Child poverty stats conflict

According to UNICEF:

New Zealand's child poverty rates have come down by less than half a per cent since 2008, according to the Unicef report Children of the Recession.
By contrast, Australia reduced its child poverty rate by more than 6 per cent over the same period, and Finland and Norway, countries with similar populations, reduced theirs by more than 4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.

Here's what the Australian media is writing about the same report:

The third-best improvement was in Australia, where the child poverty rate fell from just over 19% to 13%. In four years, Australia moved from having the 19th-lowest rank to the seventh-lowest rate of child poverty – an impressive achievement in any terms.

Here's what the Australian Council of Social Services say:

Privacy in prison

Skimming through the Ombudsman Annual Report looking for information about complaints concerning the OIA, I came across the following. It bothered me enough to stop and re-read it. The deprivation of any privacy must be utterly dehumanising.

Of course our inclination is to put ourselves into such a situation and feel repelled by the deep indignity of such monitoring (which was a surprise to me.) Then our next inclination is to remind ourselves that the subjects of such questionable scrutiny have in many cases treated others to far worse. Also, I am assuming, the monitoring is done to protect prisoners from themselves. I'd be interested in your reaction:

Privacy issues

By their very nature, prisons house difficult to manage, sometimes dangerous and often vulnerable prisoners who can push boundaries and challenge the system. In coercive environments such as prisons, there is a danger that security is overemphasised to the detriment of the dignity of prisoners. This year we found examples where we consider order and security prevailed too easily over dignity and fairness.

In Youth Units, double cells are monitored on camera and have limited privacy screening around the toilet/shower area. In Waikeria East, 7 cells (the old at risk cells) are monitored on camera but house mainstream prisoners.

In Northland Prison, prisoners in Separates cells are required to shower in an external yard which is monitored on camera.

As well as being monitored on camera, women in the Separates cells at Auckland Women’s Prison can be observed by prisoners and staff from both the corridor and the cell opposite using the toilet and shower. In the At Risk Unit, cells are monitored by cameras, including the unscreened toilet area. Cameras in both units are monitored by staff in the office and in “Master Control”including by officers of the opposite sex in the course of their work when female staff are unavailable. At Auckland Women’s Prison just over 41% of officers are male.

The ability to view naked female prisoners in the shower and undertaking their ablutions is of great concern.

We consider this to be significantly degrading treatment or punishment under COTA. The ability to view male prisoners in the shower is similarly degrading. We recommended that cameras should not cover toilets and shower areas. This was not accepted by Corrections.

Save me from aggrieved women

The irony of it struck me this morning. The reason I am so often out of step with modern-day feminists is because I can fight my own battles.

I wish the randy old goat who made a pass at this woman would out himself because her dragging it up every media avenue she can find is going to get very irksome.

It isn't exclusively women but every day someone bleats to the media about the violation of their 'rights'. Or the offence someone or some action has caused them. The consequent act of either utu or victimhood becomes an obsession out of all proportion to the incident.

It's not newsworthy and it doesn't become the complainant.

Rip-off 'artists'

A belated comment came in on a 4 year-old post I'd scathingly written about 'public' art and its lack of merit. It's from a UK reader who relates much the same from the Northern hemisphere

Lindsay, this may be an old post on your blog that I respond to in 2014 but you are so right, and so so many of us (including creatives) feel contempt for these cliques with their noses in the trough.

I respond here as someone in the UK with many years involvement in the visual arts. In my own locale, (particularly since the massive economic shocks of 2008 onwards), we experience significant cut backs in core civic services - health, public transport, refuse collection - and at the same time we read in the local rags about huge funding given to a local art space in the new library which, as an often daily visitor to that library I can assure you the contemporary art space receives very few visitors ever, and the creative input exhibited seems almost purposefully asinine in its lameness and laziness.

Another group have been parachuted into the borough from elsewhere in the country (demonstrable links to certain councilors however it needs to be noted) - these folks have been awarded large grants, given a number of local buildings to base themselves in (peppercorn rent), allowed to host an annual festival (which they now charge admission for) on top of receiving grants. It's a complete scam!

The library arts space received recently a six-figure sum to operate; I can say as a fan of a wide range of art including installations that what is shown there is utterly banal and a joke. Virtually no-one visits and yet the organization continues to receive high praise and puff-pieces from their cronies in the local paper. Another outrage with this library is that for a few years, one particular librarian has been given their very own display space in the public library to not only show but also market their art. This is a paid employee of the library while other local businesses and crafts people have to pay rent and rates. It's really shocking. The arts collective I previously mentioned in the library have now stated in a recent 'initiative' in the local paper that they will be dedicating some of their space throughout the year to 'local artists' but these artists must pay to exhibit!! Honestly you couldn't make it up!!