Kiwiblog

Decided to pop over to Bratislava for lunch one day, as it is not a big drive from Vienna. Along the 50 km or so road, there were probably at least 500 wind turbines.  They were everywhere.

All things considered, Bratislava is quite boring. Sharebroker Chris Lee just visited there also and said compared to its neighbour Vienna, it is like comparing Waiouru to Queenstown.

It is quite poor – US$16,000 GDP per capita. Spent several decades as part of the eastern bloc, as part of Czechoslovakia.

The so called border. You don’t have to stop though, which is cool.

I can now cross Slovakia off my list of countries to visit one day.

The Dom Post reports:

A police investigation has begun after more than $750,000 was drained from Whitireia Polytechnic students’ association funds over a year. …

Angry students – who learned their funds had dwindled to just $6000 – demanded the executive step down during the tense meeting. After heated discussions, one committee member broke down in tears as she told students to “have faith” in the new executive, which, except for one member, was elected after the misappropriation took place.

Fulltime students must have $135 deducted automatically from their student loans to pay subs for the Whitireia Independent Students Association. There are about 6000 students at the polytech, half of whom are fulltime.

Yet not a single one of them can quit. They can’t say I do not wish to belong to an association that is so lacking in basic financial controls, that $750,000 gets wasted or stolen.

VSM will attract different people to student associations. Not so much those who want to spend money, but those who want to provide a good enough service that students will want to join. Don’t think that the high level of fraud in student associations is a coincidence. It is a consequence of compulsory membership.

Stuff reports:

The woman at the centre of the Michael Laws affair is a former P-addict and prostitute.

Jacqueline Sperling, 39, said she had explicit text messages from the Whanganui mayor.

Mr Laws announced yesterday that text messages between him and a woman were about to become public. He apologised to his family.

However, the woman said she had shown emails to only one friend and had not shared the text messages with anyone. …

Michael Laws has brought shame on himself needlessly by panicking, according to his managers at Radio Live.

“He thought he was being blackmailed and some private messages were going to be made public and he decided to jump in. He thought that he should front-foot it,” Radio Live general manager Mitch Harris said.

But Jacqueline Sperling, the woman at the centre of the controversy, said she had not gone to the media or tried to make the texts public. On a posting on Radio Live’s Facebook page, she said he “fell for a bluff”.

I actually tend to think Laws did the right thing. Sperling was obviously trying to get Laws to think she might release the texts, and I don’t think you ignore stuff like that – it then gives that person power over you. While a bit embarrassing, he has removed the shock value from them, if she does now release them.

Having said all that, I am mystified about what the fuss is all about. People sexually attracted to each other send dirty messages – this is not new.

Andrew Williams never learns. By attacking Whale Oil, he gets their feud into the pages of the Herald. Cameron gets to have reported his lines:

“I am not stalking the Mad Mayor, the Whale spies informed me of the antics of the Mad Mayor.”

I can’t wait for Williams to stand for NZ First.

The Herald reports on desperate lies from Labour – and paid for by the taxpayer:

Labour is defending information it published in pamphlets being distributed nation-wide which compare household costs with and without a 15 per cent GST.

The taxpayer-funded pamphlets, of which there are hundreds of thousands, zone in on the impacts the Government’s policies are having on public services and the income and spending power of New Zealanders.

The pamphlets include a basic statistics column citing an example of a monthly power bill figure of $189.34, saying “plus National’s 15 per cent GST” of $28.40 it will increase the bill to $217.74.

A desperate attempt to gain relevance, lacking in a skerrick of intellectual honesty.

National Party and Tukituki electorate MP Craig Foss this morning said the comparison as “misleading” and an apology and retraction was needed from Labour.

With GST having already having been introduced by Labour – and increased to 12.5 per cent – years before National came to power, trying to pass the increase off as 15 per cent when it was in fact going up 2.5 per cent from October 1 was not on, he said.

“They totally misrepresent the fact that GST is switching from 12.5 to 15 (per cent)…the fact that the taxpayer is funding these pamphlets makes it worse and I think the Labour Party owes New Zealand an apology and should issue a correction”, he told NZPA.

It would be like National putting out a pamphlet after Cullen’s rich prick tax increase, and saying:

* Your weekly income on $65,000 = $1,300
* Dr Cullen’s increased tax rates = $336
* Your income after Dr Cullen’s tax = $964

I suggest someone complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The Dom Post reports:

Whanganui Mayor Michael Laws says a political agenda is behind the imminent release of his “intimate” text messages.

The claim follows a bizarre statement being released by Laws today, where he admitted a secret relationship with a woman whose life experiences were “completely different” to his.

Just wondering if anyone has seen Cactus lately?

Having been on a plane most of today, I got off to see the Google Mail previews show me the subject lines of e-mails, including one from Clare Curran saying Labour pays tribute to Ernie Newman.

I thought to myself – hell either Ernie is dead, or he has resigned.

Upon being able to actually read the e-mail in full, I am glad to find out it was not the former scenario

Most New Zealanders are far better off for the efforts put in by Ernie and TUANZ. His last great battle and success was on mobile termination rates.

I’ve enjoyed working with Ernie over the years, and TUANZ will find it difficult to secure a replacement with his profile and skills.

I would wish Ernie well in his retirement, but I am sure that is the last thing on his mind.

Computerworld has a nice summary of reaction.

Thought I had set this up to appear while I was on a plane.

A great editorial from The Press:

It is true that Anderton’s energy and work ethic are high and his well-organised electorate office could do the bulk of his constituency work. But his Wigram voters would surely expect their MP to be representing their interests in Parliament, playing the role of a vastly experienced politician in opposing the current Government and attending to the other duties of an MP, such as select committee work.

The more time he spent on his central government commitments, the less attention he could devote to Christchurch issues. And if Anderton’s stinging criticism of the present council is well- founded and his analysis of the city’s problems is correct then the mayoralty must certainly be a fulltime position. …

Jim – campaigning to be a part-time Mayor.

Oh my God – Labour is outraged. We have a Minister who actually visits hospitals, to see how they are doing – and without notice.

TV3 reports:

Health Minister Tony Ryall has been forced to admit he has been making secret visits to emergency wards, gathering intelligence.

In breach of the usual ministerial protocol, Mr Ryall has not warned staff he’s on the way, nor has he introduced himself when he has arrived.

“If I’m in a city or a town and I’ve got a spare five or 10 minutes, sometimes I drop by the emergency department to sit quietly and see what’s going on for a few minutes,” Mr Ryall says.

“Maybe talk to some patients, see what’s going on and how long they’ve been waiting. It helps me to keep in touch.”

Superb. A Minister asking patients about the service and waiting times. As Tony says – an excellent way to keep in touch with the real world.

Emergency departments contacted by 3 News didn’t know about Mr Ryall’s visits and had varying views on the practice.

One head of emergency welcomed the undercover Minister, but others thought it was “perplexing”, “insulting and undermining” as well as “creepy and weird”.

Some have questioned his method, labelling it an “unscientific way to gain an impression of an emergency department”.

“Conditions change by the hour, there are protocols for visiting Ministers.”

Yes how dare the Minister gain an unofficial impression. He should only gain the impression that is arranged for him carefully beforehand.

I don’t think Tony is going to make major policy decisions on the basis of his visits.  But it is a good way to see at first hand what it is really like for patients.

“I’ve never known a Minister of Health not to abide by protocols working with the clinicians and the management of a hospital,” says Labour’s Associate Health Minister Annette King.

Oh dear. Need more be said.

A reader brings to my attention the website of Faimeh Burke, who is standing for Christchurch City Council. Her website is – www.ladyfaimehburke.org.

Rather gauche to use the title for political campaigning, when it is through marriage – and even worse to use it incorrectly.  As she is not the daughter of nobility, but the wife of Sir Kerry Burke, the correct usage is simply Lady Burke.

The Herald has a story from the UK Independent:

Earlier this month Oxfordshire council switched off every speed camera in the county and, judging by their speeds and the fanfare which accompanied the news, the drivers know it.

What they did not know, however, is that the film was left inside two of the speed cameras for a five-day test period. During that time the cameras secretly recorded the speed of passing cars.

And, while the drivers will face no prosecution, the results of the experiment proved what road safety groups feared: with the Gatso cameras out of action, drivers simply ignored the speed limit.

On Woodstock Road, 110 drivers were caught travelling at more than 35mph along the 30mph road in the five-day test period. That’s 18 per cent more than the number of drivers who used to be caught speeding in an average week.

It is a law-breaking trend which, owing to Government budget cuts, could soon be replicated across the country. And it is a situation which has provoked anger from road safety groups and senior police officers who say lives are being put at risk.

Sounds awful doesn’t it. Life without speed cameras. But let us look at what the numbers mean. The 110 drivers speeding was 18% more than normal. SO normal is 93 drivers speeding. That means over five days 17 more drivers sped, or basically three drivers a day – one every three hours.

Now we don’t know how many cars drive down Woodstock Road, so we can’t work out what the prevalence of speeding was, but let us assume a car every 30 seconds, which is around 1,000 cars during the working day.

With speed cameras there were 19 cars speeding, which is a 1.9% prevalance rate. Now it is a 2.2% rate. So the speed cameras slow down say three cars in 1,000.

So hardly the disaster the Independent reports – whose reporter obviously didn’t think to apply a critical eye to the claims of lobby groups.

Note I am not necessarily saying it was a good idea to turn speed cameras off. I am just pointing out that the effect has been minor.

Readers may have seen some stories on the controversy in New York, after planning permission was given for a mosque to be built near Ground Zero in Manhattan.

I tend to think the choice of location is insensitive and stupid, but that is no reason to deny planning permission. Like Andrew Sullivan, I like this proposed response:

Fox News’ Mr Gutfeld proposes building a gay bar right next to the Cordoba Initiative complex in downtown Manhattan. Fantastic idea. That’s exactly the right response to an expression of religious freedom: the expression of freedom for gay people as well.

A stroke of genius. A gay bar next to the mosque. The very arguments in favour of the right for the mosque to be in an location that will offend some, have to be also deployed in favour of allowing a gay bar next door – even though that will offend many at the mosque.

Stuff reports:

Is Murray getting a promotion?

Rhys Darby is reportedly being lined up for a role on The Office after comedian Steve Carell’s dodgy manager Michael Scott leaves the hit sitcom later this year.

Darby, famous for his role as the incompetent manager of Flight of the Conchords, is one of two heavyweights vying for a spot on the US adaptation of the British classic, according to reports.

Entertainment Weekly reported Darby had been approached to “gauge his interest” in joining the cast of The Office near the end of the seventh season.

I think Darby would be brilliant in The Office. The US version is every bit as good as the UK version (despite the first few episodes), and Darby would be a great fit for it.

Fran O’Sullivan writes:

Asked how Auckland ratepayers could make sure their flash new council doesn’t go spending too much on big projects, English replies, “Don’t elect a mayor who is nuts for a start.”

What excellent advice.

John Armstrong writes:

Labour will have very mixed feelings about being forced by one of its MPs to fight a byelection in Mana, even though it is one of the party’s safest seats in the Wellington region.

The byelection sparked by Winnie Laban’s departure to a job at Victoria University is a nuisance for Labour and an opportunity.

I like the idea put forward by Matthew Hooton on National Radio this week. Matthew proposed that Labour should arrange an effective mini-election in November – by-elections in Mana, Te Atatu, Manurewa and Wigram.

This could be a circuit breaker for Labour – they’d get publicity for four to six weeks, and would probably win all four seats, achieving a massive rejuvenation. This would help their chances in 2011 significantly, as they would look a lot less like the bunch thrown out.

The Herald reports:

Former television political reporter Kris Faafoi is among the potential Labour candidates for the byelection in the seat of Mana in the Porirua area.

Yesterday, Mr Faafoi, who recently became chief press secretary to Labour Party leader Phil Goff, said he was not ruling out an attempt to move into Parliament.

“People have spoken to me [about standing in Mana], but I haven’t given it a lot of serious consideration.”

I’m a bit surprised – purely because I didn’t know Kris was politically ambitious. If he did stand, and win, he would be a rarity – a former press gallery member, who became an MP.

As I mentioned yesterday, Josie Pagani may stand also. By coincidence her husband is Phil Goff’s strategist – so there may be split loyalties in the office.

However Josie may fall victim to identity politics, as reported by Stuff:

Labour president Andrew Little has ruled himself out of the race, and has indicated the party may look for a Pacific Island or Maori candidate to contest the seat.

Or they could look for the best person for the job.

Sir Ron Trotter is dead, aged 82. Condolences to his family and friends.

The Herald reports:

Sir Ron had a distinguished business career which included holding multiple directorships.

He was the director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Air New Zealand and Toyota New Zealand.

Separately he chaired the Post Office Bank, Telecom, the Overseas Investment Commission, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research and the Museum of New Zealand.

Plus Fletchers of course.

Sir Ron was a vocal advocate of economic deregulation, having seen the light after lobbying the government for industry protection earlier in his working life.

The converts are those who become the most fervent!

Kerr said Sir Ron had been instrumental in getting New Zealand to compete on the world stage.

“He had a vision for every business he was associated with – which was to become internationally competitive and get away from fortress New Zealand.”

My spies report that the front runner for Labour’s nomination is Josie Pagani. Josie was No 3 on the Progressives’ list in 2008 and stood for Otaki for them in 2008. It was well understood that she was likely to get a high lost place or a winnable seat, with the effective merger of the Progressives into Labour.

I hold Josie in high regard. She will be a strong candidate, and a good MP for Labour if they select her.

This is the interior of the Stadttempel, which was the only Jewish temple in Vienna to not be burnt down in November 1938 during the Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass. The other 93 temples or synagogues in Vienna were destroyed but this one survived as it is an inner city one, within an apartment block. Burning it down would have risked the entire block.

It has high security, sadly necessary. In 1981 Palestinian terrorists killed two and wounded 30 people here at a Bar Mitzvah, using machine guns and grenades.

As it eventuated, I am very glad I visited the temple. I have been putting together a family tree over the last couple of years, but not made much progress. The temple had records relating to sections of my family back to 1670!! Never did I dream I would be able to trace ancestors back an entire 12 generations. Thank Jehovah for the dedicated record keeping of the temple.

This is the Pestsäule or plague column, which is a memorial to those who died on the plague in 1679. Around 76,000 died from the bubonic plague – roughly a third of the Vienna population. The column went up in 1693.

Caught up on Friday night with Austria Girl. We had drinks at Flanagan’s in District One and then she took me to the Prater!

What is the Prater? This is. Austria’s only permanent amusement park.

This beast is almost 200 metres tall. A sign said it is the tallest ride in the world, that uses chains. Neither of us was that keen to do it, but we basically dared each other – I will if you will. I swear my competitive nature will kill me one day.

The two of you get placed in a seat, hanging from half a dozen chains. Think like a swing. Then the machine lifts you up around 20 metres. And then it starts rotating. And what happens to you – you start rotating even faster – the chains have you hurtling around the tower at almost right angles – all while you get higher and higher.

Finally you are around 200 metres up, and spinning around at high velocity, with your brain trying to calculate how many kilometres away you will land, if the chains snap.

This ride was much more fun. Think of a giant water slide – but one you go down in a rubber ring, with no steering or braking. A crane lifts the ring to the top, and then you shoot down the slide. At times it is going bloody fast, and to add to the fun, is spinning around in circles so half the time you are backwards.

Was a very fun night.

That is pretty much it for Vienna, as on Saturday we popped into Slovakia, and Sunday saw the drive west to Salzburg. Can’t wait until I can next visit again.

Pete Hodgson takes a break from his normal dirt gathering on John Key operation, to try a half truth. He blogs:

Declare ACC to be in big financial trouble, even though it collects about $1 billion a year more in revenue than it pays out in claims.  Rachet up the levies for everyone.  Single out motorcyclists for an especially harsh increase.  Then cut the cover for lots of things such as hearing loss.  Make it really hard for the victims of sexual abuse.

Monty comments on the post:

You just don’t do this very well do you? This post is one of the worst I have seen from labour MPs – but it is short on facts. The increase in levies is to future fund the committed claims and is actually an extension of what Labour were already doing – in fact Labour’s target was more ambitious than National’s Target which was extended.

Hodgson is just doing his normal smear with his claim that there is no need for levies to go up, and that ACC is collecting far more money than it needs.

If, and this is a big if, Labour were against ACC being “fully” funded to cover the future treatment costs of today’s accidents, then he would not be a total hypocrite with his post.

But Labour is in favour of full funding. They fucking introduced it. They in fact had, as Monty said, a more ambitious target.

One can have a legitimate debate about the merits of full funding ACC. But it is a desperate smear to attack National for running a cash surplus in ACC, when Labour’s policy is to do exactly the same thing.

UPDATE: I’m informed that the policy to fully fund ACC actually was initiated by National in 1998, so Labour did not introduce it, but they did maintain it for nine years

The Herald editorial:

The membership of a taskforce will always play a central role in determining the credibility of its recommendations. If a group is stacked with people of a particular bias, its findings will probably be of limited value. When, however, Diane Robertson of the Auckland City Mission and Major Campbell Roberts of the Salvation Army were appointed members of the Housing Shareholders Advisory Group, it could safely be assumed that the whole range of options for improving social housing would be canvassed.

Duly, the group has delivered a report rooted in practicality. …

Some on the left have already started to condemn the two named above for the crime of being practical, and wanting solutions that work and are affordable.

Commendably, the advisory group looks critically at what has become the “house for life” expectation of many Housing NZ tenants. A state house has come to be regarded as a right, not a privilege. Some 22,000 tenants, or a third of the Housing NZ portfolio, have been in the same state house for at least a decade. In that time, many would have had children leave home or other changes in their circumstances. This means the Housing NZ stock is under-used. Many of these tenants could quite easily move to private housing, freeing up their houses for those in greater need.

If one has state house rentals greatly lower than non state house rentals, then it is essential that limited stock of state houses be directed towards those most in need. And that will not always be the current occupants.