Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to BenWilson,
I think you were somewhat joking
being satirical, I thought
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Russell Brown,
Jim seems to have been a bit of a star for them.
Missed the first 5 mins but Jimmy seemed damn funny - and my congrats to him for being so open with the camera. Great to see an aspie Youtube clip that's not all serious too.
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Hard News: An open thread while I'm down…, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Thank you. That would make an interesting doco subject.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Rich Lock,
This man is paid by a national newpaper to write this shit?
When you add Garth George, Michael Lhaws, et al, it seems fatuous bigoted wittering has a reliable market, if only among middle-aged newspaper editors.
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Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…, in reply to Hebe,
Sunday Star-Times
Some useful detail, but only the one narrow group interviewed. Surprise.
Plans to spend nearly $2 billion rebuilding Christchurch's quake-ruined central business district could be money down the drain if businesses can't be convinced it is in their financial interests to move back.
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Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend
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Several property experts
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Colliers International managing director Hamish Doigand for light relief
"I love the concept of light rail. But is it realistic?" Christchurch MP Lianne Dalziel said. "The recovery planning process under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act is not the time for vision to overshadow reality."
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Southerly: One Hundred and Thirty-one…, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Earthquake risk hasn't stopped the Japanese or the Californians from building upwards, so surely it can't stop ChCh from doing the same.
Given that they're proposing a CBD quarter the previous size (and not for quake reasons; it was failing before that), imagine how small the area would be if it was allowed to be 30 storeys tall again?
Land owners aren't likely to be happy about height limits if they're making traditional market assumptions about value per square metre. Expect fierce lobbying from those who have the most resources and access to the right ears. That's not the general public.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Michael and Arie were banned from seeing each other.
A non-association order suggests Police actions being driven by their stereotypes about Arie's capacity for independence. Given the indecision on the TV coverage about them being "friends" I wonder if it was clear to the Police at that time that they were partners?
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Or from the Telegraph?
Good. I was hoping someone would post that - and that local political folk notice there are potential coalitions of interest with the more conservative right against radically selfish and immoral neolib positions.
The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: “We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every town, in every street and in every estate.” He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well.
...These double standards from Downing Street are symptomatic of widespread double standards at the very top of our society. It should be stressed that most people (including, I know, Telegraph readers) continue to believe in honesty, decency, hard work, and putting back into society at least as much as they take out.
But there are those who do not. Certainly, the so-called feral youth seem oblivious to decency and morality. But so are the venal rich and powerful – too many of our bankers, footballers, wealthy businessmen and politicians.
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Who'd have expected sense from Russell Brand?
Amidst the bleakness of this social landscape, squinting all the while in the glare of a culture that radiates ultraviolet consumerism and infrared celebrity. That daily, hourly, incessantly enforces the egregious, deceitful message that you are what you wear, what you drive, what you watch and what you watch it on, in livid, neon pixels. The only light in their lives comes from these luminous corporate messages. No wonder they have their fucking hoods up.
I remember Cameron saying "hug a hoodie" but I haven't seen him doing it. Why would he? Hoodies don't vote, they've realised it's pointless, that whoever gets elected will just be a different shade of the "we don't give a toss about you" party.
...Why am I surprised that these young people behave destructively, "mindlessly", motivated only by self-interest? How should we describe the actions of the city bankers who brought our economy to its knees in 2010? Altruistic? Mindful? Kind? But then again, they do wear suits, so they deserve to be bailed out, perhaps that's why not one of them has been imprisoned. And they got away with a lot more than a few fucking pairs of trainers.
These young people have no sense of community because they haven't been given one. They have no stake in society because Cameron's mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there's no such thing.
If we don't want our young people to tear apart our communities then don't let people in power tear apart the values that hold our communities together.
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Hard News: London's Burning, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Great read. Love when people like her connect their life experiences with what's going on - tempers the gung-ho extremism.
In the context of Key and chums preparing to slash benefits in the name of reducing 'dependence', O'Sullivan talks about his mum and her's both raising families alone in 1960s New Zealand:
Like [Key's mother] Ruth Lazar, she was of an independent stripe, too proud to throw herself on the state's meagre mercies.
But we also had many advantages. Mum owned her house outright - it had been bequeathed to her by her father, who had been a farmer before moving to town.
She made our clothes, took in sewing for relatives and female friends, covered most of our quarter-acre plot with a vegetable garden and was back in paid employment at a local lawyer's office before I was 10.
But the introduction of the DPB has changed the game. Numbers have flourished as a result of the mentality that says "it's better for the children" to split rather than stick in loveless or difficult marriages.
But times have also changed.
At the time my mother - and Key's - took charge of their families, jobs were plentiful. It was also not the norm for both parents to work, so there were also plenty of stay-at-home mums happy to earn some extra dollars by caring for other people's children.
If solo mothers are forced back to work please ensure after-school care is available so they can contribute safe in the knowledge that their children are being cared for.
Otherwise we simply embed the kinds of pervasive inequalities that have led to too many of Britain's youth being ostracised from society.