Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Pomp and Circumstance

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  • andrew llewellyn,

    Perhaps an overly-optimistic comment from Owen McShane on Poneke.

    He think she's onto something because he made the same comment at kiwiblog

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    oops ... thinks he's...

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    It's not that misapplied is it Craig. A second term MP who vaults into senior Ministerial positions and the front bench; seems to justify the tag to me.

    Hardly: The Bolter was so named because she had abandoned her marriage and her children for another man.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    Do we have 3 years now of sites like Kiwiblog fawning over every move Key makes?

    Breaking News: Key still PM!

    It occurs to me that reading the blogs of government supporters is no fun at all (I didn't read the standard or any of the others pre election), so who is the preferred blog of the opposition? Is there one?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Craig, I think Maryann Street would be tough, so too Dalziel or Dyson. My point is that Bennett's in for a challenging time - because she's new, because her opposite will likely be a former Minister, because welfare appears of secondary importance compared with economic development and also because she'll have to managing the probably incompatability of her coalition partners' expectations.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Tell me as a father you don't see things a little differently than when you occupied Registry! I still think free tertiary education, with allowances, ought to be the goal, but it's slipped down my list of priorities now headed by more and better early childhood education and better special ed.

    To me lack of allowances for students is still the most glaring problem in government funding of programmes. It's discrimination made possible through a discourse which gained prominence in the 1990s about public/private benefit of tertiary education, and which everyone brought into, including us. We missed the big picture and fought battles by never seeing the war going on around us properly.

    After that, community healthcare and mental health funding, and then probably an increase in benefits.. Funding to bring fees down would be 5th or 6th. It's complex and the old and current models aren't working.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Tell me as a father you don't see things a little differently than when you occupied Registry!

    My son is 10 and I still have three or four years to pay off my student loan. You better believe allowances and tertiary funding is stuff that I think about.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Points well made Kyle.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Do we have 3 years now of sites like Kiwiblog fawning over every move Key makes?

    Well, I'm pretty sure sites like The Standard will continue bring the theatre eight shows a week, two matinees.

    My point is that Bennett's in for a challenging time - because she's new, because her opposite will likely be a former Minister...

    ...and large, complex, always in the public eye and almost always contentious portfolios are damn hard for anyone. It's a risk, as Key himself has said, but a calculated one. And I sure think the incoming Prime Minister is proof that early predictions of "easy meat gutted by morning tea time" don't always pan out.

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

  • BenWilson,

    It occurs to me that reading the blogs of government supporters is no fun at all (I didn't read the standard or any of the others pre election), so who is the preferred blog of the opposition? Is there one?

    Reading Kiwiblog stopped being fun years ago. It wasn't offensiveness, it was boredom, though. The regular contributors are much like Viz characters, or made up letters to the editor of Truth. Funny a few times, then just silly.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    And I sure think the incoming Prime Minister is proof that early predictions of "easy meat gutted by morning tea time" don't always pan out.

    Craig, I know I'm guilty of being partisan reasonably often but I don't in fact mean this. I mean only to point out that Paula Bennett has as a tough challenge. I don't wish her ill. I do hope Labour is re-elected in 2011, but I'd rather not have social disorder in the interim.

    The regular contributors are much like Viz characters, or made up letters to the editor of Truth. Funny a few times, then just silly.

    What Ben said.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Do we have 3 years now of sites like Kiwiblog fawning over every move Key makes?

    Will Key post the occasional comment there? Hanging out with terminal-acne-case libertarians and rat-trap-down-the-back-of-their-y-fronts homophobes doesn't really seem to be his style. Brash's minders persuaded him to try it once upon a time - probably the first step towards his becoming political dog tucker.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    material for ... Leighton Smith

    Surely he won't keep his radio show and be Speaker? It's bad enough allowing active politicians to be radio presenters at all.

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

  • Paul Williams,

    Surely he won't keep his radio show and be Speaker? It's bad enough allowing active politicians to be radio presenters at all.

    That's either an easy error or a clever gag...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Brash's minders persuaded him to try it once upon a time - probably the first step towards his becoming political dog tucker.

    I know this one!

    The "Brash" comment on Kiwiblog was actually written by John Ansell, who didn't check first with Richard Long. Long was furious. I thought it came off okay.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Dinah Dunavan,

    Rose-wilting heat in Dunedin last year? Unprecedented! This year though there's been lots of snow around so clearly global warming is a myth.

    We had 25 degrees one day and snow the next. Apparently, according to a colleague's mother, this is a clear indication that global warming is nonsense.

    Dunedin • Since Jun 2008 • 186 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    Long was furious. I thought it came off okay.

    Except for the fact that at the time, DPF had a much worse server (or software?), and kiwiblog pretended to time out whenever you posted a comment. Old hands knew this, and didn't make multiple posts, figuring theirs to turn up.

    The Brash comment appeared at least four times, making whoever made it look like a computer-illiterate. It really only came off okay once DPF took special trouble to delete the reposts...

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    I know this one!

    The "Brash" comment on Kiwiblog was actually written by John Ansell, who didn't check first with Richard Long. Long was furious. I thought it came off okay.

    That's the first time I've heard that it wasn't Brash himself, or at least Brash's own words. So what was the point exactly? To reassure David of his centrality, to prove Brash was hip-with-the-kids or what?

    National's online brand appears more coherent under Key than it was under Brash but neither party have fully or strategically positioned themselves in the way that FrogBlog has.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    That's either an easy error or a clever gag...

    Did one do W3 & the other It's Academic? Too lazy to google. There wsa a time I believed them to be brothers, but I understand that's not the case.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    The "Brash" comment on Kiwiblog was actually written by John Ansell, who didn't check first with Richard Long. Long was furious. I thought it came off okay.

    LOL, I thought it came off OK too, at the time. Now I don't! I remember how chuffed DPF was that his site had been touched by greatness. Now it seems it was just touched by advertising. That's sooo hollow men.

    Channeling Haiku now:

    Ansell Breaks,
    Sticky Comments Leak.
    Long Morning After Regrets

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Ansell Breaks,
    Sticky Comments Leak.
    Long Morning After Regrets

    ew. ur gross.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    LOL, I thought it came off OK too, at the time. Now I don't! I remember how chuffed DPF was that his site had been touched by greatness. Now it seems it was just touched by advertising. That's sooo hollow men.

    As if any more proof was needed that poor Don was an ACT cuckoo in the National nest. I assumed he'd at least have needed help on account of his not being so hot with technology - and why should he, with his marvellous knack of being able to run multiple spreadsheets in his head? As for being down with the kids, or toupee wearers or whatever, as far as I can recall the post was in plain copywriter's English. No attempt to front with Gen Twee credentials such as "I'm in ur blog".

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Mike Graham,

    the incoming Prime Minister is proof that early predictions of "easy meat gutted by morning tea time" don't always pan out

    Except that the table has only just been laid for breakfast!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    ew. ur gross.

    C'mon with names like Ansell, Brash, Long and Key, it's hard not to be sometimes.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Except that the table has only just been laid for breakfast!

    And Goff looks like he's bringing a fully loaded canteen of cheap plastic teaspoons to the big table. OK, I just heard an over-extended metaphor snap.

    The "Brash" comment on Kiwiblog was actually written by John Ansell, who didn't check first with Richard Long. Long was furious. I thought it came off okay.

    Heh... almost as fun as the fairly rapid outing of John Tamihere's (brief but amusing) foray into blogging being ghosted by Helen Bain. Seriously, politicians trying to get their geek cred on is even worse than watching the saddo creatures trying to get down with the cool kids and their funky music. Oh, screw it, if we get through the next three years without Ministerial krumping I'll be happy. Ish.

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

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