Posts by Ben McNicoll
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Legal Beagle: Council Elections: STV Q&A, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
The problem with an MMP approach at local govt level, as I see it, is that if the party lines are explicitly the same as national (small n) political parties (and they would almost certainly have to be to be elected), you'd end up with a situation where each local government is either (A) implicitly subservient to, or (B) completely in opposition to the central government depending on who's in power at the time.
In both of those scenarios the ability of local govt to chart their own course which meets the needs and desires of the local populace is hugely undermined.
The already strained relationships and differing visions in both Christchurch and Auckland would disappear, yes, but only because disagreeing would become impossible for the local council.
The semi-fiction that the mayors are not explicitly aligned with either major national political party allows for some face-saving, and helps the two levels of government work together when their philosophies or goals don't align.
ETA: OK, that last para sounds a bit naive, perhaps, but imagine how the Central Rail Link decision would have gone down, were Len Brown explicitly a Labour mayor.
National couldn't have attempted to head it off as an electoral issue by agreeing to it, as it would have been seen as a Labour policy win. So Auckland wouldn't have got it until Labour was in government (which admittedly is still the case, but at least now the argument is over when not if the CRL will go ahead).
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Nora Leggs,
Never fear.... Harold McGee has blazed a wonderful path already. Had his book On Food and Cooking from the library years ago.... it's huge and fascinating. Haven't been back for the updated version, which is probably even larger.
+1 for that recommedation... was just given a copy of it as a present. A weighty tome I've only dipped into a couple of times, but incredibly interesting stuff, and all the workings behind food processes.
Changing the way I cook things for the better.
Like, don't reheat braises/stews quickly or you undo everything that slow cooking the meat did.
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
Too low an oil temperature, and/or not draining them, usually.
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Alice Ronald,
Device: a JarKey.
Or if you don't feel like spending $ on a device, pop on your (dry) rubber dish-washing gloves. Easy-peasy.
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Slightly, but maybe not really, off-topic: watching the (FTA) buildup to French test, and the (female, not that it matters maybe) presenter tells a *funny* story about how the guy she was interviewing liked to wind people up, and he was throwing bread at a lunch until his captain took a fork and drove it through his hand, pinning it to the table.
"That's one crazy Frenchman," she said with a smile.
Cause, you know, that's just rugby players... they're funny like that.
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Slightly, but maybe not really, off-topic: watching the (FTA) buildup to French test, and the (female, not that it matters maybe) presenter tells a *funny* story about how the guy she was interviewing liked to wind people up, and he was throwing bread at a lunch until his captain took a fork and drove it through his hand, pinning it to the table.
"That's one crazy Frenchman," she said with a smile.
Cause, you know, that's just rugby players... they're funny like that.
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Hard News: Not good enough, Eden Park, in reply to Angus Robertson,
And since I wouldn't be able to see it from right on top of it - how is a security guard 15 m away, scanning a crowd of hundreds supposed to see this shit? Answer: they fucking can't.
For what seems like the hundred bajillionth time* on this thread: the post was not about whether the security guards should have seen it, but that, given it did occur, for Eden Park to come out with a media response that minimises or excuses the behaviour in any way undermines their own stated policies, sets back any efforts to change the culture, and is just wrong.
Never mind that it's also an own-goal on the PR front.
*totally a real number, subjectively
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Hard News: Fact and fantasy, in reply to Paul Williams,
It's the "some" who have been given the short shrift by my reading.
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Looks like Todd “women's bodies can shut down pregnancies in case of legitimate rape” Akin lost out to Claire McAskill.
ABC calling it.
Here’s the NY Time page:
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And also, someone ask Bradley Ambrose if he thinks the govt would need a cut and dry case before sicking the cops onto Keith out of embarrasment and the need to shoot the messenger.
I think it would be a PR disaster, so I hope you don't mind that I'm kind of rooting for them to give it a shot, Keith.
I'll donate a little bit more to your legal fund if they do though.