Talking Point

Now local government is telling you what to eat

 By Craig Regan

Australian local government is fascinating to watch. Touted as truly representative of community sentiment, it’s actually the least accountable form of government. You’ll know this is an irrefutable fact if you’ve ever lodged a complaint. Don’t get me started on its ability to be petty when it comes to controlling what people want to do with their own property.

This story about Ashfield mayor Lyall Kennedy being pulled into line for his opposition to a court’s approval of 24 trading for a local fast food outlet probably poses more questions than it answers.

What was the conduct that was inappropriate? The report probably attracts only qualified legal privilege so we may never know but one comment in the story by the good mayor stands out.

''It is not essential for people have access to hamburgers at three in the morning,'' he said.

Not essential, but is Mayor Kennedy qualified to comment about the carb-loading needs of shift workers? What about people heading off on holiday at an ungodly hour who need to feed their kids? How about junk food addicts?

Would his attitude be different towards early morning kebabs or hot dogs?

It’s enough to give you heartburn. 

 

Tatts not such great research

By Craig Regan

PR people and journalists love research and polls. From France comes this academic study that finds people with tattoos and piercings drink more alcohol than most.

Researchers breathalysed 2,000 people as they left bars in the province of Brittany. Patrons with body art and adornments returned higher alcohol readings than those without.

These differences in readings between the inked people and the cleanskins suggested that tatts may be a “marker” for alcoholism, according to scientists.

I suppose that's why they call boozing "getting on the ink".

Previous research had shown that people with tattoos and piercings were more likely to engage in unsafe sex, fighting and heavy drinking, the rationale being they are risk takers.  

People do like a drink in Brittany. An expat Australian mate owned a bar in a place called Morlaix (population 15,000) and when I visited a few years ago, his venue was in the top ten of French sales of Jack Daniels.

He was the only person in town who liked bourbon whiskey, so there was a message right there.

So is this (more) flawed research posing as news on a slow media day? Lighthouse’s preferred research partner Neil Stollznow of StollzNow Research:

"The problem is that it’s not a good sample. It is a big sample, but only of those who go out drinking. There could be a large number of people with tattoos and piercings who are at home watching the television.

"To make the conclusion they do you would have to randomly sample the population and then track them to see whether they go out, drink or get into trouble.

"The best you can say is that of the population who go out at night to bars those with tattoos and piercings are more likely to drink more – and although the differences in alcohol levels are statistically significant, they’re under the recommended level for confidence."

The bottom line is that there’s a strong case for research of almost any kind coming with an explanatory label.

Photo credit: Inkarttattoos

K-Fed media express leaves the station

By Craig Regan

Excuse the cynicism. I'm sure his pain was real, but this afternoon's story about K-Fed going into an Australian hospital with chest pains while filming a celebrity weight loss program for the Nine Network is going to have a predictable media life cycle.

It’s going to run like this:

1. Headlines in every newspaper overnight - and the Twittersphere goes into meltdown;
2. Breathless updates ensue from breakfast TV celebrity commentators who have little or nothing in the way of facts;
3. Live crosses from Mount Druitt Hospital are not out of the question and probably mandatory;
4. Breakfast and morning radio hosts slam the story as a publicity stunt;
5. Kyle Sandilands declares K Fed to be a "fat shit";
6. All-day promos for a night time current affairs (term used loosely) interview from the hospital bedside – on Nine of course;
7. Spoiler story runs on Seven because they don’t have the interview;
8. TV nightly news stories run on almost every channel – especially on TEN where they have to fill an hour. ABC ignores it;
9. The story turns into fodder for next week’s Gruen Transfer;
10. Spin cycle starts again.

 

Thanks for the invitation but I have some drying paint I need to watch

Heard of FourSquare, the location-aware social media application that allows you to tell people what shop, restaurant or nightclub you've arrived at?

Many decry it as an online flag to housebreakers who can rob your home blind while you're otherwise occupied, but increasing numbers of businesses are using it to drive traffic to their front-door with the lure of exclusive offers. Speaking for myself, I'm not feeling like I need to advertise which pub's benefitting from my idea of economic stimulus.

A group of New York City progammers are using FourSquare to vett who goes to their New  Years' Eve party in Brooklyn this year. The story's here and don't forget to check the video. Watch it until the end - and make your own judgement about whether it looks like the happening sort of party you'd like to attend.