Posts by Charles Mabbett
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Congratulations, Russell. Are there any plans to get Mr Brown in Singapore on the show from time to time?
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China is undeniably autocratic but it should be noted that there are experiments in democracy that are being sanctioned by the regime. This article by John Thornton comes up with some surprising findings. Clearly democratisation will only happen if sanctioned by the Communist Party and the Chinese model may be evolving into that of a one party state but governed by elected representatives.
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080101faessay87101/john-l-thornton/long-time-coming.html
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Agreed, Russell. There is a knee jerk anti-Chinese reaction that you can bet your house on when these issues arise. In the final wash, New Zealand is going to need China an awful lot more than China will need New Zealand. Now if we were Australia with its mineral resources, that would be a different story. And Phil Goff made good points in his Morning Report interview yesterday - if New Zealand restricted itself to trading with countries with squeaky clean human rights records, we wouldn't be trading with many large trading partners including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States (remember Guantanamo Bay anyone?). The Chinese government has done awful things in Tibet but no country in the world would have its police and army sit on its hands while rioters destroyed the downtown area of a major city while targeting members of another ethnic group and destroying their businesses. As for the FTA, bring it on. New Zealand needs better access to Chinese markets. After all Chinese exporters have pretty much unrestricted access to our small market.
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Is Russell Brown from Timaru? I didn't know that.
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Hi David,
that's a fascinating project that Jen is undertaking. Has there been a flood of candidates after the Southland Times article was published? Will you have broadband? Is the water warm enough for swimming? Is Invercargill going to become an oil exploration boom town? Do they have any Thai restaurants down there. I look forward to answers to all these questions and more.
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Kyle wrote: "I don't know if that has to do with stuff, or has to do with their deal with the newspapers. I don't think it's any conspiracy anyway."
No not a conspiracy, just a really bad story that they should be embarrassed about.
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Here's some of the story - unfortunately the entire story has been 'erased' from the Stuff website.
Sleepwalking into a surveillance society
By PATRICK CREWDSON - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 10 April 2007
New Zealand risks descending into a surveillance society like Britain where people are continually monitored as they work, shop and move around, privacy watchdogs warn.
"This huge information technology revolution we are living through is exciting. Many amazing and useful things can be done. Beyond useful - lifesaving," New Zealand's privacy commissioner, Marie Shroff, says.
"But what we should do is take a look at how the technology is being used."
In Britain, reputedly the most spied upon country, information commissioner Richard Thomas has repeatedly warned people they are "sleepwalking into a surveillance society".
Twenty per cent of the world's CCTV cameras are in Britain - one for every 12 people.
The average person can be caught on CCTV 300 times a day. An innovation about to be piloted in 20 areas is talking cameras, enabling anyone misbehaving to be told off by a loudspeaker. -
Sarah Lacy committed the cardinal sin of trying to do as much talking as her subject. She obviously comes from the this is as much about me as it is about him school of faux journalism. The pity of the Youtube clip is that once the audience gets into it, a person standing to the right of the camera blots out the interviewer and you can't see her reaction to the heckling but only hear her comments. It must have been acutely embarrassing for her.
As for the Dominion Post story about crims' texts - does anyone remember the Big Brother surveillance nation story that appeared last year? It seems that it was news that every transaction you make together CCTV cameras around the place meant that every move you made was being electronically recorded - somewhere and could possibly be used ....maybe. Shocking but true.
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Good on the Herald journos! It does stink.
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Wow. not only afrobeat. look at this eclectic list of influences on that myspace link.
Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart, Ornette Coleman, Burning Spear, Can, Jimi Hendrix, Harry Partch, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Neil Young, Lee Perry, Jo Jones, Tom Waits, Foisemaster, Einstürzende Neubauten, Ian & Carolyn, Duke Ellington, The Who, Fela Kuti, Nick Drake, The Residents, Johnny Cash, Space Waltz, Husker Dü, John Lennon, Split Enz, Hasil Adkins, John Lee Hooker, Straitjacket fits, From Scratch, Buddy Rich, Pere Ubu, Robert Johnson, Roland Kirk, Led Zeppelin, Chris Knox, Count Basie.
Isn't Wellington cool?