Fighting Talk - Geoff, Linda And Maggie
Max Johns - missing Geoff Robinson, Blenheim
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
The surprise announcement that Margaret Wilson will be the next Speaker of the House - that is, Parliament's version of
a square leg umpire provided by the batting team, who already get the benefit of the doubt - has been met with some
pretty harsh opposition. This is more surprising than it first seems, because Speakers are usually given endorsement
from both sides of the House (and often appointed unanimously) when they take over the big seat at the front. Even in
politics, it's considered bad form to slag off the ref.
Matt Nippert - Navel Astronomer, Auckland
Monday, December 13, 2004
Ever take a look in the mirror? I mean aside from popping zits or spreading the bryl? It's a strange experience, and
self-reflection is a lot harder than self-help gurus make out. I've been doing a bit lately, thinking back on how I got
into the journalism gig. It wasn't really planned, more a bail-out option after realising the life of a civil servant
wasn't for me.
Keith Ng, Asshole, Wellington
Monday, December 13, 2004
Team America: World Police is a reductive typological analysis of international affairs. The movie is philosophically
underpinned by the premise that there are are three categories of agents in the world: dicks, pussies, and assholes.
Max Johns - office dweller, Blenheim
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Helen and Margaret's new toy doesn't seem to like playing with them much. It's not long now since the PM and
Attorney-General decided to give the Privy Council the flick and build the country a Supreme Court (which is actually
more of an average meeting room). As its prime champions, they couldn't have been happier to be rid of those damn
part-time foreigners poking all around our laws and telling us what to do. What they possibly failed to realise in all
the excitement of creating their own lasting monument to Labour 5 is that a bunch of full-time locals poking around the
laws and telling us what to do could get to be a little more difficult to stomach, and could even get personal.
Lyndon Hood - not a lawyer, Lower Hutt
Friday, December 10, 2004
This morning Linda Clark interviewed a logician. Quite a contrast, I know. A bit like those old movies where one guy was
fat and the other one was skinny. The punchline is that she conducted what one Jamie Whyte presumably thought was going
to be a promo for his book as an adversarial interview. As in, what's the point of rational thought anyway?
Hamish McKenzie - soon to be unemployed, Dunedin
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Being a soldier rumbling down a Fallujah street in a tank must be akin to walking into a safari with a leg of lamb tied
to your ankle. You might as well wrap yourself in an American flag and offer yourself up for target practice. Of course,
there is the rather important distinction that in a tank you have the security of armour to hide behind.
ENDS