Posts by simon g
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Legal Beagle: New Zealand rockets up the…, in reply to Raymond A Francis,
NZ is near the top of the World rankings with regard to anti corruption which is good and the alternative view pushed by the “Standard” and Bomber is bollocks!
The opinions of fringe bloggers don’t mean much at all. The views of the leader of the opposition matter a good deal more.
And when that opposition party was National, and its leader was Don Brash, they called Helen Clark’s government “corrupt” (not implied it, but explicitly said it). When it was pointed out that NZ was top of the very same world rankings (and it was) they said “oops, our bad” … well no, of course they didn’t, they just said “corrupt” again. (“Alternative facts” didn’t begin with Trump).
So, apples with apples, please.
(Edit: just one example among many) – https://web.archive.org/web/20070510021623/http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?ArticleID=7645
"... the most corrupt government in NZ history"
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Did Hitler survive? Was OJ innocent?
1) No, and no. Or ...
2) See the Herald online, today.
I am not making this up. Whether they are is another question ...
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Hard News: Taxpayers' Union: still…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
WHY then would any media repeat anything from the TPU and Mr Williams?
For the same reason the Herald recently ran a piece by Bruce Logan, a proven plagiarist. They simply don't care. Professional standards? No, as long as the "news" is given to them, without work or cost, then their business requirements are satisfied.
Their short-term requirements, at least ...
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Look, the word of the year is what politicians and TV reporters are always telling us to do, because, look, if you don't look, you can't see, because look, do you see?
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Elite
Nominated because of the change in meaning. Previously, "a small, select group" (as in 'elite athletes at the Olympics').
Now it means anyone who has read a book, or likes to get their news from journalists who read them.
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Speaker: David Shearer: The one that…, in reply to Tinakori,
You must have through it terrific when John Key appointed a Chief Scientific Advisor
I think many of us did. But that was in the innocent, hopeful time, before we learned how Keyism works.
Announce appointment = get good headline. But when said appointment speaks up (on anything from climate change to sugar tax), ignore his recommendations, and talk about rugby instead.
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It's a fair and welcome tribute from Simon Wilson to Shearer the man, but I'm afraid Shearer the politician is far from blameless in his own leadership failure. When Goff stood down, Shearer allowed himself to be the creature of caucus, specifically of the old guard (King, Mallard, etc). That was 5 years ago, and only now is Labour starting to face a reality that was already staring them in the face back then. On blogs like Red Alert (now gone, not missed) Labour voters would say heretical things like "Rejuvenate! Talk to the Greens! Helen has gone!" and the response was usually "Don't worry, we know what we're doing." They didn't. They waited for Key to fail and a grateful nation to turn to the government-in-waiting. Still waiting, guys.
Shearer was a new face, with a different style, and he could/should have been a new beginning. But he was a continuation of the old, and that sealed his fate.
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Yeah, I really don't think that "accurately reporting what Trump says and does - or tweets" is any kind of definition for "demonising".
Or for that matter, redefining "leftist" as "diplomats, scientists, journalists, a bunch of Republicans, most American voters, etc, etc ...".
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to mark taslov,
I’m not seeing any compelling reasons to let illiterate people vote in elections that are basically literacy tests.
A foreign (second) language test is not a literacy test, or an intelligence test, or an education test. Who knows where voters get their information?
I would happily exclude all voters whose dial is stuck on Newstalk ZB, but this would be hard to enforce, so ... no. Disenfranchising tests have a dreadful history, and - I sincerely hope - no future.
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Hard News: The fake news problem, in reply to andin,
About as well as trumpian adorer R Hide.
His Herald piece today was - I assume - a Private Eye satire ("will this do?"). Laughably bad, though it's hard to laugh these days.
It's another example of the Trump apologists emerging in recent days to reveal their true colours. Before the election, Trump was persona non grata on the Right for many purported reasons: bigotry, dishonesty and general obnoxiousness. He was "not a true conservative" and his economic policies were anathama.
But then, he won. So it turns out that many of these people are motivated first and foremost not by any kind of coherent principle/philosophy, but by yelling "Losers!!11!!". And if that spells bad news for people Rodney Hide used to defend - like immigrants or teh gayz - then never mind, he is happy to chuck them under the bus. As long as he is entertained; that's priority number one.