A decent cobber
February 29th, 2008 at 1:46 pm by David FarrarOne of the pleasures of attending the NZBR Retreat was meeting Andrew Bolt, who gave a superb talk about Kevin Rudd. Andrew is a former Labor staffer (and still good friends with several Labor Ministers), and now a columnist and blogger. His last book was “Still Not Sorry” which gives a clue as to his current views.
Andrew gives me a small plug on his blog.
His talk on Rudd was fascinating, as it was flavoured with a lot of inside info from within Labor. Also discussed the current Liberal Party which is looking very very dismal. I predict they will allow Nelson to lose the next election then Turnbull will roll him.
The funniest thing was when I first met Andrew. He was furiously trying to calculate something on a large pad, and was down to around line 30.
Upon enquiry I found out he was trying to work out how big China’s economy will be in 100 years time if it keeps growing at 10%. So he was calculating it manually line by line over 100 years. The look of relief on his face was palpable when I said I had a laptop with excel on it – took around 30 seconds. I think he had spent 20 minutes already on it! Still good to see someone who knows how to do maths the old fashioned way.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Well, if “the old fashioned way” does not include knowing about exponentiation … or that extrapolating 10% growth over 100 years is a nonsense. (1,377,961%, anyone…)
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Well done Andrew Bolt. Without people like him, you’d never know people like me were thick as shit. This, I believe, is the true definition of diversity.
Of course, I play sport. So I win. LOL
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Bolt’s a regular on the ABC insiders show and a writer for the Telegraph. Bolt might be a pleasant chap, I’ve not met him. He is an arch conservative however with some pretty repugnant views including all but denying the Stolen Generation (and stupid stuff on climate change too). His links to Labor shouldn’t be overstated; I was aware he was an adviser but he’s long since been converted and was an ardent fan of Howard. I hope he didn’t talk up his bipartisan credential for the NZ audience?
[DPF: I don't think anyone could mistake his politics and think he is bipartisan. However he does still have strong links with some in Labor (which was relevant to him talking on Rudd) - especially on the Labor Right which to be honest is not that far removed from the Libs at times]
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Err, given that you are probably only looking for a ballpark figure, why not use the “rule of 72″
ie when dealing with compounding interest the number of years needed to double an investment (or economy) is 72 divided by the interest (or growth rate), in this case at 10% the economy will double every 7.2 years,
100yrs/7.2 years is just under 14, so the Chinese economy will double almost 14 times in 100yrs if it grows at 10% a year
2EXP13 is 8196 2EXP14 is 16384, so anything between 8 and 16000 times, but closer to 16000
which fits the 13779 times given above
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Oh dear!
Vote:His small plug for Kiwiblog had his readers view your showcasing of wrestling and an AFL test.
They expressed dismay at his judgement.
He may need lubricating next time you meet.
February 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Perhaps so, but I think noting that he’s got some historical connection to Labor might create a false impression of where he sits in the political spectrum (though I agree the right of Labor is indistinguishable from the centre ground where many Libs would one day like to reoccupy).
Odd that the NBR would invite Bolt, there’s far more respectable liberal/conservative writers around and to be frank, its people who subscribe to Bolt’s view of the world who propped up Howard and cost the Lib’s the election; what possible insight could he have?
[DPF: I mentioned his book name precisely so people wouldn't think what you are saying. It was NZBR not NBR, and it wasn't about why the Libs lost. It was about what sort of PM will Kevin Rudd be. Believe it or not most in the room wanted Rudd to do well, and be a strong economic manager]
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
I meant NZBR… and good point about the book, I’d skipped that. I’d be completely surprised if anyone in NZ doesn’t want Rudd to be a good PM; a strongly performing and stable Australia is good for NZ given that it’s still our largest trading partner (though I’d love it if Mortlock and Liz Ellis would bugger off or retire).
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
x*1.1^100
Vote:3rd form maths
February 29th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I visit Bolt’s blog occasionally, to me it’s like a room full of Redbaiter’s.
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
The following is typical of Bolt, and is from his response to the Apology to the Stolen Generations (which he denies even occurred)
“Rudd and co., the activists etc. wont be happy until Australia has a civil war under way I
feel. And our own modern day Che Guevara to boot.”
“Stephen Hawke interviewed by the Hills Gazette in WA calls the aboriginies who attacked settlers in the nations early days “guerilla fighters” so its not difficult to see what is in the wind.”
“Aboriginies in Adelaide have threatened to “rise up” if the government attempts to remove their aboriginal “embassy” as it is relocated to a more visible site. Now that Rudd and co. have gained government all bets are off ”
“All decent Australians should fly the national flag upside down as a sign of distress…”
“…how much of the billions in “compensation” may be perhaps used to continue the
guerilla fight against mainstream Australians which seems to be the prevailing trend at the moment as “Sorry” and “Guilt of the Nation” day fast approaches.”
“Parents should consider taking legal action against the moronic schools who will participate in this circus – this is nothing more than brain washing…”
“Can our Australia, after enduring 3 years of this terrifying form of manipulation and indoctrination, actually be salvaged or will it be “game over?”
“They are trying to breed conservatism out and may very well succeed. What brainwashing doesn’t achieve, censorship will.”
“The indoctrination is already well in place. I tried to reason with my two teenage daughters about this issue last night and I was howled down with a litany of “stolen generation” propaganda.”
“It looks like a scene out of the movie 1984. The next step in this process is to set up the thought police.”
“…neo-pagan aboriginal worship.”
“While driving to work this morning listening to the ABC’s Radio Communist I mean National…”
“History is being rewritten in front of our eyes. No different to Trotsky and others being airbrushed out of later Soviet pictures.”
“…this is how nazi germany started….goebels couldn’t have done any better.”
“I have always wondered how on earth Hitler swept people into marching, singing and following him blindly. Now I can see it happening in front of my eyes. I also can see how moderate, thinking people have no weapon against mass-hysteria.”
“Just as in Nazi Germany where Hitler’s zealots attacked any who warned them of the error of their ways & the negative consequences upon their own nation. Is it not interesting how these brain dead individuals attack the very people who despair & care about where our nation is heading.”
Just in case anyone forgot, this was about an apology for a policy of forcible child removal, explained by one of its progenitors Cecil Cook as follows:
“Generally by the fifth and invariably by the sixth generation, all native characteristics of the Australian Aborigine are eradicated. The problem of our half-castes will quickly be eliminated by the complete disappearance of the black race, and the swift submergence of their progeny in the white”
Bolt might be charming in company, but his views often border on insanity.
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
We have to be careful in NZ that the unavoidably provincial views of the NZ MSM and the NZ left don’t paint a false picture of reality in AU.
You may not understand that numerous AU Court cases have always rejected the concept of “stolen” with the “best” examples offered.
Bolt has a standing challenge for Manne et al to produce 10 “stolen” for racist reasons from the tens of thousands claimed.
Not a single case has stood up.
Read this.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/stolen_generations_my_writers_festival_speech/
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
anonymouse, emmess – thank you for ruining my Friday evening by reminding me how functionally innumerate I am. Now sod off ;-P
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
This is not special and it is not retro cherry picking, it’s today, and it’s just the way it is.
Dilettante heaven.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23294232-2702,00.html
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Alces, yep, and that is the problem. What is Australia going to do – can’t leave many of the Aboriginal areas the way they are because the human tragedy is far too great. There is an enormous dollar spend per head on the Aboriginal population, so more money isn’t the answer. Moving the kids out smacks of the “stolen generation”, and runs the risk of breaking the bits of the Aboriginal culture that are worth saving. Leaving there is condemning the majority of them to a life of misery. No easy answers, the apology was window dressing, someone needs to do something useful now.
Vote:February 29th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
The Age will make Kiwis feel right at home.
The left in AU don’t want to lose Aboriginals as a victims de jour.
So, as the Age puts it,
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/terrible_fate_of_stolen_children_good_jobs/#commentsmore
Vote:March 1st, 2008 at 9:55 am
David,
I don’t know who “george darroch” is, but I already know that nothing he says can be trusted.
A few comments above this he ascribes to me a long list of statements, only a couple of which I recognise as possibly mine and some of which strike me as utterly ludicrous, and exactly not the kind of thing I’d say. I’ve checked a few and see they are in fact from readers of my blog, and not me at all.
Perhaps Mr Darroch could be asked to explain whether he was being dishonest or simply grossly careless in verballing me in this extraordinary way.
[DPF: That would explain things. Many of the left in NZ do not believe in personal responsibility but do believe in collective responsibility. That means you and I are personally responsible in their eyes for any comments on our blogs. Our defence of free speech is seen as some sort of ridicolous concept. So in their eyes you are responsible for the speech of other people.]
Vote:March 1st, 2008 at 10:04 am
Oops. To add to my earlier response. Looking at the list more carefully, I’m inclined to think not a single one of the comments George Darroch ascribes to me were in fact uttered by me. The first in particular is one I find repugnant, and it grossly offensive for Darroch to claim I said it.
Vote:March 1st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
“Upon enquiry I found out he was trying to work out how big China’s economy will be in 100 years time if it keeps growing at 10%. So he was calculating it manually line by line over 100 years.”
If only he know that a doubling time is always 70 / percentage – so at 10% growth per annum China’s economy is doubling in size every seven years. He really only needed to do 10 or so simple calculations on paper.
Vote:March 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 am
Wee george has apparently been called out as a liar by Bolt.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/green_monstering/#commentsmore
Vote:March 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
georgedarroch, no fair man. You quoted so many regular posters there, couldn’t you at least find something of mine? I feel so left out.
Vote:March 3rd, 2008 at 11:25 am
I’ve given an apology for ascribing to him comments that weren’t his. However, given his own content is so similar, it wasn’t surprising I made the mix-up.
Vote:March 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
“However, given his own content is so similar, it wasn’t surprising I made the mix-up.”
People, go, read, make up your own mind. And while reading the calm and reasonable articles by Bolt, ask yourself how Darroch could possibly think the content was in any way similar.
Darroch, just go. You have fatally embarrassed yourself.
Vote: