Posts by Peter Calder
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Does no one else feel even slightly dispirited that there are two responses to this - one from the originator - and, so far, 87 responses to the question of whether one should refer to the area shaved in preparation for a vasectomy as the scrotum or the balls? I wish I did not think the question at the top of this page was a sad joke.
(BTW, I enjoyed the radio interview, Martin, and look forward to reading the book - I think; on the other hand I may get into the bath with a bottle of gin and a razor blade) -
I remember at the Sydney Olympics the Australian (and NZ) journos laughed like drains when a New York Times writer complained - in print - that she couldn't find a decent cup of coffee in Sydney. To really appreciate this, you need to have tried to get a good cup of coffee in New York, which is a major challenge.
The French make bad coffee too, in my experience. In Italy, even the coffee served in motorway service stations is superb. -
Vodafone's lamentable inability to operate a reliable email service didn't help either.
So it's not just me. I have had badly compromised email service all week - including right now - and flaky service at least one day a week ever since Vodafone bought ihug. I've baled and gone to another ISP after 17 years with V. This is a market leader?
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I am at a loss to understand why the Viaduct Events Centre, whose existence I was quite unaware of until Bernard Orsman's Herald story on Friday was not designated Party Central to start with. If the issue was the distance from the city's pulsing nerve centre at Britomart, what price two of those buses that ferry passengers across airport tarmacs when there is no airbridge room, running on endless shuttle from the Viaduct to the Ferry Building? A few hundred grand plus freight to hire a couple from Changi or Sydney? Am I missing something here?
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In what world is it illegitimate for a columnist to write something at odds with the editorial line of the paper s/he writes in?
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In particular, we assumed the power to ignore advertising by muting it -- and, more recently, pausing and fast-forwarding through programmes on the PVR. And the media industry is still working through the implications of that.
Ain't that the truth. It amazes me that Nielsen figures take no account of people who do not watch TV in real time (and who are therefore likely to be fast-forwarding through the ads). Why would advertisers not want to know the numbers of people who are actively using technology to avoid their hucksterism? (Or why would TV networks not regard that information as germane? Hmmm. Thinks ...).
On the very rare occasions that I watch TV, I record it first. Taking an hour to get 40 minutes worth of something done just don't make sense to me. -
I imagine he will be in touch by email.
Astonishingly, he has not emailed yet ...
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This, from the Wikipedia page "Electoral system of New Zealand" is interesting. I have sent it to Mr Shirtcliffe.
Representation statistics
The Gallagher Index is a measurement of how closely the proportions of votes cast for each party is reflected in the number of parliamentary seats gained by that party. The resultant disproportionality figure is a percentage - the lower the index, the better the match. [2]
Election Disproportionality
1946-1993 FPP average 11.10%
1996 4.36%
1999 3.01%
2002 2.53%
2005 1.11%(source: Stephen Levine and Nigel S. Roberts, The Baubles of Office: The New Zealand General Election of 2005 (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2007), pp.33-4 (ISBN 978-0-86473-539-3)
The Gallagher index on the provisional election night figures for the 2008 election is 4.06
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Re the discussion as to my identity on page 4: Sorry for the long silence which was because I was overseas and never checked back on this discussion after contributing to it. The speculation as to my identity is correct. Of the comments about my comment I have no comment other than to say I thought it remarkable that contributors to Public Address would try to get me in trouble with my employer by telling on me - an interesting approach to debate. For the record, I am not employed by APN: I contract my services to some publications. And since I haven't got into trouble yet for voicing my opinions I may be forced to conclude that the publishers of the Herald are more tolerant of debate than some contributors to this discussion.
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If the Grammar boys had been taking the piss out of Maori (remember the engineers' haka party?) or Samoans or Chinese would it have got the same reaction? And if Maori &c had complained, everyone would have said "Get a life. It was just harmless hijinks." The unsayable thing is that the endless power of the Jewish community, whose spokespeople walk caroeted corridors of the corporate world not the mean streets) to maintain the outrage rings bells on newsdesks. The Grammar boys were silly little pricks but I agree with Finlay: we all were at their age