Posts by 81stcolumn
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Ok this is a bit of a snark but surely is evidence that Labour's problems don't revolve exclusively around Corbyn.
I present Michael Foster:
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Especially when those in the most dire need of a skills upgrade are the ones least able to afford it, or otherwise aren't suited to traditional tertiary study.
I think it is worse than this. Many of those who would most benefit from higher education are unable to attend in full the courses that they are paying for. They are busy trying to work at the same time. It is very difficult to succeed let alone excel under these conditions.
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But international education is a significant export earner for New Zealand. And if you're talking about high-value immigration, already-settled people with tertiary degrees would seem to fit that bill.
Mmmm yeah I'd like to see the real numbers on this, I suspect that a lot of the export earnings in this area come at diploma level, not degree.
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To be fair, that's where quite a few of the new members came from in the first place.
I dunno: I know of some longtime UK Labour members who are utterly distraught at what's happened.
Agreed on both counts;
The SWP now inhabit a vacuum left behind by parliamentary Labour, this wasn't inevitable.
My argument is that attacking Corbyn does not re-establish a franchise with the people who have left.
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Perhaps I am having a genuinely dense day. Two thirds of this article talks about how bad things will be or how bad Corbyn is. It does not discuss what could have been done, what might be done or what may be done. Indeed I would argue that the antepenultimate paragraph here reflects everything that is wrong with the large portion of the analysis I have read. I get that the man is toxic and the arguments around him are similarly so.
The most important paragraph is here:
Towards the end of her doomed Labour leadership campaign, Yvette Cooper made an impassioned speech in defence of Labour in government, and its internationalist values. Whilst it was far too late to affect the result, the failure of the Labour Party to address the questions she raised are likely to shape the upcoming election .
The speech was indeed far too late as was the mobilsation of a more inclusive policy platform.
But you see some of us who have been around a lot longer than this mess have grown tired of a patronising rhetoric that amounts to;
"Fuck off and join the SWP"
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But when all commentary plays the man not the ball Labour has nowhere to go.
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“The flip side of discussions on sports rights that is frequently overlooked is where the income from rights revenue is spent. In New Zealand it's invested in grassroots sport.”
This is an argument quite often presented by media rights holders as part of the case against regulation. It is at best over-stated and at worst specious.
In 2015 income for NZRU was NZ$155m of which approximately NZ$30-40m (probably closer to $40m) was from broadcasting rights. SANZAAR unlike many sporting groups is big enough to argue a good deal for the four Unions represented. Of this NZRU spent NZ$16.8m on “Rugby Development” (not directly grassroots) and $9.5m on grants to Provincial Unions.
In 2105 Auckland Rugby Union (the real grassroots) received a $2.1m grant which made up approximately 20% of the Union’s income, a similar amount was raised from community trusts. With just over 20,000 players in Auckland that’s around $100 dollars per player from broadcast. This is the richest sport in New Zealand and its largest grass roots union. It is unlikely that any other sport receives a similar amount.
For perspective, it should be noted that cheap children’s boots cost about NZ$65 and injuries cost NZ$17m a year in Auckland alone (NZ$800 per player in Auckland). Add in coaching fees along with the cost of infrastructure (Auckland council facilities/School Sports grounds, clubhouses etc.) and the return on the community investment starts to look quite poor. A fag-packet estimate might place society's investment per player at well over $1000. Of course, broadcast media loves sport, it is diverse content that creates its own news stream, attracts advertising and requires remarkably little investment. Most of the content creation costs are covered by society.
For another perspective on the relationship between broadcast rights and sport read further into the ARU annual report. It is unclear whether the Oceania broadcasting rights or Schools Rugby made any money at all for ARU. This as I understand it, is the case for most other sports and especially minor sports. A quick look a Triathlon for example would suggest that it received nothing from broadcast in 2015; revenue came from grants, sponsorship, events and memberships. But perhaps one of the real basket cases is Swimming which has a massive investment from sport governance and community infrastructure but gets very little in return from media at the grass-roots. What comes back is channeled through the IOC. It has been argued quite cogently elsewhere that media rights organisations have become very effective at monetising community capital and volunteerism. For once I might find myself (partially) in agreement with Winston First.
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Yeah, we got form here….
Being an early adopter of portable music (owning a WM2 blew my mind). I wanted music my way and started mixing tapes. Then I wanted to be a DJ and started investing hard in Disx and Dex in the early 80’s. Check out the dance charts for the time and one of us clearly wasn’t ready for the other. My mantra was anything but Radio one, my biggest problem was not really hearing or indeed grasping what people wanted to dance to. I remember some very bleak evenings trying to DJ in the Lounge at the local Pub or Social Club. Okay, I really was a bit shit at it. However, rather oddly, people would steal my workout mixtapes from the sport centre where I trained. Having found out that some of the thieves were class instructors; I briefly ended up being paid more as a workout tape curator than I ever made as a DJ. The years have come and gone but I still train and still curate playlists for myself and others to train to (I use Windows Media Player BTW.). At my local gym I still get a kick out of being Shazammed. Some high points:
The cueing arm on my record player broke and the matchstick I was using gave way when it was set to auto-return and I was recording a tape I still have. You can hear Smash it Up by the Damned come to an end the thud of my feet before a flying leap - just as you hear the Ziiiiip of the stylus across by beautiful Red vinyl edition. I left the sound of the stylus in and followed it with Motörhead’s Bomber on Blue vinyl-only my clothes had to be Black.
Managing to create a “business time” mixtape that contained The Coasters - Along Came Jones.
The IMHO quite beautiful sleeve notes (inspired by Joy Division’s “Closer”) which I created for a CD called “Plumbum”, given to the beautiful lady who still agrees to be my wife.
But, the highest honour went to a tape that wasn’t made by me, instead by my friend Mark Esper - a collage of David Sylvian Secrets/Ambient stuff and soundbites from art movies such as Wim Wender’s “Wings of Desire”. To my great regret, I lost that one never to be recovered or reproduced.
Yeah we all have form here.
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i) I wish they would leave Doug alone he's a decent bloke doing a good thing.
ii) My principle point of concern is that many of those involved in the decision making process around concussion have no direct experience of the modern game as it is played at school and club level. The players are far fitter/faster (more collisions), stronger (greater force) and the structure of competition means they play more often (more collisions). Given that the effects of CTE are cummulative if you are worried about those 40+ now. Then be somewhat concerned about this problem moving down the age groups.
iii) Even the mildest of memroy deficits can make your life f**king miserable; standing in a room uncertain about why you are there is not funny on a day to day basis.
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Hard News: So what now?, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
@craig you beat me by minutes.......