PUBLIC ADDRESS RADIO

I contribute a three(-ish) minute commentary segment called 180 Seconds with... to Public Address Radio, a delightful audio pot pourri that airs on Radio Live stations, from 7pm on Sundays.

I'd like to thank the hardest working man in blog-business, Russell Brown, for inviting me to contribute - despite our considerable, and sometimes very public, political differences over the years. The fine gentlemen (and splendid producer lady Glynis) at The Down Low Concept work regular technical miracles in making me sound coherent and audible to anything other than dogs and bats.

My pieces are archived here and if you're so inclined please feel free to post a comment.

DISCLAIMER

For the more obtuse among you, the following disclaimer:

1. Everything here is my opinion, and mine alone. (Except for comment threads and guest posts, which are other people's opinions, and theirs alone.)

2. More often than I like to admit, I am completely full of shit and prone to drivel on about subjects that I know nothing about. So are you, come to that, so let's call it even and move on.

3. I lace my prose with not-so-subtle sexual innuendo and spicy Anglo-Saxon vernacular. Don't bother pissing and bitching about it, or I might really get grumpy. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

4. As a rule, I don't care what you think about me or my opinions. If you don't like what I do -- or don't -- cover here, or the conclusions I come to, either go elsewhere or start your own blog.

5. This blog operates, ultimately, entirely for my own amusement and intermittent enlightenment, and exists and updates entirely at my whim. If I decide to go away for a day, or a week, or forever, then I will.

COMMENTS POLICY

There's been a certain amount of angst in the Kiwi blogisphere about whether comments are democracy in action, or tantamount to inviting a load of loons into your house to piss on the carpet and scare the kids.

Here's the great truth from which all others flow: There is no inalienable, God-given right to post comments on this or any other blog.

So, here's the rules:

1) This is not a democracy. For the time being, if I choose to open comments on a post all comments will be moderated and are published entirely at my discretion. I am the sole arbiter of what is acceptable and what is not. There is no appeal. If you don't like it, don't post.

2) If I do publish a comment, I reserve the right to edit for length, clarity, sense, relevance to the thread or ongoing discussion, or legal reasons. (It is not one of my fantasies to be a footnote in defamation case law, or have contempt of court added to my many, many sins.)

I am the sole arbiter etc. As a courtesy, I will clearly mark an edited comment as such, but that is not an invitation to debate my call.

3) I don't want to exercise a heavy editorial hand, but here's a few guidelines about what is going to sharpen up the (virtual) blue pencil:

• If you want to vent your racist, queer-bating, anti-religious or hyper-partisan spleen you may want to find a more congenial corner of the world than the blog of a mixed-race, gay Catholic Tory. Just a thought.
• Pimp your wares someplace else.
• Please keep your comments approximately in the vicinity of the original post or the ongoing discussion. I know defining thread-jacking or flaming is pretty subjective, but it is my subjectivity that really counts.
• I'm very easily bored by little flame-feuds between two individuals, and when you've been asked to take it to private e-mail the next step is banning.

3) My boredom threshold is as low as my standards for a tolerably amusing flame are high. You've been warned.