Posts by Mikaere Curtis
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And the 'solution' will be to lower company taxes !
On the one hand, I'm appalled at the direction this government is taking Auckland and the country. On the other, it gives the Greens and Labour some real points to make about the risks of voting in a National government.
There never was a secret agenda, but if there was it would be this:
Ministers: Go as feral as you please...
John Key: Spin everything as being totally cool...
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If I were an Opposition MP, I'd go hard on this, and outright accuse him of lying to the public. Because that's what he's done.
I'm going to suggest to Dave Clendon that he does exactly that.
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I/S has a post about Mike Lee's opinion piece in the Herald.
An example of what Lee says is wrong with this particular CCO:
Auckland Transport is not required to give effect to the Regional Land Transport Strategy, or any other Auckland Council policy that relates to the transport agency.It looks like they are deliberately encouraging CCOs to go feral.
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It just would have been nice if that a-ha! moment had happened a long time ago.
The real a-ha moment should have occurred when the Key government decided to ram through the supercity legislation under urgency.
In project management, you can have things done good, fast, or cheaply - and you can only have two of those dimensions. The Key government chose fast and cheap, and what's the result ?
A veneer of IT integration to go along with a veneer of represetative democracy.
I agree that the Herald should have been better at covering Auckland issues from a long time ago, however, the supercity train wreck is simply not related to the Herald's coverage in any way - it's the predictable outcome of the way the project has been undertaken from day one.
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This summer, we finally bit the bullet and replaced the mangy old deck out the back of our house. We introduced the builders to saligna , a locally produced eucalyptus hardwood. They loved it; it does not stain your hands like Kwilla does. We like it because it's sustainable, and not pine.
We put in roof (the non-consent 15sq metres is a reasonable size), and because the frame is pine, spent some considerable time painting it during some of the sunny Auckland days.
Functionally, we've added a new room onto the house, one that we can still enjoy when the autumnal rains arrive.
It really has been a great Auckland summer. Looking forward to Pasifika too, it's nice to live with walking distance of it.
@Russ, thanks for the link the other Friday about growing up in Morningside. It is a funky little suburb, although Kingsland can claim Don Croot Street if they want...
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Interesting to the public != Public Interest.
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Where is the National Maori Radio station?
There's a whole network of them.The network of iwi radio stations is funded by Te Mangai Paho, at about $8m per year in total. This is in recognition of the government’s obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi to actively support Maori language and culture.
My position about Concert FM's narrow content focus isn't Tiriti-based, it's more about the fact that Concert FM could be more cognisant of other forms of music that are not serviced by commercial radio.
It is narrowly focused on some of the best music ever made, music which is not played by any other channel.
Gimme my Frank Zappa FM and we'll call it square, OK ? :)
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You were objecting to it being Eurocentric; which is more than a little silly, given that the musical traditions which Concert addresses are mostly European.
Not at all. I was objecting to it being almost exclusively Eurocentric. This all came out of the comments along the lines of Concert FM being a public good. My point is this:
If we designed Concert FM today, it would look very different to what it currently is. This is because we have a different cultural lens that applied back in the 1930s, when the NZBS (the forerunner to the NZBC) started. Today's Concert FM would be much more diverse.
In short, yesterday's public good is not the same as today's public good, not matter how much you want things to stay the same. So, I challenge the notion that Concert FM remains a public good on the basis that its content is too narrowly focused.
That being said, I abhor the way this government is treating Radio New Zealand and agree with Russell - Coleman has failed to protect his patch. I don't want to see Concert FM shut down, for the reasons that Jolisa has given.
And now for my ice cream analogy:
The market doesn't serve true ice cream, but actually serves up an adulterated version that is close, but no cigar if you know your ice cream. And let's face it, the Concert FM listeners know their ice cream.
So, what the hell am I on about ?
This: The vast majority commercial radio stations speed up the songs. The pitch and timbre are all wrong, and it all feels very ersatz. Bfm and George don't do it, but the others do. I think they do it so the get in more songs per hour (and therefore more ads) or something.
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D'you reckon shutting Concert FM down altogether would get us there faster than lobbying for more funding and more diverse programming on the station as it currently stands?
I agree, shutting down the infrastructure because the content is less than ideal is a Bad Idea, because any future lobbying would require an infrastructure spend, making it less likely to get budget approval.
I was not actually calling for Concert FM to be shut down, more that I was disagreeing with the notion that it was (in it's current form) a Must Have that the market could never provide for.
If Concert isn't (good) enough, then why aren't we asking for more
IIRC, Neil Finn lobbied for a youth radio station a few years ago, saying that we already have a station for old people, how about something for teh yoofs. This was under Labour, and didn't get very far.
Another one or two stations that broadened the RNZ content is a great idea, and could achieve the balance I'm talking about without impinging on Concert FM. This would be a win, IMO.
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Besides the obvious fact that European music is part of the New Zealand cultural heritage, so perhaps it is be worth funding a radio station that allows people up and down the country to hear it. And it is a popular station, isn't it? So what exactly is the problem?
Look, I'm not disqualifying European music as being appropriate to Concert FM. I am questioning why Concert FM has to be almost exclusively Eurocentric in content.
As you say, it's popular: so why not let the market pander to this popularity and let Concert FM spend the limited funds it has on things that the market won't actually deliver ? Such as traditional Maori music, which is also "part of the New Zealand cultural heritage, so perhaps it is be worth funding a radio station that allows people up and down the country to hear it."
Fortunately, I can guess the answer: You prefer your classical without ads.