Posts by Ben Austin
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Re London coffee - these are the places I go to if I have time outside of working hours. Sadly I usually end up going to Nero/Costa as I've yet to find reliable cafes near where I work.
1. Monmouth's - They are all over London - specifically Monmouth Street (near the British Museum/Leicester Square area, Borough Markets (two outlets during Thursday-Saturday) by London Bridge station and their roasting facility is somewhere near Bermondsey, which is probably out of the way for most. They are widely recognised as being awesome and do things like flat whites, if you feel homesick. They have great pastries and sometimes sandwiches too.
2. Sacred - Primarily based on Ganton Street, just off Carnaby Street, which is just off Oxford Street and near Soho. They have carts about that area too. They are run by NZers and their food is quite nice too. I think they've won a few awards as well
3. Flat White/Milk Bar - Soho/Tottenham Court Road area - They I think are run by the same group (who I hear are Aussie/Kiwi) and also win awards. The former is on Berwick Street, the latter is on Bateman Street, which are about five minutes apart, so if the former is busy (it is very small and well established), then the latter is close enough by to visit. There is usually lunch/cafe style food available too. I’ve not had bad experiences at Flat White, but I have detected jerk like vibes from one or two staff members, so I guess it is possible. Milk Bar seems to have different staff.
4. Coffeeplant - Portebello Road, Notting Hill - Pretty much just coffee. There are loads of good cafes nearby though if you are also hungry. Someone there seems to believe 9/11 was an inside job based on their posters behind the counter, but that doesn't detract or add to the coffee experience.
5. Local Hero - Fulham Road, Fulham. Good cafe food as well
Failing that, check out Timeout.co.uk - they have awards annually I think, which rate cafes and coffee.
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Paul, that might just reflect the fact that ACT is heavily influenced by people still fighting the battles of the 1990s. If some of the student activists that were in Otago during my time have stayed in the party and are now in their late 20s/30s they might well have a significant influence on policy given the small size of the party.
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I voted for VSM for Otago back in 1999 I think it was and if I remember rightly my main reason was that OUSA for all its many good points was decidedly unrepresentative of the student body and therefore not particular legitimate. This I think was as much the student body’s fault as OUSA, if not more so, but it really rather grated that at best 20% of students would vote in any given election. I have no idea if such turnout figures still hold true or how they compare with other student unions. It could just be that students don’t care about voting
That being said, like Graham I would almost certainly always join such a group as I deem it to be useful. OUSA provided a lot of services that I enjoyed and generally seemed worth the money. The advocacy role it played was also rather useful, even if I didn’t particularly agree with either the Right or Left extremists (as many of us non involved students saw them at least) that jockeyed for influence or control. No offence intended to anyone reading who was part of either group at the time.
What concerns me though is that in some cases freedom not to be associated can result in no effective representation whatsoever. Like someone said at the start of the thread, most students are three year types who want to be in and out as quickly as possible while having a good time. This doesn’t bode well for institutional longevity and it makes student unions a different flavour of beast from say a church, local government or political party, all of which have some expectation of long term membership or involvement.
Which is why I would support an opt-out model, which is what we seem to have right now if I’ve understood Paul’s point, rather than a forced voluntary model where we gut the existing unions on the hope that we get the best of both worlds re freedom from association and effective student representation. It almost seems like trading one’s kettle for the promise of an espresso maker sometime in the future
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I was kind of hoping that the education campaigns on the referendum would have resulted in a better turnout for the Yes vote.
I just hope this story doesn't make the Oddly Enough circuit of the world's newspapers.
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I would agree somewhat Rich. I've found very few good cafes without a good deal of hunting about, so during the working week in the outer ring of London I have to go to places like Pret, Cafe Nero or Costa.
The NZ style of cafe just doesn't exist over here, so you have to make do
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Sorry, as a regular consumer of 1980s era home made New Zealand Pizza I demand that Spaghetti be used rather than Baked Beans.
We need to be authentic
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What I don't get is why anyone would think it necessary or worthwhile to make a complaint about the use of .net in a domain. Or was that a point about marketing/ SEO that I just don't get?
Also, I add my vote to keeping your posts in the current style. I for one probably wouldn't check in so often if the blogs on this site changed to shorter, one thought pieces. I can get that kind of NZ commentary from a bunch of other sites, so I value being able to get some usually more in depth articles.
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On a related note I've discovered I really do not like Cadbury's produced for the British market - the difference in flavour is rather substantial. Oddly enough the same factory in Birmingham produces for the Irish (ROI) market and the latter variant tastes ok, to me.
Having witnessed the activities of Palm Oil shills here and in other places I think I will boycott on that basis alone
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The earthquake gave me an excuse to extol the wonders of Fiordland as a tourist destination to colleagues in London. Not that those doomed to be in Croydon really need much convincing that it is nice to travel
All publicity/natural disasters is/are good publicity right?
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Whether or not the BNP are a real risk or not, their interviews with the BBC have been rather surreal to watch. Griffin especially. At one point, when asked how he would represent his non white constituents in Europe he made some comment about the prevention of the sexual grooming of White or Sikh girls by men of other races.
I don't quite think the interviewer knew what to make of that comment however if they continue to say stuff like that it will at least quickly destroy their attempts to appear respectable. Whether no not that helps or detracts from their popularity will remain to be seen.