Forget Janet and John - here come Mary and Matt

This really takes the cake. What I'd really like to say is WHAT A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS.

This Christchurch School is trying to regulate the way staff speak to and about each other. For instance;

"Matt, we shouldn't really be talking about Mary behind her back." Or: "Matt, I can see you feel strongly about that. You really need to be saying it to Mary."

The obligation to respond extends to a person on the fringe of the conversation. "Come on, guys, Mary's not here. It's not part of the code."

And what do the staff think?

A current staff member said the code was not working and many of the staff regarded it as a joke.

"Every workplace gossips. The serious thing is they have taken away our trust because we are not allowed to talk freely to each other. Our support system is each other."

Explosion in premature births

This report from the Scotsman surprised me because it blames mother's lifestyles for premature births. My first child was three weeks early. I was still working in a very active job but getting pretty tired. So I thought perhaps I was going to read about how the growth of working women was contributing to this phenomenon. But no.

Researchers say it is difficult to explain the rise but obesity, smoking and social class might be part of the problem. Very young and older mothers are also more likely to have a premature birth.The factors cited are obesity, smoking and social class.

You find things in the darnedest places

As part of my DPB campaign I issued a press release on Thursday counteracting the demands from the child poverty advocates, The Maori Party included. Interestingly it has been turning over on the Maori Party website ever since.

Hone vs Perigo

Emotions are running very high on TV One's Eye to Eye as Hone Harawira and Lindsay Perigo go head-to-head over banning tobacco. Hone says tobacco came with colonisation and Perigo says so did cars, refrigerators and tvs. This is b...s... Grow-up. When asked by host Willie Jackson if he'd given up smoking Perigo replied, yes, he had but he thought he would take it up again the moment he got out of the studio.

Look, Harawira's loathing of the white tobacco manufacturers for "killing his people" is palpable. This is a race issue for him. But his desire to stop his people smoking is absolutely genuine and Perigo encouraged Hone's passionate appeals to his people - moral persuasion. But legislation to ban tobacco will not work.

Asked for the way forward Perigo said, put a tattoo on all politician's foreheads, health warning - dictatorship is bad for you.

(The programme replays on Tuesday evening)

Bedtime story....

...one we could do without.

Naenae - fast becoming a cesspit - hosted a Canadian tourist who had been burgled, trussed, hooded and dumped. I am so sorry.

A Canadian tourist is in Hutt Hospital with a broken nose, broken ribs, punctured lung and badly bruised body after being beaten and robbed.

He was found wandering battered and dazed on a street in Naenae early on Wednesday morning.

state of the art aptitude testing

Here is the latest aptitude test being employed by consultants:

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door.
This question tests whether you tend to make simple things too complicated.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Wrong Answer : Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the door.
Correct Answer : Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door.
This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference; all the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer : The elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator.
This tests your memory.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the animal conference!
This tests your reasoning.

(Ta Adam Smith blog)

Children's Commissioner accused of "bullying"

Here Maxim have picked up on a release from the new Family First Lobby group which is headed by Bob McCoskrie, formerly host on Radio Rhema. If true, it's disgraceful but sadly, not surprising.

Update; TelstraClear News says it has been approached by one of the social workers involved who confirms the story.

Poll; Labour overtakes National
Quote; You don't have to fool all the people all of the time; you just have to fool enough to get elected.
– Gerald Barzan

The relentless advance of tax freedom day

The Centre for Independent Studies reports Australia's Tax Freedom Day will fall on April 25 this year - two days out on 2005.

One hundred years ago, Tax Freedom Day fell on 24 January. At the outbreak of World War II it fell on 26 February. By the late 1950s, it had extended to 19 March, and it shifted into April during the Whitlam years.

By 1998-99, Tax Freedom Day had been pushed out to 21 April. Last year (using revised ABS figures*) it was 23 April. This year it is another two days later than that. That’s another two days spent paying for the government rather than working for ourselves.

What the heck is "boomeritis"?

Find out here.

Which reminds me, the kids and I were looking at our poster purchased at the Stones concert. Keith Richard's hands are in really bad shape. The knuckles nearest to the tips of his fingers are swollen to twice their normal size. Which makes what he does doubly amazing.

Heart disease findings

I am tempted to predict a media release from Tariana Turia about the urgent need to address the racism in heart disease care on the back of this study publication;

Deaths caused by heart disease are increasing at "an alarming rate" among young and middle-aged adults, especially Maori, according to a study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Either that or Hone will pick it up and use it to promote his tobacco prohibition campaign.

(On that subject, did the Maori Party promote a tobacco ban policy before the election?)

Jackson on unsexy list

I couldn't resist this headline wondering whether it was a reference to Peter or Michael. Who else would you put on it? My nominations would include Keith Locke, Tama Iti and the Christchurch Wizard.

Quick fix remedy the wrong one

The last two days have seen a concerted effort by various groups to pressure the government into putting more cash into the homes of beneficiary children; the CPAG, Home and Family Society, Dr Cass Byrnes and the Maori Party have each made submissions. It isn't because the plight of these children doesn't concern me that I reject this proposal - it's the opposite.

Children's health is about more than income levels. An extensive study addressed this in 2002 when researchers compared poor children from homes reliant on government transfers with those from poor homes reliant on market income (benefit homes vs working homes).

Both groups had incomes below the poverty threshold yet the study found the first group were worse off than the second. In part this was because of parental characteristics which made them more likely to be on welfare. Their children were "more likely to be subject to restrictions in key items of consumption."

Despite similar incomes the beneficiary was more likely to report inadequacy of income. For instance 17 percent reported having postponed a child's visit to the doctor to keep costs down. In the second group this dropped to 8 percent. Didn't have suitable wet-weather clothing for each child applied to 16 percent in the benefit households and 9 in the working households. There is a lengthy list I could quote from.

"The results of this study suggest that poor children in families primarily reliant on government transfers are a particularly vulnerable group....The findings suggest a need for policies that have a wider focus than just income support."

We should absolutely resist any action that will encourage more people onto benefits. Quick fix remedies rarely endure and often aggravate.

Work stoppages

Statistics NZ has just released the number of work stoppages in 2005. Trending up again.

Racism in asthma care

Some press releases from the Maori Party I regard with vague amusement but others are beyond the pale (excuse the unintentional pun). Here Tariana is clamouring about racism in asthma care.

There are no barriers to Maori accessing medicines and advice on their use that do not apply to any other race. There are factors that disproportionately affect Maori eg higher smoking rates, benefit dependence, poor diet, crowding in inadequate homes. However, none of these factors is beyond the control of the individual, in particular, the parent. I am not buying it.

Having worked as a child asthma educator I know we did our best to reach as many people as possible. But my experience was fewer Maori parents took up the opportunity.

More on Mr Key

The Molesworth and Featherston has also noticed Mr Key's activities. (My criticism yesterday was not of what he did but how he drew further attention to it in such a self-serving manner.)

The Key to wealth and ignominy

National's finance spokesman John Key has always impressed us, as he has most political watchers. So, we are here to help.

You put your foot in a potentially steaming one, John, with that decision to take out a mortgage on the Wellington digs to take advantage of a perk available to MPs. (It became known through the otherwise innocuous – because it does not give details of size of wealth and assets – register of MP's assets.)Yes, most MPs structure their affairs to take advantage of the freebie. Yes, it is a rational economic decision. But are you not mega-wealthy? Can't you make more than the average wage on those Merrill Lynch shares every time the currency yawns and stretches? You are also fond of berating the Government for providing middle-class welfare through things like the Working for Families extension – as you did last week in this newsletter. Well, sorry John-boy.

Is this not middle class welfare capture extraordinaire? Do you need the cash? It is costing those poor taxpayers you are fond of saying need relief. Take our advice. Pay off the mortgage with your loose change and lance a potential boil before Labour wakes up to it.

Artistic interference

Scotland imposed a smoking ban similar to ours on March 31. One theatre manager is defying the on-stage smoking ban because he believes it is "interference with art". (Perhaps Russell Crowe could try that one but it would pose the tougher question of whether his music constitutes art). Loved this quote;

The theatre and comedy producer David Johnson said: "The ban is ludicrous, it's pathetic, frankly. You can show sex on stage but you couldn't show them smoking afterwards."

The Greens are not left-wing.

Who said so?

According to Vernon Small, writing in today's DomPost, Nandor Tanczos. Apparently he has written a paper explaining why the Greens are not a left-wing party as part of his bid for the co-leadership. Sadly it is available at their website but only to members. As I can't access it I am doing my best to imagine what it says.

The Greens are not left-wing because;

-They oppose massive redistribution of wealth
-They believe the state should reduce legislation that interferes with employment
-They believe free trade is fair trade
-They believe in private property rights
-They believe indigenous people have the same rights as other New Zealanders

Yeah. That sounds like the Green Party we all know and love.

Sympathy for the devil

This kid is locked up for ROBBERY. ROBBERY. I guarantee it won't be the first.

But the entire story is about why we should feel sorry for him. Don't tell me...the system is letting him down.

This unpleasant and uncomfortable experience might be the best thing that could happen to him if it's not already too late. If it were my son I'd be sick over it but at the same time I'd be telling him, this is the consequence of your actions.

Eat your heart out, Tom

Is this the somewhat portly, grizzly and balding cartoonist Tom Scott who depicted Mick Jagger in the DomPost today asking, "If time really was on our side we'd look better than this surely?"

Scott is four years Jagger's junior.