Posts by Joe Wylie
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Speaker: Are we seeing the end of MSM,…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I did manage to get the most egregious comments removed from the Minto story comment thread - the libellous, the violent and the untrue apportionment of identity....
Good on you. While Minto's managed to kick the occasional political own goal - arguably Sue Bradford emerged from the Mana-Dotcom debacle with her credibility relatively unimpaired, and his appearing to briefly join the pile-on over Len Brown's affair didn't help - the legacy of his perceived role in the 1981 tour still triggers a deep streak of nastiness.
Perhaps it's not surprising that the entitled whaddarya mentality still endures, and that the mere mention of Minto's name provokes the kind of reflex that wants to make any dissenter's face the same shape as theirs, with the handiest means available. Even those who maybe should know better have pitched in. Back in 2012 the somewhat flakey Poneke, whose blog now appears to be deservedly defunct, attacked Minto over his refusal to accept an honour from the ANC Government.
Citing a couple of highly dodgy cheerleaders for the post-Mandela regime, the hapless Poneke attempted to portray Minto as yesterday's man, clinging to an obsolete opposition to the capitalism that was delivering so much to the new South Africa. Only a few days later the Marikana killings happened, tragically vindicating Minto's misgivings.
...and nice to see that The Press has done a positive editorial on his candidacy today.
Also The Press still has the huge plus of having John McCrone on board. His Minto profile from last April is pretty good.
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Hard News: Media Take: Three decades on…, in reply to izogi,
Winston Peters' politics, like those of his mentor Muldoon, are inherently divisive. By promoting one group of citizens passing judgement on another he continues to prove that he simply never got the concept of human rights.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Curse of…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Ahem - Straitjackets
Not to be confused with Dire Straights?
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Hard News: The war is still with us, in reply to Tom Semmens,
Britain is a leading member of NATO and an independent nuclear power.
Of all the "independent" nuclear powers, Britain would seem to be the only one whose ability to use its nuclear weapons is dependent on technology supplied by a foreign power, namely Trident. Both its army and air force have long reverted to being strictly conventional forces.
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Hard News: Back in Christchurch, in reply to headasunder,
...the Port Hills are such a natural asset and this transplanted Aucklander is very grateful for there existence
My late Mum used to talk about Harry Ell as if he'd only recently departed this world. When I eventually got around to checking dates I discovered that she'd have been eleven years old at the time of his death. Her own father spent the depression years as a member of Ell's Angels, labouring on relief work gangs on Ell's Summit Road project.
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Hard News: Back in Christchurch, in reply to Carol Stewart,
Wasn’t that a stunning book??
I'm somewhat amazed that it's generated so little discussion. The chapters on the parallel post-quake experience of the Italian city of L'Aquila alone are a revelation. Fiona Farrell on the then yet-to-open Margaret Mahy Playground:
The playground was announced by CERA in December 2012. It will not be like other playgrounds, those little patches set aside for children in the suburbs of the city with their slides and swings and a bouncy horse on a spring. As the CEO of CERA explained, ‘We want to draw people back into the city centre with an outrageous playground.’ It will be part of a riverside park, but this park will not be like other parks. This park will be ‘grunty’. It will be like the waterfront spaces in Melbourne or Brisbane...
It doesn’t sound like the place for the quiet child, swinging dreamily to and fro, finding the pivot point and the awakenings of the inner life. It sounds big. It sounds whizz bang. It sounds like the fitting setting for the little citizens of a new world order. A pleasure dome fit for the children of Brownleegrad, in this, the province of Rugbistan. -
Hard News: Back in Christchurch, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
The Margaret Mahy playground was such an inspired Council investment.
The Crown built that, not the Council, insisted on it (and coming in around $20 million you’d hope it might be okay) – it’s one of the few things they’ve completed, aside from the unholy monstrosity that looks like Mega City One aka the Justice and Emergency Services Precinct- also the only thing that technically deserves the name Precinct.
Fiona Farrell managed to get that one right just on a year ago, when the place had yet to open.
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Hard News: Back in Christchurch, in reply to Emma Hart,
there's this thing where you say hello to everyone you pass they way you wouldn't on a footpath.
And yet that's what people did, not so long ago. When I came to live here in 2003 I had to habituate myself to it. I remember going to visit my mum at the now-vanished Chch Womens Hospital. Being somewhat preoccupied I didn't acknowledge the Maori woman heading for the laundry entrance until she was right alongside and startled me with a huge "HI!" At least my jumping out of my skin gave her a laugh.
After the quakes we kind of stopped doing that. Being busy strangers feels safer.
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Speaker: The Government you Deserve, in reply to Rich Lock,
"...Paul Weller struck out against Prime Minister David Cameron who claimed his liking for The Jam classic 'Eton Rifles': "The whole thing with Cameron saying it was one of his favourite songs... I just think, 'Which bit didn't you get?'"
Reminds me of the young Bob Dylan's account of being congratulated by a group of elderly women after performing With God on Our Side on TV. So nice to hear young folks doing songs about God again.
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Speaker: The Government you Deserve, in reply to BenWilson,
I expect it's for similar reasons that the elected leadership isn't. Too cowardly, too worried about their own position.
The furtively entitled nature of the Black Spider Memos appears to support that view.