Posts by Jeremy Andrew
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Hard News: What's in the pills? It matters., in reply to Alfie,
Maybe our PM needs to take a chill pill?
Maybe our PM should have a chat with his 'Club DJ' muso son and his artist daughter....
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Hard News: A dramatic and unremarkable decision, in reply to Russell Brown,
Really? They have it set up at the Grey Lynn Countdown so that alcohol-free beer doesn’t trigger the needs-approval flag.
I can't even buy a home-brew kit in Countdown without ID here in Hamilton. But I could buy sugar, yeast and malt extract...
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Up Front: Not Uniform, in reply to NBH,
I think a uniform is one of the easiest and least disruptive ways to avoid kids feeling shitty ’cause they can’t all have the flashest clothes all the time.
And as someone who went to a no-uniform school (Wellington High, mid-90s), I can tell you that’s the exact opposite of my experience. Granted, it may have had something to do with High’s very Liberal culture, but there was absolutely no hassling on the basis of clothes, and certainly none on the basis of expense.
I second this - I went to a non-uniform school in the late 80s, and you can't compare the behavior on a mufti day with the behavior of kids for whom it is completely normal to wear whatever they feel like (within some fairly liberal boundaries). I tell my kids that I liked my school uniform so much I wear it to this very day, as I point to my jeans and t-shirt.
My boys are at a uniform school now, and I can honestly say that the $600+ each that we paid for their uniforms would have covered an awful lot of jeans and shorts and t-shirts and hoodies.
I am still waiting to see any kind of evidence that uniforms cause kids to learn better than wearing something comfortable.
I was on the Board Of Trustees of my kids primary school, and there was a sizeable minority of parents who were pushing for a uniform there. We held a referendum, and with <40% in favour of uniforms, we stayed non-uniform. About 5 minutes after the next BOT elections, the new board held another referendum, with a <50% vote in favour. In response, the board implemented a voluntary uniform. So over the past 5 years, there's been, on average, 2-3 kids in each classroom wearing the uniform. The BOT has therefore not felt the need to make it compulsory. -
Hard News: Campbell interviewed, in reply to Bart Janssen,
I think there is a place for managers in any organistaion, but it is NOT at the top of the pyramid. They have skills that are useful. We don’t let the folks in stores decide our research directions so why should we let the managers decide research directions.
The management of the CRI I work for have largely come up through science, including the CEO. I can't say it makes a huge difference when the majority of the incoming money is directed by the people doing the spending, mostly the government. The research is directed where the money is, because that's where the money is.
Huge campus and staff upheavals are a different matter, depending which conspiracy theory you listen to, of course. -
Hard News: 2015: The Budget of what?, in reply to Alan Perrott,
I can’t disclose my source, but we’re all getting ponies.
Small typo there - I think you meant 'pennies'
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Hard News: 2015: The Budget of what?, in reply to Sacha,
Hungry spies are a dangerous thing. Feed em, I say.
Meat pies and Penthouses all round!
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Up Front: Stand for... Something, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Of all the designs submitted so far, this is the one that most compels me: “Matariki at midnight”.Except for me this is always The Pleiades and don’t feel really New Zealand. But that is probably just me.
But we'll be a shoo-in for sponsorship by Subaru!
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Up Front: Reviewing the Election, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Not because they can’t change the result (they know they can) but because a change in the name of the government makes no real difference.To be deeply cynical, they are all baddies, they just wear different coloured T-shirts, red, blue, green, and yellow
It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.
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Hard News: The other kind of phone tapping, in reply to James Butler,
IIRC there's a working, cutaway electromechanical pulse exchange at MOTAT where you can dial a number on a phone and watch the workings clunk away selecting the correct line. I could watch that for hours.
For the mainlanders, there's a similar setup at Ferrymead (or was, last time I was there - pre-quake)
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Hard News: An unacceptable failure of care, in reply to ,
It does make one wonder how it might have shaken out if it was a policeman's daughter involved, rather than a son... I'm sure it might have taken a higher priority.