Posts by 81stcolumn
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That’s what puzzles me about this. Surely a judge had to issue that warrant, what judge in his right mind would issue a warrant for a fishing expidition into what was clearly a trivial case at best?
Which would seem to underline the need for extra judicial advocacy in the issuing of such warrants.
The Ambrose case seems also to make the point that the innocent have everything to fear: Which at a personal level invites the question should we all encrypt and at a public level what would this mean for society?
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I suppose this wouldn't be out of place then?
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It's sad that folk don't see the upside of a denser city. I'm pretty sure we'd have better galleries and theatre for example.
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FWIW.
There seems to be an illusion held by some that by eliminating managed intensification, intensification itself will disappear. This certainly wasn’t the case for certain areas of Oxford in the 1980’s. Property values rose, but it became almost impossible to re-develop on existing sites. With a fluid student accommodation market the trend became to gut existing properties and basically turn any large room into plasterboard dormitory. In some cases buildings ended up with suspended floors visible through gable windows, and a disappearance of in character internal furnishings (Doors, light roses, mouldings etc.). I guess nasty on the inside is the least of the sins though. Houses that at a squeeze should have accommodated 12-16 people ended up with 20-30 people in them. The student population is seasonal, consequently the local pubs, video stores and corner shops went bust and the local church got sold off. When finally Universities started building halls of residence again, these ugly uninhabitable student houses turned into even less salubrious hostels with accompanying impact on property values. The NIMBY’s were powerless and furious.
My point isn’t that I expect the above to happen in Auckland, but that the consequences of a planning vacuum are unpredictable, unpleasant and have an effect on everyone.
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Tried to figure why Ryall would fight this so hard and perhaps why Labour won’t be making too much noise.
My suspicions rest with the growth in epidemic disability. In 2011 the number of cases of diabetes in New Zealand exceeded projections by more than 20% in some areas. The best case model would suggest that serious complications related to diabetes are set to double by about 2018. This means more than 10,000 extra people will require care within the next two electoral cycles. To put this into context the CDC estimate that soon 1 in 5 health dollars will be spent on diabetes treatment. Approximately 4% of those diagnosed with diabetes will suffer severe loss of vision and number of others will have to undergo some form of amputation. My point being is that diabetes along with associated morbidities disables people before they die. Current cost management and treatment models endeavour to transfer the cost of care to the community, to put it bluntly “patch ‘em up, train the family and send them home”. This cost model doesn’t work if you have to pay for home care, it certainly doesn’t work if these numbers start doubling over 5-6 years. Consequently the trivial $65m starts to escalate into a bigger problem without management, so I guess we get a legislative response to a political problem. Tax cuts vs. homecare anyone? The real killer at the bottom of this is that the Maori party voted for this; Maori/Pasifika outnumber Pakeha by approximately 3 to 1 in the diabetes statistics this will keep these communities in poverty for generations.
Disclaimers;
Did this in a hurry, I didn’t have time to check all my fag packet figures, I also used diabetes as an example without considering smoking, obesity and general inactivity, many of which will raise related issues.
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OnPoint: Budget 2013: Bringing Down the…, in reply to BenWilson,
Of course. I was using hyperbole.
I figured as much but I thought I'd have a whinge anyway.
I am serious about how quickly the postgraduate landscape has changed though. My partner (far smarter and more diligent than I) has been looking to re-enter academia for the last three years. At the moment she is in two part-time roles, neither of which look like they will eventuate in a tenured post. In one role she is effectively being paid part-time to train up a cheaper replacement for herself. With no growth in EFT's and what amounts to successive years of cuts in funding Universities will look to extend the exploitation of part-timers and graduate assistants in much the same way that the American institutions have done for the last twenty years or more. Current doctoral graduates are looking at a very bleak future unless something changes.
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OnPoint: Budget 2013: Bringing Down the…, in reply to BenWilson,
How long before a doctorate is really the bare minimum you need before you can be trusted with a cash till.
Unlikely:
i) The snobbery and misunderstanding around a doctorate will probably work against this in the long run. By way of a heuristic it was interesting to read here what value people did and did not find in a first class degree.
ii) Who would pay for a qualification that requires an effective suspension of earnings for up to four years on top of Masters study and concludes with a debt that may not be much less than $100,000? The previous budget killed maintenance for higher study. Modern postgraduates don't earn enough at completion to mitigate this, if they can get a job at all. Consequently a substantial re-packaging of the whole system will be required for any intelligent person to want to try this. From an moral point of view I struggle to encourage anyone to pursue a qualification beyond Masters.
iii) With major employers in areas like accountancy and law looking at running their own degrees it is a small step for a large employer to contract for vocational degrees with PTE's. The relationship between UNITEC and IBM has benefits but is also a little bit scary for a broad socially driven model of HE. Cast in this light equivalent funding for PTE's makes sense.
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I have ridden this route many times and yearned to take this shot (but better); A typical me shot that ended up looking like I'd instagramed it. Hit 82kph on the way down the hill and just made it to the car before dark.
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Hard News: Satire's shooting star, in reply to Tim Michie,
Which was up to a point what I was thinking. then I did a double-take; Is sexual abuse and or rape really a legitimate vehicle for making a satirical point about race?
That's when I got a bit uncomfortable, that sort of ends means equivalence is easy when the concerned parties are unlikely to fight back. That point was missed altogether in most cases.
Perhaps I'm being unreasonably sensitive here.
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This is loosely connected under the banner "using satire in the media". I would be keen to know what others think of this piece in the Guardian.
