Posts by Patrick Xavier

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  • Capture: Peak Pohutukawa,

    Attachment

    Thorndon, Wellington.

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Access: The Problem with the Greens’…,

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Speaker: Confidential information: the…,

    ... as long as the public interest in the emails outweighs the competing rights of those who wrote them.

    That's not quite right. There is public interest also in maintaining confidences. It's that balance which is important -- see ANZ v Blum:

    A distinction must be drawn between what is in the public interest and what is interesting to the public. The defence of public interest will not depend solely on proof that the information disclosed misconduct on the part of the plaintiff. The Court has to weigh the competing issues of public interest in maintaining the secrecy of confidential information and in being informed on matters which are of real public concern. The disclosure of confidential information on this basis demands more than a claim that it is in the public interest that the truth be told.

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Hard News: Women and their representations, in reply to JacksonP,

    ... over lunch...."

    Be fair, JP.

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Hard News: A fiction of unalloyed darkness, in reply to Toby,

    Well, that Rebecca Hamilton piece was an unexpected surprise in the present content. Thanks for pointing it out.

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Field Theory: When last you saw me,

    Long and the short of it is, I'm back into writing, as it were.

    Hey, welcome back. However short your tenure may be, repeating what Sir Graham naively appears to consider a breach of privacy/good manners.

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Hard News: The scandal that keeps on giving,

    Much in the manner of a Friday music post

    Billy Bragg had prescience ("It Says Here"):

    It says here that the Unions will never learn
    It says here that the economy is on the upturn
    And it says here we should be proud
    That we are free
    And our free press reflects our democracy

    Those braying voices on the right of the House
    Are echoed down the Street of Shame
    Where politics mix with bingo and tits
    In a strictly money and numbers game

    Where they offer you a feature
    On stockings and suspenders
    Next to a call for stiffer penalties for sex offenders

    It says here that this year's prince is born
    It says here do you ever wish
    That you were better informed
    And it says here that we can only stop the rot
    With a large dose of Law and Order
    And a touch of the short sharp shock

    If this does not reflect your view you should understand
    That those who own the papers also own this land
    And they'd rather you believe
    In Coronation Street capers
    In the war of circulation, it sells newspapers
    Could it be an infringement
    Of the freedom of the press
    To print pictures of women in states of undress

    When you wake up to the fact
    That your paper is Tory
    Just remember, there are two sides to every story

    More recently (as in last week), Billy Bragg's "Never buy the Sun":

    Someone's hiding in the bushes with a telephoto lens
    Whilst their editor assures him the means justifies the ends
    'Cos we only hunt celebrities and it's all a bit of fun'
    Yet the Scousers never buy The Sun

    The parents of the missing girl cling desperately to hope
    While a copper takes improper payments in a big brown envelope
    And nobody in the newsroom asks where this information's from
    And the Scousers never buy The Sun

    The tabloids make their money peddling bullshit baffles brains
    And they cynically hold up their hands if anyone complains
    And they say 'What? We're just giving the people what they want'
    Well they're are crying out for Justice
    People crying out for Justice

    And the man they call the Digger casts a proprietary eye
    Over what goes on in the gutter and what happens in the Sky
    And he claims he's fit and proper - the watchdog sings his song
    The watchdog sings his song
    The Scousers never buy the Sun

    International executives - they hang their head in shame
    Tell us with the their hands on heart the paperboy's to blame
    But everyone who loves their kiss-n-tell - you must share their blame as well
    But the Scousers never buy The Sun

    The tabloids making millions peddling bullshit baffles brains
    And they cynically hold up their hands if anyone complains
    And they say 'What? Look we're just giving the people what they want'
    Well they're crying out for Justice
    People crying out for Justice

    In the corridors of power they all sit down to sub
    With the Devil and his minions - they ask for his opinions
    The politicians wring their hands and say 'Whats to be done?'
    The Scousers never buy The Sun

    Well no-one comes out well when it is all said and done
    Yet the Scousers never buy The Sun

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…,

    Hmmm, that had been exactly my theory for the insurance of my house, all four corners perched precisely within the WCC's "rupture zone", which was disappointly realigned accordingly shortly after my acquisition. Is there a deal to be done here: you take the Govt's land value, which Tower tops up to your 2007 valuation, if less than the cost of requiring Tower to rebuild your house to its former glory, which is your entitlement and determination otherwise to establish as the Haywood Memorial?

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Hard News: What the kids do,

    I thought this review of the commercialisation involved was interesting, including our name check:

    Synthetic marijuana first gained popularity in the European Union in 2006; at least 21 member countries reported its presence in 2009. (While the U.S. and many countries have begun to outlaw these products, at least one, New Zealand, has gone the other way. In March, government authorities announced a plan to make the sale of products with JWH-018 and -073 legal for anyone 18 and over.)

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

  • Hard News: The file-sharing bill,

    Saving face.

    Since Nov 2006 • 49 posts Report

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