Articles

  • Taking Offence (2)

    I read a column a while ago that offence is never given, it is only taken, and Andy Haden's recent claim that the Canterbury Crusaders have a policy of selecting only a limited number of Pacific Island players has reinforced this view. His exact words (referring, he clarified later, to Pacific Islanders only and not to Maoris) was "Once they've recruited three, that's it. That's their ceiling. Three darkies, no more". 

    Normally I wouldn't comment on an issue like this. I know very little about Super 14 rugby, let alone the Crusaders, and try to write about more important stuff ...

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  • That Idiot, Tibor

    Those familiar with The Simpsons will have seen an episode in which Marge gets a job at Homer's work. Homer advises her before she starts there to blame anything that goes wrong on a foreign employee named Tibor – and, sure enough, as the episode progresses there are plenty of times that he is blamed, despite very little actually being his fault.

     

    Exit American popular culture and enter Australian politics. Kevin Rudd has been ignominiously dumped as leader of the Labor party and also, therefore, as Prime Minister. The Labor party has had a number of policies that were ...

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  • Crime and Punishment, Part IV

    I have previously written that the only two goals for the justice system should be to keep a person out of society and to discourage both the person and others from committing similar crimes.

     

    If we look carefully at the first of these, it implies that the current balance in deciding the length of a prison sentence between the crime's nature and severity and the person's previous convictions should be reconsidered. At present the crime itself is the main determinant of the sentence's length. However, if you accept my previous assertions about the justice system, you will see that ...

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  • Football world cup

    Like a lot of people, I spent a lot of time following the football World Cup over the few weeks that it was on. FIFA doesn't care one way or the other who wins the Cup, but it would probably give itself more credibility, and keep the fans happier, if it did.

     

    The first issue is disciplining those players who blatantly cheat. Anyone can, in the heat of the moment, make a clumsy, or even reckless, tackle and I'm not talking about those players – the penalties that they receive on the field are punishment enough. I'm talking about ...

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  • In Defence of Joggers

    Hello. Please hear me out. I'm worried,with good reason, that won't. Even though we've never met, a lot of people hate me and my kind, and you might be one of them. I am, you see, a Jogger.

     

    Joggers have always had a tough time of it. We risk facing aggressive dogs and mindlessly abusive people every time we go out. But some people have a repressed rage towards us. Now that it is (rightly) frowned upon to be prejudiced against people based on race, religion, sexuality or age, people need a group that doesn't fall under any of ...

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