Posts by Joe Wylie
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Hard News: Media Take: Crime and punishment, in reply to BenWilson,
But are they bigger than the burglary epidemic?
All part of the good old broken window fallacy.
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Polity: Let the big lies flow, in reply to Steve Barnes,
relentless dissatisfaction
Coming from English, that sounds like a politely gentrified version of Orwell's "boot stamping on a human face - forever."
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Speaker: Her outdoors, in reply to Morgan Nichol,
Or are we (as unlikely as it seems) talking about different people? He couldn't walk, yes?
From memory he seemed to get along with some difficulty on those crutches-cum-canes that fit around the forearm.
Russell:
On reflection, "flower guy" is more appropriate. I remember him being youngish, but let's not diminish him.The way "flower boy" seemed to be used back then seemed kind of a play on flower child, i.e. a hippy, only not what you'd expect.
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Speaker: Her outdoors, in reply to Russell Brown,
But he also read up at the Globe Tavern’s Tuesday poetry night – movingly, I was told.
Thanks for the reminder, I'd quite forgotten. I understand that he was given a certain amount of constructive encouragement, though my source for that is long since scattered to the winds. Only sorry that he wasn't there on the couple of occasions I went along.
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Speaker: Her outdoors, in reply to Sacha,
preserved as a line in this:
That'd be him :)
Late one night on a mid-Queen Street bus stop I was waiting behind a clean-cut couple who were wondering aloud when their bus might appear. "I'll just ask this lady", said hubby. Admittedly the flower boy, seated nearby, did resemble a stocky woman of a certain age from behind. When tapped on the shoulder he instantly spun around and let rip with his trademark line at max volume. The poor guy nearly jumped out of his pants. -
Speaker: Her outdoors, in reply to simon g,
Memory is fallible, so I wonder if other PA readers have the same impression as I have, from 20+ years living in central Auckland (other cities are available!).
In the early to mid-80s the nearest thing I recall to a regular "street person" in central Auckland was the "flower boy", who sold modest bouquets from a bench on the Smith & Caughey block. He'd often startle passers-by with his foghorn-volume "YOU WANNA BUY A FLOWAH?" Though he spent a lot of time on Queen Street he wasn't homeless. According to a taxi driving friend he had some arrangement with a hostel in Parnell that the pre-privatised post and telegraph operated for telephone linespeople.
Must be our rock star economy.
From the years I spent in Sydney I'd have assumed that a callous tolerance came with the kind of impersonal distancing once a city reached a certain population mass. However, from the way that homelessness has become a barely remarked phenomenon in Christchurch since the quakes, you're probably right.
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...the feckless and and often nonsensical stories about "meth houses" and contamination...News stories end up full of wild and contradictory claims and property owners are relieved of yet more money.
Thanks for calling bullshit on this. The way it's been building, the Herald will soon be claiming that these mostly pointless meth exorcisms will be a bigger driver of the economy than the Chch rebuild.
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Hard News: UNGASS and the "Drug Free…, in reply to Alfie,
We live in interesting times.
A few more exceptions for those fated to die in these "interesting times" wouldn't hurt, surely.
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Polity: Home-spun non-truths, in reply to BenWilson,
Not entirely sure I see how that works.
If it comes to specifics neither do I, though the kind of reformist thinking that advocates genuine discussion of a UBI offers some hope that wider desperately pressing issues might be addressed.
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Polity: Home-spun non-truths, in reply to BenWilson,
Part of what I've always liked about the UBI is that it's not really an anti capitalist idea. It could actually make capitalism work better. It could stimulate internal demand, creating jobs where there were none, and yet it doesn't require unrealistically demanding class warfare as the solution to all ills.
Not to mention going some way towards addressing the inequality gap, and, uh, saving the environment. Presumably Grant Robertson is advancing this as part of a genuine reformist strategy, rather than taking one-off pot shots at Chinese surnames or roof-painting beneficiaries. As you say, a reason to vote, hopefully.