Posts by Sacha
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National's pollster David Farrar discusses the broader political ramifications - note this is his Herald column, not own site.
If the global insurance market walks away from New Zealand, then the Government will be forced to step in as our national insurer - well beyond what EQC currently does. At this stage the Government's long feared credit rating downgrade turns from a case of will it happen to how bad will it be.
But the fiscal and insurance risks are not the greatest danger to the Government. This third earthquake has acted as a catalyst for residents to demand certainty over their future, and the feeling is that the Government has days, not weeks or months, to announce its plans - otherwise they face angry and despairing protests dominating the TV news bulletins.
...The Government no doubt has a checklist of things it wants to have settled, before it makes an announcement. I think they need to add an additional item to their checklist, and stick it up the top. The extra item should be "Can make an announcement by the end of next week".
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Frustrated CBD business owner Layton Duncan describes the shift he wants to see from CERA, Council and govt.
Communicate details. For example, don’t tell us ‘100 buildings are scheduled for urgent demolition’ instead, give us a list of those 100 buildings. Don’t tell us it’s a complicated issue. Explain the details of what complicates the issue. Explain the why in detail, impart understanding to people when you don’t have definitive answers.
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Allow business owners and limited associated individuals registered, unescorted, access upon request, coordinated with business in similar locations into the red zone for the purpose of recovering items, or obtaining insurance assessments at their own risk.
The only two conditions of access should be that a legal waiver of liability be signed by each person entering the Red Zone, and that they don’t stray beyond a specified path to their property when in the Red Zone.
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There is no inspirational leadership in this ‘recovery’. The whole situation reeks of political paralysis. No one has stood up to put the people of this city first and do the right thing. There is arse covering. There is extreme and irrational risk aversion. There is consideration of selfish political ramifications of every decision made. It’s sickening. It’s frustrating. It’s draining. It’s killing this city.
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Negotiations between govt, local insurers and global re-insurers about who pays what.
Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said that technically insurers could not pay for the replacement of repairable homes, but they were trying to be as flexible as possible.
The decision ultimately rested with global re-insurers, which were expected to eventually pay out about $10 billion to rebuild Christchurch.
"There are some serious and quite tense discussions happening between insurers and reinsurers at the moment," he said.
Re-insurers were also seeking assurances from New Zealand insurers and the Government that Christchurch would still be a viable insurance "market" before agreeing to be "flexible", he said.
"The re-insurers are much more influential players than people realise."
Insurers and re-insurers were still awaiting land information from the Government.
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Adding to the ebook-reading experience. Not sure about the printed cube idea, but progress bars and creation process meta-data appeal. Same with margin notes by other readers. All those possibilities for critics/fans to embed value into the same reading vehicle. Would need to add micropayments platform like Flattr to share returns.
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Hard News: A Century Since, in reply to nzlemming,
The government will therefore introduce legislation (under urgency) to require a quota of verse (including commas) per day
Nah, the market will provide, eh
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Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Rather than thinking about a sensible way forward which completely re-writes copyright
Trouble is, that requires most of the world to agree. We're currently being railroaded in the opposite direction by American entertainment industry lobbying.
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Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to BenWilson,
It's like saying Columbus was unusually explorative.
Fave reframing: Native Amercians discovered Columbus lost at sea.
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Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to BenWilson,
the contextualized setting of what made Elvis and the Beatles super stars is an unlikely thing to re-occur
I believe industry arrangements at the time helped. Simon no doubt knows more.
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Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to giovanni tiso,
Part of the piece, surely
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Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to DCBCauchi,
at least publicly funded NGOs get treated like they are
Researchers and innovators seem similarly unimpressed as artists.