reply to
Yep, Waitakere Man bears as much resemblance to people in Waitakere as Roger Hall's grotesques did to actual public servants. Both of the latter groups have suffered and will continue to suffer from outrageous TV portrayals.
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Lew Stoddart, in reply to
Re my comments about Labour strategic comms -- harsh, but context is important. The people doing that job can only work with what they've got to work with. The leadership sets strategic direction, and in my view that's a significant limiting factor. On the quality of the leadership itself, my views are well known. Without pretending any specific knowledge, I'm certain they operate under extreme constraints -- in terms of resourcing, information and communication and freedom of initiative. So it's not entirely their fault.
None of that, of course, changes the fact that the results are poor, but it does explain why to an extent.
L
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
But you go ahead and hero-worship the “lone entrepreneur” if you like, Steve.
Way to miss the point entirely. Off you go now, there's a cliff just over there :<
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An interesting twist to the Snark saga. I seems that a certain dairy farmer Allan Crafar called in the receivers after they sought to export the aircraft but these efforts were blocked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The plot thickens.
Anyway, sorry for the apparent threadjack, my point was more to do with this Governments total lack of support for a world class project, muppets.
Note; Personally I dislike the idea of manufacturing weaponry but if it's being done why not do it here? no ambition?
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