Posts by Russell Brown
-
Hard News: Key Questions, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
The thing that surprises me about this whole subject is how quickly people seemed to have forgotten (had a brain fade?) the past Prime Minister behaviour when she was given a grilling
Not me! I specifically mentioned it in the original post. As I said, Clark did herself no credit with her response. I wrote here about the BSA finding on complaints from the Prime Minister’s office, the Life Sciences Network and individual citizens:
What the authority did do was to uphold TV3’s right to conduct a demanding and aggressive interview without tipping off the Prime Minister in advance as to its specific content. Complaints about the interview per se were not upheld ...
But, on the other hand, the authority takes the view that there was a public interest justification for the story and the interview, but believes that the Prime Minister had a right to know when she was interviewed what was specifically being alleged against her, and by whom ...
... The authority again endorses the right of the broadcaster to conduct a tough interview in the public interest. But it believes that tough questions ought also to have been asked of the source of the allegations.
It's a genuinely different situation to Key being asked straightforward questions about his own actions, not telling the truth and then throwing a hissy fit.
-
Hard News: Key Questions, in reply to Keir Leslie,
Precisely. The raving about him having declared war seems to have led some people to overlook the sheer ineptitude of what he did say.
-
Hard News: Illegal Tender, in reply to Stephen Judd,
I think there’s more win in saying “take all the harms you see caused by abuse, and ask yourself how they compare to the social harms caused by prohibition.”
Or better yet, saying: "These are the harms caused by cannabis abuse. Prohibition doesn't curb them -- in fact, it makes them harder to deal with, and traps people into a cannabis lifestyle. It is a hugely significant factor in shutting down the aspirations of young Maori by criminalising them. There has to be a better way than this."
-
Hard News: Illegal Tender, in reply to Hirini Kaa,
Kia ora Russell. Long time reader, first time responder :)
Kia ora!
Placed back into the context of communities locked in a struggle for survival, it’s easy to see why he doesn’t toe the progressive line. Cannabis is an added burden on communities that have little ability to absorb yet another negative factor.
Sure, but I think one of the most interesting points raised in the report is the extent to which criminal convictions stand in the way of people improving their lives. The system does hurt Maori more than anyone else – but it doesn’t stop people smoking or growing – or work usefully in a public health context. It’s hard to see how prudent legalisation, or even just doing something about the prosecution rate, could be worse.
This terrifying research by JustSpeak says it all. Against everything you might expect, the rate of drug prosecutions for 10-16 year-olds (really!?) has nearly doubled since 1994. And 97% of those prosecutions are cannabis offences. It's completely mad.
-
Hard News: Illegal Tender, in reply to greenlove33,
I am just wondering why this is sad news?
But Geoff said "saw news", not "sad news". Blurry eyes, dude? ;-)
-
Hard News: Neither fish nor fowl, in reply to BenWilson,
That sounds dangerously counterintuitive. How would either car know which lane the other wanted to turn into? There is no compulsion whatsoever when turning to choose the closest lane. You just have to indicate three seconds before the turn. If what you are saying is true, I would expect to see very clear markings on the road to signify it, like a guiding curve
That is what people do all the time at that intersection, though. It seems to work well.
-
Hard News: Neither fish nor fowl, in reply to anth,
I’ve never been so much as tooted at
I’ve been yelled at to get off the road by the driver of a car behind me.
I had my first significant on-road confrontation yesterday. A silly old man yelled at me about wanting “the whole road” as he went past, and then, not liking my subsequent hand signal, pulled over at what happened to be my destination – the Great North Road gate of Avondale Markets.
He then got out of his car and started to approach me. He would not have been any physical threat to me, but I’d hate to be in the position of having to defend myself. He eventually contented himself with repeatedly threatening to run me over. I told him should shouldn’t make threats like that and eventually he drove off.
He apparently didn’t like my recourse to the right-hand lane, as a result of the usual clusterfuck at the carpark gate, where the queue had filled up the whole left lane, back to the lights. I wasn’t really close to him or really even slowing him down. Oh well.
Otoh, a few days earlier, a super-considerate driver waved me through to go around a bus by Western Springs, then gave me a thumbs-up as she went past.
Not entirely dissimilar situations, very different reactions.
-
See also: Gordon Campbell.
-
Capture: Got the blues, in reply to Bruce Buckman,
I have wasted hours trying to get a good shot of them on the wing. Haven’t done it yet. Lots of shots of wings and beaks entering or leaving frame. Ditto for Swallows.
Tried to get a fantail dancing in front of me last weekend. Hopeless. But I did get an impressionistic picture of a tree that is now my iPhone wallpaper.
-
Hard News: Neither fish nor fowl, in reply to BenWilson,
Fuck that, I will just take the fine if a cop ever decides to bust me for slipping through the pedestrian signal and then bombing the bus lane.
Exactly. The law asks cyclists to embrace unacceptable risk at that intersection.