- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sunday, April 22, 2012

q+a and The Nation review

The Nation
Excellent piece with Garner and James discussing how grubby the casino deal is. Increasingly this interview between Duncan and Colin is the best touch base wrap up of weekly current affairs.

Rachel Smalley has made TV3's weekday breakfast news far more palatable than the abomination Sun Rise was. She is hard hitting and when focused can provide actual answers out of the interviews. TV3 should strengthen her rather than turn to Guyon.

How Jane Cliften was decided as the left wing response with Brian gone is a little beyond me. The flabby jowl of middle class baby boomer pretension that the NZ Listener now represents hardly gives Jane the credentials to step in for the mighty Brian Edwards.

Nice to see there is life after Murray McCully though.
q+a
Is Holmes annoyed that Mike Hoskings has the gold vip card to Sky City? Because his prissy defense of sky city is a little suspicious isn't it? Is Holmes a VIP Sky City mate?

Opening monologue, Damien Christy is on form. Funny as always. Paul's pace was so off it made Fisk's drunk rant last month seem pithy. How does Damien manage to write for him? Christy deserves a merit of order for NZ literature.

Panel is that awful woman they've replaced Jon Johansson with (why isn't she described as 'National Party wannabe' rather than political analyst?), a slim looking Jim Anderton and Heather Roy (the least crazy former ACT MP)

You know things are bad when Steven Joyce has to front on q+a to defend this casino nightmare. When our first super Ministry tzar has to put off Sunday breakfast to explain why his grubby casino deal isn't whoring off our domestic laws for corporate gain, you know it's not a good week for the Government.

Key honestly seems utterly bewildered by all the fuss, he sees he's made a deal and doesn't understand the negative attention.

Greg Boyd does an amazing job of grilling Joyce, his bullshit answers trying to defend gambling and the fact his Government have actively cut a deal with Sky look stark against the grey spin he's desperately trying to weave. Watching Joyce slap down Goldman Sachs shows how much on the ropes his argument is.

Watching Heather so cleverly pimp for the pub gambling lobby shows how a pro does it. Constantly pointing out that pub charity's return 35% to the community over Sky's 2.5% is genius, (that explains who is funding a lot of this attack on the Governments deal), Jim says we should build the convention center ourselves and Clare Robinson says how wonderful John Key is.

Here is the issue, Key cuts a deal that won't cost the Government anything to build a convention center - he sees no value other than cost - FINALLY Key's greatest strength becomes his greatest weakness. Key was the un-politician, a person supposedly disconnected with the ideologies of yesterday, that was his strength. His ability to wheel and deal inspired vacant optimism, but his total lack of political chip on his shoulder has allowed him to wander into a political minefield with no warning because he doesn't understand the political values on display.

Put bluntly, values matter in politics, it's what inspires people to vote every 3 years. Key's wide eyed routine doesn't exempt him from the political gravity now pulling him down, he made a cost deal without comprehending the full political fallout and it's starting to show.

Brownlee and Boyd rip pieces out of each other over the Christchurch rebuild. Gerry comes out swinging, attacking Greg for describing the rebuild as 'stalling', Greg shrugs off the attack and bounces back demanding to know why a new department has been set up if the rebuild hasn't stalled.

Watching Joyce and Brownlee both attacking so heavily shows how much stress the government must be under. They are spooked and the only thing that spooks Ministers like Brownlee and Joyce is internal polling, they must have picked up a heavy drop and are in full scale damage control.

Greg Boyd proved he could take the heat and demand answers - public broadcasting at it's best.

FACEBOOK TWITTER

6 Comments:

At 22/4/12 11:21 am, Blogger Unknown said...

Excellent cover of a wide range of political footballs Bomber, you did hit the nail on the head about Greg Boyd's interviewing technique, maybe the new Brian Edwards.

 
At 22/4/12 2:49 pm, Blogger Tim said...

When Jane Clifton stops trying to manufacture respectability out of wearing 'suits' that look as though they've been out of my granny's couch coverings - I'll start paying her more attention. No amount of pensive pauses, considered responses, feigned portrayals of her being a woman of experience will convince me otherwise. All that (IN MY OPINION) just makes me see her as a dirty girl that got lucky and whi caught up with a bit of muff she felt sorry for.
Still... that could be half the National Party when you think about it

 
At 22/4/12 3:06 pm, Blogger Tim said...

Oh yea....PS...Greg Boyed has been completely underated for years.
Just watch his career take a dive now - his wife (if he has one) must be getting worried.
He was a standout years ago doing business pre Henry when gargantuan egos took over all that is brodcast free-to-air.
When PSB TV is eventually resurrected, let's hope the guy is still around to lead it all.
In the meantime, there are those who'd rather bury him (he's a threat). If only because he's a journalist and one the bs artists can't handle easily.

 
At 22/4/12 3:06 pm, Blogger Tim said...

Oh yea....PS...Greg Boyed has been completely underated for years.
Just watch his career take a dive now - his wife (if he has one) must be getting worried.
He was a standout years ago doing business pre Henry when gargantuan egos took over all that is brodcast free-to-air.
When PSB TV is eventually resurrected, let's hope the guy is still around to lead it all.
In the meantime, there are those who'd rather bury him (he's a threat). If only because he's a journalist and one the bs artists can't handle easily.

 
At 22/4/12 5:03 pm, Blogger Nitrium said...

Why do politicians (all parties) keep saying "The reality is..." (Joyce said it at least 5 times), and then follow up with something from the Twilight Zone? Oh wait. I get it now.

 
At 22/4/12 9:39 pm, Blogger Tim said...

@ Nitrium
Precisely!!! I was just about to make that exact point (watching Q+A on TVNZ atm)
,,,, Answer;
Because it's the new "TINA" (There is no Alternative)

It's also a damn good BS detector

 

Post a Comment

<< Home