Posts by Paul Williams

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  • Speaker: Knuckleball,

    ChrisW said what I was going to, possibly better than I might've, about Hayden... he is a dork but & therefore the exception to the rule perhaps?

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Cracker: A Whale of a Tale,

    Oh, bullshit. If Ministers of the Crown want to exercise themselves with grossly over-priced PPV porn that's their affair. But surely they can easily afford to self-finance their masturbation-fodder from their own far from niggardly salaries?

    I generally agree. I've travelled lots for work and charged meals etc when I've been entitled too but I always paid cash for any movie I watched, not 'cause I cared about what I watched being known by others, but because I'd not have bothered to keep the receipt and claim had I walked a couple of blocks to the local theatre.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Cracker: A Whale of a Tale,

    But never to someone *like you*. Paul Henry consistently picks on only marginalised social groups – just like other bullies do. You won’t see him putting down white business men or sports people – or anyone who he suspects could hand him his arse on a plate.

    Well put Sacha, thanks.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Cracker: A Whale of a Tale,

    How about his seniority and his ability? The fact that he can actually interview people, and his job is not just to read things? Do these things no longer count? Is it all about the blasted paparazzi now?

    There's no doubt Geoff's a fine journalist and an NZ institution. That said, I'd not entirely dismiss the skill associated with fronting the news as just reading an autocue. I have family who read the news albeit a while back and they had done the ropes as journalists for many years first. Perhaps it's changed now, but it used to be that you couldn't get near the autocue until you'd done years of other journalistic work.

    ... that said, Paul Henry's approach annoys me no end. He's a boorish, oafish, juvenille git ... perfect for breakfast TV clearly...

    I watched NZ's Q&A on the weekend when I was briefly back in NZ, I thought Espiner was quite good.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Up Front: A Word in Your Ear,

    I got used to being called palagi while at school in South Auckland. Sure sometimes it was derogatory, but not always and I don't see the word as inherently derogatory. I might be simply a sickly white liberal, but I identify as Pakeha so that at least it's clear I'm a sickly white liberal from NZ and not, umm, Australia.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Up Front: A Word in Your Ear,

    late to party... way back Joe Wylie said:

    Howevah, when being stonewalled by the Australian Commonwealth bureaucracy a few years back, all my attempts at articulacy and quoting of the rules (I'd done my homework) got me nowhere. Breaking

    I've been genuinely distressed by direct experience of Australian state government departments claiming the right to do stuff they've absolutely no right to do and getting away with it. I've no experience of this in NZ though it may occur.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Hard News: Standing with the Poo,

    On Craig's point above...

    should you wish to, here's a link to the ABC background briefing on the Australian filter (albiet from a while back). Early on, the journalist notes that the blacklist of sites to be blocked will be secret and not subject to review in any way whatsoever:

    When someone complains, ACMA uses the same guidelines to classify internet content as the Classification Board does to rate films, books, magazines and television. But the similarities end there. While the Classification Board recognises it might occasionally get things wrong, and has an independent review board, ACMA does not; its secret decisions are final, and the blacklist is also secret and not subject to FOI requests.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Up Front: Who's Dreaming Now?,

    This thread reinforces the incredible collective value of the PAS community.

    Sadly, I don't have anything new to add to the discussion but am genuinely saddened that NZ will repeat the failed policies of Ruth Richardson. The transaction costs will negate any real benefit of this approach, the flood of beneficiaries may displace other workers, will likely depress wagesand simply enable low-wage, low-value added employment to continue... does this deliver a dividend to employers, I don't think so, it's just a race to the bottom.

    Red meat for "hard-working mainstream" New Zillunders too misinformed to realise who's actually dicking them over.

    Sadly, I really can't see any evidence that this isn't entirely true.

    On the Training Incentive Allowance, and sorry for the comparisons with Australia, over this side of the Tasman we've significantly increased funding for training targetted at getting people with low skills and low levels of labour participation into training so that they can get good jobs. We might quibble about the specifics, but the approach and funding make Bennett's approach look all the more parsimonious.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Field Theory: Friday at the test,

    If it's of any consolation, some fans at the SCG are just a pathetic. My sisters-in-law no longer go to cricket as they're sick of homophobic gits. Annoys me no end. The Hill, as it was called at the SCG, was where this bunch of blokes would hang out. I made the mistake of getting tickets there once, never again and it's gone now. It's not a cricket-thing, it's a length-of-time-drinking think.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Hard News: Ready for the Weekend,

    Hey Jonty, thanks for these two lovely stories. Will watch the media7 ep asap...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

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