Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The Whankernui Factor

Andre

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:43:27 +1300

"It can't be true. If it was, the Herald would have banner headlines of "DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK".

Well they did publish McCarten... so they're covered (wink wink)

Sacha

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:56:59 +1300

Idiot/Savant reminds us of a likely feature of absentee landlords voting in local govt elections:

people will be disenfranchised in their own communities, outvoted by absentees with a strong interest in undermining the services they depend on in order to minimise their rates bills.

Not clear how far this will…

Mr Mark

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:42:54 +1300

(RICH LOCK)

No problem, Rich. A formal apology and agreement to buy back any unsold copies of your poem will do the trick.....Unless, of course, you wanna go for the full Witi defence and claim some sort of 'cutting-edge' innovation ?

Something along the lines of: "So I think what…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:50:06 +1300

Oh, I'd forgotten limiting the number of councillors to an absurdly small number to force the LGC into setting boundaries that under-represent urban voters. Not to mention limiting the amount of scrutiny of the many unelected managers the new system creates.

Sofie Bribiesca

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:33:00 +1300

Red Alert has this

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:14:26 +1300

I think that *all* NZ councils have ratepayer electors.

However, the linked FAQ suggests that a single person/entity can only vote once for any council, but may vote for multiple community boards. So, if you have a business in the CBD and live in the Coromandel, you can vote for…

Rich Lock

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:59:37 +1300

Ahem. Yes. Of course, I couldn't possibly comment on where my 'inspiration' came from until I've talked extensively with both my publisher and my legal team.

Mr Mark

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:54:37 +1300

(RICH LOCK):"... What a bitch, what a bitch, what a bitch."

Reminds me of Monty Python's old "Dennis Moore" skit from the 1970s...."Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, riding through the Glen/ Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, with his band of men/ He steals from the poor, and gives to the rich/ Silly…

Tom Semmens

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:35:28 +1300

It can't be true.

If it was, the Herald would have banner headlines of "DEMOCRACY UNDER ATTACK".

Kyle Matthews

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:22:04 +1300

Does anyone have any thoughts on this Matt McCarten opinion piece in The Herald that suggests the next supercity bill will have a provision for landlords to have an extra vote for each property they own?

I'm looking for the evidence – a reference to the bill or law. Without…

Jake Pollock

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:00:58 +1300

There are, apparently, two interpretations of the badly-worded legislation. One says that the legislation is a return to the pre-lapsarian days of the 1867 Reform Act that McCarten talks about. The other says that land-owners are able to choose one ward or borough or whatever it is in which they…

Rich Lock

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:58:16 +1300

Rodney Hide, Rodney Hide, riding through the woods.
Rodney Hide, Rodney Hide, and his band of hoods.
They steal from the poor, to give to the rich.
What a bitch, what a bitch, what a bitch.

Andre

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:53:01 +1300

Rodney King... enough to spark an LA riot
King Rodney... Epsom dwellers don't do riots unfortunately.
I can't believe that anyone New Zealander would be so backwards as to disenfranchise the poor. I wonder if they are building more prisons and discussing double-bunking in anticipation of a backlash. Why is…

Kumara Republic

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:05:52 +1300

How about the Sheriff of Epsom?

Danielle

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:19:45 +1300

Pages with pagers?

What's a 'pager'? :)

Andre

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:18:56 +1300

...or kingky as it were

Andre

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:18:26 +1300

King Key... it's sort of "kinky" to even think of something so appalling.

Sam F

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:07:37 +1300

BlackDeathBerry? (Fear not, I shall fetch mine own coat forthwith)

giovanni tiso

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:46:50 +1300

It's feudalism with smartphones.

Pages with pagers? Serfs who surf (the Web)?

Kumara Republic

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:05:28 +1300

Dickensian thinking that will result in revolt...

Worse than that. It's feudalism with smartphones.

Andre

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:54:50 +1300

Hide believes that democracy would be better served if the number of votes you are able to place is related to how much property that you own (even if it is mortgaged to 110% of its value or if you've owned it for 4 weeks at the time of an…

Steve Barnes

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:38:48 +1300

Off topic: Does anyone have any thoughts on this

Yes.
Indeed I do

giovanni tiso

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:36:19 +1300

If McCarten is correct than it does make me wonder why Labour hasn't made a huge deal out of this.

Steve Barnes

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:36:14 +1300

To be precise, getting serious, you can't take them.

I can take them, you mark my words, I know Karachi you know. Chop them down with the edge of my hand.

Cecelia

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:35:49 +1300

That's a fantastic link – I was born in Whakatane – we would NEVER have considered the real pronunciation back in the 50s but now it's common it seems perfectly natural (while I still struggle with Toepaw)

Love your biblical quote too – raining down hell sounds as if the…

Ben McNicoll

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:30:29 +1300

Off topic: Does anyone have any thoughts on this
Matt McCarten opinion piece in The Herald that suggests the next supercity bill will have a provision for landlords to have an extra vote for each property they own?

It seems almost unbelievable, but the implications are chilling if the article…

recordari

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:55:22 +1300

Being from WHakatane, I can't get particularly excited. The lazy always screwed it up, or some might have done so for 'sub-cultural' effect I suppose, but we didn't 'rain down' any hell on them.

Oh ye wicked sinners...
“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an…

Cecelia

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:46:05 +1300

I'm malicious enough to hope the mayor of Whanganui has apoplexy every time her hears RNZ and TVNZ pronounce the town Farnganui.

BUT is it right to do so? Isn't the h meant to be silent in that part of the world? (While we up here in Whangarei do the…

BenWilson

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:42:13 +1300

"Phonetic" is not even phonetic. Wanganui and Whanganui are like Thomson and Thompson. Take them seriously and you won't get them. To be precise, getting serious, you can't take them.

Steve Barnes

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:04:28 +1300

Personally I would have liked the whole (wole?) thing to have been left to History as one of those anachronisms.
"Grandad, why does the river have a different spelling to the town?"
"Well boy, that is an interesting story"
Rather than just another divisive load of bollocks because, no disrespect…

recordari

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:13:50 +1300

"Anyone that comes and starts pronouncing 'Wanganui' as 'WHanganui' is in a serious lot of bother, and you will get hell raining on you from both houses." TV3 Link.

Really Michael?

mark taslov

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:15:21 +1300

Prsnly I thnk it shld be splt ''Pdntry''. Tks Rusl,

Paul Campbell

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:08:53 +1300

Hmm – "Blow on your pie" hasn't made Know your meme

pollywog

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:51:41 +1300

Who gives a WHAKA 'bout the H ?

Simon J Taylor

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:36:07 +1300

"why Micheal Luck from the Warriors spells his name that way?"

I believe that Micheal is a Gaelic version of the name.

mark taslov

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:34:51 +1300

part3

Yamis

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:16:22 +1300

Having studied the results of the poll carefully I have concluded that you are all whuckin waynka's.

mark taslov

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:19:26 +1300

in light of that failure, here's a good 'un.

part1

part2

mark taslov

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:01:17 +1300

Mark, is there some reason your stuff news item link actually points to the lyrics for "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil?

Strange, I thought it linked to the song, is there no play button? Blocked in NZ surely not? I wanted to see if I could double link. It…

Max Call

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:46:01 +1300

here 'tis

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3175680/Compromise-over-h-in-Wanganui

also

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3178027/TVNZ-H-stand-anti-democratic-Laws

heh!!

Ben Austin

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:30:19 +1300

It might be a rickroll

Rich of Observationz

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:25:34 +1300

Also, those are the old lyrics. Since Peter Garrett's election to the Federal Government, he prefers the version:
"The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to us
And we're f...g keeping it"

Alan P

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:16:08 +1300

Mark, is there some reason your stuff news item link actually points to the lyrics for "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil?

mark taslov

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:52:51 +1300

Should probably include this on the thread.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3175680/Compromise-over-h-in-Wanganui

Well who would've guessed.......

Paul Campbell

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:25:31 +1300

you still have time to change your name by deed poll and run against him in 9 months ....

back in the day when I worked for a University, state servants got basically 2 weeks paid vacation if they ran for elected office, we had dreams of fielding 40 Rob…

Public Servant on a tea-break.

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:23:51 +1300

I was really hoping for a good showing from Glibertarian.

Gareth Ward

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:04:07 +1300

So there was a splintering of the Lhaws vote that allowed Pie to sneak through to take the number one spot.

If only the same thing would actually happen in Whanganui...

Lyndon Hood

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:36:59 +1300

This was a perfect opportunity to use regular expressions. I think

Wh?anganui

would return a hit for both options.

Angus Robertson

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:02:39 +1300

When it is changed to Whanganui does the other Whanganui have to revert to being Westhaven to avoid confusion?

James Green

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:51:11 +1300

Or maybe we could properly anglicise/bastardise 'wanganui', so the first syllable should be pronounced more well like /wang/ not /wong/. We should mangle the language, not mongle it. And it's wanker not not wonker...

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:12:25 +1300

Righto, so I shall now be calling that town Whanganui/Wanganui (pronounced Whanganui slash Wanganui), following in the path of Mt Taranaki/Egmont and Aoraki/Mt Cook.

Alan P

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:13:53 +1300

I like Micael.
It's the very incorrectness of it which makes it appropriate in this case.

How bout making it REALLY obvious, and always referring to it as Micael Lhaws?

I think you'll find that Lhaws' first name is actually spelled "Beelzebub".

– LOL

Alan P

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:11:50 +1300

I'm sorry, but "Always blow on the pie" isn't a word. Therefore for me it was disqualified.

BenWilson

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:57:31 +1300

Mikaere (no offence Mr Curtis)

Andre Alessi

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:55:29 +1300

I think you'll find that Lhaws' first name is actually spelled "Beelzebub".

Sacha

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:39:33 +1300

Mkl

Sacha

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:39:19 +1300

Mikil

Just thinking

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:05:41 +1300

The correct spelling would be Mikal, surely?

Sacha

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:56:26 +1300

Big ups for #8, which will surely have the unfamiliar scratching their heads.

Kim Sokolich

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:44:21 +1300

On the subject of Michael, can anyone tell me why Micheal Luck from the Warriors spells his name that way? Were his parents dyslexic or just trying to be 'different'?

Kim Sokolich

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:41:48 +1300

Personally I liked the suggestion that we spell his name as 'Micael', after all it is a silent 'h' so why use it.

David Ritchie

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:27:34 +1300

My thanks to Russell and the PA team, Matawhero wines and, of course, Guy Baldwin. Himself and Gary Davey were great faces for the force this year.

Public Address

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:27:34 +1300

Discussion from blog post.