Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Madness in Mt Albert

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  • Kyle Matthews,

    Though the smut could have pushed you over the top anyway. Albert was a fine man.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • JackElder,

    He's a prince among men.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • JackElder,

    Or, even, among mounts.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Sam F,

    One could say he's gone through things you don't want to even think about.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Jack wins - it took 16 pages for a Prince Albert joke to pierce this discussion..

    The Standard hasn't made it there yet, and I refuse to analyse Kiwibleurgh..

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Kiwibleurgh..

    Gold.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Christopher Dempsey,

    sticking my merino wool Chair of Eden Albert Community Board beanine on...

    There will be a

    By-election Candidates Q&A session on Transport

    Wednesday 13 May, 7.30pm,

    at the Faumuina Gold Theatre, Building 180 (Main Student Building containing ‘The HUB’/quad), entrance GATE 4, use 2nd public carpark, building is 100m from there or so.

    Thanks.

    whipping beanie off....

    Parnell / Tamaki-Auckland… • Since Sep 2008 • 659 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    the Faumuina Gold Theatre, Building 180 (Main Student Building containing ‘The HUB’/quad), entrance GATE 4, use 2nd public carpark, building is 100m from there or so.

    And that is where exactly?

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Some sort of crazy Auckland educational institution. They all look the same.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Stewart,

    whipping beanie off...

    And you thought I was being a bit smutty?

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    It'll be the Auckland University Of Tautology University.

    Or maybe the "we're not a UNIversity coz the rotten government didn't let us and made us stay a TECh".

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    But probbaly not MIT (but not the well known one in America)

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Or maybe the "we're not a UNIversity coz the rotten government didn't let us and made us stay a TECh".

    That's the one that's in the electorate ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Oh well, keep me guessing then.
    I did a google search on the Faumuina Gold Theatre and found myself back here. There was one other link and that was Auckland Trains an interesting site, unless of course you want to fid out where the Faumuina Gold Theatre is.
    On a related note. I had to find out how to get to Rotorua without driving yesterday so I went online and did a search of trains buses ships and planes etc. My gob was well and truly smacked by the lack of information. It seems that you can't just jump on a bus, you have to book and then hang around outside Sky City. There are no trains.
    I was informed by the loverly Barbara at, well I'm not quite sure Tranzscenic I think but she answered the phone saying NZ Rail.
    Barbara informed me that all the railway lines had been pulled up in the Nineties. I informed her that the Geyserland Express ran on the Rotorua Branch Line until 7 October 2001. She was surprised. The line still exist and was "Mothballed" in 2001, apparently the term "Mothballed" means "Totally Abandoned" in Railway speak. There aer plans to reinstate this 50km single track line at a cost of $8.3 million dollars.
    To which I hear you all say $8.3 million? WTF?

    Reopening

    Currently, the line is mothballed, albeit very overgrown in places. The Rotorua Railway Enthusiasts Group is working to restore part of the line. On 13 January 2009, the Geyserland Express Trust announced that it had commissioned and received a report on the feasibility of reopening the line between Putaruru and Rotorua, which put the cost of doing so at $8,300,000. Work required would include:
    Clearing vegetation
    Replacing missing sections of track
    Rehabilitation of some of the bridges
    Checking drains and culverts
    Establishing a new station at Rotorua

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Of course. If you leave thousands of dollars worth of rail track lying around Bits will go Missing

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz,

    The freight line to Kinleith could be used for passenger traffic, I guess.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    <trainspotter>Here is a nice video of the Pataruru end of the branch line. The first part seems to have been shot between some guy's legs </trainspoter>

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Rob Hosking's take on the Mt Albert by-election at NBR.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Mark Harris,

    I'd like to point out that the pedantic comment by "Mark" was not by me, though spookily enough I was thinking those very thoughts...

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report

  • Gary Rawnsley,

    Shearer and Lee were interviewed on Q&A this morning... Lee's main line of attack was that Shearer had spent a good number of years out of the country, and therefore couldn't possibly be an effective representative of the people of Mt Albert.

    I wonder whether National's going to keep this up. It strikes me as a spectacularly stupid strategy, for two reasons:
    -Shearer has been doing something - putting his life on the line in the world's trouble spots in an effort to make the world safer - that the vast majority of New Zealanders would admire. Lee's dismissive and contemptuous tone with regards this experience made her seem ungracious and unlikeable.
    -Lee's Government is led by a man who in 2002 asked the people of Helensville to elect him as their MP, despite having spent most of the preceeding decade overseas. When elected PM in 2008, Key still hadn't been back in NZ as long as he had spent overseas in the 90s/early 00s. This makes Lee's line of attack obviously hypocritical.

    Putting these two points together, does National really want to invite a comparison between Key's overseas work and Shearer's? There's nothing wrong with enriching oneself working in the financial sector - but do you really want to ask the public to compare that with peacebuilding in Iraq, especially at a time when the financial sector is, well, not exactly the flavour of the month?

    Because this will be the effect of this incessant attack on Shearer's CV (which began with Key jumping on Shearer's academic discussion of private military companies, something which also felt to me to be beneath the Prime Minister). And whatever happened to National's much vaunted positive campaigning?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 28 posts Report

  • Kumara Republic,

    And with ACT's John Boscawen saying he'll go for broke, and the United and Kiwi Parties planning to stand candidates, it's by no means a clear run for Lee.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And whatever happened to National's much vaunted positive campaigning?

    On come on, Gary: A tad precious? Now, I didn't have any problem with someone pointing out simple facts about Key's history (and while we have a secret ballot, voters are free to make whatever judgements that choose from them); where I had a problem was various sewer dwellers pushing bullshit like he'd made multiple false statutory declarations to both the Registrar of Electors and the Companies Office, and that he'd been involved in insider trading.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Gary Rawnsley,

    Craig: I agree with you about what was and what wasn't fairgame with respect to Key.

    But I am of the view that National very successfully cultivated during last year's election the impression that it was clean/positive/concerned about "the issues that matter", while Labour came to be seen as grubby/obsessed with character-based ephemera/not concentrating on the things the electorate really cares about.

    Why would National pursue a strategy that could see this dynamic turned on its head?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 28 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Or, to be entirely even handed, the truly squalid tittle-tattle both Helen Clark and Don Brash were subjected to a few years back. That was real dirt, Gary.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Gary Rawnsley,

    Agreed.

    I'm not making a moral point, so much as a political one: that National won't help its by-election cause by going after Shearer as a carpetbagger.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 28 posts Report

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