Posts by Joe Wylie
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Southerly: Høstens Vemod, in reply to Hebe,
I find frosts quite useful for cleaning up bugs
Amen. I sometimes miss those balmy Auckland summer garden nights, but not the mass scrunching of molluscs underfoot. City of snails.
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Hard News: Starting the cannabis…, in reply to Worik Stanton,
Cannabis is de jure and de facto banned. That is the meat hook reality for dope smokers.
I'm thinking about leaving Western Springs after the 1988 Pink Floyd show, when the mellow mood was abruptly shattered by the sight of an effective holding pen of mostly brown male middle-aged arrestees. My immediate thought was that the only reason that I wasn't in there too was because I wasn't Polynesian.
In the following week the police touted the high number of arrests for cannabis as some kind of victory in the drug war. Most of those busted turned out to be out of town Maori, fueling the sense that, as someone put it in an opinion piece at the time, you'd have been at far lower risk smoking on your pakeha deck in Freemans Bay than you would if you'd paid your way to a venue where you could be picked off like fish in a barrel.
I believe that Alfie's right about selective decriminalisation. Seriously, has anything fundamentally changed?
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Hard News: Media Take: Three decades on…, in reply to Russell Brown,
it was taken over by Keith Hay and Peter Tait who, with the assistance of The Salvation Army, campaigned for signatures in streets, schools and workplaces.
The way in which the signatures were collected was often ethically dubious.
In the early 80s I took on a work experience kid who happened to be a member of Keith Hay's Mt Roskill church. While I'd like to think that I gave it my best shot there were cultural issues. To his credit the poor guy seemed genuinely mortified when he realised that I wasn't amused by his wisecrack about needing a passport to visit Ponsonby, after he discovered that I lived there.
A couple of years later, when I found myself being accosted by signature gathering children on Queen Street, I wasn't surprised when they readily identified as being from that unfortunate flock. Some appeared as young as twelve. Out alone after dark on Main Street of Sin City they were way outside of their comfort zone.
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Access: Fighting seclusion with…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Giovanni Tiso on seeking accountability for Ashley's situation...
Thank you. I found the video link provided by eileen macatee in her comment there highly educational.
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Polity: Custard, in reply to Marc C,
...If taking up too progressive ideas, the Shearers, Goffs and Nashs will growl...
If Goff's current plans work out, come the next election his relationship to Labour will likely be Lianne Dalziel writ large, i.e. don't ask, don't tell.
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Polity: Custard, in reply to BenWilson,
It's like we've internalized the right wing talking points.
When Rob Salmond offers nothing beyond passively spectating while National deliver a series of own goals, yes, you could be forgiven for thinking that.
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According to legend, visiting media types often attempted to interview Toy Love's road crew, as they were a better fit than the band for a certain preconception of what rock stars should look like.
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Polity: Custard, in reply to tussock,
The 90 day law still requires you have a legitimate reason for firing someone, but it also says that reason need not be communicated to the employee at any point. National never managed to pass their fire-at-will version.
My understanding is that, under the 90 day provision, National pretty much exempted employers from being subject to the disputes tribunal. Is there a reason then, apart from electoral timidity, for Labour to retain anything of National's 90 day legislation?
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Polity: Custard, in reply to izogi,
...I wish there were more in here about what Labour would be doing...
While Rob Salmond attempts to squeeze a little political capital from Treasury's finding that Key's "90 Day Trial policy is a complete flop", Labour's not exactly preparing to dance on its grave. The only change they seem to be contemplating is requiring employers to explain why they fired you.