Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Grokking things by being places, in reply to matthewbuchanan,
Aspect ratios should now behave better on embedded images.
You're a genius.
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Hard News: The perils of political confidence, in reply to merc,
Laughable, methinks the guy doth protest way too much,
“I just don’t accept the poll to be perfectly honest,” he said.It’s actually quite interesting if the Horizon poll does turn out to have spotted the Peters trend before anyone else’s. David Farrar and others have been keen to point out what’s wrong with its methodology, but Keith Rankin thought it was in some ways more useful, especially in spotting trends – because the panel largely doesn’t change.
And, well, this:
A Horizon poll of 2874 people is projecting National on 46 seats in a 122-seat parliament, and Labour and the Greens on 50.
That leaves 26 seats to decide the government and, according to Horizon, Winston Peters’ New Zealand First is on track to take up to 13 of them.
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Hard News: Grokking things by being places, in reply to 3410,
Aspect ratio abuse!
I know! I'm going to try something ...
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Infinitely more stable than New Zealand First. Sorry, needs to be said.
Both parties have struggled for continuity. NZ First has actually only been in government once, and Peters did end that relationship after National replaced Bolger with Shipley in the midst of a term. Act hasn't done that.
But I wouldn't say the difference is "infinite" given that Act's entire 2008 Parliamentary caucus has disappeared (well, not quite now that Boscawen has suddenly decided he would like to win in Tamaki and kindly promised not to trigger a by-election) along with its leader, who was rolled in a frankly bizarre process by another leader who seems to be now for the chop himself, with the connivance of a candidate who had to resign from the National Party so he could stand in Epsom. The guy who departed in disgrace was replaced by an alleged rising star who proved to be such a loon she was assigned a 2011 list place that would preclude her re-entering Parliament. The party is, as Audrey Young put it this morning,a shambles.
In comparison with either of them, the Greens seem an absolute model of stability.
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Meanwhile, Steven Price doesn’t concur with Mike Hosking’s elevated opinion of himself as an expert on New Zealand privacy law:
If he means, he’s got a pretty good understanding of those laws, I think the rest of the interview demonstrates that he’s wrong.
It was worse than that, really, because Hosking actually declared that "the law is very clear" before demonstrating he didn't have a clue.
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Sacha,
Again I want any journo to laugh in Key’s face if he claims Act are stable.
It's not necessary to do that. It would be unprofessional and ungracious.
All it needs is for a a reporter to ask a question of the order of "Prime Minister, would you say the Act party has been stable? On what basis would you say that, given the party's recent history?"
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Hard News: Criminalising Journalism, in reply to merc,
Just met Jacinda Ardern, what an amazing woman, I mentioned PAS (she spoke very highly of PAS and RB in particular),
Shoosh! People will talk.
we chatted, she was door knocking, great chat, wide ranging and she gave me some very informed options, which I needed.
What a breath of fresh airI think she's for real. Before the LATE at the Museum gig I drafted her for, I told her she wouldn't be able to make a stump speech and she'd be speaking as an individual. She contributed impressively to that brief.
Mind you, I've got nothing in particular against Nikki Kaye either. As I've said before, I think the Auckland Central lineup is actually very good.
I go to the Grey Lynn festival every year, you see alot of Aucklanders out having fun, eating, listening to music, playing music, buying stuff, saw Len Brown
I saw him watching the triathlon today. Not as part of a media opportunity, just standing watching it on a corner.
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Sacha,
one must always respect big daddy’s authority
I could say something, but I'd probably regret it.
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I was aware that an email went around APN staff on Friday asking them to be particularly alert for people who might be breaching office security, but it didn't seem prudent to tell the world about it -- not least because I didn't know what it was really about.
Turns out, it was because of Michael Laws' vile radio show. I'm in fucking despair about this.
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Sum total of questioning about this whole bloody business in Paul Holmes’ Q+A interview with John Key:
PAUL Anyway, the week just gone – good week?
JOHN Oh, look, it’s another week, anyway. Let’s put it in those terms. Election campaigns are always a bit quirky, but the one thing that does come through – this is a campaign that’s about the economy. It’s about economic leadership and about who can provide stability over the next three years.
PAUL Let’s talk about the economy shortly.
JOHN That’s what people care about.
PAUL I understand that. Let’s talk about the economy shortly. I have to deal with the teacup tape just briefly.
JOHN Yeah.
PAUL The worry about your going to the police that people have, I think, is you’re the Prime Minister; you’re effectively using the police to suppress this information. Is that healthy in a democracy?
JOHN Well, firstly, I utterly reject that. That’s not correct.
PAUL But that’s what’s happened, though, isn’t it?
JOHN No. I mean, we believe that the information was illegally obtained. We believe that’s in breach of the Crimes Act, and therefore on that basis, I think that is the view of a number of newspapers, because they haven’t actually printed it. So in my view, we took the course of action that was required. And, look, people can say politicians are fair game. Fair enough. Some people take that view, but my view, and I take that view very seriously and I’ve stood up for that principle even if I’ve been attacked by certain parts of the media for doing so, I think it inevitably leads to prominent New Zealanders and then ordinary everyday New Zealanders, and I’m standing up against that principle.
PAUL Very well. Let’s move on.
I gather Phil Goff was interviewed by a journalist.