Posts by Rob Hosking
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I suspect Mallard would have been up for more severe punishment if there wasn't a tacit agreement from all sides that Henare was asking for it.
No, I'm not defending Mallard for a second. But there is such a thing as rough justice.
And on Mr McCready....he looks the lead contender for this year's Get A Life award.
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Of course, you won't be able to run a Grey Warbler campaing in election year, not unless you register with the Electoral Commission as a third party, under the Electoral Finance Bill...
I still voted for the kaka, btw. We wuz robbed.
I blame the ref, women teachers, soy milk, the rotation policy (which was really all those old deceased All Blacks turning in their graves); the Exclusive Brethren, global warming, Tame Iti, 15 year old drivers, and the return of Jim Hickey to do the weather.
Bastards, all.
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Back in the mid 90s on a trip to San Francisco I got a T shirt with Richard Nixon on the front and the slogan: "he's tanned, rested and Dead - Nixon in '96!"
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To the lad who is doing a project on this stuff:
Judith Binney did a book on Rua about 10 years ago.
On the "inspired by" front on this area, Maurice Shadbolt's "Season of the Jew" is a fictional portrayal of Te Kooti.
Oh, and the band Working with Walt did a song about Rua called "The Prophet" back in 1984.
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""...and if they don't return, HUNT THEM DOWN AND KILL THEM" -
Saw that on a bumper sticker once. Probably the only bumper sticker that ever made me laugh.
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Godfather Gypsy, Russell, glad to see a leftie like yourself saying that.
I was disappointed in Sharples' comments. Derek Fox (ok, a bit more of a hot head) was comparing it to the Police crackdown on Rua Kenana in the Ureweras in 1916. Back then, the cops shot a couple of people (one was his son).
I've got two very big concerns about all this, and there's a tension between them.
Firstly, that the cops will be found to have so grossly over-reacted the damage to the country's institutions (the ones which, for all their flaws, do provide a bulwark of democracy and civil society against chaos) will be huge.
So I want there to be something in all this.
But not too much in it. Because the little bit of idealist in me which remains, believes NZ doesn't do things this way; that whatever our differences we sort them out without reaching for weaponry; that despite what was a violent first 60 years and an intolerant second 60 years, we have learned something since then; and that, in Curnow's words, we are "something different, something no-one counted on."
That's my dose of mysticism for the day.
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Creon,
Your comments about "history runs its course" seem downright mystical - sounds a bit like people invoking God's will, or the inevitable collapse of capitalism (don't hear that one so much any more).
What people do affects history. It isn't some mystical force of its own.
But I'd be interested to know what you mean by it in this context.
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Creon,
Your comments about "history runs its course" seem downright mystical - sounds a bit like people invokign God's will, or the inevitable collapse of capitalism (don't hear that one so much any more).
What people do affects history. It isn't some mystical force of its own.
But I'd be interested to know what you mean by it in this context.
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You see, there’s quite a big difference between saying things and doing things.
And, seriously, if the cops were really onto something big (with all the information they apparently have) they'd make damn sure they caught the guys as close to red handed as possible.Which means when they have enough evidence: not just waiting until they were in the middle of blowing up something or kidnapping someone.
Politically motivated? I keep hearing that, pretty much right across the political spectrum. I'm no fan of the current govt but I don't, at this stage, think there's any evidence for that.
My understanding is the cops invoked the Suppression of Terrorism Act for technical legal reasons: so they can bring charges under that Act later on if they can get enough evidence to. In the meantime, though, there was enough evidence to bring charges under the firearms and other laws, which they have done.(others more up on the law may want to correct me here).
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The comment had the whiff of genuine JT to me...and if you mean who I think you mean, she was a bit more cautious than that.