Creating real value, and that’s not what Facebook and Twitter do

My forced Facebook sabbatical came to an end in the late morning. So what did I think of it all?    One of my Tweets last night was: ‘I hope [it is temporary], though I have found people out for 7–12 days now. Now it’s Monday I hope they have got over their hangovers!’ At […]

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I might not have Facebook, but I do speak Ebonics

Forty-nine hours and counting, which makes it the beginning of day three without Facebook.    I didn’t really need it yesterday, so there’s something to be said about habits breaking after a couple of days. However, for work, I have needed to go on there: while Sopheak is covering for me as far as Lucire’s […]

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This government’s comedy of errors lately—and few to capitalize on them

Polity has gone through the MFAT OIA documents relating to Judith Collins’s visit to China, where she met with Oravida thrice.    I’ve been reading them but out of order (the second bunch only) and their summary of what I have read gels with my take on things.    These matters have been covered better […]

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Why I ran

In two elections, I told people some blarney on why I decided to run.    In 2010: ‘I was working at Lew’s Diner and this guy had been picked on. I told him, “Stand tall, boy, show some respect for yourself. Do you think I’m going to spend the rest of my life in this […]

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A belated look back at 2013

I must have had a busy end of 2013, as I never posted my trade-mark summary of the year as viewed via my Tumblr. Here ’tis, better late than never. January 2013 Lucire has a facelift online—by December 2013, this “new look” would be history. Kylie Minogue is on the home page as the first […]

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This week it’s the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models; what’s next for our destination marketing?

In Lucire’s publication history, more Americans than New Zealanders have read from the title. Online, that was always the case, as we started off in 1997 with a 70 per cent US readership, which has dropped to around 42 per cent with other countries catching up with web browsing over the last 16 years.   […]

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In education, everyone deserves a chance

I am a huge fan of Sir Ken Robinson, the educational expert. This video has been around for a few years, but it’s well worth another watch.    Everyone has the potential within them—so we need ways of encouraging this for every life, rather than suppress them in favour of just the three Rs.   […]

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Frack away, IGas Energy: the Metropolitan Police has your back

The spirit of Gene Hunt is alive and well in the Greater Manchester Police, in the form of Sgt David Kehoe.    Arresting someone over drink driving when he has neither drunk nor driven reminds me of The Professionals episode, ‘In the Public Interest’, about a corrupt police force in an unnamed English city outside […]

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The Rongotai years

This came up today at Victoria University where an old client of ours asked about my 2013 campaign. I remembered there was something about education that I wanted to address at the time.    One of the stranger emails during 2013 came from a former classmate of mine at Rongotai College. A brilliant guy at […]

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Four ingredients of leadership

I was asked by my Alma Mater, Victoria University of Wellington, to give a 90-minute lecture on leadership last week to students visiting New Zealand from Peking University and the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. (My half-serious suggestion that I spoke Cantonese and the three students from Guangdong who understood could translate to Mandarin to […]

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