Posts by Charles Mabbett
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Robyn, no disrespect but it is hard to claim to be the best rugby team in the world if you haven't won a World Cup for 20 years.
I love this post on Kiwiblog. How's this sour grapes attempt?
"NZ needs to stop focusing on the world cup and that it in some way shows who is the best team. It is not a competition designed to find the best team. It is set up for bookies. Where there is a better chance of upsets, as we have just witnessed."
I like it. If we win we are world champions and if we lose, we only lost a competition set up by the betting agencies.
My commiserations to the team. I hope they don't have to go through the same ordeal that the media and public put the 1999 team through. They gave it their best shot but they probably needed some tougher games in the first round and they just seemed to wilt in the face of passion and defiance from a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
One small benefit on a gloomy day - I look forward now to the end of reporting by writers like Wynne Gray who in his preview in the NZH yesterday went overboard with his war metaphors.
Here's a taste: It was to be an evening of 'French strafing' with the French kickers or 'artillery launchers' planning to send up plenty of 'bombs' that would need 'defusing' with our boys needing to stand up to the 'French aerial assault'.
Time for General Gray to pack up his kitbag and begin the long march home.
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I'd vote for Doug Howlett for mayor. Was that one of the questions?
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"After extensively trolling the internet"
I think that's meant to be trawling the internet as in dragging a net to snare information.
As for the statistical breakdowns; it all means niente if the All Blacks lose when it matters most. And we've all been there and seen that. I bet the statistics flattered the ABs in the previous four tournaments before disaster struck - in 1991, in 1995, in 1999 and in 2003. Go figure.
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Ugly stuff. Does anyone remember the Billy Bob Thornton film Slingblade?
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I'm sure all of you know your way around the RNZ website but here's the URL anyway for the Nine to Noon discussion this morning:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon -
There's a good interview with Neville Robertson on Nine to Noon about the issue of domestic violence. He makes the point that the recorded history of domestic violence and protection orders in the An An Liu case follows a well established pattern between the victim and the abuser. I'll post the link when RNZ upload the audio onto their website.
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I think it is a bit premature to blame the police at this stage. Qian Xun was abandoned on Saturday and the story started to really blow up on Sunday into Monday. By then the father would have arrived in LA. Finding the body a day or two earlier is unlikely to have made too much of a difference in this case. The police claim that delays in getting a search warrant were one of the reasons for the time elapsed before opening the car boot. Maybe knowing a day or two earlier that they were hunting for an accused killer might have made a difference in trying to locate him in LA but I doubt it. One things for sure - the name of the street will haunt the police if they have screwed up.
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I dunno. Jordan Luck is a very safe and MOR choice for Hall of Fame. I would have gone with Martin Phillips or Chris Knox but I guess the very nature of Halls of Fame is their choices have to be as broadly appealing as possible. And let's not forget dead rock stars who should be there like the guy in Dragon and Steve Gilpin of Misex. Legends.
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Apart from mangled attempts to pronounce Qian Xun's name and the ongoing references to her as Pumpkin, the mainstream news media's response to this case has been remarkably mature.
First there was immediate acknowledgement of Qian Xun's status as a New Zealander and by extension, her parents. Asians are New Zealanders too even if they are recent or old migrants.
Then there was the concerted effort by all media players to seek out views and information within the Chinese communities in Auckland (where the family lived) and Wellington (where Anni Liu spent some months separated from her husband). The main window here was the Chinese language media and what it was reporting or was being discussed by callers or internet users. Many of these Chinese media businesses have articulate communicators who can speak about how their readers, users, listeners, viewers are responding to the case.
The other interesting aspect of this case was on Morning Report today. It was revealed that the NZ Police were relying on their Mandarin speaking Chinese officers to seek out or respond to information held by members of the Chinese communities. It won't be the first time of course but it is positive development that their contribution has been noted. Apart from it being an extremely practical strategy, it means these Chinese police officers would feel their cultural and language skills were very much prized and valued for the contribution they can make to solving such a high profile case.
Another developing feature of the story will be the fate of little Qian Xun. Grandparents from both sides of her family will be travelling from China to Melbourne to be with her. I know if I were the mother of Anni Liu, the missing woman, I would feel extremely awkward and possibly angry towards the parents of her husband. So who will end up with custody of Qian Xun? And what part will the courts in Australia and New Zealand play in determining this?
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ARE YOU STILL LIVING WITH YOUR PARENTS, KEITH????