Posts by Rich of Observationz
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David, you got it in one. The core distinction between Auckland and Wellington is that in Wellington, rich people skulk, while in Auckland, they swagger.
I think Simon wouldn't know a subtext if it got out of a late model Audi and air-kissed him on both cheeks....
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I've bought copies of High Times before..
Um, it's a free publication isn't it?
But I can sell you a subscription to Google if you like? $20 a year?
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Have NZ schools always had formal balls, or did they come in with the movie Pretty In Pink?
My 6th form in England had a student organised party in a club the summer after exams. That was the nearest it got to a formal, unless you went to St Posh's May ball at Cambridge or something..
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I can't say there's a really, really compelling social or moral argument why bars should stay open after 4am
And why do we need one? If having a good time is a good thing, then it's happened to me at 5, 6, 7 and later hours of the morning. For information there are clubs in London, and I'm sure many other cities as well, that open beyond the evil hour. (I don't think the Spanish actually *start* going out much before 2am, from my experience).
yoof-hating moral panic
Got it in one. Sad old gits wanting to crack down on the young and "different", in the confidence that they won't vote or do anything else negative.
The SOG raids are another side of the same coin. It's part of the government showing its dead white male core voters that while they might not have delivered on tax and childbeating, they can still deal to the youth. It's hard to see that Damien's scoop is coincidental - I'm sure he'd tell us, but I can't believe that somebody on the paper didn't get a tip from a "police source" that now would be a great time for a newsworthy story on the Evil Weed.
The primary cause of drug abuse (whether alcohol, tobacco or the illegal stuff) is an underlying lack of social justice, not the availability of drugs. People with dead end lives and no self respect will abuse drugs and have problems. People in privileged situations, like most of the readers here, have much more chance of keeping those problems under control.
Governments like this one (or the last one, for that matter) aren't going to be fixing that in a hurry though. Much easier to use the cops to try and force people to do what they're told.
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where I predicted it would be over 240 pages long?
The Irish got rid of the Windsors in 64 pages of biggish print. The Yanks ditched the Hanovers in rather less.
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The term "Crown" is just shorthand for "government of New Zealand". The Treaty wasn't even between monarch and Maori when it was signed (Britain was a constitutional monarchy in 1840 - the monarch had lost the right to choose the government a few years earlier). NZ was never a personal colony of the monarch (like the Belgian Congo) - fortunately, I think.
However, using it enables us to delude ourselves that we are somehow governed by an elaborately dressed woman in a castle in England, and not by politicians that we elect. It's a form of cop out.
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The Maori Party got a constitutional review as part of it's confidence and supply agreement
It did? Is it happening? It must be a very quiet one..
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As I/S says, the Green Party doesn't have the resources to pay lawyers to draft bills. Given that Labour and National are both leery of being seen as republican and would inevitably vote against any bill, the energy to create a better draft might not have been there, either.
I'd agree that a 'twink republic' is a bad idea, mainly because an elected head of state could claim a mandate to try and impose their ideas on the seperately elected government (refusing assent to bills, denying or granting dissolutions, etc).
It would in many ways be better to codify our constitution first and remove all powers, dormant or otherwise, from the head of state (after the fashion of the Swedish constitution. That would enable a simpler transition to a republic once consent for that existed. (Perhaps after a Windsor behaved in a particularly crass manner, or Britain itself decided to abolish its monarchy, forcing us to follow suit).
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I'd expect the airlines to be pretty cautious, given that besides the risk of disaster, there is a chance that the aircraft will make it's journey safely, but with hugely expensive engine damage. I imagine those F-18s that flew into the dust are going to be costing a few dollars to fix.
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Srsly, at your average motorsport event the spectators burn orders of magnitude more fuel than the competitors.
I saw 5 mins of that car race while I was waiting for a plane (that damn volcano's even delaying Auckland-Wellington flights).
Seriously, it was a bunch of saloon cars (with poorly appointed interiors) being driven around Hamilton, not all that quickly, on a Sunday afternoon. Do people actually *pay* to watch traffic?