diaTribe » new zealand

The passing of Paul Holmes

Phil — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:00:17 +0000

The death of well-known NZ broadcaster Paul Holmes today marks the end of an era in what passes for in-depth news / current affairs interviewing in New Zealand

Personally, I was never a big fan of Holmes’ as a current affairs interviewer; he didn’t have the best diction, he ‘um’ed and ‘arr’ed and in the early days at least had a slight, but noticable lisp. It made listening to a Holmes interview rather irritating.

Holmes may not have been a Jeremy Paxman or John Suchet, but he did manage to cut a number of people down to size; in an interview with Margaret Thatcher, he suggested that her management style resembled a Nuremburg rally. And America’s cup arsehole Dennis Connor walked out of the studio after Holmes suggested that now he was in New Zealand (we had beaten Conner’s arse and taken the cup) he should apologise for insulting comments he had made about members of the Kiwi crew/support team.

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Declaration of Equality

Phil — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:20:58 +0000

Help make this happen – sign the Declaration of Equality

“We the undersigned are calling on Government Members of the House of Representatives to show true leadership by representing the views of the majority of New Zealanders – who believe that all people should be equal in the eyes of the law – by implementing the Declaration of Equality…”
- New Zealand Centre for Political Research

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Rant: Weasel Wording Down Under

Phil — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 12:29:51 +0000

And they wonder why we are all so cynical about politics…

Heather English is a retired school teacher now living in Invercargill. She has been an avid amateur genealogy researcher for about 35 years.

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Busy six months

Phil — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 01:25:10 +0000

It's been a busy six months since, I last bunged an entry in the blog.

We managed to not get washed away in the very wet summer, which included a trip to Sydney back in March, where it was mostly just as wet as it was in NZ . Still, it was good to catch up with a couple of pals, have a few beers and laugh at some of the most bizarrely-dressed participants of the annual Sydney Mardi Gras, which - unknown to us - fell smack in the middle of our visit.

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Election with Selection

Phil — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Well, the general election is over.

It was pretty much like elections everywhere; largely a duel of wits between unarmed opponents. No answers, but lots of different names for the problems.

I therefore present a New Zealand political addendum to the fully encompassing “Religions of the world“

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Happy Birthday Brother

Phil — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 06:49:38 +0000

I miss you

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Walking with Dinosaurs

Phil — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 08:34:41 +0000

Su and I took a short break away to Auckland to see the much-publicized Walking with Dinosaurs show at the Vector Arena.

We checked in to the nearby Barry Court motel (a weirdly shaped room, but handy to the arena an great harbour views) and after a bit of a stroll around, we joined a steady stream of people with tickets in their hands and kids in tow.

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Flip Grater days

Phil — Sun, 01 May 2011 08:26:10 +0000

Photo Credit: Justus Nussbaum (Own work) (CC-BY-SA-3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Last winter, I wrote a review of Flip Graters' latest album of the time, called: While I'm awake I'm at war. It was a fairly dark and stormy night, all electric flashes and distant rumbles. I had a good fire going, a whisky in my hand and my feet up in a comfortable chair, listening to a few of the album tracks, while the rain fell in squalls on the tin roof. It was bliss!

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