My column at nzherald.co.nz is on what we have seen of John Key’s weaknesses and strengths in dealing with the Mossad story.

John Hartevelt at Stuff reported:

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said most concern was around the Debt Management Office.

Staff there were recorded on the register as having accepted at least 165 gifts since July last year. The staff count there is 24.

”The NZDMO are going to golf, they’re getting theatre tickets, they’re getting movie tickets, they’re getting endless lunches and endless dinners and other corporate hospitality,” Norman said.

Whereas the Debt Management Office was tasked with getting debt at the cheapest possible price to the Government, banks were meant to maximise the cost.

”They clearly have a conflict of interest in accepting corporate hospitality from the banks because the banks have a completely opposite interest than the taxpayers in this,” Norman said.

There was no allegation of wrong-doing, but an audit should be carried out to make sure the terms of loans were all above board and had not been affected by corporate favours, he said.

Yes of course, in exchange for a free ticket to World of Wearable Art (around $70), a staffer would have added a percentage point to the $1.1b bond, costing the taxpayer an extra $11 million.

The Greens say the jobs of the banks is to maximise the cost of debt and are oppossed to the Government wanting to minimise it. By that rationale no customer and no supplier should ever be hospitable to each other.

The Greens put on a couple of parties a year to which they invite the media, and even me. Now the job of the Greens is to maximise their party vote and the job of the media is to scrutinise MPs and hold them accountable. So by Green logic it is inappropriate for journalists to attend the Green xmas party.

At a certain level, hospitality can become inappropriate. But worrying about the fact the BNZ took the head of the debt management office to a children’s pantomime is ridiculous. That’s like worrying about who paid for the coffee.

Many of us have had that frustration when the auto-correct function changes a word from what we want to something else. Got sent a link to this page listing the 15 most viewed auto-correct fails. Here’s four of them. The last one had me actually laughing out loud.

I don’t think the others are sold door to door.

I love the mum telling him to call his dad.

Not sure you can talk your way out of that one.

What can you say.

Dame Margaret Bazley is arguably New Zealand’s most respected public servant. She has served Governments of all colours, and been sent in to fix up many a mess whether it be Police culture or Ecan.

Therefore her comments as Chairperson of the Fire Service Commission should be read as remarkable:

“I have worked with many different unions over the past 40 years including the Public Service Association, teachers, nurses and others. Over time they all earned my respect. I have the highest regard for firefighters as individuals and this was reinforced during their response to the Christchurch earthquakes. However, I despair that the NZPFU will ever lift its sights above narrow self interest and play a constructive and responsible role in reaching a fair wage agreement that properly reflects the prevailing circumstances.

The NZPFU has long been one of the more militant unions. The only thing they seem to hate more than capitalism is volunteer firefighters whom they regard as treasonable scum. There is a long history of threats and intimidation.

To have someone like Dame Margaret slam the union in this way, demonstrates how awful the union leadership is.  Their long-serving secretary, Derek Best, was Labour’s Ohariu candidate in 1999.

TVNZ preview

Q+A has an American special to mark John Key’s visit.

Guyon Espiner is in the United States, and will be conducting three interviews.  He will  start by speaking with the Prime Minister on the continuing NZ-USA trade talks, as well as this week’s allegations of Israeli spying in NZ.

Then Guyon will talk with US Congressman Rick Larsen; to get the American perspective on NZ-US relations and trade – are the Americans prepared to relax their agricultural tariffs, will they play hardball on reducing or even eliminating the role of Pharmac?

And finally we get an update on the current situation in US politics with ABC News’ Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Paul Holmes will be moderating the panel live in Auckland and be joined by Dr Jon Johansson and Fran O’Sullivan.

Q+A, 9-10am Sundays on TV ONE.  Repeats at 9.10pm Sundays, 10.10am and 2.10pm Mondays on TVNZ 7

Aah, my photo website is playing up. I hope this loads properly.

This is one of our Australian cousins- the pied shag

Click for larger, higher res image

Something to enjoy the morning coffee with 🙂

United Future released yesterday their superannuation policy which allows for a retirement age of between 60 and 70, with the amount you get increasing the longer you leave off claiming it. They also propose making KiwiSaver compulsory.

Their policy is designed to be cost neutral.  what it would mean is the choices for a single recepient might be:

• Age 60 – $249/week
• Age 65 – $339/week
• Age 70 – $546/week

I think the policy is a good step in the right direction. However as it is cost neutral I think it also might not be sustainable over time.

I’ve been a fan of Conservative MP Louise Bagshawe, now known as Louise Mensch.

But in this interview she comes across as a young female Trevor Mallard as she refuses to apologise for getting it totally wrong about Piers Morgan, and just hides behind parliamentary privilege. It’s arrogance and privilege of the wrong sort.

Tracy Watkins reports at Stuff:

At a business breakfast in San Francisco early this morning US time, the pitch to US business continued.

Meanwhile, San Francisco has declared today Prime Minister John Key Day in honour of his visit to the city.

But mayor Ed Lee admitted it didn’t come with a day off – just a proclamation which was presented to Key today.

That is hilarious – a day proclaimed in Key’s name just because he visited San Francisco.

That sort of thing I would expect from minor obscure cities, such as Boulder, Colorado which probably don’t get a lot of Heads of Governments visiting. But San Francisco? They must hand out naming days several times a week!

In my Stuff By the numbers blog, I look at the latest Roy Morgan poll which paints a closer race.

NZ film Festival e-mailed me:

I came across a film that I think might be the sort of thing Kiwiblog readers would be into.

It’s called Something Ventured, a documentary about the early venture capitalists (including the guy who invented the term), the original men who put their money into Silicon Valley.

It’s different to the sort of business films we normally see in cinemas – it’s a total love letter to capitalism, and not at all afraid to sing the praises of the dudes with the dough.

There’s a nice geek-business crossover. The VCs funded companies like Apple, Atari and Intel. One of the venture capitalists talks about meeting a young Steve Jobs – all scruffy and hairy – wanting funding for his business idea.

Here’s a recent New York Times article on the film:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/business/media/08film.html

And here are the screening times, with links to the film info pages:

Screening times in Auckland:

http://www.nzff.co.nz/auckland/film/something-ventured

Saturday 16 July 6.15pm Academy Cinemas
Tuesday 19 July 2.15pm Academy Cinemas
Thursday 21 July 6.30pm SKYCITY Theatre
Sunday 24 July 6.00pm Rialto Cinemas Newmarket

Screening times in Wellington:

http://www.nzff.co.nz/wellington/film/something-ventured

Friday 29 July 8.30pm Te Papa
Saturday 30 July 4.00pm Te Papa
Sunday 31 July 6.00pm Te Papa
Thursday 4 August 4.15pm Te Papa

Sounds like a good film to go and see.

John Pagani blogs:

Give me a break.

“Interesting to be in a party where the leadership decide selections,” David Farrar says of David Parker’s decision to stand in Epsom, as if National’s selection of Paul Goldsmith wasn’t one of the worst leadership stitch-ups in the entirety of MMP.

I mean, he’s just shameless. I blogged when Goldsmith was selected that it made sense. But to then take the mickey and claim it was a local decision is bizarre. Goldsmith has been selected by party command  to throw the seat to former National MP John Banks, whose biography Goldsmith wrote. The locals wanted Bhatnagar.

John’s experience of political parties is limited. In the Alliance Jim Anderton decided everything. On the one occassion the rest of the party wanted a say, Jim stormed off in a huff and killed the party. Then in the Progressives Jim even named the party after him so he had full control.

In Labour, the head office had three votes on a seven person panel, and combined with the unions can decide most selections.

This is why John thinks that in National, the head office decided the Epsom selection. He can’t imagine a party where this is not possible.

In seats with membership under 900, the Regional Chair can have influence as they select some of the 60 delegates. But in a strong seat like Epsom, the 60+ local delegates are selected purely by the members in their branch meetings, and those delegates get 100% of the votes (the Regional Chair has a casting vote but not a deliberative vote).

Party members take their duties seriously as delegates. Unlike Labour where a union can bus in scores of “members” who have never attended a Labour Party meeting in their life, and have never even met the candidates, National has eligibility criteria. You must have been an individual member for at least a year, and more importantly you must have attended a Meet the Candidates meeting to be able to vote at the selection meeting.

On top of the formal MTC meetings, candidates generally will meet every delegate one on one in their house. To win a selection you need to spend weeks getting around all the delegates – some you may even meet two or three times as they question you on your beliefs, your experience, your ambitions.

I accept this is all alien to John, but it is how it works in the seats where National has membership of 900 or more.

Meanwhile NewstalkZB report:

Labour Party frontbencher David Parker’s to take a tilt at Epsom.

The list MP has confirmed he will be taking on National’s Paul Goldsmith and Act’s John Banks at the general election.

Now I am told nominations are still open. Yet the story treats Parker as if he is the confirmed candidate. That is because they know in Labour if the hierarchy support you, you will almost always win – their rules are written that way.

What is more interesting is that Parker is moving from Dunedin to Auckland. His relationship is part of it no doubt, but look at the politics.

If Goff loses, him and Annette will go. Parker and Street could well be the replacements. But Labour could not have a Leader from Dunedin and a Deputy from Nelson. Auckland is their stronghold, and where elections are won.

By moving to Auckland, Parker makes himself a far stronger contender for the leadership.

Also I should note that the blogs were first to say Parker would seek Epsom.

Elizabeth Binning at NZ Herald reports:

Kindergartens have increased fees, put playgrounds on hold and made staff redundant because of Government funding cuts – but many have large sums of money in the bank.

A search of the charities register reveals many kindergarten associations have shown surpluses in their annual returns.

An excellent story, and piece of investigative journalism.

It is of course pure coincidence that on Monday, Whale Oil blogged the bank balances of the major kindergarten associations.

Lincoln Tan at NZ Herald reports:

A Muslim women’s group is expected to tell a public forum tonight that the burqa is not a requirement in Islam and it is “an affront to human dignity” for women to be forced to wear it.

Excellent. Meaningful change should come from within.

The group’s founder, Zainah Anwar, said on its website: “I find the burqa really disturbing.

“There is enough literature to show that the face veil is not a requirement in Islam.

“In a conservative, patriarchal Muslim context, face veiling really symbolises women’s invisibility and inferior status.

“That a woman should not be seen and heard, and should she venture into the public space she must be as invisible as possible, is an affront to human dignity.”

It is also quite unfriendly. If you are looking for a location and want to ask someone for directions, you won’t be asking someone who won’t even show you their face.

Note I have absolutely no issue with head scarves – just those which cover the face so you only see eyes.

The view was supported by the head of Islamic studies at the University of Auckland, Zain Ali.

He said the burqa was more a cultural requirement than an Islamic one.

“The Islamic requirement is for modest dressing, but what has happened in many parts of the Muslim world is that the burqa has been accepted as a norm for that modest dressing,” Mr Ali said.

“But the burqa is almost dehumanising and it robs the personality and the ability of someone to express themselves.”

Again it is good to see the debate happening amongst the Muslim community.

However Malaysian businessman Zulkifli Hamzah, who is in Auckland to help set up a Muslim “Obedient Wives Club” branch, said followers of Islam understood “women and men are not equals”.

“Everything has a structure and for a Muslim, the man is seen as the leader of the family or household.

“If a woman is told to wear a burqa or hijab so she does not tempt other men, then she should obey.

Oh my God. thank goodness he is not a NZ citizen is all I can say.

“The issue is not whether it is a cultural law or religious law, it is the husband’s law.”

My advice to Kiwi men is to not try that line to settle marital arguments.

The club’s founders, Malaysian-based business group Global Ikhwan, support polygamy, and claim their moral attitude is in line with Islamic teachings for building strong families.

The club encourages women to submit to their husbands and meet all their sexual needs because it believes sexually fulfilled men are less likely to stray so marriages are less likely to break down.

Unbelievable.

The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand said it did not support the movement and that the club’s views were “interpretation of Islam to the extreme”.

They are, and that is why it is good more moderate views will challenge those extreme views.

Charlie Gates reports at Stuff:

A controversial “boot camp” for New Zealand’s worst young offenders should be scrapped after new figures show a high reoffending rate, a Labour MP says.

The military activity camps (MACs) were launched in 2009 by Prime Minister John Key. The eight-week course includes a wilderness camp, education and drills.

It is held at Te Puna Wai youth residence near Christchurch and costs $36,000 for each participant.

Fifteen of the 17 people who attended the first two trial MACs have reoffended, and four of those are in prison, the figures show.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said eight of the 15 offended less frequently and nine committed less-serious offences.

The boot camps sounded a worthwhile exercise but my first reaction to this story was if they don’t work, then one should accept that. But I then saw that these are just the results of initial trials, and later on read:

The new figures do not include a breakdown of offences or information regarding the 10 people who graduated from the first official MAC in November or a second quake-disrupted camp in February.  …

The later trials had more support for participants, she said in an email to The Press from a spokesman.

“The concept trials of MAC helped us to develop the programme, but didn’t include the follow-up support, mentoring and supervision that’s built into the actual MAC programme as it will continue to run,” she wrote.

“These are the toughest young offenders to work with. We are never going to get 100 per cent of these young people never reoffending 100 per cent of the time, so let’s get real about that, but it’s about steps in the right direction.”

I wouldn’t rush to conclusions based on just 17 people from initial trials. However if the re-offending rate doesn’t improve with later camps, then one should consider a different approach. But I’d like to see at least a couple of year’s worth of data involving at least 100 participants.

I noticed that the Electoral Commission is consulting on four proposed party logos.

Yes NZ is getting its own Tea Party. Seems to be an anti-ETS party.

Mana’s proposed logo.

The latest incarnation of the direct democracy party. Not a bad logo though.

And we also get our own Pirate Party. Not the Somalian types. The bit torrent types.

Vodafone frustrates me. Some of the time they give great customer service – especially if you engage with their Twitter people who several times have sorted problems out for me within minutes.

But at other times the customer service is sub-standard.

In January I moved apartments. As part of that I gave both Telecom and Vodafone advance notice. Telecom scheduled the phone number to transfer for a specific hour on a particular day.

I was hoping Vodafone could arrange for my DSL connection to transfer the same afternoon as the phone transfers. But alas I was told they could not even log my job into their system until the Telecom transfer was done!

Then once the job was logged I was told there would be a 10 to 15 working day delay until my DSL connection was transferred.  In the end it took 16 days (including weekends) to get my DSL working again.

Now this wasn’t the end of the world as I had a vodem, and could survive on mobile broadband even though it is not as fast. So I got through the 16 days okay.

But then I got the bill for the vodem. And on top of the normal $50 monthly charge was $602 of excess data charges!

As I only used the vodem because my DSL connection was not available (which I was paying for incidentally) I e-mailed Vodafone on the 7th of March asking them to consider remitting the excessive usage charges as it was their own inability to reconnect my DSL within a couple of days, which caused the excess data charge.

I go an auto-reply which said:

We appreciate that you have taken the time to write and you can be assured that we will be in touch as soon as possible.

And apart from a further acknowledgement, I’ve never heard back.

The $600 I got whacked is reason enough to be less than happy. But that is not even the biggest issue for me. If I had got a reply saying this is our decision, then I would at least have a decision on which I can base my future purchasing decisions.

But just getting no reply at all is incredibly frustrating. I don’t have the time to spend hours on the phone being transferred from person to person while trying to find out what has happened. I expect a major company to have a system which ensures customers’ letters are replied to – especially those seeking a refund.

UPDATE: Vodafone have contacted me and the issue has been resolved satisfactorily. My thanks to them for this. I use Vodafone for my mobile phone calls and texts, plus as my home ISP, and also as data for my Blackberry, ipad and Vodem. Most months they get $300 to $500 from me, which is fine – but I did object to an extra $600 in the conditions outlined.

[DPF: Welcome to Kokila Patel, who has kindly offered her services as a sub-editor. In future Kokila will post all the general debate threads (which should make them more reliable) plus other regular posts such as the What’s on Backbenches, Q+A, The Nation etc. My thanks to here for helping out, and please make her feel welcome

As you can see there are two general debate posts today as I didn’t co-ordinate on what day I would stop and Kokila would start – so you get a choice for one day]

Just had a quick look through the list of MPs, and worked out who entered Parliament in which prime ministerial era. Didn’t take too long to do. quite a diversity in the House. My calculations are:

1. Holyoake – 1 (1%)
2. Muldoon – 1 (1%)
3. Lange – 9 (8%)
4. Bolger – 18 (14%)
5. Shipley – 1 (1%)
6. Clark – 52 (43%)
7. Key – 40 (33%)

So that is 75% of MPs entered the House when Clark or Key was PM.

Holyoake

DOUGLAS, Roger

Muldoon

GOFF, Phil

Lange

ANDERTON, Jim
CARTER, John
DUNNE, Peter
KING, Annette Faye
MALLARD, Trevor
MCCULLY, Murray
ROBERTSON, Ross
SMITH, Lockwood
WILLIAMSON, Maurice

Bolger

BARKER, Rick
BROWNLEE, Gerry
CARTER, Chris
CARTER, David
DALZIEL, Lianne
DYSON, Ruth
ENGLISH, Bill
HENARE, Tau
HIDE, Rodney
HODGSON, Pete
MAPP, Wayne
O’CONNOR, Damien Peter
ROY, Eric
RYALL, Tony
SMITH, Nick
TE HEUHEU, Georgina
TURIA, Tariana
WONG, Pansy

Shipley

ARDERN, Shane

Clark

AUCHINVOLE, Chris
BENNETT, David
BENNETT, Paula
BLUE, Jackie
BORROWS, Chester
CHADWICK, Stephanie (Steve)
CHAUVEL, Charles
CHOUDHARY, Ashraf
COLEMAN, Jonathan
COLLINS, Judith
COSGROVE, Clayton
CUNLIFFE, David
DEAN, Jacqui
FENTON, Darien Elizabeth
FINLAYSON, Christopher
FLAVELL, Te Ururoa
FOSS, Craig
GOODHEW, Jo
GOUDIE, Sandra
GROSER, Tim
GUY, Nathan
HARAWIRA, Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene
HAYES, John
HEATLEY, Phil
HOROMIA, Parekura
HUGHES, Darren
HUTCHISON, Paul
JONES, Shane Geoffrey
KEDGLEY, Sue
KEY, John
KING, Colin
LOCKE, Keith
MACKEY, Moana Lynore
MAHUTA, Nanaia
MORONEY, Sue
NORMAN, Russel
PARKER, David
PEACHEY, Allan
PILLAY, Lynne
POWER, Simon
RIRINUI, Mita
ROY, Heather
SHANKS, Katrina
SHARPLES, Pita Russell
STREET, Maryan
TISCH, Lindsay
TOLLEY, Anne
TREMAIN, Chris
TUREI, Metiria
WAGNER, Nicky
WALL, Louisa
WILKINSON, Kate

Key

ADAMS, Amy
ARDERN, Jacinda
BAKSHI Kanwalkit
BEAUMONT, Carol
BOSCAWEN, John
BRIDGES, Simon
BURNS, Brendan
CALDER, Cam
CALVERT, Hilary
CLENDON, David
CURRAN, Clare
DAVIS, Kelvin
DELAHUNTY, Catherine
FAAFOI, Kris
GILMORE, Aaron
GRAHAM, Kennedy
HAGUE, Kevin
HIPKINS, Chris
HUGHES, Gareth
HUO, Raymond
JOYCE, Steven
KATENE, Rahui
KAYE, Nikki
LEE, Melissa
LEES-GALLOWAY, Iain
LOTU-IAGA, Sam
MACINDOE, Tim
MCCLAY, Todd
NASH, Stuart
PARATA, Hekia
PRASAD, Rajan
QUINN, Paul
ROBERTSON, Grant
SEULONI, Carmel
SHEARER, David
SIO, William Su’a
TWYFORD, Phil
UPSTON, Louise
WOODHOUSE, Michael
YOUNG, Jonathan

In my By the numbers blog at Stuff, I look at the woes of Julia Gillard as Labor drops to a 69 year low in the opinion polls there. It is predicted that an election on that poll result would see the Coalition with 115 seats to 43 for Labor.

A new satirical/humour site which is worth checking out – Get Fact.

They also have a presence on Facebook.