Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: The hard road to a…, in reply to Carol Green,
Phil Twyford posted on Facebook a few days ago about John Bonner, the cyclist who was killed in Te Atatu last week. One of the 'occupy' people used his post as an invitation to hijack the comment thread and further their agenda.
I've butted heads with them in the past and seen a similar screaming lack of empathy. I won't go into it here – I'm trying to not make this conversation about them – but it was pretty awful.
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Hard News: The hard road to a…, in reply to Patrick Morgan,
I’d say the hardest thing is managing change – whether it’s to a street layout, shopping area, driveways or parking, Councils need to have their act together, make a compelling case for change, talk it through with all affected people, take feedback on board, adjust the plan, and implement it carefully.
Yep.
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Hard News: The hard road to a…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
AT will get it wrong. And for all that consultation is lovely and important the public will also get it wrong. We have to be willing to try things and if it’s wrong then we have to suck up our egos and fix it.
This is pretty much what I think. Coming down like a ton of bricks on AT for getting something new a bit wrong isn't helping anyone, and it needs to develop skills and practices for taking the public along on these projects.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Not Dead Yet, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Bids start at $20…
I see it on Discogs for about $80!!Oh, man. I probably can't justify this, but it's tempting ...
I actually looked up this song yesterday. It's a Vanda & Young composition – and 15 years after its release Mark actually signed to Alberts and wrote songs with Vanda and Young.
Alan and John's sort-of launch party for the album was nice on Saturday night. The highlight for me was having a wee dance to 'House for Sale' and really realising what a beautifully-made record it is.
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Today's two Herald stories.
The main feature on the Nelson medical cannabis activists.
And my news story on what I've been able to glean of the new government's plans.
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Hard News: Media Take: We need to talk…, in reply to Rosemary McDonald,
Thanks Rosemary!
See also the news story I wrote on what I can glean of the new government's plans.
No joy for green fairies, but progress on several other fronts.
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Sarah Daniell at the Herald Weekend magazine got festival promoters to share their best festival stories.
Campbell Smith's are gold.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Not Dead Yet, in reply to Ben Howe,
Did you really think it was well researched? If I’d read that knowing nothing about the music industry I’d be lead to believe it only had two components – major record labels and NZ on Air.
Fair enough, but that's more about the focus and scope of the story than the research.
Also little mention of the myriad of artists excelling internationally today, which mostly started happening around 2010….this was roughly the same time that the major labels backed away and the financial incentives to make radio friendly hits were removed. Coincidence?
You make a very interesting point there.
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Hard News: This is your government on drugs, in reply to Sacha,
Oh, man. There was a straightforward morally and evidentially correct way forward here and Twyford has taken it. It shouldn’t be amazing, but it is.
If a tenant or someone in their family has an addiction problem, the first response won’t be to kick them out, it will be to help them get support and deal with that addiction.
I’ve been sitting here thinking about why the last government would not say this.
The video version:
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Hard News: This is your government on drugs, in reply to Doug Hood,
Right on Tom, English was the architect who made the policy on the hop, in association with the Treasury
The weird thing is it never even looked like working. It's been a very failed policy.