Posts by Russell Brown
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Sacha,
That nefarious act of the Parliament of 2004 is comparable to the nefarious acts of the Parliaments of the 1860s.
I think political context is in order here though. As Tim Watkin notes, Closing the Gaps was worked into a race issue by National – and that was before Brash’s National went full racist with the above.
The F&S Act appropriated key rights and replaced them with lesser rights. National at the time want to legislate over all rights. And they very, very nearly got the chance to do so. Had Brash become PM things would’ve got very serious – remember, those billboards were the work of John Ansell. As Tim notes, there’s an argument for supposing Clark was seeking the least-worst path and staying in power.
I still think it was a political failure though. Labour could have done better both before and after the 2006 election. That’s Clark’s failure.
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I think it is right to say that Tariana and Helen were good friends from the time of Tariana’s high list placing in 1996? until the Seabed and Foreshore thing had them falling out in a big way. Reflecting perhaps the Jim Anderton Helen Clark falling out in the late 1980s which was later healed. So perhaps now they are both older they have improved their relationship again, or at least have a grudging respect for each other.
That's an interesting angle.
It's worth noting that Tariana – having been a leader of the Motua Gardens occupation alongside Ken Mair – was quite a bold pick for Labour.
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to kw,
It probably should be between Gutierrez and Clark, and they both have advantages that are not gender-related.
Ah, thanks.
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to James Littlewood*,
Seems Tariana might have been a good reference to tap as well.
Given her statements today, I wouldn't be too surprised if she had been consulted behind the scenes.
There's clearly been something of a struggle over this within the party,
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
However, as a commenter on TS posted this morning...Fox took exactly the opposite stance on Clark's bid for higher office on Waatea News back in April.
Whoa. She was on TV this morning saying that declining to endorse had been the party's position all along.
I guess you could draw a line between her personal view and that of the party, but it still seems rather strange. I wonder what happened?
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to James Littlewood*,
And also: who would the Maori Party prefer?
They don’t seem to have looked that far, or even considered what Clark’s done in the UNDP job, which is something I do feel comfortable faulting them for.
But possibly Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO. I don’t think she’s anywhere near as qualified as Clark though.
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to ThoughtSpur,
Yes, I agree with this point. To think that the Secretary General is able to confer favour on their home turf is probably 180 degrees from the reality of the role.
I think there's an advantage in having a SG who understands New Zealand and similar countries and their interests, but as I said, not the main reason.
-
Hard News: On the Clark candidacy, in reply to Jeff from Accounting,
Former co-leader Tariana Turia offers lukewarm approval for Clark.
Gee, that is interesting. And it’s a bit more than lukewarm, really.
“I do think she is, I do think she’s got all the skills and abilities that we would want in that position, so yes I do. Well I didn’t agree with Helen’s position on the foreshore and seabed. I certainly have had some considerable regard for her.”
She’s actually more implicitly critical of her former Maori Party colleagues.
-
Hard News: Understanding the Audiences, in reply to Brent Jackson,
Add “don’t have access to broadband” to your “can’t afford tech"
The World Internet Project surveys carried out by AUT have been showing a more complex picture than that for a while – notably, they showed that Maori/Pasifika households led the rest of the market in music streaming, and paid music streaming. Part of that was down to the younger age profile of those communities, but it also possibly just made more sense for the whole house to have a Spotify account than to buy CDs.
Where are the Audiences? shows high use amongst the lowest-income respondents of streaming video (YouTube/Vimeo) and streaming music. Basically, most households have some form of broadband now. The difference is what they do with it.
What lower-income households don’t always have is access to the latest toys and add-on services:
New Zealanders from higher socio-economic levels are more likely to own or have daily access to; smartphones, tablets, PVR, smart TV connected to the internet, UFB, Netflix, and Chromecast.
The big differentiators in that survey (and basically every other one) are age and stage of life. Only 5% of 50+ NZers use an SVOD service, but they watch a shitload of TV.
-
Hard News: Understanding the Audiences, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
I have been told, by a reliable source, that a condition of RNZ being part of the new ratings system is that they are constrained from publically comparing their results against the commercial networks.
That's what the Star Times story pretty clearly implies.
Last ←Newer Page 1 … 160 161 162 163 164 … 2279 Older→ First