Posts by Gary Hutchings

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  • Hard News: A Work of Advocacy, in reply to Rich Lock,

    If it remains as a film festival release, its probably not going to be to much of a concern, but it it becomes a major topic of conversation/gets released as a public torrented/youtubed then I think it will be a major concern.

    Given that prof Hodge commented after watching the film's two-minute trailer, that some of the documentary's content appeared to border on contempt of court.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/national/4839869/Terror-raid-films-timing-coincidental

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Hard News: The GST Punt,

    From Goff's release

    It’s easy for anyone to decide if a product is a fresh and unprocessed fruit or vege.

    well maybe.

    Is Slicing processing? how about Washing?

    A salad of mescaline salad with whole baby tomatoes is exempt, but one with sliced large tomatoes, is not? , or is partially exempt?

    whole carrots are exempt, but bags of washed and sliced baby carrots are not?

    potatoes are exempt, but washed ones are not?

    Unhusked peanuts are presumably exempt , but salted ones are not?

    Unpopped pocorn is exempt, but popped is not, - can you ask for the GST back at the movies for the unpopped ones at the bottom of the box?


    The list goes on....

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Hard News: Music's emerging digital market,

    You can only survive in the CD/DVD retail market if you have stock and move plenty of it,

    When the Warehouse moved into CD/DVD retailing big time I bought a few things there, but their range has always been limited at best.

    I have not been into a Red Shed to buy anything since JB Hifi opened.

    Yes there is a whole lotta "Digital eating physical" cannibalisation going on, but on a street level JB are eating the Warehouse's (and any other remaining high street mass retailers ) lunch for them.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Up Front: This is a Photograph of Me,

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Property Investment Federation:…,

    Ah, yes... The story where the photogenically pathetic Kiwi Battler from Struggle Street ended up saying that "going out less often" would be an option.

    Craig, Your struggle street battler was living in a rather nice low rise art deco block on Oriental Parade called Fountain Court, descibed in a current sale notice as having

    plenty to offer including: Terrific afternoon sun and ease of access to the Harbour, local restaurants and night life, roof top access for summer barbeques and sunbathing

    Not exactly your standard 2 bedroom flat in the suburbs.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Island Life: So, what do you think of…,

    Following up on Rich of Observations on a public subsidy, I would like the ask the cruise industry/council/who ever is pushing this a few questions.

    1) What do arriving cruise passengers pay per head to use the current terminal in a service charge? (excluding the costs for NZ customs/MAF/immigrations which would remain no matter which building they arrive at)

    2) what is the proposed charge per head when they are using the proposed $49.2 million terminal?

    3) How long would these usage charges take to pay back the $49.2 million if it was structured as a loan?

    If these passengers arrived by air they would pay a facilities charge at whatever airport they arrived at, is the cruise industry expecting to be treated differently from the Airlines?

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Updated: GST compensation: Can…,

    Keith: I would be very surprised if they used the tax system to compensate all of the bottom 50% of the population.

    The easiest way to do it for most of them is by altering benefit levels in advance of the CPI flow through of a 2.5 point rise in GST,

    I think StatsNZ have calculated that a 2.5 point rise in GST would result in a 2% rise in the CPI, it is easier to lift NZ super and other benefits to compensate for this, rather than trying to lower the bottom rates of tax,

    -following Keith's next comment: Low income families can be assisted via WFF levels, so the only ones left are those without kids, but yes I agree it will be interesting to see how they address this group without screwing the rest of the tax scrum.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Hard News: Do these people even talk?,

    I think that this perfectly exemplifies the elephant in the room which is "What overall governance is there across all of the governments broadcasting/TV spending".

    I mean, TVNZ had their charter funding taken away and transmogrified into the platinum fund which was made contestable, and I am fairly sure that this issue will bring further calls for the MTS funding to be at least partially contestable.....

    But, Given that MTS is a political creation, and with the current cabinet arrangements, I suspect it will be a rock that is never lifted.

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Blue Sky Thinking,

    Sky may not be the bad guys here, in the sense that they have an ability to allow their footage to be posted on the interwebs,

    Most of the content producers tend to slice and dice (pay/FTA/certain markets etc) what they sell, and now with the web becoming a distribution mechanism in its self, I would not be surprised if web coverage, ( live, or archived), becomes a nice little earner for the content producers.

    Sky may hold not rights to coverage on the web, and would be trying not to P.O the content producers, so they can nab such rights in the future.

    On the other hands, they might just be being big nasty corporate bullyboys....

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

  • Speaker: The Freeviewer Diaries (2),

    Hmm, the only thing I could see as a conflict could be the HD decoding capacity, both TV3 and TV1/2 are HD, 1080i and 720 respectively, while all the others are plain SD.

    As an aside have you been able to record/watch TV1 while recording TV3 and TV2 or vice-versa?

    wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 108 posts Report

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