Posts by Barnard
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Hard News: Fluency, ease of manner - and…, in reply to martinb,
Yeah, and that qualifies as great politicking if little else. Substance and making a case have been largely irrelevant to political interviews for a very long time. It's rarely going to persuade anyone, it certainly doesn't create a more informed electorate, but from the perspective of 'winning' it dam well insures no blows are landed & the base can go off smiling gleefully.
But it's what any competent media trained western politician has been doing for a generation, so I'm not quite getting people creaming themselves over Keys performance. It looks super impressive only in the context of Shearer and the rest of Labour looking like could spot clue if it kicked in the bollocks, and I hate to say when being interviewed by someone like John Campbell.
The fact is it's still the same John Key that often comes across as sneering smug bully when rattled, and is just as likely to fall back on a banal mateiness. There's other interviews where he wouldn't have got away with such a mixture of non answer & banal twaddle, and it's no coincidence it's rare for him to do them.
His approach wouldn't be half as successful if the economy wasn't going ok for sectors of the electorate he needs to keep onside, or if we have a leader of the opposition even vaguely worthy of the name. One or both of those things may change, if he Key can still front and still 'impress' to the same degree then you can talk. The idea that nothing sticks is simply down to his brilliance, is a nice idea if you want accuse the left of complacency, but I don't think it stacks up.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Walking Distance, in reply to Tom Semmens,
You're probably right, but I doubt they could sell the festival on the back of that sort of thing. It'll be interesting to see how much they try and change the whole dynamic.
Big stages in big fields need big crowds, and given a kind of collective taste is becoming less and less common, acts who'll appeal to a younger crowd & pull massive crowds may not be simple.
You're seeing it with the likes of Glastonbury and other European festivals increasingly falling back on the safety boomer era rock, as a safe bet.
I'm sure part of it is that people making the decisions are out of touch, but I also think people's tastes being more fractured plays a part as well.
It's of course not a bad thing, and loads of festivals make it work by not relying on a small number of acts to pull huge crowds.
Question is can they make BDO work that way? -
Legal Beagle: A four-year parliamentary term?, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Couldn't answer for Germany, but in terms of the UK I think I can safely answer, no they're not better governed. Probably goes for the others as well.
But surely it's not the point, surely the point is will WE be better governed comparable to how we are now?
That the UK isn't, has little to do with it having a longer term.
Personally, I'm quite open to the idea of fours years. Five is too long, but I would say the UK introducing fixed terms is a positive move.
The agitating for an early election, and constant media speculation was ridiculous and benefited no one bar the insular Westminster village.
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Hard News: Music: In before Christmas, in reply to Emma Hart,
The other Tim Minchin Xmas song also bring tears...of laughter
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Hard News: This is Your TV on Drugs, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Some of the twister level contortions some of them are going to have to do to come out against state rights because their dislike of marijuana trumps that principle are going to be fun.
It'll be a test of whether the ones who claim to be Libertarian are true to those values.
Of course most of them have failed the hypocrisy test many times over already.
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Actually, if the the authorities want to discourage young people from taking drugs, showing Keith Allen taking them on TV is as good a way as any.
In fact just showing Keith Allen on TV drugs or no drugs, would work.
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I don't think it's way off topic as well, as I think we're all still pretty crap at appreciating the way mental health works, and the way stuff that's done & said can effect people.
If it highlights that trying to humiliate people for a laugh can have consequences something good may come of it. It may also get people to stop and think about the disconnect between what we see & hear and the the people on the end of it.
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Hard News: Friday Music: A Year of It, in reply to Russell Brown,
Amplifier's 2012 Top 20 is a great shopping list of NZ albums.
Yep, pleased to see Cool Rainbows get a mention there. It's going to get thrashed in the coming motnhs, perfect laid back sumer record.
Aside from stuff already mentioned, I really like The Luckless album & better late than never finally discovered the incredible Sharpie Crows.
Oh, and 2013 is going to be the year of Street Chant!
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In the weird worst of all worlds that is TVNZ you don't have a choice.
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Hard News: Looking at Leveson, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
tell that to the FCC …
Yeah well, that ship sailed a long time ago.
Another thing that struck me living there was the extent to which the landscape/culture was largely accepted, or at least most people had given up hoping it would change (you can't turn back time).I think the one thing those who've argued that beyond the criminality it was mostly Guardian/Liberal elite beat up got right, was that without the Millie Dowler accusations it would never have got much traction beyond the so called 'chattering classes', and the BSkyB deal would have gone through.