Bomb Scare

Oamaru is not regarded as a hot bed of terrorism so when a bloke popped into the office of Otago MP Jacqui Dean this afternoon and told us to get out because there was a bomb scare, we thought he was joking.

He wasn’t. The policeman in the foyer ushered us out and we joined people from neighbouring shops and offices on the footpath.

Jacqui’s office wasn’t the one under threat, it was a call centre next door.

Maybe someone took the Readers Digest  list of least trusted occupations, which put telemarketers last, seriously.

Would You Trust This Survey?

I was wondering how some of the people even made it to the list of most trusted New Zealanders when I read the fine print – respondents were asked to rate 85 well know people on a scale of 1 to 10 as to how much they trusted them.

The ranking which put VC winner Corporal Willie Apiata at number one (replacing the late Sir Ed Hillary) is here. Peter Snell, Colin Meads, Margaret Mahy and Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell follow him.

 The list of most trusted professions is here.

Farmers are the 13th most trusted occupation, between dentists and police officers in 11th equal place and scientists and chidlcare providers in 14th and 15th.

Journalists, sigh, are at 34; between taxi drivers and psychics/astrologers.  I’m not sure there is any comfort in ranking just above real estate agents, sex workers, car salesmen, politicians and telemarketers who take the 36th to 40th slots.