Winners and losers

Bill Ralston lists what is hot and what is not in 2009. He includes in the hot list

Taxpayers
Roll on the next wave of tax cuts.

...and in the not hot list....

Beneficiaries
Because you won't get a tax cut and the Government keeps making nasty noises about how you should get a job.

Two things are happening to beneficiaries which will actually advantage them.

1/ The EMTR will decrease for those who undertake some work. Effectively a beneficiary will be able to work a full day at the minimum wage (or just above) and not lose any of their benefit. 2/ Benefits are going to be indexed and this will be guaranteed by legislation.

As for "making nasty noises about how you should get a job", no more than Labour had been. Both parties agreed that work is the best way out of poverty. Making it happen is quite another thing.

As for tax-payers being hot, tell that to low income earners. Hot under the collar maybe. And for those that do receive them, cuts are likely to be gobbled up as quickly as they are implemented. Think ACC premiums for starters.

New art blog

Spent yesterday updating my artist site. I am doing some marketing and wanted to separate out my art from my politics. Politicos don't mind the art but I am less sure about vice versa. So I had to create a new e-mail address in order to have a separate profile. Then I ran into the problem of not being able to duplicate the blog address so thought I would copy the content to a temporary address and then delete the old blog and change the temporary address to the deleted one. Bugger. Can't be done. Although the old address is not in use blogger tells me it is not available. So my new site is still called "Lindsay Mitchell Artist" but the url is www.mitchelllindsayartist.blogspot.com

Confused? Have a look and let me know what you think.

'More-money' Maharey

And staying in the Manawatu, 'more-money' Maharey has poked his head up again. The Dominion Post has a piece today about his goals as Vice Chancellor of Massey University.

"The top of my tree is that they give us more money...

" ...we can help the government to get outstanding policy, as long as they give us some more money."

"We just can't be world competitive if we are not given more money."

Got your chequebook out?

One man's opinion

A Manawatu 'artist' has been spray painting messages on high traffic walls. He is upset that his art is being described as tagging. I started reading this story feeling antagonism towards the artist but by the time I had finished I was grinning. If his views are not a by-product of religious conviction they are certainly unusual.

"At this time, the message I want to put out there is about love."

He said that for so long he had been saddened to see families torn apart, and husbands and wives or partners being unfaithful to each other.

"It saddens me that people live like this, but more so infuriates me because it happens. Most men are so weak and are just out there trying to impress their peers and all that bulls**t!"

The messages of love he had placed on the wall of the high-traffic area near the art gallery and the City Library were to affirm that love was about being faithful, honest and loyal, he said. This was love's true and only essence.

"It's about how your heart is for one person and one person only.

"People throw their heart around like it's nothing and [part of] a desolate, worthless life."

Men treated women poorly and had no respect for them, but women were even worse to men.

Yes. I quite like this guy. He has his eyes wide open.

It takes time to come to the realisation that love isn't lust, sentimental gesture or statement, physical displays of affection, or obsessive infatuation. It's commitment. I don't believe in a golden age passed but there is certainly a lot less of it about right now.

What's in a year?

Putting to one side that Stuff polls are not scientific, etc, etc, this one reveals something about the psyche of some New Zealanders I find most interesting. I'm not sure why Stuff put the options in the order they appear instead of in a continuum and there are more positive options than negative.

How was your 2008?

Average (2998 votes, 25.2%)

Good (2928 votes, 24.6%)

Excellent (1659 votes, 14.0%)

The best year of my life (511 votes, 4.3%)

Bad (1546 votes, 13.0%)

The worst year of my life (2239 votes, 18.8%)


Only 4 in 100 thought last year was the best year of their life compared to almost 19 in 100 thinking it was the worst. Nearly a third thought it was the worst or bad. It's be interesting to know how those people would have voted at the end of 2008. I suspect many, similarly. Is it events or attitudes? That is probably as futile a rumination as the nature vs nurture argument.

I would be fascinated to see the same poll run in other countries to compare responses. My expectation would be that New Zealanders are comparatively gloomy and pessimistic. Many are spoilt and not particularly resilient. Perhaps also because there is a high proportion of New Zealanders living elsewhere, and they may tend to be more optimistic types, the poll is skewed.

Of course 43 percent had a good (my selection - every day above ground is a good one), excellent or best year so there are still plenty of smiling faces out there.

Why was my year not excellent or best? I hated the campaign. I have never felt like such a crock in all my life. And it tended to dominate my year. But on the positive side of the ledger my children keep surprising me especially with their musical talents. They have made me very happy and proud when performing. But more than that their developing characters and humour make them fine companions. My husband continues to be my rock. And the rest of my extended family are happy. Perhaps I should have ticked excellent on reflection.