Posts by Richard Aston
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Hard News: The frustrating politics of…, in reply to Tom Semmens,
The fearful public
Yes they are scary aren't they
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Hard News: The frustrating politics of…, in reply to Russell Brown,
I think it was felt by some senior members that having Nandor as the effective face of the party was unhelpful.
Yes I'd agree with that Russell , just as no doubt Sue Bradford was sidelined as their social issue voice as being too radical .
Part of the mainstreaming of the greens I guess.
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Jim Anderton was mere sand in the vaseline
Wow never heard that phrase before, its kinda gritty .
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Even the Parliamentary Green Party wound up distancing itself from its best-known law reform advocate Nandor Tanczos, if not its reform policy.
I am not sure I'd call the current Green Party drug law policy that distant. They are still advocating for law reform , an educational focus and medical cannabis.
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Hard News: If wishing made it so ..., in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
So, does anyone know how those “boot camps” are gettin’ on?
They are doing great politically and as expected are having no long term result actually .
Those of us working in the area all knew they wouldn't work Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft said " The traditional "boot camp" for young offenders was "arguably the least successful sentence in the Western world". Last year Paula Bennett admitted only two of 17 young offenders had not re offended .
Overseas evidence shows that immediately after the boot camp all is sweet, the young offenders are all fired up and positive, this is generally when the politicians show up to "see the evidence with their own eyes".
But 6 to 12 months after the camp the vast majority of offenders are back where they started, still offending.Boot camps are an outstanding failure but hey they look like we are doing something and appeal to those hard liners who would also argue for the hard labour/lock em up throw away the key approach to adult offenders.
grrrrrrrrrrrrr don't get me started ..... -
The target for Reducing Assaults on children is, as they say, "extremely ambitious". 4,019 children expected to experience substantiated physical abuse down by 1,083 to 2,936 in 2017. Current numbers are around 3300 .
Firstly the projections are for a substantial increase and the target only aims to zero this projected increase not to lower our current levels by much.
Secondly the only action they name that might effect this decrease is "raising awareness of child abuse" and a mention of the Green Paper.
I am not convinced "raising awareness" will do anything other than increase reporting, given that 90% of sex abuse cases go unreported .
Its one thing to have a target and quite another to have an plan to get to achieve that target . Can't see the plan here . -
Hard News: Friday Music: When there were…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Your right Ian Black Sabbath were a bunch of wankers - I may have been too out of it at the time to realise that .
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Hard News: Friday Music: When there were…, in reply to Joe Wylie,
( Dam the Dam )
Wasn’t that John Hanlon? Came across him working as an adman in Sydney in the mid-90s.
You are right about the songwriter but I am sure Corban Simpson sang that song at Ngaruawahia , mind you it was a while ago....
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And before Namabassa was the The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival
I was there for that one - Corban Simpson ( Dam the Dam ) going naked for the first act - Black Sabbath kicked off with a huge burning cross on the hill that totally freaked out the Christians . Hippies, bikers , lefties , hare krishnas , good vibe with all
Our first woodstock -
Hard News: Moving from frustration to disgust, in reply to Russell Brown,
And then I got all angry again and had to play an angry song on the stereo.
Just curious Russell , what was that song ?