Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: The Thread, It Is Open, in reply to BenWilson,
over the long run, I can't think of anyone else who should be building our houses
Over the long run, our fixation on residential property has helped bugger the economy. I'd rather not encourage more of it.
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Hard News: The digital switch-off, in reply to Matthew Poole,
the "drip-feed" option has long existed
Where "long" means October 2009?
Actually, scrub that - the Ironbridge letter above implies that part-payments were available for the previous 20 year license term.
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Hard News: The Thread, It Is Open, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I know you guys don't much like the Standard
I value some of the content they surface; just their management of commenters leaves a lot to be desired.
a massive coordinated rebuilding/upskilling effort much like that behind the state house building of the 1940s.
Totally different times - especially with an explicitly pro-market government in power. The closest you'll get is an explosion of contract pork for friends of the party.
And does this country really need any more house builders? If we're going to invest in mass training, make it in this century's high-value export industries.
Actually, isn't this topic meant to be on the other thread?
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Mediaworks owners Ironbridge respond to Herald story.
The facts are as follows: In mid 2009, the radio industry negotiated a lease renewal for the spectrum used for broadcasting radio signals in NZ. Unlike the previous 20 year lease, the Government initially requested full payment upon the lease commencement in October 2010.
With the sharp downturn in business in 2009 and 2010, it became clear to all members of the industry that meeting the payment date of October 2010 was going to be difficult, and so the Radio Broadcasters Association commenced negotiations with the Government to create a deferred payment plan. The outcome was agreement for a 5 year payment schedule with the deferred component accruing interest at 11.2%. This was offered to all radio broadcasters and several, including MediaWorks, took up the option.
For the record, TRN a major player in the radio industry and a member of the APN, Group (owner of the Herald) was extended exactly the same offer from the Government. We note that the deferred payment scheme was publicly announced in October 2009.
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Rent gouging is like looting, says Christchurch Mayor.
There have been reports that some rents have risen 150 per cent in a city where many have been left homeless by the magnitude 6.3 quake on February 22.
"I think that's looting by another name. I just think that's appalling," Mr Parker told TVNZ this morning.
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"The first appeal is just to the people who are doing it. Come on, you're in our community, This is looting by another name. You can't put this in a polite way.
It shouldn't be happening. We're not going to get through this if people take that approach."
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Kracklite,
One of the things that makes us so reluctant to lie, methinks
Hadn't thought of that. Being a spectrum we're all quite diverse in how we relate to emotion and communication, but yes, the sense of fairness thing does seem to resemble that of an 8 year old boy in its purity. As does our crapness at lying.
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Chris Trotter linked from Robertson's blog talks usefully about media's relationship to power, but resorts to the usual stereotypes about disabled people being incapable of anything:
But the media was wrong about that young man. He turned out to be less of a looter than he was a mentally disabled human-being utterly unequal to the task of defending himself against either physical assault or the charges brought against him. It’s doubtful he was even capable of grasping the extreme seriousness of his situation.
However, I think he is bang on about one central point:
When they learned that the items he’d stolen were light-fittings, they would have immediately known that they weren’t dealing with a case of looting, but with something entirely different. (Who risks imprisonment for light-fittings?!)
I remain keen to hear whether the Police involved had received the Autism Spectrum training that Hilary mentioned upthread, and if so why it seems to have made no difference to the outcome here. Perhaps a journalist or politician could ask that question for us?
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Kracklite,
My empathy works fine
There's a current theory that we have too much of it rather than not enough - so emotion overwhelms us, like senses can overwhelm those with schizophrenia. Aloofness becomes just a defense mechanism. Makes sense to me.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to giovanni tiso,
the facts on this matter are pretty simple: somebody beat this man up while in custody.
Look, I'm far from an apologist for the police but we don't *know that* yet - if you want to use words like "fact" we do know that Arie sustained injuries during the process of apprehension and presentation in court and that he has through his lawyer said he was beaten. We don't need to make it more than it is.
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Hard News: About Arie, in reply to Danielle,
I think people SHOULD be fucking enraged by this, actually.
It's nice to see us taking the matter seriously. As raised previously, justice is meant to work on behalf of all of society, not just between the individuals at the centre of any particular incident. Particularly relevant at times of widespread social stress.