Where’s Happy Feet?

Let’s not let the fact that penguins and polar bears usually live at opposite ends of the globe get in the way of a grin.

Seventh successive slide in gDT milk auction price

Prices paid for milk in Fonterra’s globalDairyTrade auction slid list night for the seventh successive time.

 

The trade weighted index dropped 2.1% though it is still above the long term average.

Whole milk powder was up 1.1% to US$3,345/MT; skim milk powder was down 6.2% to US$3,230/MT; anhydrous milk fat was down 11.2% to US$3,846/MT; butter milk powder was up .2% to US$2,985/MT; rennet casein was down 7.6% to  US$8,828/MT; milk protein concentrate was up 6.7% to US$6,692/MT and cheese was up .6% to US$4,049/MT.

Laugh for peace

Three years ago I did a bungy jump from the bridge across the Kawarau River.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say I enjoyed the experience but it has had a positive impact on my life.

Now when I am faced with something challenging I think, if I can throw myself off a bridge then  I can do this.

What’s more as a result of that jump I now deliberately do something outside my comfort zone at least once a year because I know I can and feel better for it.

I tackled this year’s challenge last weekend. It was a Laughter Yoga workshop which though challenging in anticipation was not at all challenging in the doing.

The premise behind Laughter Yoga is that anyone can laugh for no reason without relying on or resorting to comedy, humour or jokes.

In a LY session laughter is initiated through laughter exercises then with eye contact and childlike (but not childish) playfulness it soon turns into real and contagious laughter.

Its called LY because laughter exercises are combined with yoga breathing, bringing more oxygen into the body and brain which boosts energy, health and well being.

LY is backed up by science, including the fact that the body can’t differentiate between fake and real laughter if it’s done willingly. Whether you’re faking it or laughing for real you get the same physiological and psychological benefits.

LY was started by a medical doctor, Dr Madan Kataria, with just five people in a Mumbai park. There are now thousands of laughter clubs in more than 65 countries.

Last weekend a dozen learners and two facilitators of us gathered in the Otago Pioneer Women’s hall (a gem of a building in Moray Place which I must have passed by hundreds of times without ever noticing).

We learned about the four stages of LY through doing – starting with clapping, then deep breathing and stretching followed by laughter exercises and relaxation/meditation.

I did a short session by myself on Monday which wasn’t as much fun as the groups ones had been, but still gave similar benefits afterwards and I went down to Dunedin for a Laughter Yoga session  last night.

It didn’t feel physically demanding at the time but I’m noticing stomach muscles I obviously hadn’t used for a long time.

I’m also feeling more relaxed, energised and in control than I have for longer than I can remember.

Laughter Yoga isn’t magic but it’s cast a spell over me and I’m loving it.

One of the exercises you can do is laughter arguing. You sit in pairs back to back, tell each other exactly what you think – at the same time, in gibberish with an Italian accent.

I defy you to stay angry after that which shows that LY isn’t only good for individuals but for relationships.

A smile is the shortest bridge between two people, if smiling and laughing work between individuals why not groups, communities and even countries?

Why not laugh for peace?

Today is the International Day of Peace (Facebook page here) and this post is a contribution to Save the Children’s blog for peace. There is more on their Facebook page.

You can read more about LY at Laughteryoga.org on Facebook and YouTube.

Other blog posts for peace:

(I’ll update this as I come across them, please feel free to leave links in the comments).

My blog for Peace: From Battle Parent to Peace Parent in the Autism World at Autism and Oughtisms.

Fay led local team ups offer for Crafar farms

A group of North Island farmers, led by Sir Michael Fay has increased its offer for the Crafar farms.

The original offer was for only nine of the 16 farms, the new offer is to pay $171.5 million for all 16 farms.

The Overseas Investment Commission is appraising an offer for the farms from a Chinese based group.

“Our group of farmers is the only other buyer for all the farms in this sales process and following satisfactory due diligence we are ready to go,” said Sir Michael. “As soon as we have a signed deal with the receivers they can hand over the keys and we’re ready to walk onto the land. Obviously that’s subject to the Overseas Investment Office rejecting the current Chinese contract.”

Sir Michael said the group was a mix of Iwi and local farmers who already own dairy farms in the Central North Island and who don’t have the complication of needing OIO approval.

“We’d like to be on the farms before Christmas to get them up to full production for the new season starting in mid 2012.”

Sir Michael said the average per hectare price was an accurate reflection of current land, asset and herd values and the opportunity to closely inspect production figures would need to confirm the value of the $171.5 million farmer group offer.

Steve Bignell, of Stretton’s Chartered Accountants in Taupo is the lead negotiator for the group of farmers and says the average $28,500 per hectare offer placed the contract price in the leading bracket for dairy farm sales in the area and across New Zealand.

Federated farmers says the bid is the best option for keeping the farms in New Zealand hands but the Overseas Investment Office should complete its investigation of the Chinese offer without bias.

“As a Kiwi would I like these farms to remain in Kiwi ownership? You bet I would,” says Robin Barkla, Federated Farmers Dairy Vice-President who farms in the Bay of Plenty. . .

“While my heart says one thing my head says that because there’s a live OIO application, we need to let it go through all the necessary hoops.

“The OIO process must be clean for if there’s any hint of favouritism or bias, then we risk becoming a South Seas Venezuela. Anything like that would spook international investors and dangerously drive up interest rates.

“That said, Sir Michael Fay is doing exactly what Federated Farmers has called for. Assembling a group of Kiwi investors to make a sizeable but credible bid for these farms.

“It certainly provides the receiver with a great option should the Pengxin Group bid fall over,” Mr Barkla concluded.

That’s a reasoned response.

The Chinese offer was first on the table is, I think, for a higher price and is part way through the OIO process.

The receivers have a responsibility to get the best price  accept the best offer for the creditors on whose behalf they are working. If the OIO accepts the Pengxin Group bid then it would be difficult for the Fay-led bid to succeed if it is offering a substantially lower price.

If however, the locals increase their offered price so it is close to that of Pengxin then the receivers might have a more difficult choice to make.

UPDATE:

RadioNZ reports the receivers say the Pengxin offer is still the best.

September 21 in history

1217 Livonian Crusade: The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu and Livonian leader Kaupo were killed in Battle of St. Matthew’s Day.

1411 Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne, was born (d. 1460).

 

1745 Battle of Prestonpans: A Hanoverian army under the command of Sir John Cope was defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart.

1756 John MacAdam, Scottish engineer and road-builder, was born (d. 1836).

 

1792 The National Convention declared France a republic and abolished the monarchy.

1827  Joseph Smith, Jr. was reportedly visited by the angel Moroni, who gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which Smith has translated into The Book of Mormon.

1834 Betty Guard and her children were rescued from Ngati Ruanui (who had held them captive in Taranaki since April) by troops from HMS Alligator and Isabella.

1860   In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeated Chinese troops at the Battle of Baliqiao.

 

1866 – H. G. Wells, English writer, was born (d. 1946).

1874 Gustav Holst, English composer, was born (d. 1934). 

1897  The “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial was published in the New York Sun. 

1898  Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and ended the Hundred Days’ Reform in China.

 

1902 Sir Allen Lane, British founder of Penguin Books, was born (d. 1970).

 

1921  A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, exploded, killing 500-600 people.

1934  A large typhoon hit western Honshū killing 3,036 people.

1937 J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was published.

1938  The Great Hurricane of 1938 made landfall on Long Island, killing an estimated at 500-700 people.

 

1939  Romanian Prime Minister Armand Calinescu was assassinated by ultranationalist members of the Iron Guard.

1942  On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Nazis sent more than 1,000 Jews of Pidhaytsi to Belzec extermination camp.

1942  In Poland, at the end of Yom Kippur, Germans ordered Jews to permanently evacuate Konstantynów and move to the Ghetto in Biała Podlaska, established to assemble Jews from seven nearby towns.

1942 In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murdered 2,588 Jews.

1942  The B-29 Superfortress made its maiden flight.

 

1947 Stephen King, American author, was born.

1947 Don Felder, American guitarist (Eagles), was born.

 

1950 Bill Murray, American comedian and actor, was born.

1957 Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia, was born.

1961  Maiden flight of the CH-47 Chinook transportation helicopter.

1964  Malta became independent from the United Kingdom.

1964  The XB-70 Valkyrie, the world’s first Mach 3 bomber, made its maiden flight from Palmdale, California.

1965 David Wenham, Australian actor, was born.

1972  Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.

1976  Orlando Letelier, a member of the Chilean socialist government which was overthrown in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet,  was assassinated in Washington, D.C.

 

1978 Doug Howlett, New Zealand rugby union footballer, was born.

1981 Belize was granted full independence from the United Kingdom.

1981  Sandra Day O’Connor was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate as the first female Supreme Court justice.

1989  Hurricane Hugo made landfall in South Carolina.

 

1991  Armenia was granted independence from Soviet Union.

1993 Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended parliament and scrapped the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.

 

1999  Chi-Chi earthquake in central Taiwan, left about 2,400 people dead. 

2001 – AZF chemical plant exploded in Toulouse killing 31 people

2004  The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

2008  Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two last remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street, become bank holding companies as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Yuyin  -the remnants of sound which remain in the ears of the hearer.

Piper shouldn’t have to pipe down at RWC games

The pipe band which played before the match between England and Georgia added to the enjoyment of the experience.

There was also someone with an instrument which I couldn’t identify. It sounded a bit like a bugle and was blown to produce a brief volley before the ref blew his whistle for each re-start.

It didn’t interfere with the game in any way and was greeted by loud applause from the crowd.

I don’t know if the musician smuggled her/his instrument into the stadium or if the security people let her/him in with it.

It would be more difficult to smuggle in a set of bagpipes and a Scottish visitor is lamenting the musical instrument ban which means he won’t be able to take his pipes to any games.

Scotland supporter Matt Strachan launched a Facebook page to overturn the ban after being told by New Zealand police that he would be ejected from match venues if he played the pipes he brought with him from Aberdeenshire.

“After spending considerable money getting to New Zealand to support my country I was shocked to hear bagpipes were not allowed in the stadiums,” he told The Scotsman newspaper.

“I’ve played the pipes in most of the UK stadiums and also in France during the last World Cup and they have always been gratefully received.

“Why then after many sporting years have the World Cup organisers decided against having them in stadiums?”

Musical instruments, which in spite of what might think about them does include bag pipes, are among the prohibited items are on the list of items banned from the stadium by RWC  by organisers.

Strachan’s Facebook page had more than 500 supporters early Tuesday, with comments overwhelmingly calling for the ban to be dropped and blaming it on “sassenachs and numpties”.

Strachan said he was advocating “responsible” bagpipe playing and did not want to drown out entire games in a monotonous drone, as the vuvuzelas did at last year’s football World Cup in South Africa.

Sassenachs and numpties indeed.

I love the skirl of the pipes and don’t think the piper should have to pipe down. Providing the pipes were used responsibly, as the instrument was in Dunedin on Sunday, they would enhance the RWC experience.

The Facebook page is here.

Today Italy meets Russia in Nelson. I usually back the underdogs but this evening I’ll be cheering Italy.

Can you trust this trust?

Remember the $158,000 New Zealand First still owes the public purse?

Winston Peters reckons he discharged his debt by giving it to charity.

One of the recipients was supposed to be Susan Couch, who received terrible injuries in a burglary.

A Susan Couch Crime Victims Charitable Trust  made a return to the Charities Commission.

It has $85,495 in assets; had income by way of donations/koha totalling $53 and made grants amounting to $1151 in the year to the end of March,  1.32% of which was spent overseas.

I have never seen a financial return of a trust or similar entity which hasn’t earned any interest in a year.

It isn’t unusual for a trust to make such a small donation in a year if it’s trying to build up capital but if the money isn’t invested in something which earns interest this trust can’t be doing that.

A trust must meet several requirements to remain registered by the Charities Commission, and this trust must be doing that.

But what’s the point of having all that money which is neither earning interest nor doing what it was set up to do which is help people?

 We might also ask what happened to the remaining $72,505 Winston Peters said was being donated to charity and let’s not forget that regardless of where that money went it did not discharge the party’s debt to the public.

Hat Tip: Keeping Stock

Hugs out, sex in

New Year’s Eve in Argentina was memorable for many reasons, not least of which was the number of kisses.

We spent the evening at a party with extended family and friends. Everyone hugged and kissed everyone on arrival, everyone and kissed everyone at midnight and everyone kissed everyone on departure.

As we left my farmer said, “It’s a long time since I’ve kissed that many women and I’ve never kissed that many men.”

Argentineans, like many others whose culture comes from southern Europe, are much more tactile than most of us. It is normal for them to greet family and friends with a hug and a kiss. 

There’s nothing sexual or uncomfortable in it, it’s usually just a quick hug and air-kiss right cheek to right cheek so heads don’t get kncoked as you work out who’s going which way.

It is something we could do with more of but it looks like we’re going to have even less of it.

Whaleoil reports that hugs and holding hands have been banned at his daughter’s school.

Appar­ently a hug is a form of “sex­ual assault” if one per­son doesn’t want it. The “hug­ging issue” has become an issue because too many girls have been over-using the hug as a form of greet­ing.

Wouldn’t it be better to teach the children what’s appropriate and what’s not and how to stand up for yourself if you feel uncomfortable about what someone else is doing rather than an outright ban?

That is supposed to be one of the goals of sex education in schools although these days lessons go much further than that.

Children as young as 12 are being taught about oral sex and told it’s acceptable to play with a girl’s private parts as long as “she’s okay with it”.

In other cases, 14-year-old girls are being taught how to put condoms on plastic penises, and one female teacher imitated the noises she made during orgasm to her class of 15-year-olds . . .

It included a question-and-answer session that focused on, “I have learned that my girlfriend has a thing called a clitoris. I really want to play with it. Is that okay?” The answer was: “Yes, if you ask her and she’s okay with it.”

The story doesn’t say whether the teacher also pointed out that under the law it is not okay to have sex with anyone under 16.

It doesn’t mention whether the option of chastity is covered. Nor does it say whether lessons go beyond the physical to the emotional and gives pupils the sort of information that alerts them to the dangers of sexual experimentation – especially when they’re  young.

It’s one thing for schools to ensure children know the sexual road rules, basic mechanics and how to keep themselves safe. That doesn’t mean they should be teaching them to drive and showing them the route.

But lessons should include advice and strategies that help them postpone going to some destinations too soon and/or in the wrong company.

Would involving these people make things happen?

Labour leader Phil Goff announced his party’s earthquake recovery policy yesterday and said:

We can’t fix every problem but we can improve the outcomes for Cantabrians because we’ll get involved and make things happen.”

Would involving a Labour-led government make things happen and even if it did, would it be the right things?

John Key called the proposal a blank cheque and given Goff didn’t give a figure for the total cost of the package, that is what it could be.

This policy might help Labour get some votes in Christchurch and surrounding quake-hit areas where there are some desperate people. But awful as their situations are, they are a minority and there are a lot of other calls on public money.

Labour is also threatening to force land sales:

Labour would compulsorily acquire land if developers did not agree to sell at a reasonable price.

“If there is excessive profiteering and price gouging, we would consider using the provision of the Cera [Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority] legislation to compulsorily acquire land at a fair market price,” Goff said.

Would the government be any better at finding a fair market price than the market?

Infinity Investment Group managing director Bob Robertson said it was unlikely a government could develop land cheaper than private companies, and it would be exposing taxpayers to a huge risk.

Infinity is behind the Pegasus development and several others in Canterbury.

Robertson said that at best, a government land purchase would shave 20 per cent off the cost for buyers by forgoing profits, but those savings would probably be lost through “inefficiencies”.

“Developers are already trying hard to get the section prices down because that’s where the market is,” he said.

It’s easy to characterise property developers as jackals but they are in a very risky business and that risk is reflected in land prices. 

Goff is right that his party won’t be able to fix every problem and he won’t improve anything by giving people false-hope.

Earthquake recovery will be a long, complex and expensive process. It won’t be helped by uncosted policies.

It’s about running the country

Sir Peter Leitch, who might be better known as the Mad Butcher, was Jim Mora’s guest on Nine Eight Months to Mars yesterday.

At about 14:25 he said:

I’ve never been involved in politics in my life. Never. This year I’ve become very focused on the election because I think the election will be the biggest election of our life, in my time and I’m a great supporter of John Keys (sic). I’m a great supporter and I’m publicly supporting him now and I’ve never done that in my life. Helen Clark was a very good friend of mine but I never came out and endorsed her. But I think this election’s so important that people like me need to make a stand. You know because I think its Christchurch, Pike River, you know my father was from the West Coast so I know about mining. It’s really set us, it’s set the country back, Jim, big time,

Jim Mora: Some of those Christchurch Labour MPs have done a good job though.

Sir Peter: I’m not questioning that. I’m talking about running the country Jim.

The election is about running the country and it’s not just politically blue people like me who think John Key and National are doing that well in extraordinarily difficult times.

Nor is it just hard core supporters who think John Key and the National Party, with the one or more of the minor parties voters decide to make potential allies, that will do that far better than a Labour, Green, New Zealand First, Maori Party, Mana Party coalition.

Sir Peter’s comments mirror the polls which show a lot of people without my bias think so too.

It is not impossible for that thinking to change between now and November 26th, but it would take a lot more than anything Labour has come up with so far.

September 20 in history

451  The Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius‘s victory over Attila the Hun in a day of combat, is considered to be the largest battle in the ancient world.

 

524 Kan B’alam I, ruler of Maya state of Palenque, was born (d. 583).

 

1187  Saladin began the Siege of Jerusalem. 

1378  Cardinal Robert of Geneva, known as the Butcher of Cesena, was elected as Avignon Pope Clement VII, beginning the Papal schism.

 

1519 Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.

1633  Galileo Galilei was tried before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for teaching that the Earth orbits the Sun.

1697 The Treaty of Rijswijk was signed by France, England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic ending the Nine Years’ War (1688–97) 

1737  The finish of the Walking Purchase which forced the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony. 

1835  Farroupilha’s Revolution began in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

 

1842  James Dewar, Scottish chemist, was born (d. 1923).

1848  The American Association for the Advancement of Science was created.

1854 Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeated Russians in the Crimea.

1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ended with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company.

 

1860  The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) visited the United States. 

1863  American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ended. 

1870  Bersaglieri corps entered Rome through the Porta Pia and completed the unification of Italy.

1871  Bishop John Coleridge Patteson, the first bishop of Melanesia, was martyred on the island of Nukapu.

 

1881  Chester A. Arthur was inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States following the assassination of James Garfield.

 

1891  The first gasoline-powered car debuted in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1906  Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania was launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne.

1914 Kenneth More, English actor, was born (d. 1982).

1920  Foundation of the Spanish Legion.

 

1930 Syro-Malankara Catholic Church was formed by Archbishop Mar Ivanios.

1934 Sophia Loren, Italian actress, was born. 

1942 Holocaust in Letychiv, Ukraine. In the course of two days German SS murdered at least 3,000 Jews.

1946  The first Cannes Film Festival was held.

 

1954  The Mazengarb inquiry into ‘juvenile delinquency’  was released. It blamed the perceived promiscuity of the nation’s youth on the absence from home of working mothers, the easy availability of contraceptives, and on young women who enticed men into having sex.

1957   Alannah Currie, New Zealander musician (Thompson Twins), was born.

1957  Michael Hurst, New Zealand actor, was born. 

1962 James Meredith, an African-American, was temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi.

 

1967  The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland.

 

1970  Syrian tanks entered Jordan in response to continued fighting between Jordan and the fedayeen.

1971 – Todd Blackadder, New Zealand rugby player, was born.

1973  Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome.

 

1979  Lee Iacocca was elected president of the Chrysler Corporation.

1979  A coup d’état in the Central African Empire overthrew Emperor Bokasa I.

 

1984  A suicide bomber in a car attacked the U.S. embassy in Beirut killing 22 people.

1990 South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia.

2000  The British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building was attacked by a Russian-built Mark 22 anti-tank missile. 

2001 In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declared a “war on terror”.

2002  The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide started.

2003 Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparked a day of rioting in Malé. 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Progonoplexia – bragging about one’s forebears; obsession with aancestors or past glories.

National could govern alone: iPredict

Several polls have been showing National attracting at least 50% support. For the first time iPredict is also pointing to national being able to govern alone.

A media release from iPredict says:

Following last week’s World Cup wobble, John Key’s National Government has recovered with its forecast party vote reaching a record reported high of 49.0%, this week’s snapshot from New Zealand’s prediction market, iPredict, suggests. Maori Party Co-Leader Dr Pita Sharples is now expected to retain Tamaki-Makaurau, although the gap with Labour’s Shane Jones remains narrow. Labour’s Trevor Mallard is expected to improve his majority in Hutt South while Labour’s Clare Curran is expected to reduce hers in Dunedin South. In economics, forecasts for inflation, the current account deficit, unemployment, the OCR and future Fonterra payouts have all fallen . . .

All current leaders of parliamentary parties have at least a 92% probability of remaining in their positions until the election. The most vulnerable remains Labour Party leader Phil Goff, but with the market forecasting just a 8% probability he will be replaced prior to the election (down from 9% last week). There is a 39% probability (up from 35% last week) that there will be changes to the top ten of Labour’s party list, announced on 10 April 2011, when it is registered with the Electoral Commission. . .

On a seat-by-seat basis, National is expected to win 40 electorate seats, Labour 24 (down from 25 last week), the Maori Party 3 (up from 2 last week), and Act, United Future and the Mana Party 1 seat each.

Party Vote, and Election Results

Forecast party vote shares are now: National 49.0% (up from 46.5% last week) Labour 30.2% (down from 31.4% last week), the Greens 8.0% (up from 7.9% last week), Act 4.1% (down from 4.4% last week), New Zealand First 4.0% (down from 4.5% last week), UnitedFuture 1.6% (up from 1.5% last week), the Maori Party 1.5% (steady), the Mana Party 1.0% (up from 0.9% last week), the Conservative Party 0.9% (steady), and the New Citizen Party 0.5% (up from 0.4% last week).

Based on this data, and the electorate results above, Parliament would be as follows: National 62 MPs, Labour 38 MPs, the Greens 10 MPs, Act 5 MPs, the Maori Party 3 MPs, UnitedFuture 2 MPs, and the Mana Party with just 1 MP. There would be 121 MPs, requiring a government to have the support of 61 MPs on confidence and supply, meaning John Key’s National Party would be able to govern alone.

Overall the market indicates a 94% probability there will be a National Prime Minister after the election (up from 93% last week).

People like me on the blue team can dream and the live update on electionresults.co.nz  has a pretty picture.

But it’s still 2 1/2 months until election day.

The chances of National retaining  its leadership of the government are good but it is very unlikely the party will keep enough support to govern alone when people actually vote.

Even if National did manage to get an outright majority, which rarely happened under First Past the Post and has never happened since we’ve had MMP, John Key has said he would seek to include other parties in government.

Georgia in my heart

When I wrote yesterday’s post on the Rugby World Cup I said I was going to back England.

But when I got to Otago Stadium last evening I had a change of heart and swapped my allegiance to Georgia.

The team played really well and I think the 41-10 score flattered the English. They deserved to win but not by that margin.

Georgia spent a lot of time in England’s half and though they weren’t able to turn territory into points they kept up the pressure until the final whistle.

They didn’t win the game but they did win hearts, including mine.

It’s good for the tournament and for rugby that the minnows are giving the bigger fish more than a run for their money.

Canada started well and scoring 19 points to France’s 46 would have given Les Bleus cause for concern.

 I didn’t see or hear the game between Wales and Samoa but reports suggest the 17-10 victory to the Welsh didn’t come easily.

Our decision to go to the game in Dunedin last evening was a last minute won but booking online secured us seats in the front row at half way which gave us a very good view.

Among the people sitting near us were several Argentineans. They are following the Pumas all around New Zealand and attending other random games which fit their travels.

My Spanish is a bit rusty but the gist of what one of them told me was that he had travelled all over the world but never thought of coming to New Zealand before. However, he and his travelling companions were having a wonderful time, the country is beautiful, the people friendly and they’re enjoying the food and wine.

That is exactly the sort of off-field benefits to New Zealand the organisers are hoping for.

People poo pollutes too

Dairying gets a lot of criticism for polluting waterways.

Some of that is justified but cow pooh isn’t the only cause of water pollution.

People pooh pollutes too and that’s part of the problems in the Manawatu.

Palmerston North City Council looks set to be given more time to sort out its sewage treatment plant as city leaders grapple with revelations it has been consistently failing to meet resource consent conditions. . .

There have been 12 reported non-compliances by the city council in discharging treated waste water into the Manawatu River since 2003. . .

The Horizons report says the amount of periphyton growth doubles downstream from the discharge point, proving that the discharge is having an adverse effect on the river and aquatic life.

Cyanobacteria have also been found downstream from the treatment plant. They can be dangerous to dogs if ingested. . .

Acting city manager Ray Swadel had said that all was well with the plant – until the latest report. He revised his comments yesterday. “There were issues immediately after the upgrade work when we had a few teething problems, but in more recent times we have been compliant in three out of five assessments.”

Dairy companies, Federated Farmers, regional councils and individual farmers are all working hard to ensure that farming practices comply with the law and do not contribute to waterway pollution.

Similar urgency must be applied to the treatment and disposal of human waste.

Sweet service from honey boss

My farmer has a cold and I’ve been dosing him with manuka lozenges.

They’re 100% manuka honey and I swear by them for treating sore throats, but they’re not widely stocked.

The last packet I bought came from a pharmacy in Wellington and we’ve got only two lozenges so I went to the internet in search of more. That led me to Everwell Living which specialises in ManukaMeds.

When I explained my mission to the man who answered the phone he said, “You’ll have to talk to the honey boss.”

I’m not sure if that means she’s a honey of a boss but she’s couriering me some fresh supplies which is sweet service.

How would Kate have voted?

The Campaign for MMP reckons Kate Sheppard would be backing MMP in November’s referendum.

They give several reasons for that including that MMP has brought more women into parliament.

There is no doubt there are more women in parliament now than there was prior to 1996 when we had a First Past the Post electoral system. But there are also more women in other positions more commonly held by men in the past so some of the change is due to changes in society rather than the electoral system.

Some of the increase is is due to parties deliberately putting women in winnable places on their lists which are a feature of MMP. Some, perhaps even most are their on merit. But there is also an element of tokenism and some are there not because of their skills and abilities but because of their gender.

However, a lack of skill hasn’t always stopped some men getting into parliament so maybe that’s another sign of closing the gender gap – that women no longer have to be better than men to get a job.

The question then is, how many of the women who are in parliament would be there under another system?

Other systems with smaller or no list would provide more opportunities for women to seek selection in electorates.

Anthony Hubbard looked at the number of women in parliament and concluded it has plateaued.

The reasons for that are no doubt complex. Kiwiblog says research into it should consider:

1. How many men and women indicate their interest in being candidates to a party
2. How many go on to contest a selection
3. How many win a selection
4. How many then get elected to Parliament

Another point to consider is women’s participation in other occupations, if there are barriers there and whether there are other  barriers which are peculiar to politics.

Research would also have to look at not just how many men and women seeking to be MPs drop out at each stage but why.

Kate Sheppard was campaigning for women to get the vote not to be MPs, that hurdle came later and which electoral system she would support is a moot point.

However, one aspect of MMP which puts women off seeking selection which she might have considered if voting in the referendum is the larges size of electorates.

I know of only one man but several women who were seriously considering standing for National in large rural electorates. They decided servicing huge geographical areas would put too much strain on their families and pulled out.

One said to me, it was hard enough combining life as an MP with her role as a mother in a small electorate she wouldn’t even consider it in a bigger one.

If Kate was voting in the referendum she might be just as likely to opt for a system with smaller electorates which make it easier to combine work as an MP with family life.

At least some of the women who are in parliament on the list might also be there as electorate MPs under a system with more and smaller electorates.

Notice to Epicene Women

NOTICE

TO

EPICENE WOMEN

 ELECTIONEERING WOMEN

Are Requested Not To Call Here

They are recommended to go home, to look after their children, cook their husband’s dinners, empty the slops, and generally attend to the domestic affairs for which Nature designed them.

By taking this advice they will gain the respect of all right-minded people – an end not to be attained by unsexing themselves and meddling in masculine concerns of which they are profoundly ignorant.

 HENRY WRIGHT

103 Mein Street,

Wellington.

 This notice was used to counter the persistent demands for petition signatures prior to the signing into law of the Electoral Act granting votes to women on September 19, 1893.

September 19 in history

335  Dalmatius was raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I.

 

1356  In the Battle of Poitiers, the English defeated the French.

 

1676 Jamestown was burned to the ground by the forces of Nathaniel Bacon during Bacon’s Rebellion.

1692 Giles Corey was pressed to death after refusing to plead in the Salem witch trials.

1777  First Battle of Saratoga/Battle of Freeman’s Farm/Battle of Bemis Heights.

 

1796 George Washington’s farewell address was printed across America as an open letter to the public.

 

1862 American Civil War: Battle of Iuka – Union troops under General William Rosecrans defeated a Confederate force commanded by General Sterling Price. 

1863  American Civil War: Battle of Chickamauga.

1870 Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris began.

1881 President James A. Garfield died of wounds suffered in a July 2 shooting.

1882 Christopher Stone, first disc jockey in the United Kingdom, was born (d. 1965).

1893 The Governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law. As a result of this landmark legislation, New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

1911 Sir William Golding, English writer, Nobel Prize laureate, was born (d. 1993).

1927 Nick Massi, American singer and guitarist (The Four Seasons), was born (d. 2000).

 1933 – David McCallum, Scottish actor, was born.

1934 Brian Epstein, English musical group manager (The Beatles) (d. 1967).

 

1940 Bill Medley, American singer and songwriter (The Righteous Brothers), was born.

 

1940 Witold Pilecki was voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.

 

1940 – Paul Williams, American composer, was born.

1941 Mama Cass Elliot, American musician, was born (d. 1974). 

1944  Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union was signed ending the Continuation War.

1945  Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) was sentenced to death in London.

1946 The Council of Europe was founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich.

1949 Twiggy, English model, was born. 

1952  The United States barred Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.

1957  First American underground nuclear bomb test.

1959  Nikita Khrushchev was barred from visiting Disneyland.

 

1961  Betty and Barney Hill claimed  they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them.

1970  The first Glastonbury Festival was held at Michael Eavis’s farm.

 

1970  Kostas Georgakis, a Greek student of Geology, set himself ablaze in Matteotti Square in Genoa, as a protest against the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos. 

1971 Montagnard troops of South Vietnam revolted against the rule of Nguyen Khanh, killing 70 ethnic Vietnamese soldiers.

1972 Matt Cockbain, Australian rugby player, was born.

1972 A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London killed one diplomat.

1973 Investiture of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. 

1976 Turkish Airlines Boeing 727 hit the Taurus Mountains killing all 155 passengers and crew.

1982 Scott Fahlman posted the first documented emoticons :-) and :-( on the Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System.

1983  Saint Kitts and Nevis gained  independence.

1985 An earthquake killed thousands and destroyed about 400 buildings in Mexico City. 

1985  Tipper Gore and other political wives formed the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testified at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music. 

1989  A terrorist bomb exploded on UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing 171.

 

1991  Ötzi the Iceman was discovered by German tourists.

1995 The Washington Post and The New York Times published the Unabomber’s manifesto.

1997  Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed.

2006  Thai military staged a coup in Bangkok; the  Constitution was revoked and martial law declared.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia