Posts Tagged ‘justice’
Implications of recent internet gagging attempt
UPDATE June 2013 — There have been developments on this. See this post: Is this what we want? Internet ‘take down’ and indefinite gagging orders? The decision in a recent court case involving allegations of harassment by blog post is instructive on all sorts of levels for what it tell us about the state of […]
Property Tutors’ Sean Wood is ‘not of good character’ – according to Authority & Judge
I’ve entertained questions of my own about former Richmastery (now Property Tutors) mentor and property spruiker Sean Wood’s credibility and marketing methods for some years (see here). Now the Financial Markets Authority’s conclusion that ’15 million dollar man’ Sean Wood is not a person of ‘good character’ for the purposes of the Financial Advisor’s Act (and […]
This is a very good cartoon
Tom Scott — as sharp as ever … It’s a funny thing, the justice system. I worked at the Supreme Court when Arthur Allan Thomas was going through an ill-fated appeal of his 1971 wrongful convictions for murder. A scientist named Jim Sprott conclusively discredited the police ‘evidence’ that a shell casing they said they […]
Window dressing
I was sorry to see this … Article here at stuff.co.nz As I said when the Lombard Finance charges were laid, I had quite a bit to do with Doug Graham and Bill Jeffries as cabinet minsters when I was a journo in the Press Gallery. I liked them both. This result will give pause […]
Nelson Mandela on reconciliation
One of my very generous sisters-in-law gave me a volume of Nelson Mandela quotations for Christmas. It’s astonishing how much wisdom about the big issues of life he expressed over the years — and with such eloquence and elegance of thought. Thinking about the decades of protest at Waitangi, and the enormous progress towards reconciliation […]
It takes a crisis … Waitangi and its place in our constitution
Radio NZ News this Waitangi Day morning … The co-chair of a panel reviewing New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements says one of its biggest challenges is making the public aware that a review is taking place. The public will be consulted on a range of questions from the size of Parliament to the role of the […]
The Treaty of Waitangi and its principles
In the late 1830s, there were approximately 125,000 Māori in New Zealand and about 2000 settlers. More immigrants were arriving all the time though, and Captain William Hobson was sent to act for the British Crown in the negotiation of a treaty between the Crown and Māori. The Colonial Secretary, Lord Normanby, instructed Hobson that: […]
Lawyers (and lab rats) have their uses
Despite all the jokes about lawyers (some of them very funny, like Q: Why do some experiments use lawyers instead of lab rats? A: Because there are more of them, there are some things even rats won’t do, and the experimenters prove less likely to become emotionally attached to lawyers than rats) there are times […]
Formative experiences
Reflecting on why I oppose the National government’s proposed rushed legislation to retrospectively sanctify unlawful police surveillance actions, I found myself remembering back to when I was a sixth-former in Wellington and got a holiday job at the Supreme Court — coincidentally just as an appeal was being heard against the double murder conviction of […]
Unforgettable images of ‘state repression’ – right here at home
Chris Trotter’s commentary on charges being dropped against some [alleged, not even that now] Maori radical ‘terrorists’ — The Operation That Failed — is worth reading. (And so is the comment stream.) I fully agree with his line: When “Operation Eight” was finally launched on 15 October 2007 the images it supplied – of armed […]
