Posts Tagged ‘authenticity’
Louise Mensch right wing vixen part 2
I mentioned UK Tory MP Louise Mensch in July applauding her handling of a blackmail attempt. Here’s a profile from The Guardian‘s Decca Aitkenhead Louise Mensch: ‘We’re not all ogres’ which is very interesting for similar reasons, and more… We were still swooning at her brio when rioting broke out across Britain and she made […]
Mealy-mouthed
Heard on Radio NZ National’s World Watch this afternoon: “There’s strong evidence to suggest the worst of the eurozone crisis could be over…” Crikey. Ya reckon? How to say something without really saying anything or committing yourself. Shoot me (joke) if I write something so equivocal. Please. It’s almost as bad as hyperbolic self-promotion. – […]
Hitchens on Clinton
He’ll say anything. He’ll try anything. He’s a complete solipsist and completely without scruple. Christopher Hitchens RIP
Scrutiny and criticism starts at home
It is my belief that the writer, the free-lance author, should be and must be a critic of the society in which he lives. It is easy enough, and always profitable, to rail away at national enemies beyond the sea, at foreign powers beyond our borders who question the prevailing order. But the moral duty […]
‘public interest’ vs ‘the issues that matter’
Reflecting on John Key’s clearly-scripted talking point before he ‘stormed out’ of a media conference yesterday, it seems to me the National Party spin doctors (and lawyers?) will be emphatic that their man Key NOT under any circumstances admit to any ‘public interest’ in the cup of tea tapes. Thus, the apparent attempt to smother […]
Teflon John Key under pressure over tape
Politics is all about responding to emergencies — and I don’t mean a container ship grounding itself on a reef. From the NZ Herald’s John Armstrong today: John Key insists there is nothing on the secret tape of his “cup of tea” conversation with John Banks to cause him the slightest bother. If so, why […]
Security footage of a burglary?
Authorities have released an image from security camera footage of one of the [alleged] perpetrators of an electoral ‘dirty-deal’ sealed in Auckland yesterday. Anyone with knowledge of the incident, carried out in front of about 40 journalists* and cameramen, should um … well, they should, er … gee … well, what can they do? * […]
Winston Peters – comeback kid? Again?
I said this about Winston Peters in A voice in the wilderness? Or reclaiming the Grey Power mantle? in April: This man has come back from the dead before. (Just sayin’.) Don’t underestimate his political instincts and populism. Since then, Peters has continued to cause a ‘disturbance in the Force’ and ruffled a few feathers […]
Playing whack-a-mole with ‘da media’
‘Da media’ cops a lot of flak. I heard someone complaining on the radio today about the saturation coverage of the Rugby World Cup … every possible angle explored and elaborated upon. Those who work in news and its many-fangled tributaries make a big fat juicy target. Generic criticism rains down on them. It’s instructive […]
Priorities
I spoke to Adam Feeley, the head of the Serious Fraud Office yesterday about the conspiracy charges the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption had just laid against the unsuccessful Crafar farm bidders, particularly May Wang, He told me the charges resulted from 16 months of work by a dedicated SFO team, co-operating with the […]
Hansard can be a real bitch, eh Mr Key?
Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers, Questions to Members 4 October 2011 – Hansard Hon Phil Goff: Is it correct that New Zealand’s credit rating with those two agencies is now the same as Spain’s—a country that National has constantly derided as being an economy in trouble? Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot […]
Eloquent Eliota Sapolu on Campbell Live
I saw this interview between TV3’s John Campbell and Eliota Sapolu — the Samoan rugby centre who faced a judiciary hearing following his angry tweets accusing an IRB ref of bias and racist decisions during the South African/Samoan pool game in the Rugby World Cup. It’s a fabulous interview which impressed me very much. See […]
Authentic use of a following …
Brooke Fraser gets the value of using her ‘brand’ … and putting her body in the space to support good causes. Here’s what she says about the poverty of Africa, on her way to Ethiopia: “This is my eighth visit to the continent but my first to Ethiopia and I’m expecting it to be a […]
An apology should cost you something
Wow. Things have been going off the rails for Johann Hari since he got ‘busted’ massaging quotes in his interviews. Now he’s issued an apology and given an explanation (again) for his lack of truthfulness, and touches on some of the points I try to make here now and then about the generalised loss of […]
