Just answer the damn question, can't you

People are waxing lyrical about Speaker Lockwood Smith's new regime. Lockwood will make Ministers answer questions properly, they are saying.

Well I hope he plans to include written questions. Here's a smattering of answers from the Minister for Social Development. The spelling mistakes are not mine. Comments are interspersed.

8749 (2008). Hon Annette King to the Minister for Social Development and Employment (15 Dec 2008): Will she guarantee no frontline staff will lose their jobs as a result of her holding the Ministry of Social Development to their target of 5% overall reduction in staff numbers in the next 4 years?

Hon Paula Bennett (Minister for Social Development and Employment) replied: The question the Member asks relates to operational and employment matters, which are the responsibility of the Chief Executive.

Evasive. If Ministers have no input into operational matters why did we bother changing government?

8692 (2008). Hon Annette King to the Minister for Social Development and Employment (12 Dec 2008): How many staff are employed within the Ministry of Social Development, by section and occupation, at 12 December 2008?

Hon Paula Bennett (Minister for Social Development and Employment) replied: I am advised that the number of staff employed by the Ministry of Social Development is regularly raised as part of the Annual Financial Review and Estimates Examinations of the Ministry of Social Development by the Social Services Committee, which are both available from the Parliamentary Library.

I do not have access to the Parliamentary library. These answers are supposed to serve the public as well as MPs. What is so secret, anyway, about the number of staff employed by MSD? This one is uncooperative and obstructive.

8668 (2008). Hon Annette King to the Minister for Social Development and Employment (12 Dec 2008): In light of the Government’s statements about an “underclass” in New Zealand, What is the Government’s definition of an underclass?

Hon Paula Bennett (Minister for Social Development and Employment) replied: The Government's overall priorities for this parliamentary term are set in the Speech from the Throne which is publically available via the beehive.govt.nz website. I am currently in the process of further developing and confirming my priorites for the Social Development and Employment portfolio. This is also my response to written parliamentary questions 8669 (2008).

Vague. Throwaway.

8590 (2008). Hon Annette King to the Minister for Social Development and Employment (11 Dec 2008): What, if any, additional funding will she be seeking for effective parenting programmes such as Family Start and Strategies with Kids - Information for Parents (SKIP)?

Hon Paula Bennett (Minister for Social Development and Employment) replied: Information on funding being considered as part of future Budgets is Budget Sensitive. Any decisions will be announced at the appropriate time. This is also my response to written parliamentary querstion 8591 (2008).

Waffle.

Yes, yes. Just par for the course. Just what Labour would have done. No big deal.

Only I thought the National government was going to be a cut above.

Never a truer word

Yesterday I was sent a list of great quotations. They are mostly familiar to me. Now I can add another, which wasn't and I've only just read;

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion: that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. ~ John Adams

2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. ~ Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. ~ Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket & trying to lift himself up by the handle. - Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. ~ George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. ~ G. Gordon Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. ~ James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. ~ Douglas Casey

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~ P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. ~ Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. ~ Ronald Reagan (1986)

12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. ~ Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! ~ P.J. O'Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. ~ Voltaire (1764)

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! ~ Pericles (430 B.C.)

16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the Legislature is in session. ~ Mark Twain (1866 )

17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. ~ Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. ~ Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. ~ Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. ~ Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class ... Save Congress. ~ Mark Twain

23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. ~ Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. ~ Thomas Jefferson

...and last but not least,

25. If we each pretend we can be made wealthy through taxing others, then we are destined for poverty. - Sir Roger Douglas

Compulsory DNA sampling from suspects

Is anybody else really bothered by this?

I have been against DNA sampling from people who are mere suspects of a crime from the outset. How far afield can the suspicion net be cast? And the establishment of a DNA link is not necessarily conclusive. DNA can be present for reasons other than the suspect committed the crime.

DNA technology has probably improved but anyone who watched the David Dougherty story at the weekend should be concerned about the misuse of DNA evidence which saw this man wrongly imprisoned for years.

It's really, really bugging me that National are going to pass this legislation. WITH the support of ACT.

"Youth culture dumbs down teenagers"

Based on just the information provided by the NZPA (the study is not on-line yet) Jim Flynn's latest research appears to contradict his earlier. Professor Flynn says English teenagers are dumber than they were 28 years ago.

Professor James Flynn, of Otago University, found that IQ scores for the average 14-year-old had dropped by more than two points between 1980 and 2008. For those in the upper half of the intelligence scale, average IQ scores were six points down on 28 years ago.

The study contrasts with Professor Flynn's previous work, which suggested that intelligence has been consistently rising among all age groups in industrialised countries.

Of course, it could just be that the English are getting thicker. I am sure Theodore Dalrymple would be a subscriber to this theory.

Professor Flynn suggested that the falls could be down to lifestyle changes, including more time spent in front of the television or playing video games.

"Other studies have shown how pervasive teenage youth culture is, and what we see is parents' influence on IQ slowly diminishing with age."

Even if the tests are robust, the sampling robust, blaming youth culture seems rather weak. Youth culture existed before the 1990s. I misspent my youth on a diet of Casey Kasam's American Top Forty for instance. Perhaps Mr Flynn's earlier laments about less educated women having a greater proportion of children (a predictable outcome of welfarism) hold more promise of an explanation. But after the uproar he caused last time he went there, it is safer to look for other factors to blame.

Big fat moralising hypocrite

I take it this guy didn't swim to Egypt;

New Zealand Archbishop says Anglicans should offer “moral leadership” in the fight against global warming

Archbishop David Moxon has told an international press conference that the Anglican Communion should offer “moral leadership” in the campaign against global warming.

Archbishop Moxon is in Alexandria, Egypt, for a meeting of the Anglican Primates, or leaders of the 34 Anglican provinces that make up the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Moxon later told a press conference that the gathered Anglican leaders were agreed that the Anglican Communion should offer “moral leadership” in the campaign against climate change.

This, he suggested, was significantly a matter of setting an example.

He spoke of the need for Anglicans to embrace lifestyle changes, and to cutback unnecessary or environmentally hazardous modes of travel.

The photos Air New Zealand didn't want you to see...

Well, not quite. But they may as well have been. From the NZ Herald;

Passengers see fuel pour from plane

Rattled passengers were told not to take photos as fuel streamed out of the wings of an Air New Zealand jet bound for Los Angeles.

Flight NZ6, with 365 people on board, was forced to turn back about 20 minutes after leaving Auckland on Saturday night when the pilots were unable to retract the landing gear.




In the 1993 David and I were on a 747 bound for Japan from Auckland. About 30-40 minutes into the flight I said to David, "We have been in a very shallow right hand turn for the past few minutes. Wonder what's going on." A radio announcement shortly followed. It was explained that the Captain's cockpit window had developed a 'bubble' and we were returning to Auckland for a precautionary landing. But before we could land we would be dumping fuel and what to expect visually.

Nobody instructed us not to take photos, albeit these were the days before widespread digital image communication. As I recall on the flight I was on, there was more a sense of curiosity than fear. Instructing people not to take photos would have fostered a sense of alarm. Perhaps they were simply trying to minimise bad publicity.

So if you wanted to know what you missed, that's what tonnes of fuel being jettisoned off the East Coast of Northern New Zealand looks like.

The rudeness and incompetence of a local council

I have been following this story from Kismet Farm.First instalment and second are a good read because the writer has a sense of humour but don't go there if you have blood pressure problems.

Not quite on this scale but we have also experienced the incompetence and rudeness of local council. It must happen over and over (notwithstanding I have also heard of good experiences.) I would advise these people to enlist the support of the Minister for Local Government in their battle. The time is ripe.

Puzzles solved

According to the DomPost yesterday, there are now 105,000 jobless in New Zealand. (I wish they would use the correct terminology. There are 105,000 officially 'unemployed' but 193,000 officially 'jobless'.) 30,508 are receiving the unemployment benefit. 29 percent of the unemployed.

In the US around 10 million are unemployed yet only 625,000 appear to be receiving unemployment insurance benefits. 6.2 percent. How can it be so low?

Now I understand, after digging around, that each week I am e-mailed the initial unemployment insurance claims by the US Department of Labour.

Reuters;

The department said initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 626,000 in the week ended January 31, the highest since the week ending October 30, 1982. The prior week's number was revised up to 591,000 from 588,000.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 585,000 new claims.

The number of people staying on the benefits roll after drawing an initial week of aid surged by 20,000 to a record 4.788 million in the week ended January 24, the latest week for which the data is available, from 4.768 million the previous week.

That makes far more sense.

I love puzzles. During the holidays I always try my hand at the Prize Cryptic in the DomPost. But I never complete one. This year I persisted in my attempts and finally, yesterday, got one out. The solution is dispatched and maybe I will win a pen. Although I have won a number of pens over the years for letters and I don't need them. Funnily, I emailed the answers in. What I do need is a new keyboard as my present one, although not very old, is missing letters from over-use. The E,R,T,O and A have almost entirely disappeared.

"A day off"

The NZ Herald polls on What Does Waitangi Day Mean To You?

I didn't even have to think about it. A day off.

* Anniversary of the Treaty: 754 (14%)
* NZ's national day: 1444 (27%)
* A day off: 3150 (59%)

And Chris Trotter makes a egg-on-your-face prediction in the Dompost;

"It is indeed a new day for the Maori people, not because, at the level of the typical Maori family, life has got materially better, but because for the first time in a long time they feel that the colonial victors want ( and need) more from them as a people than their sullen acqiuescence at being the first hired, first fired.

For that John Key will win not only their support, he'll claim their love."

Key can only fudge it for so long. Property rights, constitutional issues, economic and social disparities will all have to be faced eventually. Rather than uniting Pakeha and Maori, the Treaty stands as a reminder and reinforcer of our segregated and culturally divided histories. It will not help us to move towards better understanding, more tolerance and better economic outcomes for all. It would have happened by now.

The only NZ Prime Minister who was "loved" was Micky Savage. If people expect Key to follow in those footsteps then I am afraid he would have to prematurely depart this earth, or at the very least, his office. Savage died just after passing his cradle to the grave legacy. He was beatified. But in the decade that followed the people became highly dissatisfied with his predecessors over the working of social security. Maori in particular found they continued to be discriminated against, now by the newly formed social security department. Fraser and Nash were villified. They were the fall guys for Savage.

And returning to the beginning of this post, if I were to ring a Maori friend and put the question to her, what does Waitangi Day mean to you, I am almost certain she would reply, time and a half.

NZ drops from 1st to 10th

In December 2005 New Zealand had the lowest unemployment rate in the OECD.

In three years it has dropped to 10th equal.

Over the same period the OECD unemployment average only moved from 6.4 to 6.5 percent. Of course that small average percentage increase masks the absolute increase, given some of the really large employers (US, UK and Germany) all have significantly rising unemployment.

Raise the unemployment benefit?

An Australian left-wing think tank is calling for the dole to be raised to the same level of payment as Super. That is faulty thinking.

Unemployment is a temporary state of affairs. The payment is designed to encourage people to move on asap. Retirement is usually a permanent state of affairs. Superannuitants do not have future earning capacity to borrow against. (Similarly being on an invalid's benefit is considered a permanent state of affairs hence that pays a higher rate as well.)

Research shows the higher the level of dole, the longer people stay on it. The more comfortable it is, the more jobs they will turn down during the job search period. The numbers on the dole in Australia are already very high compared to NZ. This think tank says that as the number is forecast to go far higher - from 500,000 to 800,000 - the time is ripe to put more money into dole recipient hands. I would have said exactly the opposite.

Some interesting numbers re payment rates.

Australia single dole $225 single super $281
NZ single dole $184 single super $298
NZ (1998) single dole $147 single super $213

The difference between the unemployment benefit and super here is significantly higher and it has widened over the last ten years.

Of money and morals

I move in some 'circles' that people wouldn't expect. Thus I pick up interesting tidbits.

A young woman was pregnant. She didn't know which of the men she had slept with was the father. But it would become clear after the birth, as the two potential fathers had different ethnicities. She told her permanentish partner, with whom she already has several other children, that the baby might not be his. This didn't seem to cause any great ructions.

The baby is now a few months old and it has become evident that it does indeed belong to the permanentish partner. When I enquired if the father was pleased about this outcome I was told that he was not. Neither was the mother. "Why?" I asked. Because they would have got more child support from the other guy, was the answer.

Caring, and not caring

Some days I read the news and feel a wave of disbelief well up. Then it turns to real anger and frustration. Today is one of those days. Worse, I find myself wondering whether I should even comment on the source of my anger in this stifling environment of inverted values.

John Lagataua is going to jail for nine months for what his counsel aptly described as exercising old fashion discipline. He is separated from his child , who loves him and misses him. One of the assault counts on which Mr Lagataua is convicted is washing his child's mouth out with soap for using bad language. Good God. I once momentarily put a bar of soap in my daughter's mouth when she came out with the F word at a very young age. I thought just the taste of it would be enough to deter her from doing it again. And it did. Am I a monster?

And were our parents? Millions of kids experienced rough treatment at the hands of parents when I was growing up. Today those parents would be jailed for the same behaviour.

Truly. I am bewildered, I am starting to feel 'older' because I am so out of step with modern thinking about what constitutes love and care. The worst of it is someone has decided what best methods are and we are all legally bound by their 'wisdom'. There is no freedom to say well, you do it your way and I'll do it mine. Yet children are all different. They have varying temperaments and varying responses. That is best understood by their parents.

And look around you. Are children today routinely models of confident, kind and tolerant behaviour? Have we successfully dealt to youth crime, truanting, under-age drinking, suicide, self-harming, bullying? No. We have not. At the margins the extent of these problems grows.

Yes, Mr Lagataua has anger problems. No wonder. He loves his kids, wants to do the best by them. No doubt, prevent them from turning into the charming young thugs he sees hanging about the streets of Timaru; kids nobody gave a damn about. But the 'experts' say his behaviour is so outrageous he must be punished with a jail term. That's twenty-first century justice for you.

New Zealanders working fewer hours

Working For Families has something to do with this.

Total paid hours, when seasonally adjusted, decreased by 1.4 percent in the year to December 2008, according to the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) released by Statistics New Zealand today. This is the first annual decrease in paid hours since the year to September 1999, and was mainly due to decreases in the manufacturing, construction, and wholesale trade industries. Seasonally adjusted total paid hours also decreased by 1.4 percent in the December 2008 quarter.

Bloody sad and bloody stupid

This is very sad and I am quite gutted on behalf of those children who wanted to continue at Montessori. Our son Robert attended for three years and it presented a much needed alternative to Hutt High and other conservative private schools. Last year we became one of the families that were looking at other options only because Robert had decided it was time to move on, as had many of his other friends. But the decision he made was the result of learning to think independently, and take control. He also now has the confidence I am not at all sure he would have developed in a very large state school.

The government's refusal to assist the school is also highly questionable. Before you yell, "subsidy", the state is now going to have to educate quite probably all of the ex-pupils. During Robert's time 100 pupils were off the state books. That around $8-900,000 annually. The type of child attending Montessori is not your candidate for Scots or Wellesley or Marsden. A few had special needs, were even somewhat fragile, if I can use that word. All the ex-students I know of, bar one, has gone into a state secondary school.

The final 30 at closure are now going to cost the state $240,000 to $270,000 to educate instead of the $50,000 that would have seen the school survive another year. It's bloody sad and bloody stupid.

Unwarranted reactions

Last week I blogged this letter because it impressed me.

There have been a couple of vehement responses to it. Here's one published today;



Actually the original letter says the work of the mentors is "commendable".

But the work of mentors is always secondary. It is intervention when the primary source of guidance is missing. Secondary and late intervention has a significant risk of failure. The success of mentoring is variable but often quite low. That is my own experience. But that doesn't mean you abandon it as such. Similarly the rehabilitation work done with prisoners has not improved re-conviction rates enormously but that doesn't mean it should be abandoned. I will always remember Greg Newbold's response to the suggestion we should. He claims that many inmates, while they continue to offend, would be even more anti-social and disconnected and vicious without rehabilitative attempts.

I think Mr Aston has misinterpreted the first writer's words. Certainly I didn't take any inference from Bruce Tichbon's words that the Big Buddy Trust was part of some conspiracy. He was merely pointing out that as a society, via social policy, we have undermined the role and purpose of natural fathers. I don't know how anyone can argue with that proposition.

Here is what Richard Aston has said elsewhere;

“Mentoring fatherless boys is a profoundly simple concept but one that has huge implications in healing the social fabric of our communities. My dream is that eventually every fatherless boy in New Zealand who needs a positive male role model will actually have one and in the process we build a better world.”

I think I can safely say on Bruce's behalf his 'dream', like mine, would be that every boy (and girl) had their own father in their life. Mr Aston appears to accept what has happened and to his credit wants to try and make life better for those boys his organisation can reach. That's a legitimate aim. But some of us want to undo what has happened in terms of policy. The two approaches are not necessarily incompatible. Treat the symptoms and the cause.

The inexorable rise in the invalid's benefit

MSD data (for Lucy);


Historical data sourced from Official Yearbooks;

1940 11,811
1950 9,476
1960 8,024
1970 8,342
1980 15,647
1990 27,824
2000 57,755

2008 83,501

There are at least a dozen reasons I have identified for this growth and there is a chapter dedicated to it in my (if it ever gets published) book. But the trend isn't confined to NZ and the OECD refers to the phenomenon of the "...medicalisation of labour market problems."

All main benefits on the rise

While conducting an interview with Radio Live, fortunately on tape, I realised a mistake I made yesterday. As L V says, it's the putting right that counts...less haste etc.

(Replacing earlier release which contained an error)

Media Release

ALL MAIN BENEFITS ON THE RISE
Friday, January 30, 2009

End-of-year benefit statistics just released by the Ministry of Social Development show annual increases in every category of benefit,according to welfare commentator Lindsay Mitchell.

"The number of working age people on a main benefit rose by six percent during 2008. But less than half of the increase was attributable to the unemployment benefit."

"The numbers receiving the invalid's benefit rose 4.3 percent from 80,082 to 83,501. This comes after various initiatives and ministerial assurances that the numbers were levelling off."

"Numbers on the DPB rose by 2.2 percent and are now back over 100,000. But especially concerning is the continually increasing numbers of teenage recipients. In December 2007 3,239 18-19 year-olds were receiving the DPB. That number increased by 11 percent to 3,610 in December 2008. Those numbers do not include teenage parents under 18 who receive the EMA. Those figures are not routinely published by the ministry. Teenage recipients present a particular problem because they stay on welfare the longest and their children experience multiple disadvantages."

"So as well as focussing on minimising job losses the government needs to be looking at ways to discourage uptake of other benefits. While some people end up on a benefit because of factors genuinely beyond their control, many others are there because they made bad choices. The easy availability of assistance plays a role in influencing those choices. "

Distraught and dangerous

Straight from the horse's mouth;

Whangarei-Kaipara area commander Inspector Paul Dimery said that while teenage drinking, underage driving and underage pregnancy were common, the girl's combination of all three had come as a shock.

The girl's high breath-alcohol reading was also disturbing.

"That is exceptionally high for an adult. For a 14-year-old it's quite astounding. For a pregnant 14-year-old, it's almost disgusting," he said. "What's the expected outcome for that child? You've got children having children. They have no understanding of the harm that they're causing their unborn child."

The chances are very, very high that this 14 year-old was a child born in similar circumstances. To a young mother who drank and smoked through her pregnancy.

Somebody has failed absolutely abysmally to let this girl have a safe and secure childhood. Isn't that exactly what the DPB was meant for? To provide an unsupported mother with an income that enabled her to be a at-home parent and create a secure, stable environment for her children. And some did. This one's didn't.

Yes. I am making assumptions. But does it matter? Here's the typical picture. She'll be from a multi-generational welfare dependent family (using the word 'family' generously). She could be pregnant to a family member or her mother's current hanger-on. She is deeply, deeply distraught and dangerous. She is certainly a danger to herself and her unborn child. That's the reality.

The DPB is the financial backbone of the communities that produce "children having children". It is the enabler. The 'domestic purposes' benefit no longer evokes images of motherhood and apple pie. DPB and dysfunction have become almost synonymous.

But what's the unemployment rate?

Expect an announcement soon about the latest unemployment rate based on the HLFS - the official measure. A press release from Statistics NZ has appeared at Scoop but not on their own website. The usual information has not been released and the tables cannot yet be accessed as the release does not appear at the NZ statistics website. Unusual sequence of events. A botch up perhaps.

All main benefits rise

Media Release
ALL MAIN BENEFITS ON THE RISE
Thursday, January 29, 2009

End-of-year benefit statistics just released by the Ministry of Social Development show annual increases in every category of benefit,according to welfare commentator Lindsay Mitchell.

"The largest rise is not in the unemployment benefit but in numbers receiving the invalid's benefit, which increased 4.3 percent from 80,082 to 83,501 over 2008. This comes after various of initiatives and ministerial assurances that the numbers were levelling off."

"Numbers on the DPB have risen by 2.2 percent and are now back over 100,000. But especially concerning is the continually increasing numbers of teenage recipients. In December 2007 3,239 18-19 year-olds were receiving the DPB. That number increased by 11 percent to 3,610 in December 2008. Those numbers do not include teenage parents under 18 who receive the EMA. Those figures are not routinely published by the ministry. Teenage recipients present a particular problem because they stay on welfare the longest and their children experience multiple disadvantages."

"Overall the total number of people receiving a main benefit rose six percent over the 2008 year. As well as focussing on minimising job losses the government needs to be looking at ways to discourage uptake of other benefits. While some people end up on a benefit because of factors genuinely beyond their control, many others are there because they made bad choices. The easy availability of assistance plays a role in influencing those choices. "

Cops on campus

Am I really surprised by this?

Police in Hamilton now based in schools

I guess not. But what a marker of how lawless and disaffected some parts of New Zealand society have become. Will the presence of police make a difference? It could merely escalate problems, as heightened authority and disapproval unintentionally provoke further and more overt displays of antagonism, anti-social feelings and/or bravado. But maybe school staff and parents of pupils feel reassured by the permanent presence of a police officer. Would you?

Maori 'inflation'?

New Minister for Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples, has just opened a Maori economic summit in Wellington. In his opening address he makes this statement:

This parliamentary term will be defined by how we negotiate the swirling economic waters ahead. We have faced these perils before, and for Mâori, the experience was disastrous. In the period known as te Pâheketanga Ohaoha, the days of the Great Depression, 75% of all Mâori men were unemployed by 1933. More recently the recession of 1987-1992 resulted in a shocking deterioration in outcomes for Mâori.

To the best of my knowledge Maori unemployment was never anywhere near that high. One would expect the Official New Zealand Yearbook to be a reliable source. Here is a passage from the 1995 version, page 34:

By 1933, 40 percent of the male Maori workforce was unemployed, compared with the Pakeha rate of 12 percent.

In 1933 most Maori lived rurally and were still making a living off the land and sea. Even if they were not being fully or partially recompensed for their work or produce they would still have been endeavouring to trade or feed themselves and their families. All I can assume is that Sharples is making a reference to Maori living in towns and cities who were unable to find jobs. But even then I don't know what the source for this claim is. I will write and ask him.

(Similarly there is controversy over whether or not Maori drew the 'dole'. Tipene O’Regan and Api Mahuika say Maori were denied yet there is evidence referred to by historian Michael King that Maori were paid the dole - unemployment benefits or relief work compensation - during the depression, but it was paid at a lower rate and more difficult to obtain. This is because policy-makers believed Maori were better equipped to make a living off the land.)

After-school care subsidy slashed

The Ministry of Social Development has rejected a funding application for $200,000 from Kidicorp to operate their after-school care programmes. This is a subsidy to private enterprise. Being against subsidies, at first glance I would agree with the decision.

But there is more that we don't yet know. MSD also subsidises parents for after school care costs. It appears that subsidy is contingent on the programme meeting safety and quality standards set by CYF (yes, there is some irony there.) Assuming the Kidicorp centres are approved (they have after all been receiving funding) then some parents are able to receive assistance towards costs. That assistance increased with the WFF programme and the government may now consider the provider subsidy is no longer warranted.

The owner of Kidicorp says he will

... have to put forward $400,000 to cover the cost of the service to keep it running.


He doesn't comment on whether that is feasible long term. It may be, in which case he didn't need the subsidy.

Doing the maths the shortfall amounts to an average of $20 per week per child. If Mr Wright can't fund it then either the parents will have to find the extra -possibly through a subsidy they haven't previously made use of - or they may consider moving their child elsewhere. (Or they could return to a benefit which would cost the government a great deal more.)

Other OSCAR programmes operate at schools although I believe places are generally tight. But the government is doubtless providing funding for these as well. So I am somewhat worried that this is another attack on the private sector at the benefit of the state sector, similar to what we saw with the 20 free hours of pre-school education. Which wouldn't have seemed odd under a Labour government but under the new National administration?

It is one of those stories which will develop and more will doubtless be revealed. At the moment the Ministry isn't commenting on the rationale.

Need I say it, leaving more money with the earner in the first instance would make more available to fully fund private programmes. Why we even need these programmes is another debate for another day.

What's the difference?

Another blog drew my attention to this course offered by the Lower Hutt Women's Centre. My only point of interest is the last sentence. What does it mean? What's the difference between "yourself" and "your self" (apart from a tab space)?

Assertiveness for Women

Assertiveness is the ability to express yourself and your rights without violating the rights of others. It is appropriately direct, open, and honest communication which is self-enhancing and expressive. Acting assertively will give you the opportunity to feel self-confident and will generally gain you the respect of yourself and your peers and friends. It can increase your chances for honest relationships, and help you to feel better about yourself and your self in everyday situations.

Culpability for crime

My e-mail contribution to a discussion on radio today (prompted by this report);

Regarding P rendering people not responsible for their criminal actions, I find the distorted logic of legal manipulators quite repugnant. But it is only an extension of similar ideas like, people who have had bad upbringings are not culpable. Or people whose ancestors had their land stolen are not culpable. I recently read Nigel Latta's very compelling book, Into The Darklands. He concludes that some criminals have had childhoods that make you weep for them BUT there is still a thing called free will. People make choices - good or bad - that only they are responsible for.

Law making and law enforcement need to recognise the existence of free will. Everybody knows right from wrong because nobody likes having their possessions taken off them, or being bashed about the head or sexually assaulted, actions that seem routine as a consequence of abusing P.

Domestic violence perpetrated by female partners isn't just psychological

The official MSD position on partner violence and gender symmetry/asymmetry can be summed up by the following;

Leaving basic prevalence levels aside, there is rather more consensus that more physically serious and psychologically threatening assaults are more likely to be perpetrated by male partners...The Scale and Nature of Family Violence in New Zealand: A Review and Evaluation of Knowledge, April 2007

Most of the statistical data about violence between partners comes from surveys and police data. But here is some new and interesting evidence that women do indeed perpetrate serious physical violence against men. The source is hospital emergency departments in the state of Victoria, Australia.

In almost 70 per cent of cases the victims were female, and most of the injuries occurred at home. Emergency departments dealt with 693 "human intent injuries" related to family violence in 2004-05 and 672 in 2005-06, according to the report.

So in over 30 percent of the cases the victim was a man. Interestingly the rest of the media report typically focusses on violence against women and the need for more intervention.

And in this country the following 'facts' as presented by Living Without Violence are your typical approach to the problem of family violence.

* One woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner every five weeks
* 10 children are killed every year in acts of domestic violence
* Half of all female homicides are the result of domestic violence
* Domestic violence is the fifth leading cause of death from injury for New Zealand women
* One in seven women has been assaulted by her partner
* Women's refuge assisted about 20,000 women and children last year
* 15 per cent of Women's refuge residents have a permanent disability as a result of battery and four per cent can no longer have children
* 21 per cent of New Zealand men admit they have physically abused their partners in the past year
* Battered women are five times more likely than other women to use psychiatric services

Not a mention of women hurting men. (Although, to their credit, they do run a programme for female perpetrators of domestic violence, detailed elsewhere at their site.)

Certainly some women need help and protection and I accept that men are physically, potentially more dangerous than women. But a more balanced and honest approach to the problem of family violence is overdue. Too many self-interested, ideologically driven parties are involved.

Five more years of cliched hang-wringing

It's all very well cancelling a few talkfests but National shows no sign of dis-establishing some of the talking heads and their bands of merry meddlers. Just listed at the Ministry of Social Development.

The fight for fathers goes on

A top letter in today's DomPost from Bruce Tichbon who has tirelessly championed fathers for probably the last 20 years. And probably will for the next twenty. I take my hat off to you, Bruce.

The tax burdens of our children

When men get in the habit of helping themselves to the property of others, they cannot easily be cured of it.

— The New York Times, in a 1909 editorial opposing the very first income tax


That is the quote of the day from the Freedom Foundation.

Then I began reading a piece from the National Centre for Policy Analysis which contained this warning;

* By 2020, the average EU country will need to raise the tax rate to 55 percent of national income to pay promised benefits.
* By 2035, a tax rate of 57 percent will be required.
* By 2050, the average EU country will need more than 60 percent of its GDP to fulfill its obligations.

Nice juxtaposition.

New Zealand is in only a slightly better position than most EU countries, having a higher fertility rate. But we will still be faced with the massively increased costs the ageing population brings.

Bob Jones makes a point in the DomPost this morning that talk of burdening the youth of today with the debt taken on to get us out of the current mess is a nonsense because they inherit the infrastructure and assets. But that doesn't take into account the imbalance of demographics and the varying burdens generations carry.

There can be no doubt that our children will be required to look after a much larger dependent population than we did. Therein lies the problem with socialism and collective funding. If individuals saved and insured themselves, this inequitable and iniquitous situation would largely vanish. Even Sweden has had the good sense to recently move to individualised social security accounts. (And no, I don't want to get into an argument about compulsion. As I have said before, I would rather be forced to save for myself than forced to save for somebody else. The element of force is not going away in my or my children's lifetime.)

Here's hoping that National will start listening to Roger Douglas some time soon.

NB. I am quite schizophrenic on this issue however. Tomorrow I could just as easily write a post arguing that the state has absolutety no right to dictate how I should use my own property. And I would be right. But then again... if there is a lesser evil than the current system, and is was on offer, should I turn it down?

Nannying New Zealand style

Here is the e-mail advice I have just received from the state (with a few comments interspersed) about preparing my children for returning to school;

Caring when you're not there

Tuck in a family photo into your child's backpack or write a special note to your child and put it in their lunchbox for a special reminder that they are loved. Being away from home can be tough, even for older kids, and a simple note (or just a heart with your name might work for a younger child) can provide some much-needed comfort. If the school or caregiver allows it, let your child pick a small toy or stuffed animal to put in their backpack.

Robert says, do any of that and I'm dead. I'll be labelled a mummy's boy and never live it down. He starts at a new school this year.

Stress alert

It’s normal to have worries about your child at school. So, keep an eye out for any signs that your child is experiencing back-to-school stress once the year begins. Look for complaints about headaches or tummy aches, tension at bedtime, emotional goodbyes, or reluctance to go to school in the morning.

If this happens, try lots of extra comfort and try to spend some quality one-on-one time with your child. Then, look for ways to re-adjust routines or ways of getting ready, and check whether your child is overloaded with too many activities or hasn't made friends.

You could also try the following ideas:

Notice out loud. Say something to your child if they seem unusually quiet or short-tempered (“Did you have a rough day? You seem a bit upset.”). It should be just a comment as if you are interested in hearing more about your child’s concern.

Listen. Ask your child to tell you what’s wrong. Listen closely, calmly and without comment – with interest, patience and caring. Do not judge, blame or comment – the idea is to let your child’s concerns and feelings be heard. You could get them to tell the full story by asking questions like “And then what happened?”. Let your child take their time.

Yuck. The religion of non-judgmentalism. Jehovah's Witnesses are starting to look moderate.

Help them find a label for it. Put your child’s feelings into words, for example, “disappointed”, “hurt”, “frustrated”. Many children do not yet have words for their feelings and putting them into words helps them develop emotional awareness. This will then make them cope better next time they feel the same way.

Help them understand the feeling. If your child talks about being angry help them understand what the feeling was that led to the anger. For example, “Sounds as if you were disappointed that your teacher didn’t notice how hard you had been trying and that made you mad and yell at her”. This shows your child you understand what they felt and that you care – which helps your child feel understood and connected to you. Another child might have got angry because they were frustrated they couldn’t do the work and the teacher wasn’t helpful. Knowing what made us angry makes it easier to identify a solution.


Help them think of things to do. Suggest things your child could do to feel better and to solve the problem. Get your child to think of several ideas too. Sometimes just identifying the problem will help solve it, so don’t give it more attention than it needs.

Just be there. Sometimes your child won’t feel like talking about what’s bothering them. If that’s the case, just give them space but make it clear that you are around when they do feel like talking. Suggest an activity you can do together – go for a walk, kick a ball, watch a movie or do some baking. One idea is to ask them to do something (not school-related) you know they can do very well without help, then praise them when it is done. It helps remind them they are able to control and manage their world.

Not so easy if you are out working to pay for school 'donations', stationery, activity fees, trips etc.

Be patient. As a parent, it can be painful to see your child unhappy or worried. But try to leave your child to solve their own problems as much as possible while you act as their support. This will help them become problem-solvers in the long term.

Get the irony in that last paragraph. Unbelievable. Nanny telling us to let our children figure things out for themselves!

Overbearing obsessives run amok

I am having trouble keeping food down, let alone using up left-overs, reading this;

DON'T THROW AWAY LEFTOVERS, WARN "FOOD POLICE"

British households will be visited by officials offering advice on cooking with leftovers, in a government initiative to reduce the amount of food that gets thrown away. Home cooks will also be told what size portions to prepare, taught to understand "best before" dates and urged to make more use of their freezers.

The door-to-door campaign, which started this month, is funded by the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP), a government agency charged with reducing household waste.

The officials will be called "food champions," however, they were dismissed as "food police" by critics who called the scheme an example of excessive government nannying:

* In an initial seven-week trial, eight officials will visit 24,500 homes, dishing out advice and recipes.
* The officials, each of whom has received a day's training, will be paid up to £8.49 (about US $11.87) an hour, with a bonus for working on Saturdays.
* The pilot scheme, will cost £30,000 (about U.S. $42,000), and could be extended nationwide if it is seen as a success.
* If all 25 million households in the United Kingdom were visited in the same way, 8,000 officials would be required at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.

Peter Ainsworth, the shadow environment secretary, said: "You might have thought, at a time of economic hardship, that spending public money on stating the obvious is hardly a priority. With household budgets under pressure, most people are looking to spend wisely and waste less anyway."

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "This is a prime example of excessive government nannying, and a waste of public money and resources. In the grip of a recession, the last thing people need is someone bossing them about in their own kitchen.

"Worse still, the money for this scheme will come directly out of taxpayers' pockets, at a time when they need every penny to weather the financial storm."

Source: Jasper Copping, "Don't throw away leftovers, warn 'food police,' " Telegraph, January 10, 2009.

No sense of occasion

Justin du Fresne just opened his show referring to the solitary text NewstalkZB has received in response to their ongoing coverage of Obama's inauguration. It said, "I'm changing stations. I am sick of this American bullshit."

The texter is not alone. A Stuff poll:

How will you reflect on Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th US president?

It's something I'll always remember (323 votes, 36.5%)

It's something I'd rather forget (324 votes, 36.6%)

Have no interest either way (238 votes, 26.9%)

What I will remember about today? My 14 year-old got up early to watch the ceremony and cooked streaky bacon, some of which he put on a plate and brought to me in bed. He's growing up.

New Blog

A couple of people who occasionally comment here have started a new blog. Looks interesting so have added it to my blogroll.

If you see Kay....

Which also reminds me, if you are out there Oh Crikey, could you please get back to the keyboard. Now. I miss your black (or brown?) humour desperately. Nearly a year off is long enough. Even for a lazy Maori.

What we don't know can't hurt us

Keeping Stock has a post entitled "Did we need to know?"

I immediately knew it referred to the headlines about the voice recorder on the Airbus that went down off Perpignan. I had exactly the same response.

As an obsessive truth seeker I still attempt to instil in my children the idea that sometimes, just occasionally, the truth is better left alone. There can be now earthly good in revealing or speaking it. What you don't know won't hurt you.

Once upon a time that sentiment got me into more trouble than I cared for.

One morning I discovered a dead but intact black cat on the grass verge outside our home. I knew it didn't belong to any of my immediate neighbours. Dilemma. Do I leave it there for the unfortunate owner or my own children to discover? Wouldn't it be preferable for the owner to be left thinking maybe the cat had just wandered off to a new home? Wouldn't that be a much kinder outcome? Yes, I decided. So I carried the corpse into my backyard, dug a hole and buried it. I know, I know. Who did I think I was interfering like that? And worse, what thought had I given to what might happen next....

My first mistake was to mention it to my neighbour, who wondered what I was having to dig such a deep hole for. I should have lied and said I was burying our cat. Then it would have gone no further. Except I would have had to kill our cat.

About three days later, early in the evening, the phone rang. It was my in-the-know neighbour saying she had been visited by a young woman looking for her cat. She had told her I might know something about it. Shit. Panic stations. It hit me. The owner will think I have run over the cat with my car and tried to hide the evidence.

There was a knock on the door. David answered it. Then I could hear him telling the distraught young woman he hadn't seen hide nor hair of said beast (following my original instructions to a tee, poor man). I could only take this subterfuge for seconds.

Actually, I saw it, I confessed, approaching the front door. Then I had to go further and admit to telling my husband to lie, given his red-faced presence in the hallway. I stutteringly told her I had found it on the grass verge and it had probably been hit by a car. But that it was in good condition so probably suffered a head injury and didn't suffer (??) And how I hadn't wanted her (how did I know the owner was a 'her'?) to find it. On and on digging a deeper and deeper hole. Do you want to see the hole ...grave, sorry? Oh my God. I had dragged our unused dog kennel over the top to stop him from digging up the carcass. I had HIDDEN it.

She was crying quite hard by now. I was feeling like the lowest of lowest, a complete heel, an utter crock. She left quite quickly, understandably.

Sometimes it's best to let nature take its course I think. Next time I discover a dead cat I will carry it around every home in the vicinity until I find the poor, unsuspecting soul, possibly a child, about to be confronted with its lifeless, no more, friend.

On looks and ageing

Rosemary McLeod writes a very bitchy column about ageing beauties and what they look like.

We're talking gargoyles like Madonna, 50, and Jerry Hall, 52; women who were beautiful in their youth, but who now have the starved horse look that goes with being older and scrawny.

She concludes;

To paraphrase Keats, beauty is youth, youth beauty. We love it. It's fleeting. You can't get it back. You just have to get over it.

I'll reach the half century mark this year. And I know it's absolutely physically evident because more than once I have been mistaken for my young daughter's grandma. How stupid can young women be? If in doubt wouldn't it be diplomatic to plum for mother? But I expect too much. They have yet to personally experience sensitivity about ageing and what it does to your looks.

Fortunately I never had many - looks that is. Being average looking when you are young can be a source of dismay but believe me, what you never had, you can't grieve over losing.

McLeod is right. Stop looking in the mirror if it bothers you that much. I certainly don't think it is bothering anybody else particularly. In fact if more women accepted ageing gracefully ... more women would. We could all be a little more content. We can all feel a little happier when comparing ourselves to Helen Clark rather than Cher.

Look at it this way. Allowing yourself to be miserable about it is only going to make you look even older anyway. And let's face it. If your physical appearance is all that defines you, and ever has, then you have a lot of catching up to do.

Airbus ditches in Hudson

In the last couple of hours an Airbus ditched in the Hudson after taking off from La Guardia and hitting birds. Miraculously it appears there is no loss of life or serious injuries. Stunning.

Mental health - or lack of it

In 2007, 6425 people spent time in adult mental health units according to the latest report from the Director of Mental Health, David Chaplow. That's around 153 per 100,000 mean population.

40 years ago, 12,096 people or 443 per 100,000 mean population spent time in a psychiatric hospital. That means the rate of institutionalised treatment has dropped by two thirds.

In the same year that over twelve thousand people were treated in a psychiatric hospital, only 2,000 were in jail.

Well-meaning attempts to keep people out of mental institutions has partially resulted in institutionalising them elsewhere.

Suicide rates, also mentioned in the report, have increased over a similar forty year period (although are now trending down).

1971 238 8.0 per 100,000

2006 524 12.2 per 100,000

Incidentally the suicide rate for Maori in 1971 was very, very low - 1.7 for males and 2.6 for females. In 2006 it was 17.2 per 100,000 population - higher than for non-Maori.

Finally we can measure mental health from a social security perspective.

At the end of the 1970 financial year, 14,218 people relied on an invalid or sickness benefit. Only 10 percent of sickness beneficiaries suffered from mental, psychoneurotic and personality disorders. Today over 130,000 people rely on these benefits and 40 percent of sickness beneficiaries have psychological or psychiatric conditions.

So things are not flash in the area of mental health - and particularly not for Maori.

(Caution; statistics keeping for Maori may not have been as reliable forty years ago as it is today).

Pregnancy prevents prison sentence

Reading about this court case I was reminded about the proposal for "large scale" state intervention regarding parenting which I commented on earlier this week. A Judge takes into account a heavily pregnant soon-to-be-mother's condition and refrains from sending her to jail. This paragon of virtue should be a prime suspect for state intervention when it comes to parenting.

Last time I was heavily pregnant the only occasion it caused comment was when I waddled into a music exam and perched myself behind the piano. I had been practising upwards of an hour a day to pass what was really a level beyond me. The examiner peered up, obviously surprised to see an adult appear after a string of school children, removed her glasses and said, "You are going to have a very musical child." And she was right.

There is no doubt that children are affected by what is happening around them even when they are still in the womb. Without some form of intervention, I don't fancy this one's chances much.

Increased welfare payments impact on fertility

New British research, from the Institute of Fiscal Studies, has shown that increased welfare payments have coincided with a boost in births and drop in contraceptive use among the group most affected by the higher payments. New Zealand fertility trends reflect those in Britain and it is entirely possible that the same trend is occurring here.

New Zealand’s birth rate grew from an average of 2.00 births per woman in 2004 to 2.11 in 2007; the UK rate over the same period increased from 1.68 to 1.79. In both countries, efforts to reduce child poverty have included increased income support payments. In New Zealand, Family Support (now renamed Family Support Tax Credit), available to working and non-working low income families, increased in 2005 and 2007. Similar increases were introduced in the UK, albeit earlier than here.

The UK research also found that the increase in government support coincided with a rise in births among the low-education group relative to the high-education group. In the absence of comparable New Zealand information, those mothers who predominate amongst the poorly-educated and low income – teenage, Maori and Pacific – have all experienced increased representation in welfare dependence statistics. New Zealand’s teenage birth rate has been rising steadily since 2003, as has the number of teenage mothers claiming a benefit. In 2006, almost forty percent of all births were to mothers who live in the three most deprived deciles.


The UK researchers also found evidence from the UK General Household Surveys that there was an increase in the proportion of women in the low-education group reporting that they were not using contraception because they were trying to get – or already were – pregnant. In 2006, the New Zealand Medical Association deputy chairman, Don Simmers, told a conference that too many women are contemplating pregnancy on a benefit.


This research raises an important question for all developed nations with generous income support regimes. Do efforts to ensure income adequacy simply increase fertility rates among low-income and poorly educated women, thereby counter-productively increasing the size of the poverty problem?


In light of recent local political developments here, the release of this research is very timely. In New Zealand, lobbyists are currently making submissions to government to increase payments to beneficiaries with children. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) recently took a case to the Human Rights Tribunal claiming that not paying the In-Work tax credit to parents who are beneficiaries was discriminatory. The Tribunal has ruled that while there is an element of discrimination operating , it is justified in order to achieve the government's goal off getting people off welfare and into jobs. The Tribunal accepted that work has long-term benefits for families and is the best way out of poverty for parents and their children.


Undeterred, CPAG are now making submissions directly to the new government to achieve their goal. This is understandable given there is a new Associate Minister for Social Development, Tariana Turia, who had previously been very supportive of their case.


The implications of this new research, in the absence of our own, should, however, be carefully weighed by policy makers before responding to these calls.

Calling for large scale state intervention

An Auckland University Professor writes in today's NZ Herald;

Good parenting is a critical public health issue. Raising children is the greatest challenge we face in a lifetime.

It's a job most tackle with the best will in the world but with virtually no preparation or education for the role.

Just the opening sentences have raised my hackles.

As soon as someone evokes 'critical' and 'public health' in the same sentence you know their proposals will involve collectivism and inevitably, compulsion. Individuals will disappear to be replaced by an amorphous mass.

And sure enough. That's next.

It would be wrong to assume that all parenting problems rest with the most socially disadvantaged. Research shows that families right across the social spectrum suffer stress and anxiety over the many issues that arise - and in some cases escalate - between children and parents who wish they could find effective solutions.

But it would be right to assume that the most severe parenting problems lie with the most socially disadvantaged. The reason why is completely missed by this writer because, going back to his opening , he believes parenting is "...a job most tackle with the best will in the world but with virtually no preparation or education for the role."

That is rubbish. We learn how to be parents from our own. If we were raised with love and care we will almost always repeat the lessons. But if the family is decimated or dysfunctional, the lessons are not worth having.

So based on his faulty summation of the current state of affairs he proposes parenting courses for everyone.

A whole-of-community approach to supporting parenting can be contrasted with the traditional "clinical" approach of targeting only the most troubled parents with the most difficult children. We stand a better chance of reducing child abuse and preventing behavioural or emotional problems if parenting programmes known to work are available to all parents.

And he is quite open about why he wants parenting courses universally available (or required if the Children's Commissioner gets in on the act). So those who are the most lacking are not stigmatised.

Political correctness is frequently misunderstood and used as a battering ram by the rude and the rednecks. If you really want to understand it, the above proposed approach is a perfect example.

Now we get to what the Professor, also a director of the Queensland Parenting and Family Support Centre, really wants here;

Every Family was Australia's largest public health trial and the positive findings were numerous. The exercise identified a need for widespread intervention in parenting and showed it was feasible to deliver an intervention on a large scale.

Not to put too fine a point on it, there is probably a buck to be made by Mr Academic.

He finishes,

It's only through communities coming together and working to help ordinary families become confident and competent in dealing with common behavioural, emotional and developmental problems of children that we will see a reduction in major mental health problems in children - and an increase in functional, happy families.

It would come as a shock to the writer, no doubt, that advocacy of 'public' solutions and state intervention has, over the past few decades, torn apart families by replacing the support members traditionally gave each other, with state support. Or perhaps he is slightly more sophisticated and believes that what the state broke, the state must fix.

Forget it. The state cannot deliver "...an increase in functional, happy families." The best hope for that eventuality is for it to get out of the way and allow the redevelopment of individual responsibility.

Crisis of confidence - no wonder

According to Matt McCarten today,

There is no doubt capitalism is having a crisis of confidence.

Is it any wonder?

Like a battered wife, capitalism has been treated abominably. Ruling governments have no faith in it. While making public pretences to, in reality, they shun the free market, preferring to flex their own redistributive and regulatory muscles. Then, like the pathetic confused creature the battered wife becomes, capitalism is blamed for every problem ever created. Like her, capitalism is a punching bag, a object of derision, taunting and paranoia. Eventually even outsiders start to join in the fray and side with the bully, not understanding that the abused now has no power or confidence, physical or psychological, to deflect the blows.

Yet, in truth, it is he who is totally dependent on her and his abuse of her. As governments are on capitalism. And just like spousal abusers, they too are cowards.

National - business (bribery) as usual

DPF says he would rather see the Tino Rangitiratanga flag flown one day a year (as a favour to the supply partners) than give millions to racing and MFAT to make the Minister look good.

Yet John Carter, the new Minister for Racing is already big noting about special favours to the racing industry. What makes the racing industry worthier or needier than others? What is the moral imperative for making taxpayers fork out for new running rails?

Unemployment in the US - how high?

The UK Times out-headlines the LA Times

The first tells us, Worst year for US unemployment since Second World War and the second, U.S. unemployment hits 16-year high: 7.2%

Of course the first writer is using absolute numbers and the second is talking about the rate.

In the US unemployment hit 7.3 percent in 1992. In the same year Canada and NZ hit 10.2 and Australia 9.5 percent.

One of the reasons I suspect unemployment didn't worsen in the States (and may not go much further this time) is they do not make it easy for people to stay unemployed. They do not fund a universally and indefinitely available dole out of general taxation.

Another ban

We returned yesterday from Taupo where we had stayed just around the bay from where a 9 year-old girl was tragically killed. It was desperately sad for all parties. No words suffice.

However, I was most interested in the ensuing action of the local Maori Authority Trust Board, Tuwharetoa. They imposed a raahui on about a kilometre stretch of bay which took in a number of upmarket hotels and holiday apartments. A raahui bans people from swimming in the area. It was conveyed through official signs slapped on lamposts etc.

The weather was blisteringly hot and I imagine many people would have felt rather aggrieved at not being able to swim or boat in the lake outside their property or hotel room. But they appeared to be respecting the protocol. However, as the ban was imposed "until further notice", I do not think that will be the case indefinitely.

(A correspondent to NewstalkZB suggested that the raahui would remain in place until a tapu-lifting fee was forthcoming.)

Lowering drink/drive limits

The Press appears to be leading a crusade to have the alcohol driving limit lowered. That's OK. The more they agitate and manipulate stats the more opportunity there is to rebutt their claims.

In New Zealand overall road deaths are dropping. The Press say;

Behind the encouraging raw statistic of a lower death toll is the continuing large role of alcohol in road accidents in New Zealand, which makes it welcome that the Government intends to consider lowering the blood-alcohol limit to bring it more into line with levels elsewhere...

...It is worrying too that despite all the publicity about the dangers of drinking and driving, the number being caught over the limit is rising steadily. It has more or less doubled, going from 25,133 in 2003 to 34,700 in the first 11 months of last year alone.

"More or less doubled" is an exaggeration. The rise is closer to 50 percent.

Queensland lowered its blood-alcohol limit and got an 18% fall in road fatalities and a 14% fall in serious accidents.

But are the two related?

Here are NZ's latest road death statistics;

Last 12 months
As at 09 Jan 2009 361
Same time last year 428

That equates to a drop of 16% and we didn't lower the alcohol limit.

In Germany, alcohol-related crashes more than halved.

I can find no substantiation of this beyond one made about Cologne.

Germany
Since Germany introduced a 50mg blood alcohol concentration drink-drive limit in 1998, the number of alcohol-related accidents in Cologne has more than halved, and the number of drivers caught with a level of more than 50mg blood alcohol concentration decreased by approximately 25 percent (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2000, in Alcohol Healthwatch, 2000).

Just as a side comment, if lobbyists are going to use Germany's reducing road toll (similar to ours) as a reason to drop alcohol limits than they should be consistent and use it as a reason to abolish speed limits on the open road.

Seriously, I hope that the new Minister for Transport is going to exercise a rigorous level of scrutiny over claims made in support of lowering our existing limit. We should not be persuaded to do so just because 'that's what they do somewhere else.'

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.

"Fairness" or foolishness?

According to today's NZ Herald,

Mr Maharey - made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit - has a concrete reminder of the measure he considers his greatest achievement during his 18 years in Parliament (nine of them in Cabinet).

In a frame on the wall of his new office is the law - complete with the Governor-General's signature - that introduced Working for Families, a gift from staff at the Ministry of Social Development. "It's not just a piece of legislation," Mr Maharey says. "It represents to me the high point trying to address that issue of fairness. That's what I was in politics for."

This is a politician whose idea of fairness rests on what he and his colleagues decide it is. In other words fairness is an arbitrary line drawn subjectively, not according to any principle of property rights or individual rights.

Under Working For Families it is considered fair to take the fruit of one individual's efforts and give it to another deemed more worthy or deserving.

My definition of fairness (as described in the Concise Oxford Dictionary) is " just, unbiased, equitable, legitimate, in accordance with rules."

Only the last requirement is met because the rules are set by those who do not understand the preceding.

But even putting aside matters people with different philosophies will argue about, WFF will ultimately have negative effects due to the inherent distorted incentives. It will reduce productivity, entrepreneurship and personal responsibility. Is that 'fairness' or foolishness?

Science and Steve Maharey

Kiwiblog has drawn my attention to a post by Steve Maharey, former Minister for Social Development, at The Pundit. He writes about the looming ETS select committee hearing;

Evidence from competing points of view will be heard by New Zealand’s elected representatives. This evidence is to be treated equally. Public officials will be asked if they have been impartial. Those who advance the position that human activity is contributing to climate change are to be set against those who oppose this view – as if they are equals.

Of course they are not. The overwhelming view of the science community is for the former view. A tiny minority oppose this view. They may be right – minority views can be right – but in this instance they will have to work very hard if they are to be taken seriously given the depth of the evidence they are seeking to question.

It is a little like asking for a committee to be set up on the evidence that smoking causes cancer and then treating all submissions equally. It would be funny if it were not so absurd.

Steve Maharey's idea of science is well captured by these words from 2003;

"I know of no social science that says the nuclear family is more successful than other kinds."

When it comes to science, Mr Maharey doesn't look very hard. And he is now Vice Chancellor of Massey. What chance critical thinking?

On columnists

There are not many I read. But two have come to my attention this morning, both with exceptional pieces albeit very different in subject and style.

What is the NZ Herald thinking of letting Colin James go? Are we, the-readers-with-more-than-fluff-between-our-ears, of such little consequence? Just as the Dominion Post made the indefensible botch up of sacking Michael Bassett, the Herald seems oblivious to the vast political knowledge and perspicacity of thought possessed by the endangered likes of these two writers. Ah, but the past is not important. Perhaps James inadvertently confirmed his own apparent redundancy by touching on this phenomenon today. Then again, perhaps that is why we go on and on doing what doesn't work. Because we refuse to listen to - or have a dumbed-down media preventing us from listening to - those who have seen it all before.

I understand Mr James will continue writing his thought-provoking pieces. I have always subscribed to them directly anyway so bugger the Herald. You can too ( subscribe that is) by e-mailing ColinJames@synapsis.co.nz

The second columnist, who helped dissipate - slightly - the anger I am feeling towards the Herald (a letter to the editor may also assist) is Jeremy Clarkson, who has written a hilariously rude piece of advice for street retailers. Brilliant.

The evolution of language

Yet another case of child murder where the alleged perpetrator is a beneficiary. According to the NZ Herald,

The arrested man, a beneficiary, will also face a number of drug-related charges.

Somebody has to say what we all think, " No surprises there."

The term 'beneficiary basher' has developed quite an ambiguous meaning. In an ironic twist, those who coined the term were apologists for lifestyle beneficiaries, the literal bashers. But it was never enough to deter those of us who could see the overlap between welfare dependence and violence widening and worsening.

How awful that our support, voluntary or otherwise, for supposed 'need', enables the sort of circumstances to develop whereby children are now, as Deborah Coddington points out today, at greater risk of death through violence than prostitutes.

The Xmas Card

The birth of my oldest son triggered off artistic attempts to capture his image on paper. That was 14 years ago. The same year I decided to use one of my paintings to create a Xmas card. Being something of a traditionalist I have always loved receiving cards but I thought it would be useful to create something unique and also keep people up to date with events when sending them. Ever since my cards have featured paintings of the children or our animals. I have one friend who tells me she has kept every single one.

Naturally the newly-adopted failed farm dog had to be the subject this year so I thought it would be good to depict her in a typical pose in our typical environment. Lately I have taken to photographing the sketch or painting as it develops. Might come in handy one day. A 'how to' book perhaps.... so many ideas.... too little time.

This was the result.

Oh, and I was thinking about something I heard the other day. Had been walking the steep hills behind Eastbourne with Robert and I was listening on my walkman to Justin Du Fresne close his last show of the year. It was a glorious day and I was taking in the harbour below. Justin was reading Desiderata to some ethereal music. Ave Maria perhaps. I have heard it before but this time one line jumped out at me.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Amen to that.

To you and yours, Merry Christmas everyone.

S59 and Sweden

I responded to a DomPost published proponent of the S59 legislation which triggered a further response.



Dear Editor

Tom Radley (Letters, December 19) writes that Sweden, "... has taken a far higher number of immigrants relative to its population than has New Zealand." Many, he says, come from countries where violence against children is acceptable, hence Sweden's ongoing problem with child abuse despite smacking being banned in 1979.

In 2007, of the children who began receiving care and protection services in Sweden that year, almost two thirds had one or both parents born in that country.

The problem of child abuse and neglect is not confined to Sweden's immigrant population which is, by the way, proportionately much smaller than New Zealand's.

Lindsay Mitchell