Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Friday Music: Bright pastel…, in reply to Mike O'Connell,
The Clean never came to Bristol in 1988 however the Chills and Sneaky Feelings did make it to the Fleece & Firkin pub where incidentally Ali Farka Toure and band also played a mind-bending set.
I think that was the Chills show in Bristol that I tagged along to. Although I'd probably best not tell that story.
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to andrew r,
Plus when Key needs to, he’ll disingenuously bend the truth to suit his argument, and he needs an opponent who is quickfire able to call him on that. I actually think Labour at this point need a new leader, fast. Gift of the gab and a very sharp train of thought are essential and basic prerequisites in a leading politician. Lovely as Shearer is, those gifts he does not have.
I honestly think the only one they have who can do that well is Cunliffe. I've sat in the room while he was talking about complex issues and he was dazzling. He needs to do something about his image as a bit of a prick, but I don't think there's much choice about who can do the job.
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to steviant,
I think people can more easily be coached to handle an aggressive interviewer than they can to simply talk at length on a subject without prompting, because you can distract the viewers by behaving in a way that makes the interviewer seem rude or pushy.
Just been thinking about this, There are two poles in political TV interviewing: moving, and still. Campbell is a mover (so am I), and talks and expresses his feelings about the way the interview is going. He was particularly mobile last night, buggering about with all his papers and stuff. The other pole is Mihi Forbes of Native Affairs, who almost seems inert at times, but will let people talk and then, eventually, spit out a question, and glare at her subject without moving her head and shoulders. Her interview this year with Paula Bennett was amazing.
Each works at different times.
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Thomas Beagle commented usefully under Audrey Young's column:
The clauses around the definition of communications and metadata have not changed since the 2003 GCSB Act. The Kitteridge Report revealed that the GCSB's interpretation of this Act was that they could collect metadata without a warrant, she recommended that the law be changed to clarify this. This has not been done in the new bill. John Key's assertions are not worth much when compared to the actual documented behaviour of the GCSB.
More to the point, the GCSB won't have to. The ability for the GCSB to capture data for the purposes of cybersecurity (purpose 8A in the bill) is so wide that just a couple of access authorisations (signed by the PM and CSW) could give them access to everyone's mobile and internet traffic.
You might say "Well, the PM says that they won't be doing this" to which I respond with "If they don't want to do that, let's remove the ability to do it from the bill."
I note that section 14 against spying on New Zealanders is still there - but only applies to information captured for intelligence work (purpose 8B), not cybersecurity (8A).
I do think that most of those declaring there's nothing to worry about don't actually grasp how wide the powers available to the GCSB are under this bill, and broad its brief to use them is.
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to Bruce Bisset,
Campbell missed several opportunities to “nail” the PM
The one for me was not pointing out that the use of urgency was incompatible with Key's insistence that the bill had not been rushed.
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
You appear to imply that there is a better, albeit non-nuanced, analysis of the interview. Link⸮
You're using the irony mark!
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to The Ruminator,
To many, John Key got DESTROYED by John Campbell. And all he did was confirm the opinion of most that he’s a smug asshole (Hello bomber).
Yeah. It’s one thing to feel that he came off as arrogant or disingenuous, but there is no way he didn’t have by far the better of that interview.
To others, Key destroyed Campbell, confirming once and for all that he’s the greatest Prime Minister we’ve ever had.
There was a thunderous chorus of “case closed” from his supporters on Twitter, as if the interview had in one stroke erased any and all objections from the Law Society and others. It clearly didn’t, but people seemed prepared to believe that.
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Hard News: The GCSB Bill: We at least…, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Nine people per year.
On average. It might have been two in 2004 and 20 in 2011, which would have looked different. Nice bit of framing, which he used more than once.
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to Glenn Pearce,
is a genius, it doesn’t allow the interview to then interrupt without appearing rude and makes it appear that he has a valid answer to the all the questions, whether he does or not….
Yep. That's exactly how it works.