Posts by Rob Hosking
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..though it should be noted Labour sent a pretty clear message to its supporters to back Winston. http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67099070/andrew-little-prods-northland-to-vote-for-winston-peters
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Hard News: Mt Albert: Cooperating,…, in reply to KathrynB,
Gahh. Memory playing tricks.
Humbled.
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Certain political commentators' fevered predictions that National voters would rush to cast tactical votes for the Green candidate, thus handing Labour a humiliating defeat on home turf, didn't pan out – because normal people don't act that way, especially not on a balmy Saturday in February.
*polite cough* as a political commentator who didn't predict it, but said it was possible, I'd point out they did in Northland, when Labour didn't put up a candidate.
It does happen, although as Craig has alluded, Northland was a kind of referendum on the govt in a way Mt Albert wasn't.
I think too much has been made of the byelection result by, well, pretty much everyone.
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Up Front: Dear Dudebros, in reply to Rob Stowell,
(Which is just to say, ‘man up’ isn’t a great message – no intention to excuse vile behaviour.)
I've used 'have some common fucking decency' on a couple of occasions. Stops it becoming a gender role thing. And besides, its really what is at the heart of the issue.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Reduction…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
have a look at these tracks from Pillows & Prayers
Got that collection last year. It's like a playlist from Radio Active 1982 (this is a *good* thing, by the way).
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Hard News: Friday Music: Reduction…, in reply to nothingelseon,
” is it even a thing to be in your own tribute band?” Heh, ask Bruce Foxton & Rick Buckler
Heh, Kast Off Kinks also.
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From memory, New Horizons started around 1979-80. I remember a feature on this new programme in the Listener, and saying it would look at rock /modern (I forget how they characterised it) seriously...no, I think the word is thoughtfully (aside on pet hobbyhorse: 'serious' is not the same as 'thoughtful' and in fact a hell of a lot of serious people are not very thoughtful at all).
Early programmes were on Randy Newman, and the Kinks, and the Kinks are still one of my favourite bands, mostly on the strength of hearing Ray Davies' approach analysed on the programme.
It was the aural equivalent of close reading - making you slow down and notice what was happening in a recording.
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David, glad to hear that despite your troubles you're still around and sticking fingers to keyboard, however sporadically. I had wondered how you were going .
In other words, your writing has had an impact in the past, one which has remained on the memory. And no doubt what you've got to come will do so as well.
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Hard News: Ali, in reply to Russell Brown,
It was barbaric. Corporal punishment was a doddle, but this stuff seriously traumatised me.
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Hard News: Ali, in reply to Alan Perrott,
Anyway, I seem to remember it being fed by the Bruce Lee cult - did you know he got so fit and so strong he exploded? That was the gospel of the playground and you didn't dare state a winner in a Ali-Lee scrap without backup. Jesus, primary schools in the 70s. Always sunny but.
Heh. This is quite in line with my memory too. Emulating 'kung fu' got banned at our school around this time.
The 1974 fight was the same day as an inter-primary school folk dancing event, held on the footy field at my school (I was 10). Attendance/participation compulsory. God it was awful.
I remember, sitting on the bank above the field, the intense arguments about whether Ali was too much of a 'skite' and whether that meant that, in a right and proper world, he should lose.
Only caught a bit of the fight itself - long country school bus trip meant got home way too late & in any case Mum thought boxing was barbaric.