Posts by Paul Williams
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Dear PAS whanau. Merry Christmas. With much love, respect and best wishes, Paul.
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As I write here every year I am truly thankful that I get to read the voices of you all. You bring me things I would not normally see and make me think about things I would normally never notice. You are all wonderful in too many ways to describe. Have a great holiday all of you.
Bart's said exactly what I'd've liked to. PAS keeps me feeling somewhat connected to NZ, or at least a part of it and I'm very grateful (I'm also jumping on a plane back to NZ in a few days, very exciting).
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PAS techies, is it me or is the mp3 not working?
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Sacha, that's inspired... I reckon the resulting thread will induce a fair volume of tears...
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I'm a little stunned by this thread. I shouldn't be surprised that people would share their grief in the same was they, myself included, have shared their joys. I can't entirely or simply convey my feelings about the things said here but I offer my sincere thanks and respect.
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On the Australian corruption thing, I've lived here seven years and worked in state and federal government, there's plenty of evidence to show significant corruption of parts of Australian business and government. A simple google search will turn a number of recent examples, often to do access to land. It appears local government's particularly weak.
Worst still, I actually think there's a remarkable tolerance for poor government or at least some significant failings in the democratic system - odd for a country that has compulsory voting. The situation in NSW is woeful. The only way the current government can be ejected from office before 2011 is if they themselves call for and lose a motion of no confidence. Fixed terms you see. Suppose to be for good governance. Not in this instance.
Sydney's still a fantastic place to live, most public services are pretty good (parks and playgrounds particularly) but there's legitimate and immediate concern for the short-term future; urban intensification will quickly overwhelm existing public infrastructure. Fine if you live in the inner suburbs, well tolerable, but not so if you live further out. Actually, when you realise that many teachers and nurses can't afford to live anywhere near their work, perhaps even living in close won't necessarily be so good.
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There's absolutely a case for it if there's a significant conflict of interest involved, or a potential defamation.
So like if she was formerly employed by a company that rivals the target of her ill judged and intemperate commentary?
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I recall she adopted the nom de plume in relation to an employment issue... Farrar blogged on it at the time... I too thought her name was well known.
I genuinely do believe that a number of the persistent problems associated with blogging would be resolved if more people used their own names.
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If this citizen journalism thing keeps trending the way it is, I think the rules around disclosure need to be revisited. Defamation laws are inadequate for social media.
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I knew that was going to come back to bite me... are the situations comparable though? I inadvertently disclosed Deborah's name but her wasn't material to the the discussion. I wonder if there's not a case to be made for public disclosing the names of attack bloggers...
I have obviously been critical of her writing, but I have no interest whatsoever in participating in some juvenile "blog feud". It strikes me it ought to be possible to do one without indulging in the other.
It ought to be yes, whether it proves to be so is another point. I've been critical of Kate's writing too, her reaction was always entirely over the top... that's her thing, looks like it'll be her undoing.