Reuters reports:

A bipartisan budget deal announced in the US Congress, while modest in its spending cuts, would end nearly three years of partisan stand-offs between Democrats and Republicans that culminated in October with a partial government shutdown.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Republican Representative Paul Ryan appeared before reporters Tuesday (local time) to announce the US$85 billion (NZ$102 billion) budget accord, which still must be approved by the full Senate and House of Representatives.

“For far too long compromise has been considered a dirty word,” Murray said, adding that the uncertainties created by three solid years of Washington bickering “was devastating to our economic recovery.”

Ryan, the Republican Party’s 2012 failed vice presidential candidate who has his eye on either a 2016 presidential campaign or potentially a House leadership job, wasted no time in trying to blunt criticisms of the pact, especially from fellow conservatives.

“In divided government, you don’t always get what you want,” Ryan declared.

But he added, “I think this agreement is a clear improvement on the status quo. This agreement makes sure that we don’t have a government shutdown scenario in January. It makes sure we don’t have another government shutdown scenario in October. It makes sure that we don’t lurch from crisis to crisis.”

It would blunt the effect of automatic “sequester” spending cuts by allowing federal agencies and discretionary programs to spend US$63 billion (NZ$75 billion) more over two years, while savings are made elsewhere. It also would provide an additional US$20 billion to US$23 billion (NZ$24 billion to $27 billion)  in deficit reduction over 10 years.

This is a pretty good outcome. Obama and the Democrats didn’t get any tax increases, and the level of spending is slightly less than it would have been under the automatic sequester. Also the Democrats didn’t get an extension in what was meant to be temporary unemployment insurance.

Not a great deal for either side, but a workable one.

The top 10 ethnicities in the census are:

1. NZ European 68.0%
2. Maori 14.9%
3. Chinese 4.1%
4. Samoan 3.6%
5. Indian 3.6%
6. New Zealander 1.6%
7. Cook Islands Maori 1.5%
8. Tongan 1.5%
9. Filipino 1.0%
10. English 1.0%

If one groups together you have (approx) for the four main ethnic groups:

1. NZ European/NZer 69.6%
2. Maori 14.9%
3. Asian 11.4%
4. Pacific 8.3%

The NZ Initiative have released a report called “Around the World: The Evolution of Teaching as a Profession” which is a comparative study of Singapore, Germany, Finland, England, Canada and Australia focused on improving teacher quality to deliver better educational outcomes.

Almost all respected research has concluded teacher quality is the most important factor in lifting achievement levels for students. It dwards ither factors such as socio-economic background, location, class size, principal, school size etc.

Four things the Initiative found that were important in the countries studied were:

Recruiting the best teachers: Finland, Germany and Singapore place strict quality controls on who gets admitted to teaching, ensuring that only the most dedicated, motivated, and academically talented people who have rapport with children become teachers.

Teaching how to teach: The best education systems encourage, or require, would-be teachers to have a master’s degree before entering the classroom. Even with the strong focus on the theoretical foundations of teaching, there is now more emphasis worldwide on practical training in learning on the job. 

Career progression: Many other countries recognise remuneration is important for retaining talent. Singapore offers teachers the ability to progress up a career path for teachers to retain the best teachers in the classroom.  England has disbanded step-lock pay increases, and Finnish teachers with exceptional skills are offered bonuses.

Develop teacher capacity: Career structures that encourage teachers to lead other teachers are increasingly being adopted internationally. This lateral capacity building is seen in Singapore, and in the way England’s schools are ‘chaining’ together. Ontario’s leading schools also pair up with other schools that serve a similar profile of students to help them raise student achievement. 

So in essence they are saying make teacher training more practical, have much higher entry standards for teacher training, pay good teachers more just for being good teachers and develop better teacher capacity.

These would cost money to do, but would be a worthwhile investment.

The report says at one point:

In England, school principals are being given a lot more autonomy to pay their staff as they wish within minimum and maximum salary bands. The potential benefits include placing a premium on subject-teachers high in demand. 

Excellent teachers stay in the system. But it also relies on having highly effective school leadership so that remuneration is fair.  Singapore aligns remuneration with career progression, and Finnish principals pay bonuses to high performing teachers. 

I think this is essential.

Also of note:

Governments that work with teacher unions have seen more success, particularly when strong accountability mechanisms and regulation is already in place. While in England, unions are striking against reforms, Germany’s teacher unions recognised after their poor results in PISA that they needed to get out in front of educational reforms. Ontario has managed peaceful relations with teacher unions over the last 10 years, and started with the assumption that teachers want to do the right thing. 

I think this report is an opportunity for both the Government and the teacher unions.

Stuff reports:

New Zealand is now able to have a Queen regardless of whether she has younger brothers, after Parliament passed a new law changing the rules of royal succession.

The Royal Succession Bill puts in place changes that were agreed in 2011 by the 16 realms who share the Queen as head of state.

All realms, including New Zealand, must have the same succession laws. …

Changes to the royal succession rules mean the order of succession will no longer be based on gender and will allow an elder daughter to precede a younger son as heir to the throne.

This rule will apply to any children in the line of succession born after October 28, 2011, including the recently born Prince George of Cambridge.

Assuming most Monarchs will live to 100 or so, Prince Charles will probably become King in around 2026 at the age of 78. Prince William may become King around 2048 at the age of 66 and Prince George become King around 2082 at the age of 69.

I supported this law change, but it is interesting to consider who would be King of New Zealand if this law change has applied from 1840 onwards.

Queen Victoria would have been succeeded by her daughter Victoria (Princess Royal) in 1901. Queen Victoria II would have reigned for eight months until August 1901 and then her son would have been King Wilhelm I (also Kaiser Wilhelm II) reigning until 1941. The King Wilhelm II would have reigned from 1941 to 1951. After that it would be King Louis Ferdinand I (who unlike his father did not support the Nazis) from 1951 to 1994. The current King of New Zealand would probably be King Friedrich Wilhelm who was born in 1939.

Some have scaremongered that moving from an SOE to a mixed ownership model will increase power prices. Well the Herald reports:

MightyRiverPower, the first state-owned power company to be partially privatised by the government this year, plans to keep the price it charges for electricity on hold until at least April 2015, but can’t guarantee transmission and distribution prices won’t rise. …

“However, there will likely be changes in customer pricing from April 1 due to variables over which we have no control that we pass through on our bills – such as transmission and distribution charges and any increases in metering costs due to regulatory requirements.”

So there will be no increase in the price for the actual power.

The way to keep power prices down is to increase competition, not destroy it as Labour/Greens propose. If you look at the Powerswitch website run by Consumer, there is a big difference between what companies charge.

• In Auckland the most expensive average price is Mercury at $2,251. Mercury is owned by MRP and its prices are the same as when MRP was an SOE. The cheapest is Contact at $2,018. Contact is 1005 privately owned.
• In Wellington the cheapest is Budgie at $2,012 (also owned by MRP) and most expensive is Energy Online at $2,269. Energy Online is owned by Genesis, which is an SOE.
• In Canterbury Trustpower is $2,653 and Nova $2,044. Nova is owned by the 100% private Todd Corp. Trustpower is owned by Infratil and Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust.

The Herald reports:

New Zealand would benefit more than most countries from a concluded Trans Pacific Partnership deal, former Labour trade minister Phil Goff told the Herald last night.

“We have the least barriers and therefore we have the least we have to give away,” he said. “Other countries have to give away much more.

“While there are all sorts of problems involved in this negotiation, you have to look at the wider picture and the wider picture is that each country will benefit from a successful conclusion to it but New Zealand will benefit more than most.”

It’s great to have Phil Goff say this, but once again Labour is the yeah, nah party.

On union demands they say yeah to the unions and then tell employers nah, don’t worry.

On oil Shane Jones says yeah all for it, and Moana Mackey says Labour is against off shore drilling.

On TPP Phil Goff says it will be beneficial for NZ, while other MPs such as Twyford organise protests against it.

This is Labour standing for nothing, and trying to be all things to all people.

Mr Goff made his comments just before Trade Ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the TPP ended four days of intense talks in Singapore in a bid to resolve the toughest issues.

New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser is thought to have played a central role in the talks, having been a professional trade negotiator and diplomat before entering politics.

Groser is excellent in these forums.

Mr Goff said opponents of the TPP were seeing the talks through their particular lens “and they are highlighting worst-case scenarios” and he was not criticising them.

“It’s unlikely we will get to a worst- case scenario and if it was a worst- case scenario, it is unlikely that we would agree to it.”

Exactly. I don’t like a lot of the stuff the US is proposing – but it is only a proposal. The leaked documents have shown that in fact the NZ Government is doing a great job in resisting any provisions that are bad for NZ.

Raewyn Bleakley writes in the Dom Post:

Wellington City councillors today will debate at committee whether to accept a proposal to pay the living wage to council workers. It’s a decision that could have far-reaching effects on the local economy.

Further, Treasury analysis, matched with earnings information from IRD, shows that almost 80 per cent of New Zealanders earning less than $18.40 an hour, including young people and students, don’t have children. In fact, two-parent two-children households make up just 6 per cent of families earning less than $18.40. And of those earning below that, one in five have family incomes of more than $80,000.

Anyone who votes for the living wage is voting for the most badly targeted policy in recent history. The living wage is a calculation for a two parent two child family, and as pointed out they represent just 6% of families earning less than $18.40 an hour. To apply that calculation to the other 94% of families is bizarre and daft.

Giving low-paid workers a 30 per cent increase without having a well-thought- out plan for how to create a corresponding lift in performance, and while doing nothing for other workers, is not the way to go. A business wouldn’t survive operating that way. Ratepayers deserve better management of public money from the council.

How many councillors will vote for ratepayers to fund a living wage, but don’t pay a living wage themselves? Bet you there are a few hypocrites out there.

The top 10 religions in NZ from the census are:

1. Catholic 491,421 (11.6%)
2. Anglican 459,771 (10.8%)
3. Presbyterian 316,329 (7.5%)
4. Christian  217,177 (5.1%)
5. Methodist 97,320 (2.3%)
6. Hindu 89,082 (2.1%)
7. Buddhist 58,212 (1.4%)
8. Baptist 53,496 (1.3%)
9. Muslim 45,963 (1.1%)
10. Pentecostal 45,777 (1.1%)

The mainstream Christian denominations represent around 40% of New Zealanders. Of those who have no stated religion they expressed it as:

• No religion 1,635,348 (38.6%)
• Not stated 301,608 (7.1%)
• Object to answering 173,034 (4.1%)

That’s a very cool thing to do. The real spirit of Christmas.

The Herald reports:

It would take 19 median incomes in Auckland to buy a home for the city’s median house price.

Property in some of the world’s biggest cities cost a lot more than in our biggest city, but Auckland wages make it much harder to get on the property ladder.

In the 1,119,195 Census forms filled out for Auckland, the median annual income was $29,600, a Herald analysis found.

That’s almost 20 times less than the Real Estate Institute’s median house price figure of $582,000.

Auckland does have a housing affordability problem, but this stat is meaningless. Individuals do not generally buy households, families do. The calculation that is generally used is to compare median household income, not median personal income.

Median personal income is always a pretty low figure as it includes a huge number of people not in paid employment – students, non working spouses and those retired.

So comparing individual income, instead of household income, to house prices is daft and meaningless.

UPDATE: Stats Chat also takes the story to task:

I checked with the Stats NZ Census figures (Excel spreadsheet) and found the $29,600 figure is for the usually resident population count aged 15 years and over. In other words, this includes everyone who is not in paid employment: all the students, retirees, parents who are staying at home, those on benefits and not working etc.

Using Statistics New Zealand’s income survey data for the June 2013 quarter (Excel spreadsheet), the median earnings for people in paid employment was $45,864. This figure is only from those earning wages and salaries and/or self-employment income.

The point I made.

They also adjust for household income to find the stat should be:

“It would take 7.9 median household incomes in Auckland to buy a home for the city’s median house price.”

7.9 is still too high of course, which is why we need more land for housing. But it is vastly different to 19 times.

The Herald reports:

Pro-European demonstrators toppled the statute of Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, from its plinth in central Kiev as record numbers flooded the city streets.

The crowds had gathered to protest against the Government’s decision to pursue closer ties with Moscow at the expense of the West.

In jubilant scenes that demonstrated President Victor Yanukovich had lost control of the heart of the capital, the crowd pulled down the statue and took turns with a sledgehammer to smash its marble hulk to bits.

Sparks flew as each blow landed to cheers. A priest emerged from the throng with holy water and proceeded to bless the hammer as the mood hovered between euphoria and happiness.

The statue of the Kremlin’s first communist ruler is the symbol of Ukraine’s shared history with Russia and sits on the main boulevard leading to Kiev’s Independence Square.

Lenin was a mass murderer who had around 30,000 political dissidents killed, invaded and enslaved neighbouring countries and established a regime which starved and kills its own people for decades. It is fitting the good people of the Ukraine despise him and his legacy – they had to suffer it for many years.

Questions for Oral Answer

Questions to Ministers 2.00PM – 3.00PM.

1. Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Minister for Social Development:Will she set specific targets for reducing child poverty; if so, what child poverty measures will she use?
2. DAVID BENNETT to the Minister of Finance: What progress has the Government made with its economic programme in 2013?
3. Hon DAVID PARKER to the Minister of Finance: How has the Government’s asset sale programme increased the confidence of “mum and dad investors” in capital markets and improved the standard of living for New Zealanders?
4. Dr JIAN YANG to the Minister for Economic Development:What reports has he received on progress in the manufacturing sector?
5. JACINDA ARDERN to the Minister for Social Development:Does she stand by her statement that “I do not think that anyone denies that there are children living in this country at a standard that we do not find acceptable”; if so, what specific targets, if any, will she set in light of the Child Poverty Monitor released on Monday?
6. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Associate Minister of Māori Affairs: Does he stand by all of his statements?
7. PAUL FOSTER-BELL to the Associate Minister of Health: What recent announcements has he received regarding newly listed medicines?
8. JULIE ANNE GENTER to the Minister of Trade: Will he release the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement before it is approved by the Cabinet; if not, why not?
9. TE URUROA FLAVELL to the Deputy Prime Minister: Does he agree with the Children’s Commissioner that “Setting targets, like we do with the road toll and with NCEA, if we had that kind of commitment, that legislation and plan, then we’d see a year-on-year fall”; if so, is he prepared to instruct the Ministerial Committee on Poverty to introduce the four child poverty measures released in the Child Poverty Monitor?
10. Hon ANNETTE KING to the Minister of Health: What recent reports has he received on the affordability of health care for New Zealanders?
11. CLAUDETTE HAUITI to the Minister for the Environment: What recent reports has she received on the progress of the TV Takeback scheme?
12. PHIL TWYFORD to the Minister of Housing: Does he believe he is doing a good job of tackling housing demand for those most in need?

Today Labour are asking about asset sales, child poverty, healthcare affordability and housing demand. The Greens are asking about child poverty and the trans-pacific partnership agreement.  New Zealand First is asking whether the Minister of Maori Affairs stands by all his statements.

Patsy question of the day goes to Claudette Hauiti for Question 11: What recent reports has she received on the progress of the TV Takeback scheme?

Government Bills 3.00PM – 6.00PM and 7.30PM-10.00PM.

1. Appropriation (2012/13 Financial Review) Bill – Second Reading

2. Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 2) – Second and Third Reading.

3. Taxation (Annual Rates, Employee Allowances, and Remedial  Matters) Bill– First Reading

The Appropriation (2012/13 Financial Review) Bill is being guided through the house by the Minister of Finance, Bill English. The purpose of this bill is to confirm and validate financial matters relating to the 2012/13 financial year.

The Subordinate Legislation (Confirmation and Validation) Bill (No 2) is being guided through the house by the Leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee.  This bill seeks to validate certain subordinate legislation that would otherwise lapse.

The Taxation (Annual Rates, Employee Allowances and Remedial Matters) Bill is being guided through the house by the Minister of Revenue, Todd McClay. taxation omnibus bill introduces amendments to various Inland Revenue Acts.

The Herald reports:

The Maori Party is seeking talks with retired boxer David Tua to discuss the possibility of his standing for the party at the next election.

But it had better get a hurry on. While Tua told the Herald he was more than happy to have talks with the Maori Party, he was also happy to sit down with Mana and the Conservatives.

“I’ll sit down with anyone. Anyone and everyone … I’m not going to close the door on anyone.”

A Mana Party worker had already made a preliminary approach but the Conservative Party had not.

To me that suggests Tua has no political beliefs or policies – or alternatively he is totally unaware of the policies of political parties he thinks he may stand for.

How could you be considering both Mana and the Conservative parties? They have almost no policies in common.

The Press reports:

Nellie Hunt and her children spent last night sleeping in a tent in a public park, while another 39 Cantabrians are living in similar or worse conditions.

Hunt is deemed priority A on the Housing New Zealand (HNZ) waiting list, but The Press understands 39 other people stand before her in the queue for social housing.

Her plight was revealed in The Press yesterday and offers of help have flooded in.

The 35-year-old and her three children, aged 16, 11 and 9, were evicted from their rental property and shifted into the tent in Waltham Park yesterday.

Three social agencies could not find the family a home after they were served a 90-day eviction notice in September.

Wouldn’t a balanced story include why she was evicted? The video says it is because the landlord is selling the house, but that doesn’t require you to evict tenants. In fact having tenants generally makes a sale easier.

Hunt turned down offers to move into other people’s homes because she was afraid it would forfeit her “urgent” position in the HNZ queue and one of the only chances she has of getting her children a suitable home.

So it is a deliberate choice to move into a tent.

On an average week she will receive about $760, which includes her wages and Working For Families and accommodation supplement entitlements.

Hunt is hoping to find a three or four-bedroom home in Waltham or surrounding suburbs, and said she could pay a maximum of $400 rent per week.

A lot of families have three kids and don’t have four bedroom houses.

The figure of $760 a week sounds light.  Let’s say she is on $14 an hour full-time. That is $560 gross a week. Tax reduces that to $481 a week. WFF for three kids is $290 a week and the accom supplement for that income and $400 rent in Christchurch is $106 a week which is income of $877 a week or the gross equivalent of $55,000.

Finally I’ve gone to Trade Me and done a search on rental properties in Waltham or nearby suburbs for under $400 a week for three to four bedrooms. There are 17 of them.  That would be relevant information to include in the story, and maybe ask why one of those were not rented. They’re all currently available.

Katrina Shanks has announced:

Katrina Shanks, National List MP based in Ohariu, announced today that she will not be  returning to Parliament in 2014.

“I have decided to take up other opportunities in 2014 and have accepted the role as chief executive of the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand,” Katrina Shanks said.

“The funeral services sector is facing change – legislative, demographic, and societal, and the association and its members need to be in front of this change. I look forward to the opportunities and challenges the sector has to face.

Very pleased for Katrina that she has found an executive role. And she’s in an industry that is recession proof 🙂

Her place in Parliament will be offered to the No 64 on National’s list – Joanne Hayes.

Jo’s election bio was:

Joanne was born and raised in the farming sector and is of Maori and Scots descent. Married to Pat a farmer, they have raised two sons who have now left home. 

Graduating from Massey University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree, Joanne returned to extramural studies in 2007 studying towards a Master’s in Business Administration. 

Joanne has worked in a number of industries that include; education, local government, health and social services yet it is her 11 year tenure in the health sector at both NGO and DHB levels that she is most proud of while adding social services and health auditing to her set of executive management expertise. 

She stood in Dunedin South in 2011, and while she did not win the safe Labour seat, National won the party vote by an unprecedented 5%.

Hayes has confirmed she will become an MP, after Paul Quinn declined again.

Incidentially with Williams and Hayes both replacing non-Maori MPs, the number of MPs in Parliament of Maori descent is a record 25 out of 121, or 21% of Parliament. That is a significant over-representation. The makeup of the Maori MPs in Parliament is:

• Maori seats 7
• General seats 6
• List seats 12

Very very hard to claim you need the Maori seats to continue, to maintain effective Maori representation in Parliament.

The breakdown of the 25 Maori MPs is also interesting:

• National 9
• Labour 7
• Greens 3
• Maori 3
• NZ First 1
• Mana 1
• Independent 1

Stuff reports:

Capping rent prices in the wake of big natural disasters and a warrant of fitness on all rental properties are among Human Rights Commission (HRC) recommendations to the Government prompted by the Canterbury earthquakes.

The HRC today releases a report that considers the human rights challenges that emerged during the quake recovery.

The Human Rights Commission may have legal expertise but I don’t think they have economic expertise.

If you put  a freeze on rents after a disaster, then that will help ensure that new properties are not built and/or rented out. It will lead to even greated reduced supply and homelessness.

The Guardian reports:

The world’s leading technology companies have united to demand sweeping changes to US surveillance laws, urging an international ban on bulk collection of data to help preserve the public’s “trust in the internet”.

In their most concerted response yet to disclosures by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and AOL will publish an open letter to Barack Obama and Congress on Monday, throwing their weight behind radical reforms already proposed by Washington politicians.

“The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favour of the state and away from the rights of the individual – rights that are enshrined in our constitution,” urges the letter signed by the eight US-based internet giants. “This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for change.”

An excellent move.

“We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens,” they say in the letter. “But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide.”

A separate list of five “reform principles” signed by the normally fiercely competitive group echoes measures to rein in the NSA contained in bipartisan legislation proposed by the Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee, Patrick Leahy, and the Republican author of the Patriot Act, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner.

Crucially, Silicon Valley and these key reformers in Congress now agree the NSA should no longer be allowed to indiscriminately gather vast quantities of data from individuals it does not have cause to suspect of terrorism in order to detect patterns or in case it is needed in future.

“Governments should limit surveillance to specific, known users for lawful purposes, and should not undertake bulk data collection of internet communications,” says the companies’ new list of principles.

That sounds like an excellent principle to me.

The companies also repeat a previous demand that they should be allowed to disclose how often surveillance requests are made but this is the first time they have come together with such wide-ranging criticism of the underlying policy.

The industry’s lobbying power has been growing in Washington and could prove a tipping point in the congressional reform process, which has been delayed by the autumn budget deadlock but is likely to return as a central issue in the new year.

They do have significant clout.

If you want some idea of what the US Government could do with the “metadata” it collects, have a look at this ACLU presentation which gives a great example.

Stuff reports:

From today there should be little point in thieves pilfering mobile phones, as they will be next to useless within 24 hours.

A new “blacklisting” system put in place by Vodafone, Telecom and 2degrees means that once a mobile has been reported stolen, it won’t work on any of the three networks.

Cyber-safety organisation NetSafe estimated several years ago that about 10,000 mobile phones were stolen in New Zealand each year.

Police Superintendent Steve Christian said the blacklisting system would mean stolen devices would have “no value on the streets”.

This is an excellent initiative.

Mind you I always thought you’d be dumb to steal a phone with GPS capability as it is fairly easy to trace its location if you can get a telco to do it for you.

The phone companies have independently operated their own blacklisting systems for stolen mobiles, however, until now it had been possible for thieves to get around each of the operators’ blocks by substituting the Sim card in a stolen mobile with one from a different network.

Blacklisting relies on every mobile phone having a unique 15-digit international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, which is silently transmitted to the carrier each time it is used to make a call.

Today, the three mobile operators began sharing their lists of stolen devices with one another and with overseas telcos through an international database.

The phone companies have been working for a year, through the Telecommunications Forum, an industry body, to get the shared system in place.

Not sure if it takes a year to set up a shared Google spreadsheet 🙂

In June, United States prosecutors, concerned about violent thefts of smartphones in the US, suggested phone companies there went one step further and built a “kill switch” into their handsets which would render them completely useless if stolen.

I have a much better idea. Have the kill switch kill the user if they don’t get the password right after three attempts 🙂

@JudithCollinsMP And the hideous old ones too, after a trial on charges of treason of course. Go kill yourself you despicable human.

— Max Dillon Coyle (@MaxDCoyle) December 9, 2013

Mr Coyle stood for the Green Party in Hamilton in 2011, until he stood down for astro-turfing stories into the media.  Now imagine how major a story this would be if someone who stood for National in 2011 told a Green MP to go kill themself.

Now is this behaviour out of the ordinary for Mr Coyle, or was he known to be like this when selected in 2011. He was also their social media campaign co-ordinator for some time.

I blogged this quote from the Poneke blog in 2008. It is worth repeating.

John Minto was one of the heroes of my formative years. 

At the time, I thought Minto was driven by the same kind of repugnance of the racist apartheid system that motivated the opposition of many other New Zealanders. Apartheid was a stain on humanity.

In 1995, Mandela visited New Zealand for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting being held in Auckland. He was mobbed in the streets everywhere he went. He was a hero of almost everyone of my generation and of almost everyone who had marched against the Springboks 14 years before. The one anti-tour protester to whom he was not a hero was a profound surprise. I went to a meeting Mandela attended at the St Matthews in the City church in Auckland. To my astonishment, and dismay, John Minto, who was there, hectored the great man for not kicking private enterprise and transnational companies out of South Africa after apartheid ended. A bewildered Mandela asked Minto how he expected people to find work if their employers were banished. It was at that moment I realised Minto was not driven by opposition to racism but by opposition to the entire capitalist system.

Minto still expresses disappointment that the South African Government hasn’t implemented communism. Mandela eventually outgrew his communist upbringing, unlike some others.

StatsNZ reports:

Total manufacturing sales volume rose for the September 2013 quarter, despite a fall in meat and dairy product manufacturing, Statistics New Zealand said today.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the volume of total manufacturing sales rose 0.5 percent, while meat and dairy product manufacturing sales volume fell 2.7 percent.

“Although meat and dairy volumes fell, stock levels are very high for the end of a September quarter,” industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said.

“Outside meat and dairy, we saw a broad-based increase across the manufacturing sector in the quarter.”

Sales volume for total manufacturing excluding meat and dairy was up 2.8 percent in the September quarter, the largest increase since June 2002.

That manufactured crisis in manufacturing just keeps getting worse for the opposition.

The main industry movements were:

• metal product manufacturing, up 6.6 percent

• petroleum and coal product manufacturing, up 8.0 percent.

I’d say the way to get a real crisis in manufacturing would be to get a Government that is trying to kill off the petroleum and coal sectors!