Posts by Bill Bennett
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Hard News: The new establishment, in reply to izogi,
This is an excellent point, well articulated and it goes way, way beyond transport policy. It's as if we punish political leaders for not having pyschic powers.
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Like you, I'm sympathetic about the issue and I agree with the general points you make above. I'd like to add another:
Not being aware of the storm this confession set off and its consequences shows a remarkable lack of political judgement from someone hoping to seek high office.
Of course, there are plenty of people on both sides of the house and even at the top of the political ladder who are just as guilty of this. But to risk an own goal of this magnitude at the start of an election campaign is remarkable.
From what I've seen on social media, Green supporters are rallying around, you'd expect that. But if this issue drags on and Turei becomes a liability, she may need to give up more than the possibility of serving as a minister.
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Speaker: We don’t make the rules, we're…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
That's what comes of not reading the instructions under the Post box....
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Speaker: We don’t make the rules, we're…, in reply to Bart Janssen,
There's a $Y in both equations. If you buy direct from Netflix you are still paying $Y to someone else for VPN services.
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The Canute reference in the post is probably a reference to my story:
Global mode action: You Canute be serious (http://billbennett.co.nz/2015/04/03/global-mode-action-you-canute-be-serious/ ).
One problem I deal with there is that local media outlets have been sold an exclusive licence promise by the major studios that can’t (or won’t) deliver on their promise.
Questions that need to be asked are things like “what are they doing to crack down on outlets like Netflix US selling streaming video to New Zealand?”
No doubt taking legal action against the studios to fix this would be ruinous for the likes of Lightbox.
The other problem with the action against CallPlus is that, rightly or wrongly, it shuts down avenue where legal money flows from consumers to content makers. Some of that missing cash may flow to local distributors like Lightbox, much of it will be lost to piracy.
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"In my view, too many city planners spent far too much of their youths playing _SimCity_,"
This is both amusing and disturbingly close to the truth — especially considering the version of _SimCity_ we had (maybe still have) includes an earthquake hazard.
The point about the best cities being _organic_ in a way _SimCity_ efforts are not is also vital.
It sounds odd but it feels as if New Zealand cities, Christchurch included, are simultaneously over planned and under planned.
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"General Manager of Content"
After years of working in the media, I hear alarm bells whenever a manager uses the word 'content' instead of news, reporting, journalism or whatever. Remember advertising, editorial and propaganda are also all 'content'.
There seems to be a direct correlation between the use of this term - in this context - and a drop in standards. I first heard it used by a media exec when I was in Australia working for Fairfax and Fred Hilmer - a man who hated news - used the term to describe journalists. Actually he said something to the effect that "journalists are only content providers' as if we were just shovelling words into the spaces between advertising.
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Has there been any research on the effect social media has on rebel strategy and tactics? I mean in general rather than specifically to do with Isis.
If not, I suspect it would make a good Phd topic and would answer questions like: "what is the Twitter equivalent of bombers dropping propaganda leaflets before ground troops more in?"
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Sometimes I detect a strange resonance between Colin Craig and Tony Abbott. Anyone else think they have much in common?
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"You can’t convince the voters if you can’t convince your own caucus."
Would only be true if the caucus reflected the wider electorate or even the half or so who might conceivably vote Labour. I'm not convinced that's the case.