Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

Black Caps fast bowler Iain O'Brien has hit the headlines for comments he made in his personal blog this week. The international cricketer only took up blogging in October, to pass the downtime (outside of training and playing) while he was in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

O'Brien continued to make regular 'diary' posts during his international travels with the team, with his personal observations giving a very interesting insight into the thought process behind a game, what players do to get prepared, and how they keep themselves occupied during the downtime.

It sounds like NZ Cricket bosses weren't aware of his personal blog, which unfortunately made headlines after O'Brien commented last Saturday that he'd been called a faggot by some spectators, while he was fielding on the boundary during the game at the Gabba (Brisbane).

"The crowds here are pretty good, ruined by a few, actually quite a few, idiots who think a day out at the cricket is just to abuse the guys playing any way how. You get called anything and everything.

Embarrassing for these guys really, as a lot of the others around them are cringing. I don't know how many times I've was called a 'fagot' this afternoon!"

New Zealand Cricket team manager Lindsay Crocker says he's spoken to O'Brien, who is keen to continue blogging. He was "staggered the blog had made headlines", but had agreed to run future posts past the team's media manager, John Durning.

Hopefully that won't result in a boring santised and edited kind of diary, of the kind that usually appears on "Official" team websites. Unfortunately Crocker does note that it was "standard practice for any published writing by contracted players to be vetted by NZ Cricket".

As Richard at Sportsreview points out, Iain is "simply writing honestly about what it’s like to play international Cricket. And he writes well."

He does. And hopefully he'll be allowed - and feel comfortable - continuing.

* Iain O'Brien's Cricket Blog

Gordon Brown has given British citizens a firm reminder that they're living under a Labour government, with a mini-budget for the UK which includes tax increases for those on high incomes, a temporary cut to VAT, bringing forward infrastructure spending, and increasing borrowing by £118 billion.

Brown's Chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced a raft of initiatives yesterday, aimed at providing "a £20 billion fiscal stimulus to help the British economy through the global downturn".

The UK's VAT rate (similar to GST) will be temporarily cut from 17.5% to 15%, until the end of 2009, while National insurance contributed will increase by 0.5%. The top personal tax rate will be increased to 45% (currently 40%), and the tax-free threshold will also be scrapped for people earning over £140,000.

The Conservative Party says Labour's borrowing plans will see UK national debt double to an impressive £1 trillion in just a few years.

As No Minister points out, this is just the kind of mini-budget Dr Cullen and Hillin Cluck had promised New Zealand, if they won the election... Rumoured to have been under consideration by Labour NZ was a increase in GST to 15%, an increased top tax rate, a 10% surcharge on mobile phone bills/prepaid phone cards, and a $1000 funeral fee/death duty.

But the tax announcement from Labour UK that could have a big impact on New Zealand is the plans to massively raise airport departure taxes from British airports. The government is proposing a new 4-tier system (under the guise of an "environmental tax") which will penalise air travellers based on the distance travelled.
That will see travellers flying from Britain to New Zealand charged around NZ$250 in flight taxes by 2010, with Labour using the false religion of climate change to justify the increases, which will supposedly "help offset carbon emissions".

Premium Economy and Business class seats will be taxed at double those rates (because those people obviously cause more carbon emissions per seat?!).

New Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key raised the issue with Gordon Brown this morning, concerned that it could have a detrimental impact on tourism numbers here. The UK is currently New Zealand's second largest tourist market, with almost 289,000 visiting from Britain in the year to October.
The huge hike in departure taxes will also hit the 100,0000 New Zealand holidaymakers who fly out of the UK each year. The Pacific Asia Travel Association has labelled the UK government's decision as "short-sighted and self-defeating".

The organisation believes the move could backfire, with travellers choosing to fly in and out of other airports in mainland Europe, including Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. PATA says that would lead to an increase short-haul air traffic to and from the UK, and "increase carbon emissions".

I have been following with interest recently the story of the Australian man who tried to offer a hand drawing of a spider as payment for his utility bill.

Adelaide graphics designer David Thorne apparently owed the (unnamed) company the sum of $233.95. However rather than paying the bill, he tried emailing the company a hand-drawn black and white picture of a spider instead, as full and final payment...

Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,
I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter.

Regards, David.

Unfortunately grumpy Jane from the utility didn't share David's appreciation for original art, and continued to request he submit payment for the overdue bill.

The email exchanges continued over several days, with David admitting along the way that he had made a serious mistake with his original drawing, with the spider having only 7 legs. He apologised to Jane, and sent the company a new drawing with the correct 8 legs...

"I realise with hindsight that it is possible you rejected the drawing of a spider due to this obvious limb omission... but did not point it out in an effort to avoid hurting my feelings.

As such, I am sending you a revised drawing with the correct number of legs as full payment for any amount outstanding. I trust this will bring the matter to a conclusion."

The utility company still wouldn't play ball, but by this time the email exchange had become the subject of a widespread viral email,which led to the 7-legged spider drawing being offered for sale on auction site eBay by a Swedish man.

The drawing attracted 18 bids, reportedly selling for an impressive US$10,000. However, now the winning bidder - one Patrick Munoz of the United States - is refusing to pay up, saying he was "just having a laugh about this".

A spokesman for eBay says the buyer is "obliged to pay because they have entered a legal contract", and the seller could take Munoz to the police for breaking the "contract he made when he won the item"...

"What people decide what they want to pay for items is up to them … it’s a binding contract, even if it’s a picture of a seven-legged spider."

Quite.

* Read the whole email exchange here...
* ninemsn News: 'Spider man' refuses to pay for drawing

As the global economy goes tits up, us lesser mortals are left wondering what the world's financial wizards where doing during their Economics lessons at school.

Financial journalists relay messages of widespread doom and gloom... in fact according to the NZ Herald today...

American business leaders have privately warned there will be "absolute carnage" on world markets if nothing is done to deleverage the US$60 trillion ($113.4 trillion) credit derivatives market in an orderly fashion.

No, I don't really understand what they mean either.
The Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac) told the world's leaders who have assembled in Lima that it "was worried the US credit derivatives market was not fully backed by real assets."

I think, essentially what they're getting out is that financial gurus became adept at creating billions of dollars out of thin air, which was lent out at healthy interest rates to people who had little real ability to pay the money back.

The global credit crunch has sparked fresh debate about the various economic models around the world, including arguments from agitated lefties who are trying to blame Capitalism for the current situation.

For non-economists like me, here's a simple summary of the world's Economic Models, explained with the help of Cows... (I know the basic list has been around for a while, but this one that came to me via Popbitch seems to have a few new twists)...


Economic Models explained with Cows...

- SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour.

- COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

- FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.

- BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other and then throws the milk away.

- TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have 2 cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

- SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

- AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

- A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.

- A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You go on strike, organise a riot and block the roads because you want three cows.

- A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow image called “Cowkimon” and market it worldwide.
- AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

- A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION: You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive.

- A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month and milk themselves.

- A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

- AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You worship them.

- A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. Both are mad.

- AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have 2 cows but you don’t know where they are. You decide to have lunch.

- A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have 2 cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

- AN IRAQI CORPORATION: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them that you have none. No-one believes you, so they bomb the shit out of you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy.

Good work to Rodney Hide for getting the Gnats to agree to a 'fundamental review' of the Emissions Trading Scheme, as part of ACT's support deal with National.

ACT campaigned heavily on dumping the current legislation, which would be the best solution for the economy and for all New Zealanders.

Unfortunately National being National campaigned with a serious lack of spine (surprisingly with the backing of Federated Farmers), and only want to "water down the existing legislation", with John Key still keen to pass an amended ETS into law by the end of next year.

The only immediate change will be the lifting of the ban on new fossil-fuel power generation. The NZ Government are not yet planning to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol.

However, the select committee being set up to review Labour's Emissions Trading Scam will have to hear "competing views" on the so-called "science" which claims humans are to blame for climate change, as well as the merits of a carbon tax, and the timing of any changes.

Unfortunately the signals from the National Party aren't all good. Key says he personally believes "human-induced climate change was real", and has just appointed card-carrying leftie and tree hugger Nick Smith as his Environment Minister and "Minister for Climate Change Issues". Aargh!

There is some hope with the appointment of Gerry Brownlee as the new Minister of Energy. As Greenpeace today pointed out in a media release, Brownlee has publicly labelled coal as sexy in the past.

(Then again, this is the same Gerry Brownlee who in 2003 said that "ACT MPs had little respect for ordinary New Zealanders and National Party members who admired ACT should "bugger off" and join it.")

Bully Brownlee aside, the South Island of NZ in particular has immense amounts of natural resources which are not being utilised or explored.

There is huge potential for New Zealand to grow its mineral wealth, with the previous administration ensuring much of it remained buried underneath "Conservation land", areas which were greatly expanded for no real benefit, thanks to the reckless spending of tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.

However, even ACT seems to have lost some of its balls, with their detailed agreement with National claiming the party...

"is not opposed to New Zealand adopting responsible climate change policies... and if a select committee inquiry establishes a credible case that New Zealanders would benefit from action by New Zealand... ACT would be prepared to support legislation giving effect to such action".

That sounds like a paragraph inserted to pacify National, but I hope it does not mean Rodney Hide and the ACT Party are considering backing down from their stance as against the whole false religion of "Climate Change".

Given that they are about the only sensible heads in the New Zealand Parliament when it comes to questioning the ever-diminishing arguments for "global warming due to CO2" (at least the only ones willing to make their views public), ACT's MPs need to stand firm against the claptrap from the misguided greenies and PC-brigade, who have bought into the myth perpetuated by the "mainstream media".

* NBR: ETS up for `fundamental review' in ACT deal

New Zealand voters have rejected the Labour Party's bid for an historic 4th term in government, and soundly rejected the lurch to the left trumpeted by commentators like Chris Trotter, if a L/P/G/NZF government was elected.

Turnout was 78.69% (including special votes). That's despite an extra 41,100 people voting, compared to the 2005 election. A record 2,979,366 people enrolled to vote in 2008, but a sizeable 634,262 people didn't make it to a voting booth.

John Key's super-centre National Party did well on the night, but didn't get the outright majority some old-school over-confident party people were hoping for.

National have accepted they need the support of the Act Party to have a Parliamentary majority, and have also adopted the party-of-one known as United Peter Dunne.

Key is also planning to reach out to the Maori Party, who will likely see sense in working with the new government, rather than spending another 3 years on the Opposition benches.

Despite what some of the Maori Party's supporters may think, the party does share a number of similar policy areas and philosophies with Act and National.
Unfortunately, the Maori Party didn't really succeed in raising their share of the party vote, but did gain one more MP (creating an overhang of 2 seats). Wellington lawyer and treaty specialist Rahui Katene managed to snare Te Tai Tonga (the South Island and lower Wellington) from Labour's Mahara Okeroa.

Luckily, the Maori Party's Marxist academic Angeline Greensill didn't succeed in her bid to take the seat of Hauraki-Waikato off Nanaia Mahuta. That may improve the party's chances of being able to work constructively with a National/Act/UF coalition government over the next term and beyond.

Meanwhile, NoMinister blogger Adolf Fiinkensein really owes me an organic lager for disagreeing with my pre-election pick that the Green Party wouldn't get near the 10% that pollsters and the media were tipping ;-)

The Greens vote doesn't tend to hold up on election day, perhaps because of apathy (ie. not voting), or a sense of reality when people get into the voting booth.

The Greens did gain 2 more MPs (still well short of their expectation of a good dozen), and have the prospect of gaining a third (Lecturer Dr Kennedy Graham) after the 200,000-odd special votes come in. The Greens do campaign hard overseas, and tend to pick up a larger-than-average share of the special votes.

The other main contender for an extra seat after special votes is Labour, with defeated West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor next on the party list.

The electorate tends to support National on the party vote, but O'Connor has previously survived by being a strong local MP, and putting local issues ahead of toeing the party line.

Labour's Hillin Cluck and Michael Cullen have both announced plans to step down from their leadership roles in the party, with a formal transition expected before Christmas.

Defence Minister Phil Goff is still being tipped as the most likely candidate to take over leader, especially after the relatively poor performance by the left's boy David Cunliffe in New Lynn, and his apparent expression of disinterest in the top job.

The Bill and Ben Party did very well for their first election campaign, gaining 0.51% of the party vote. That left them the 3rd highest polling party not to win a seat in Parliament, with only NZ First (4.21%) and the Kiwi Party (0.56%) polling higher.

Bill & Ben proved more popular than the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (0.36%), Taito Philip Field's Pacific Party (0.33%), Destiny Church's Family Party (0.33%), and political veterans the Alliance (0.08%), Democrats for Social Credit (0.05%), and the Libertarianz (0.05%).

The Bill and Ben Party haven't had the highest of profiles this election campaign, but they have managed to attract over 5,000 supporters on Facebook (that's more than John Key and loads more than Aunty Helen!)

TV3's Campbell Live ran a good story tonight, following Pulp Sport's Bill and Ben on the campaign trail. They met up with John Key, and told him they are willing to consider a coalition with his party after Saturday night.

They acknowledge that many New Zealanders find elections and election coverage quite boring, so they have devised a special Election Night Drinking Game to spice up the big night in front of the telly.

It could be a messy night though... You have to take One drink if Helen Clark talks about trust, if John Campbell says "marvellous", if a reporter touches their earpiece, Duncan Garner pauses dramatically, the Maori Party are referred to as "kingmaker", or someone says "we're crossing live"...

Two drinks have to go down when they go live to Helen Clark's house, when a reporter is unaware they are live on air (that's always amusing!), John Key contradicts himself, or anyone says "too close to call".

Consuming is called for in situations like when John Campbell apologises for technical difficulties, or a politician cries (I'd put $10 on Judith Tizard, when she loses Auckland Central to Nikki Kaye ;-)

Blair Mulholland argues there is another good reason to vote Bill & Ben this election... Because they only have 2 people listed on the party list, gaining 5% of the vote would actually create an Underhang in Parliament, reducing the number of MPs! Yay!

The Bill and Ben Party need to get 0.5% of the party vote to get back their $1,000 election deposit. I'd say they're in with a good shot, and it would go to a good cause, with the guys are promising to put the grand "on a bar somewhere"...

* Campbell Live: Bill and Ben gear up for the election (Video)

The Electoral Commission this week told ACT leader Rodney Hide that his distinctive yellow jacket could breach Labour's 'Electoral Finance Act'.

The Commission says under the act, the jacket (which features the Act Party logo and the slogan "The guts to do what's right") could be classed as an election advertisement. They told Hide that his canary-yellow jacket needed an authorising statement to comply with the EFA.

The complaint is daft enough, as is the revelation that the complainant was 21 year old Andy Moore, a commerce student at Canterbury University, and chairman of the small but enthusiastic "Gingers for Justice" wing of the Act on Campus group.

The redhead denies he was being "colourist" with his complaint about the yellow jacket, but did it because he was "strongly opposed to the Electoral Finance Act, and just wanted to show how stupid it is".

Moore made the formal complaint to the Electoral Commission, pointing out that Hide wore the jacket in public in Newmarket. He included two photos of Hide wearing it along with a newspaper article.
Hide said was "embarrassed and pissed off at Moore". His tailor saw red over the drama, but has since made an addition to the $1,300 yellow jacket, with a new label which complies with the draconian law.

The Electoral Commission will make a final ruling on the complaint by early December, and says it will take the late authorisation statement into account.

However if it finds Hide committed an "illegal practice", the ACT leader could face a fine of $10,000, along with a $40,000 fine for the party's financial agent.

* NZ Herald: Act supporter canary jacket whistleblower

Along with the Maori Party, the Greens look like being the major beneficiaries of the protest vote against the Labour Party this election.

(I'd prefer those planning a "protest vote" to support the much more sensible The Bill And Ben Party, who have almost 5,000 supporters on their Facebook profile... That's a few thousand more than Labour Party hopeful Helen Clark!!)

But, despite what some commentators say, I don't believe the Greens will hit the 9-10% some opinion polls have given them. However if enough Green voters overcome their natural apathy, the party will probably still reach the 5% threshold it needs, with the lack of an electorate seat.

The ACT Party is saying what National Party supporters wish their MPs had the guts to say... That the crazy Emissions Trading Scheme should be consigned to the dustbin - where it belongs - not just subject to a minor rewrite like the dodgy Greenie-in-drag Nick Smith is planning.

ACT's latest tv advertisement asks New Zealanders whether they want a country where you can't choose the kind of lightbulb you can buy, how much water you can shower with, or how many children you can have. The party suggests being "Smart Green, not Watermelon Green"...

You've got to hand it to the Americans... they're not slow when it comes to new ideas to help their candidates on the campaign trail.

My story of the week comes from Virginia, where a "phony flier" has been circulated, on official-looking-but-fake Commonwealth of Virginia stationery.

The flier informs voters that because of the high turnout expected in this year's US elections, Republicans and Democrats are being asked to vote on different days! ;-)

Due to the larger than expected voter turnout in this years [sic] electorial [sic] process, An [sic] emergency session of the General Assembly has adopted the following emergency regulations to ease the load on local electorial [sic] precincts and ensure a fair electorial [sic] process.

All Republican party supporters and independent voters supporting Republican candidates shall vote on November 4th as prescribed by law.

All Democratic party supporters and independent voters supporting Democratic candidates shall vote on November 5th as adopted by emergency regulation of the Virginia General Assembly.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but felt this was the only way to ensure fairness to the complete electorial [sic] process.

Democratic Party critics are up in arms about the "stunt", and the matter is now under investigation by the Virginia State Police.

It got me wondering whether a similar campaign would work here? I reckon voters gullible enough to consider voting for the Green Party could be persuaded that the day of Sunday 9th November has been specifically set aside to take their votes this election...? ;-)

A clean sweep of all Maori electorate seats by the Maori Party may not be the foregone conclusion that many media commentators are betting on.

A Maori TV poll of the Te Tai Tonga seat (the entire South Island and a bit of Wellington) shows Labour's Mahara Okeroa holding a 10% lead over his Maori Party rival.

Okeroa (dubbed the "invisible MP" in the south) had 49% support of decided voters, with the Maori Party's Rahui Katene in second place with 39% support. However the poll found that 23% of those surveyed were undecided/don't know on their electorate candidate vote.

Maori Television has two more electorate polls to come, and both are in seats where veteran Labour MPs are fighting tough battles.

The channel's poll for Hauraki Waikato is due out next Monday (November 3) during the Native Affairs programme, and will give an indication of whether Labour's Nanaia Mahuta (who currently holds the seat of Tainui) can hold on against the challenge from the Maori Party's Angeline Greensill.

The final poll from Maori TV will also be now released on Monday night, showing the standings in the seat of Ikaroa-Rawhiti, where Maori Affairs minister Parekura Horomia is up against veteran broadcaster Derek Fox.

The number of electorates the Maori Party manage to win could be crucial in the final count after this election.
Rolling polls put the Maori Party's nationwide support at around 2.5%, entitling them to just 3 seats. That could create an overhang of 4 seats if the Maori Party did win all 7 Maori electorates, badly distorting the proportionality of Parliament under New Zealand's MMP system.

However winning just 5 of those seats, and increasing their party vote slightly could reduce the Maori Party's overhang to just 1 seat, the same as in the current Parliament.

I hope that voters supporting Maori Party candidates this election have the courage of their convictions to cast their Party Vote for the Maori Party as well, to reduce the overhang.
The debate over the continued existence of "Maori seats" has less to do with "racism" as many people try to portray it... but rather to do with the fact that setting aside separate seats for one racial group means an increased ability to affect the proportionality of Parliament... ie. messing with the whole "all votes are equal" theory of MMP.

The Maori electorates were introduced way back in 1867, when it was extremely difficult for Maori to vote (people needed to own a certain value of land to qualify to vote, but most Maori held land under common title, rather than individual title).

The bill introducing separate Maori seats was brought by Napier MP Donald McLean, who "explicitly intended his bill as a temporary measure (5 years), giving specific representation to Maori until they adopted European customs of land ownership."

The research department at New Zealand's #1 blog has been hard at work, analysing the many policies of the Green Party.

David Farrar at Kiwiblog has come up with what he admits could be a conservative list of 85 things the Greens want to ban.

He points out how the Greens are very much " a contradictory party". While they claim to stand up for civil liberties, they also want to legislate to ban a huge range of goods and services - "the ultimate Nanny State party".

The Greens are also selective when it comes to Science. Apparently scienctists are to be believed when it comes to the distorted work promoting the religion of "climate change"... but science is bad when it comes to genetic modification and other such nasties.

The list includes bans on fizzy drinks, chips and lollies in schools, banning smacking, banning advertising during kids tv programmes, banning coal mining, and banning hydro plants/thermal generation/nuclear power.

The Greens would also ban imported vehicles older than 7 years, ban crown agencies from investing "in any entity that denies climate change"!?!, ban new urban highways, ban private toll roads, ban landfills, and ban "new houses without water saving measures" (the infamous "shower drip" policy).

Make sure you check out the full list at Kiwiblog, and forward the information to your friends and family, to prevent them from making a critical mistake in the voting booth this election...

If the "undecided/swinging" voters do actually manage to make it to the polling booths this year, I sincerely hope they don't fall into the trap of casting their "protest" votes for the so-called Green party.

Casting a protest vote is one thing, but when it risks destroying the lives of over 4.2 million people, it's not something that should be taken lightly.

This election, voters who miss the insight of Graham Lee can choose between the "Family" and "Kiwi" parties. Those who staunchly believe in a Libertarian utopia can vote for their own "Libertarianz" party. Anyone who misses the financial mumbo-jumbo of Bruce Beetham can still vote for the "Democrats for Social Credit".

But if you want your protest vote to really count this election, I encourage you to take a look at The Bill and Ben Party. They're promising to put the "Party" back into "Political Party".

(And they're even backed by the Hospitality Association of New Zealand, as evidenced by the many "B&B" signs outside bed and breakfast spots around the country!)

The news story this week about the "theme park ride gone bad" at the Gisborne A&P Show instantly reminded me of a chav-tastic video clip that did a rounds a year or two back.

In the Gisborne event, a ride called "The Explorer" went out of control, with "the shouts of excitement from the children turning to screams of fear" as the Explorer got out of control.

According to the story on 3 News, "one child was thrown out and others struggled to hold on but witnesses say they were flung about like rag dolls... When it eventually stopped, some of the children were left battered and bruised with bleeding noses and black eyes."

This is of course was an unfortunate accident from a normally safe functioning theme park ride.

However there was less sympathy for the UK teenagers who spun their friends to disaster, in what ITV News called "a teenage prank that went horribly wrong" ;-)

A group of bored Chavs park the wheel of a motorbike up on a merry-go-round, while their two Chavette friends sit in the middle of the roundabout.

The fun starts when the lads rev up the back tyre of his motorbike, which spins the girls around like a washing machine. (Shot in a children's park in Crawley, England)...

I'm sure anyone who watches the tv news, listens to the radio news, or reads the newspapers will agree that the quality of the country's journalists and reporters has long been declining.

While I don't think New Zealand broadcasters need to return to the "RP" British Broadcasting Corporation voices of old, it would be nice to hear a little more diction and correct pronunciation of words and phrases in our news broadcasts.

Former National/ACT/Labour advertising and marketing guru John Ansell has posted about his frustration at Mike Hosking's inability to pronounce the word anemone the other night on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He also picks out the word vulnerable as one of his 'Most Mispronounced Words in English'.

I agree, and would add to that list Police (not P'lice), tonnes (when someone mean tonnes and not the imperial measure of tons), and Women (when they are referring to more than one female).

Apart from plain old mispronunciation, basic spelling, grammar skills, and punctuation skills are noticeably absent from the country's newsrooms these days. Add to that the growing acceptance of lazy speech... Gunna, Comin' an' Goin', Wullington (our nation's capital), and Muwk (the stuff that comes from cows).

I see some people at John's blog have already commented about my pet peeves, the mispronunciation of "ing" (Tony Veitch was one of the worst for this) - as in fisheen, yachteen and raceen - as well as the painful everythink, somethink, and anythink!!

* John Ansell - Is anemone an enemy?
* Hat tip: Homepaddock
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New Zealand's Green Party have never been known for bright ideas or rational debate, but the party has topped itself with its latest policy announcement to cap the country's population, while still welcoming in "climate change refugees". (?!)

Hot on the heels of its warmly received plans to ban New Zealanders from having strong hot showers, now the Greens want to limit the number of children kiwi parents can have, and cap New Zealand's population to a maximum of 5.7 million people.

The balmy idea, from the Green's "population spokeswoman" Metiria Turei, claims the party wants to make parents aware of the "impact their families had on resources and the environment".

And don't think this policy is just another spin on the NZ First message of anti-immigration, to save jobs and make "Nu Zilland for Nu Zillanders".

No, the Greens actually want to raise the number of refugees allowed into the country each year. They say more work is needed to educate "New Zealanders about the cultures and religions brought here by migrants", and want more resources for "settlement programmes, English language classes for new migrants and assistance finding a job."
While Hillin Cluck the feminist was busy visiting a mosque and submitting to the sexist restrictions of Islam, National, Act and the Maori Party slammed the Green Party policy, describing it as "a step towards population control measures similar to China's One Child policy."

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said it was a case of "middle-class" Greens trying to tell others how big their families should be.

"Tell them to go to China where there is a One Child policy. But don't start trying to control fertility and social engineering like that here."

TV3 ran a good piece on the issue last night, but seem to have taken down the link to their 6pm 3 News story from last night, Green Party suggests think twice about having babies for sustainable future... One wonders whether that was due to some sort of pressure from the Green Party, trying to limit the backlash.

The story did remind me of a debate over Labour Party billboards around the 2005 election... perhaps the Greens are planning a new spin on this message...

* Stuff: Greens want higher refugee quota
* NZ Herald: Greens' family policy slammed

See also...
* Homepaddock: Clean, green and childfree
* Don't Vote Greens blog

* UPDATE: The Green's new Billboard (Hat tip: No Minister)...

The ACT Party has released its Tax policy, as part of their recovery package and response to help New Zealand get out of the current economic woes.

Leader Rodney Hide has labelled both Michael Cullen and John Key's weak responses to the economic problems as "irresponsible". Hide says Cullen wants to spend money the country doesn't have.

He's also labelled Key's plan to force the Government Superannuation Fund (the "Cullen Fund") to over-invest in New Zealand's limited number of companies and other assets as "nuts". Hide notes that even diehard socialist Michael Cullen isn't supporting the idea of a 40% NZ investment requirement, which which shift ownership from private hands to the State (an idea backed by the Greens & NZ First).

ACT has already said it wants to see Cullen's 39c "envy" tax rate gone by Christmas, and has unveiled a more ambitious tax package than the decidedly wimpy version released by National's John Key earlier this month.

ACT's Rodney Hide and Roger Douglas say personal tax brackets have not changed in the last 10 years (the Helenban years) to reflect inflation, which means by next year New Zealand households will be paying an extra $230 a week on average to the Government.

The ACT Party's plan is to reduce the bottom tax rate to just 12.5% in 2011, while moving to a flat rate of 15% Personal tax over the $20,000 mark over the next ten years.

GST would be trimmed back to a simpler 10%, and Company Tax would be slashed to 15%, allowing New Zealand to be more competitive with Australia and other countries, and increasing the incentive for much more investment. There would also be Petrol Tax cuts of around $500 million.

For those New Zealanders who want choice and the chance to have more control of their own lives, ACT is proposing an Optional tax-free threshold of $25,000 a year. That would create a saving of $3,050 in tax for people who want to opt out of State-provided ACC/sickness/healthcare.

A grant to cover ACC/sickness/healthcare would still be provided for any dependents, along with educational scholarships for dependent children. (Both the tax-free threshold and grants would be adjusted annually for inflation).

Unfortunately the party is a little less ambitious when it comes to cutting out-of-control Government spending. ACT want to hold future expenditure increases to 3.6% (inflation level), rather than the 6% of recent years.

The party's "20-point plan to beat Australia" does include plans to cut the number of bureaucrats and pointless Government departments, but the restrained policies on Government spending are still some way short of what ACT's more "libertarian" members would have liked to have seen.

However, ACT is promising to dump Labour's dodgy Emissions Trading Scam, which panders to the Greens and to Hillin Cluck's ambitions of a top job at the United Nations.

ACT would repeal the Emissions Trading Scheme and pull out of Kyoto... saving New Zealand billions of dollars and many thousands of jobs, by rejecting the false religion of "man-made Climate Change" and "Global Warming" and its One-World tax called "carbon credits".

A new election billboard "mashup" is doing the rounds, this one a play on Labour's bright red ones featuring a lady wearing a white jacket, playing on the party's plans to abolish strong-flowing showers.

Spotted via NZ Herald's Sideswipe column, local website The Foghorn Blast is
running an election billboard competition, dubbed Election 08 Pimp Your Political Billboard Competition. This one is an early favourite (despite the incorrect usage of an apostrophe!...)

The Foghorn Blast competition encourages readers to download one of their "unadulterated Election Campaign Billboards", and then creatively "enhance (or degrade) until you’ve created the type of promise and politician you’d like to see in charge of our fine country."

Plenty of fun for the whole family! ;-) An 4th generation iPod Nano 16GB is on offer for the competition winner, with an iPod Shuffle up for grabs for the runner-up.

* NZ Herald: All steamed up on showers

While Labour and the Unions are scrambling to come up with reasons to rebut National's tax plans, critics on the correct side of National are disappointed at the scale of the planned tax cuts.

London-based blogger Clint Heine is well-unimpressed, particularly with National wimping out on abolishing New Zealand's top tax rate, with plans to drop it by just 2% (to 37%) by 2010. He rightly describes this as "madness and sheer gutlessness" from Key and English.

This is the "rich prick/envy" top tax rate of 39 cents in the dollar that Michael Cullen introduced in 1999, promising it would apply to "only the top 5% of income earners". That promise was never kept, with over 12% of workers now being forced to pay it.

More than a year ago, the Centre for Independent Studies revealed a person on the average wage of $36,000 in 2000 was now paying an extra $2,400 in tax each year (in real terms) because of Cullen's inaction and refusal to adjust tax thresholds.

The 3-year tax plans by both Labour and National fail to even compensate fully for this initial loss in real earnings since 2000.

Over-taxing many hundreds of thousands of New Zealand workers every year helped Cullen give the public and the media the false impression that he was capable of balancing the country's books. It has taken 9 years of bad policies to truly reveal that the emperor has no clothes.

Heine proposes a simple two-tier PAYE tax system, with 0% tax up to $20,000, and then an 18% flat tax rate from $20,000 upwards (dropping as the economic conditions improve). Not a bad idea, although I note that the Maori Party are even bolder, and want the first $25,000 of personal income to be tax-free.

ACT leader Rodney Hide says John Key has "failed to provide any economic leadership or direction". Hide says it proves that while a vote for National would get rid of PM Helen Clark, it would also be a vote to stick with the failed economic policies of Dr Cullen...

"I can see now why John Key doesn't want Sir Roger Douglas in his cabinet," said party leader Rodney Hide. The man he sees eye-to-eye with is (finance minister) Michael Cullen.

"What is needed is a recovery package that includes capping government expenditure, slashing red tape, and an immediate abolition of Cullen's 39 cent envy tax."

It is rumoured that National slashed over $2 billion from their original tax cuts package after the Government's books were opened, opting to give workers less of their own money back, rather than taking the bold (and actually quite simple) approach of cutting wasteful state spending.

The Hive revealed today (via The Independent) that New Zealand taxpayers are paying $36.9 million a year on public-sector communications staff and contractors.

Not PC has a very good message for the National Party: Stop the Spending!, while Pacific Empire has compiled a handy list of 407 (407!!) "government departments, state-owned enterprises, councils and quangos" that could help kickstart a good discussion around the caucus table of the incoming Government...
Rodney Hide notes that John Key has chosen to "cynically chase votes" rather than address the country's out of control spending and strangling red tape under Labour.

"[John Key] has fiddled while the economy burns... Key's lack of any plan, vision or leadership verges on the irresponsible. A Party vote for ACT and only ACT will see Cullen's 39 cent envy tax gone by Christmas"

* Scoop: Hide Slams Key's Economic Policy
* Clint Heine and Friends: Totally taxing Mr Key!

A new entrant in silliest headline of the year... NBR: Greens mull which major party to back. Yeh Right!!

With Aussie-socialist-import Russel Norman leading the party, and unemployed bludgers activist Sue Bradford writing policies, there is no doubt the Green Party would "prefer to work with" Labour Party after the election.

Aunty Jeanette and Norman claim their would "assess Labour and National's policies over the next few weeks", and base their decision on a balance "between environmental and social concerns."

(Sorry, I can't remember where the billboard graphic originally came from... I'll hat tip No Minister, but let me know if I'm wrong on that...)