BLACK DAY FOR BLACK POWER.

As our nation reels from the news that a little four year old boy  was attacked in Whakatane  for wearing a red tee shirt by a Black Power wannabe ( read prospect), we  are more incensed by the response from Black Power.

The abuse of the four-year-old, as his father's back was turned, is the latest of several violent gang "colours" incidents. It has sparked outrage within gang circles and from the police minister.
The little boy was screamed at, prodded, then had his shirt ripped off him as he played in Whakatane's Cutler Crescent reserve about 3.30pm last Thursday.
The street is home to many blue colour-coded Black Power members. The rival Mongrel Mob's colours are red.

Firstly one of the local leaders ( read bully and thug) says they are keeping a look out for the perpetrator and they will deal to him.

"We are not happy with this. We are keeping a watch out for the guy. If he is found we will give him a good clouting." 

Wrong , wrong , wrong.

It is not up to the gang to be police. It is not up to them to perpetuate the cycle of violence. It is not for them exercise any form of jungle justice.

It is for them to find the cowardly  thug who beats a four year old up for wearing a red shirt and turn him over to the authorities so that those who have the responsibility for law and order can administer it. This thug should be treated as any other young thug. That its not okay.

If he receives a " clouting " from Black Power then all that does is cement  Black Power's authority and diminishes the authority of the police and court system.

Black Power leaders say they are trying to change the gang culture from within but their response to this incident puts pay to that lie.

We are also extremely saddened by the response of   acknowledged gang advocate  Denis O'Reilly  as well. While admitting that this heinous act is beyond the pale for even hardened gangsters  he is still worried about the " shame "  that it will bring to the gang.

The only shame that Black Power should feel is that none of them have the balls to turn this violent bully over to the authorities for him to face the full   force of the law. By doing that the gang would show their followers that they do have some respect for the judiciary and that they acknowledge that it is not their place to play vigilantes.

It is up to people like Denis to say that the gang will bring the coward to the police. That what he has done is not acceptable. That they have respect for our law and order system that the rest of us abide by. 

Simply put - their response shows Black Power still  think like criminals and act like criminals. 

Until then they only deserve contempt from the rest of us. 

INVERCARGILL - TAKE BACK YOUR TOWN

We took to cooking and stuff over the weekend so left the heady debates on the middle east to Lambcut who likes writing and talking about it - a lot.

However, we have been musing over a story that we saw in the Southland Times late last week about self styled gang leader Shaun Te Kahu writing a letter to property developer and entrepreneur Louis Crimp about their gang headquarters which was torched.

Crimp owned it and in a curious oversight didn't realise that there had been no mortgage payments on the property for a decade.

He took back the property but in less that 48 hours it was burnt to the ground.

Te Kahu - who is not Ngai Tahu's finest son, shows some literacy skills but little else.

The letter is a mixture of whinging about the sentimental attachment he and his brother Chaz had to the place, and not so veiled threats about rebuilding the gang presence back in Invercargill.

Te Kahu's letter in full

Koe Louis,

Shaun Te Kahu here. I writing to you concerning what I just witnessed on TV. I'm in total disbelief. Shocked and totally gutted. As well as my brother. We are original founders of mongrel mob Invercargill.

That place held sentimental value to us. I wasn't aware of that mortgage loan back from 89. When I become president I honestly wasn't aware of that bill. Otherwise, I would've paid it. To find out 20 years later was a slap in the face. I received your correspondence like December just gone.

I couldn't do much from my cell. I was told you approached others down there. I honestly believe you weren't talking to the backbone at all. I'm the backbone. Me and my brother. I was in Springhill Prison when I got your notice.

So I wasn't in a position to do anything positive. I'm back in Chch now. I'm due to come back Invercargill ways anytime next year. I'm a local from Invercargill just like everyone else in the town. I've made the wrong choices, no ones perfect. I won't deny the mob are a bunch of thugs. I accept we've mucked it all up. But I am prepared to make a change for the better of us and the community. We have given back to the community as well. My contribution was AK47s and shotguns and other weapons. That was something no other gang has done ever in Invercargill. Just politics in the gang scene got in the way. The town has been quiet since I've been in jail. I'm in a better frame of mind now. What I like to know is where do we go from here? I got the impression you and the city council was trying to crush the mob by taking way my headquarters. The bill was unrealistic aye. Why would the mob pay you that amount of money when the mob could go and buy another house and rebuild right in the town. We chose Severn cause it was the right location for us. And there's another headquarters in Mataura.

I'm prepared to make amends to you when I get out. I'll compensate you on the condition you give what's left back 2 us which is nothing now. But ashes. Otherwise you give me no choice but to rebuild in town.

Til I hear from you.

Yours sincerely SHAUN TE KAHU

Paparua Prison

It is astounding that he admits to introducing AK47's to the town and to fuelling the gang warfare that has dogged the southern town for years.

Invercargill doesnt need arsewipes like the Te Kahus . They are wreckers and haters and just stupid enough to be dangerous to innocent people.

Even the Mongrel Mob never held these guys in high regard until they managed to torch the historic headquarters of the Road Knights which had been a symbol of the pasty white racist underbelly of Invercargill.

Sadly this gross play in the gang sandpit gained them some misplaced creds.

When Te Kahu does get out of prison there is no way he should be allowed back inside the town boundary.

What we would like to see on the big sign that welcomes people to Invercargill is - Proud to be Gang Free.

LIKE DEFROCKING A PRIEST

Well here is an excellent first. The sort of police action that sets the benchmark. A mongrel mob member has had his patch destroyed by the police.

It is akin to defrocking a priest. It strikes at the heart of all they believe in - all they believe they are.

This should happen everytime a gang member breaks the law. And they should be forced to watch it being destroyed. Gangs breed hate and the patch is nothing but a symbol of that hatred.

It will have the same effect as the gang patch ban of Wanganui. It will serve as a reminder that gangs are not normal and that their criminalty that manfests itself in i community intimidation and fear is not going to be accepted.

Police Minister Judith Collins must be delighted and proud of the Hawkes Bay constabulary.

Waikato Hospital has also banned gang patches.

Its that sort of thinking and hardline policing that will erode gang legitimacy everywhere.

Its also time for every Marae in the country to ban gang patches as well.

Gang tikanga is not Maori tikanga.

WAIROA - A TOWN OF THE WALKING DEAD

Sometimes we need to be very brave in life and face the reality of our situation and make some hard calls. Wairoa is a tough town. Its almost 50% Maori.

The council decided to face up to the ugly reality that the towns gang culture was killing their kids.

They were going to ban patches after seeing the impact that a gang patch ban had in Wanganui.

But did they hang tough? No. It seems that the council got railroaded by the "good folk" of the town.

Leave the gangs alone they said. Mayor Les Probert says that the problem was that most of the towns large Maori population had gang connections so they did not want a ban on gang patches.

So the Maori leaders of Wairoa are saying that they support the gangs. That gangs are okay. that gangs rule.

And as Wairoa knows - when gangs rule - they kill.

Lets get this right folks. Maori have no business protecting gangs - gangs tikanga (lore or way of doing things) is not Maori tikanga. Its Gang culture. Not Maori culture. Stealing killing, selling drugs are not traditional Maori practices.

Banning the patches sends one single powerful message. Gangs are not normal.

But instead Wairoa has bent over and handed the gangs the vaseline.

The simple truth is that Wairoa as a town needed to make the hard call. Face up to the reality and say no more to the gangs. Maori leaders needed to stand up and say that their tikanga is more important that that of the gangs.

Instead they are now collectively culpable for the next youth death in the town.

HEADHUNTERS ARE RAPISTS.

The sad story of Millie Elders fall from grace from P is a wake up call for all New Zealanders that we must renew any efforts to reduce this social plague on so many houses.

The saddest part of this story is not that she is facing jail or that her father is no longer talking to her, it is that she is in the thrall of the Headhunters. These arseholes have infiltrated the top end of Auckland society whose populus also thirst for this drug. In fact it is clear to see that this gang of bad bad men are now part of what would once be seen as the Auckland establishment.

Every third celebrity kid is on P and undoubtedly it is because they are being fed the drug by the gang. The gang members and their ilk are now fashionable accessories at all the best parties. They have been legitimised. And Aucklanders who have the wit, will and station should stop legitimising the Headhunters and others of their ilk by shunning them.

It is time for the police to go to war and we mean that in the most literal sense. Headhunters are little more than paedophiles preying on the young, their gratification coming from the power they have over their victims and the money they get in return for P.

These drug paedophiles should be treated the same as their sexually deviant cousins. Their drug crimes just as odious as baby rape. These crimes against some of our brightest and best strips innocence , just the same. Leaving the victims spent shells, scared forever.

If you have worked with those who have been raped and those who are under the spell of drugs you see in their eyes the face of the same ugly demon.

We want girls like Millie to grow up good. Not growing up believing that the very men who fed her the stuff that fried her brain are her saviours. We owe it to her and the growing legions of good kids to come, to stamp out the Headhunters and brand them the evil soul sucking bastards they are.

Bugger charities like Kidscan - this is the cause that New Zealand celebrities should be supporting without question. It should have been the cause for the Telethon and the Government should backed it up with tougher legislation not food parcels.

So, we want a taskforce of old gang members who have turned their backs against the old ways, Heads of Police, Social Welfare, TPK, and legislators to write rules to break the back of this growing social pestilence.


However we disagree with Paul Holmes. He should always leave the door open for his daughter. She needs to know she is still loved and she can still come home. He should, even in her darkest hour, never stop talking to her, making sure she can always find her way, as its going to be a hell of a long road for her to travel on her own with the demons on her back .

NEW ZEALAND UNDERBELLY ON SHOW

We were not surprised to see that Malcolm Chaston the arsewipe charged with murdering Vanessa Pickering has Nazi connections.

Interestingly we discussed the violent and nasty underbelly that exists in Christchurch with some journalists and PR types, of who most were ex journos, over lunch on Friday. We all agreed that Christchurch had a very nasty underbelly.

In another life we advised the government on gang issues - in particular strategies to combat the rise of white power gangs in the South Island in the 80's.

The white power gang movement has always had a strong focus in Christchurch and Timaru.
They operate at a different level than ethnic gangs who tend to have a family centric approach to their structure and support.

We remember a very simple example of the basic differences in the gangs. Inmates once a week used to be able to buy "treats such as chocolate bars and lollies once a week. Some would have more money earned from prison work than others. So they used to pool their stuff and share it among the gang.

That never ever happened with the White Power gangs.

While the Ayrian Brotherhood, Fourth Reich, Skinhead types are groups with a common philosophical interest but their structure and operation is based on individual action. It is much more of an uber extreme political group. Absolute hatred is part of their mantra. They have no respect for women and are extreme racists.

They are like shithouse rats - very cunning , very committed but not necessarily smart.

We still think that they are the second most dangerous gang grouping in the country. Second only to the Headhunters who have become powerful, socially accepted drug dealers to the rich and famous.

Either way the police should be doing all it can to ensure that we do not see a rise of these gangs again like we did in the 80's.

this shithead used to get government money

As much as it pains me I am pleased that Labour has distanced itself from this obscenity.

This sort of pathetic claim undermines the mana of all Maori.

so if we follow Ryders logic, all Maori

• drug addicts
• diabetics
• alcoholics

should lodge a treaty claim.

10 years ago Ryder was being paid by the government to do community work - he probably is still - one way or the other. But people like Ryder, who still wear the colours, are not trying to stop kids from entering gangs - they are still glorying in being part of it. and he is further legitimising Black Power by making the claim - that should not happen - all parties should not support anything that legitimises these gangs.

This from STUFF

Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen says there is no legal basis for the Black Power gang to lodge a Treaty of Waitangi claim.
His associate minister Shane Jones went further, saying the idea was a joke.
It was reported today the gang had lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal.
The claim was one of thousands received in the rush leading up to the September 1 deadline imposed by the Government for historic claims.
Wellington gang spokesman Eugene Ryder, understood to be a major driver behind the claim, would not provide specifics about it but said the gang was not seeking money.
Gangs existed because of colonisation and what they wanted was education, he said.
"The object of the claim is education as to why we're in the position we're in," he said.
"It's the story of our lives really and the way we're treated. From our perspective there have been multiple Treaty breaches, every article has been broken."

The only thing that is broken, Ryder, is your arse...

NEXT STOP FOR GANG FREE TOWN - MASTERTON

We were a bit gobsmacked at the Sunday markets last weekend in Masterton, when we ran smack bang into two big hairy arsed Nomad gang members in full regalia. They dont wear their patches so we can all admire their embroidery - no. They do it to intimidate. Allowing them to parade the streets in their gear normalises them. And they aint normal.

We are delighted that Wairoa is looking to ban patches. Its a bloody tough little town and any effort to reduce the power of the gangs is a step in the right direction.

And while we are at it - all government departments should ban gang patches from their buildings..

Get to it guys.. Get rid of gangs and you will make a serious dent in P problem.

BLONDINI GANG

Our favourite designer is called the Blondini Gang. We have an advert for them in the right hand sidebar. Like us, they are fans of the movie. A run recreating the movies car chase form one end of the country to the other has just ended in Invercargill.

We remember it well. we interviewed a very hung over Geoff Murphy and Roger Donaldson. It was a blast. Just starting out in broadcasting journalism at RNZ Invercargill station 4ZA we were but it was a fine moment.

SHAKIN THE TREE

Maori are faced with some choices that could lead to a total transformation of their society. The first is to cocoon themselves in a ritualistic paternalistic past or unleash the warriors within to fight for the lives of their children.

Two recent announcements, one by Paula Bennett they other by Pita Sharples show the face of the past and the face of a future.

Paula has effectively told every iwi leader in the country that its time that they became proactively involved in ensuring their own whanau get the best start in life. Sort of a charity begins at the iwi approach.

The first thing that happened was the iwi leaders got all whiny about money. What crap. All it takes is for people to say no more, to say enough, to say what you are doing is not right. The " it takes a whole village to raise a child approach.

If Maori truly believe in Whanau Ora they need to show that it can be practiced at grass roots level it starts with them. So its about communities facing the problems within and dealing with them as individuals and collectively.

Paula Bennett's speech to the Iwi leaders has sent ripples through Maoridom and she has no doubt created some very powerful enemies who will try to undermine her rather than getting off there arses and into the homes of the their whanau and hapu who are killing and maiming their kids. That doesn't take money - just time and effort and some personal and tribal responsibility.

Bennetts stance is in stark contrast to that of Sharples. He is not just cuddling up to the gangs, he is playing a far more intimate game. It is extremely troubling and its a hallmark of the approach taken by Maori leaders of yesterday.

His calls for the Black Power to be treated differently than the rest of society sends the worst of all messages. It legitimises them and it sets them above the law. The only thing that Sharples should embrace are strategies to reduce the numbers of kids joining up and strategies to get the women away from men who kill and maim. Strategies that ensure that gang members and their kids find some respect for the law and understand the consequences of risky behaviour.

The Gang creed is still one of violence not peace and the only elements of Maori tikanga that they take on board are the showy ritualistic ones, the ones that dont actually do much for anyone but waste a shit load of time.

It is time for the strong women we see every day trying to do the best at the terrible cliff of evil that children are hurled off every day to take a greater role in leading

them away from the brink.

Simply said, the current crop of male Maori leaders have failed their people. It does not matter how many hotels they buy, how many tree they plant - it matters not a whit when the life of their mokos are shaken from them on a weekly basis.

The silly posturing antics we see every day down on the Marae and in the corridors of power as they strut their arrogance - is not saving our kids. Its time for them to stand aside let Maori women lead and let the true Maori renaissance begin.

Maori women like Paula Bennett - a woman who is Shakin the Tree.

NO MOURNING MOSSIE

We have known many gang members like Mossie Hines , from across the spectrum - White Power, Nomads, Black Power , Mongrel Mob, Road Knights, Devils Henchmen and many others who have since disbanded.

We do not mourn the passing of Hines. He died in jail where he spent most of his sorry arsed life. He was brutal and unforgiving and arguably, if he didn't order the killing of Dr Howard Tippet and his sister, then he shaped the minds of those who did.
He was the face of evil. The same sort of evil we are seeing on TV1 on the Gangland series of Australia's underbelly. David Fisher has done a considered piece on a man who was less than the legend.

And of course our recent brush with gangs is now documented.



There are no places for these people in our society. We will undoubtedly see a rise of gang activity as the growing fog of the recession swirls about us. It will take a good and firm government to ensure that we do not see the rise of any more Mossie Hines.

RESOLUTE IN THE NEW YEAR

A few NY resolutions we would like to to hear

Mark Solomon - " It is now time to move on and let someone else take over. "

Michael Laws "I will stop thinking about kinky sex and get a girlfriend who only likes the missionary position and of course me"

Maori leaders " We resolve to start setting some standards. No gang patches on the Marae, and at any tangi. Our mantra will be ' gang tikanga is not Maori tikanga',"

John Key "I promise to be big and ballsy and make the hard calls to grow the economy"

Bill English " The public service will feel the pain of a thousand cuts."

Judith Collins " I will do what I did last year."

Winston Peters " I will stand in Helensville for the good of the nation."

Phil Goff " I will attend every BBQ that 17 members of my caucus are planning to hold over the summer for the sake of party unity."

Cunliffe " I will roll Phil Goff because I know that I have the superior intellect and I am better at being a shifty bastard than he is."

Trevor Mallard " I will work harder at being the most obnoxious Labour blogger because its so much fucking fun."

Clare Curran " I resolve to give the world peace and love and text Helen clark every night to tell her what a wonderful job I am doing and how popular I am especially with my own caucus."

Paul Henry " I will be a bigger star than I was - take that all you dick shits"

The Brunette " We will continue to take the piss and be obnoxious, talk about sex and country living and generally make lots of noise and swear a lot.

Cactus Kate " Shag more, Drink more, and write good shit, and make squillions while travelling the world in style. "

WINZ IN THE GUN

We saw this story today and it raised alarm bells.
A former gang leader and his missus seemed to have wangled some very interesting concessions out of WINZ. We are interested to see Harris is referred to as an ex gang leader. We doubt his connections are severed.
Kiwiblog suggests this is just the tip of the iceberg. Weird thing is we knew Darryl many many years ago. BB used to have a lot to do with gangs. He is a very interesting character - an ex carnival kid and one of the more complex characters we have met. Anyway the rumours are correct - his wife, won lotto - nearly half a mill - which was a lot in the early nineties . We are unsure if the woman mentioned today is still the same wife we met many years ago. Rumour has it that the Harris's bought a house in a nobby Christchurch area and seriously grumped up the neighbors.
He and his wife knew the welfare system inside out. So it comes as no surprise that he has managed to wheedle extra special treatment out of Winz - but I think that if the story is right then Minister Bennett is going to be very very cross indeed.

FLOUNDERING AROUND IN A SEA OF SILLINESS

We got a call from Bluff last week from some good old boys who were at a funeral for a bloke we had grown up with - he wasn't much past fifty - so our mortal coil tightened up a bit at the news. RIP Manuel.

Anyway the boys who were at the wake started talking about the fact that one of the captains of the fleet was in a bit of bother, as reported in the ODT

Fishermen have been ordered to carry observers on board their boats to check to see if they are catching Hector's Dolphins in their nets. A couple refused to comply and now they are facing court action.

We reckon our old mate and CE of the Federation of Commercial fishermen, Pete Dawson sums the issue up succinctly ( Pete is the king of succinctness)

Federation of Commercial Fishermen chief executive Peter Dawson said the ministry's move to prosecute was "bloody minded" given the letters instructing fishermen to take observers failed to explain fishermen's rights or address safety concerns.

"As a consequence [these fishermen] stuck to their guns and face getting a criminal conviction."

Observers spent 963 days at sea and did not see a Hector's dolphin death, yet the ministry was going ahead with prosecutions, he said.

All it did was raise the levels of antagonism between the ministry and fishermen and put fishermen already facing hard times in an even tougher position.

"Education is far better than putting the boot in."

We agree, now the Bluff vessel in question is neither big nor flash - its about 50 feet and while observers on big mid size trawlers need to take a cut lunch and a compass to get to the aft end of a boat - on the seized vessel in question, the net drums are within spitting distance of the focs'le. ( the little house bit where the skipper spends his day. )

So this is going to be an argument about safety.

Now we love Hectors - they look a lot like Tuna so its a fair guess they taste pretty good but we have in our relentless battle to protect all Charismatic Mega Fauna, given these cute wee guys more protection than we give kids from sexual predators.

That's just daft. And for boats like the one MAF has seized, having someone on board, purely so they can have a "look see" when you are in heavy southern seas would be a bloody nightmare.

We reckon that these fishermen, if paid a smallish bounty for every Hectors dolphin they see and photograph or video ( remember they can plot their exact location), would give us a far better idea of their population and their habits.

Costs are high enough for these particular fishermen and we agree with Pete - education would be far better than this silliness.

MAF has far bigger fish to fry - like rooting out the organised crime that is pillaging our coast of paua but hell it is easy to pick off a couple of small time trawlermen than gang members isn't it? And the environmental and economic damage of paua poaching is quantifiable while there is no hard evidence that these trawlers are having a disastrous effect on the southern Hector dolphin population.

These two boats have dared to do what the rest of the fleet wanted to but were too scared to because of the financial consequences. It is time for some intervention and a new way of thinking. That way we might just take some sensible steps to protect these tasty wee marine flyers instead of making a small human segment of the seafood industry an endangered species.

Steamy Boy cooks up a good moral tale

Heres a tale worth pondering from Steamy boy of Rotorua

The ant and the grasshopper

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

TV1, TV3 and Maori TV show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. New Zealand is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Sue Bradford stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.'

Michael Cullen exclaims in an interview with John Campbell that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share as the ant is too much of a 'Rich Prick.'

Finally, the Labour Party drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Winston gets his old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of judges that Helen appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighbourhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY:


Be VERY careful how you vote in 2008!!

RACISM INVERTED- SOLUTION AVERTED

Sometimes people need to see past their own history. Kim Workman had an extensive career in the public service. We met him when he was a big cheese in the prison service. ( he was nicknamed Kimi Workperson because he was so PC )

These days he is strong advocate for prison reform. On some points we see eye to eye.

Now the Wairarapa Times Age has interviewed Kim who claims that Masterton is a racist town. We have had a place in the Wairarapa for about 4 years. We now live their permanently. We have yet to see one scrap of evidence that Masterton is a racist enclave. The incidences that Kim describes are historical and could be replicated in towns large and small throughout NZ.

However, has chosen to brand Masterton with a racist tag and thats doing this proud town a very real disservice.

If Maori are doing anything wrong it is the passive acceptance of a relatively high profile gang presence in the area and the resultant crime. They wear their patches freely in public places. What we need to see from Maori in the Wairarapa is some ownership of the issue. For them to say that this is not acceptable. That would send a powerful message to their children that this cultural aberration is not acceptable.

So Kim should not be spitting his gentlemanly disguised venom at the good people of Masterton for being racist. Instead he should turn his attention to the other Maori leaders in the Wairarapa and work with them to challenge their own people when their behaviour is unacceptable.

If there is any sniff of racism it will stem from the fact the pakeha never see Maori leaders sort out the shit of their own.

If they did that any remnants of racism would be countered.

Its time for Kim to Tane up and show some leadership.

But we dont think he has the balls. Nah its much easier to slag of the good white folks of Masterton instead of getting Maori to own the problem and deal to it. And thats the issue we have with Maori leaders today - the only time they go hard is when money is at stake. Claiming that the money will solve their ills. Crap. Its leadership and a no- nonsense approach thats going to turn the plight of their people around. Whinging only makes it worse. It just perpetuates the myth that the problem is not theirs -it's someone elses.

Of Boil Ups and Noble offerings

Charlie  Nobles is a quality addition to an ample serving of great eating houses in Wellington. The occasion was the all too brief visit of the BOIL. A fine friend who works for Big Oil. Hence the nickname. And the  long lunches are, as you would expect, known as Boil Ups.  And damn if we haven't had some fine Boil Ups. It seemed fitting to have this boil up at Charlie Nobles as it was the former HQ of the NZ Rugby Union. And most of the gathered group had worked with or for the NZRFU.
The staff were attentive, welcoming  and fast. Our table was in prime place. Right in front of the open kitchen. The fit out of Charleys is classic and classy bistro and the place fair bustles with the business of sating the diners. We were within an ozone whiff  of  an ice bed of "in the shell " Bluff Oysters. At $6 an oyster they are very pricey. None of us indulged instead opting for starters of breads and dips.
The taramasalata dip was heavenly. As was the rich whipped pate. Knives were keenly scraped inside the jars to seek out the last morsels. Lips and knives were licked clean.
I love flounder so despite the attraction of much on the carnivores dream of meaty selections I opted for the Patiki. It was deep fried in a crispy crumb . So crispy I had to crack it to get at the sticky tender fish. I was worried it was overdone and it was - Just a smidge. I normally ask for my fish to be undercooked. It reduces the chances of a dry offering. Anyway the crispy fish was   very good. Not great but memorable. We drank Dog Point sauvignon and it loosened the chatter from us in an instant.
We talked of our lives and family and food  and politics as we always do.
I left late in the afternoon knowing  two things. Charley Nobles will be a stayer on the Wellington hospitality scene and time and distance do not erode true friendships.
And I'm suspecting  the gang might have to organise a Boil Up in Geneva.
BB score 8/10

REALLY?

We ar off to a sparrrow fart  early breekie with PR and Communications types to hear  this fella talk. Eugene Ryder.  Thought we would do a bit of  home work  - we have crossed paths in our past. So it seems that Mr Ryder thinks that gang problems  stem from colonisation and that is worthy of a  treaty claim .

Pullleaaaase!...

apparently we are going to hear how to do PR for difficult types...  

The chick in charge of the NZ  Prostitutes Collective Catherine Healy is also going to talk on the same topic.

NOT LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

Key is right. It is unacceptable that the Airforces two biggest planes are out of commission at the same time. Not good risk management. Nice to see he is being stern with some govt departments. They need a stern talking to. We reckon the razor gang isn't the right name for the team thats going to have a look at the govt departments. It should be the gardening group. A bit of thinning, a bit of breaking up some rough ground, some weeding some fertiliser ( not organic), some pruning and some some planting of some stuff that grows quick.

HOOTON'S A WIMP

We love the NBR website - its is a must read for breaking business stories written in a snappy informative style. And they have good columnists too. David Farrar and Matthew Hooton. Trouble is David's column appears on line . Hooton's doesnt - so we went out and bought a inky one and have painstakingly typed it out . Today he is calling for a Masakari in the public service.



We couldn't agree more and have blogged on the issue many many times - In fact that blog waas one of our most popular ever.



Anyway back to Hooton.







Here is his column

The government has begun its long-awaited cuts to the central bureaucracy.

Finance Minister Bill English is reviewing departments’ lowest-priority spending, 86 jobs have gone at the Ministry for the Environment and 70 at the Tertiary Education Commission, and Labour’s Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson – the country’s leading apologist for the public service – is already fretting about policy advisors at Justice, Social Development and the National Library.

The cuts are long overdue.

So indulgently did Labour fatten the public service that Mr Robertson’s electorate notoriously has the highest average income in the country and office space in the capital costs more than in Auckland.

Worryingly, though, National is talking of a mere razor gang when wholesale butchery is required. It should put away its Gillette Mach 3 and wield a masakari. Whole departments should be abolished.

Case Study: Tourism

Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) is the government agency that promotes New Zealand globally. Compared with its competitors in Australia and elsewhere, it operates on a lean budget of just $69 million annually.

In the ten years since then Tourism Minister Lockwood Smith, TNZ chairman Peter Allport and chief executive George Hickton launched their “100% Pure” marketing strategy, annual tourist numbers have leapt 52% to 2.4 million, average length of stay is up 24% and earnings are now $5.9 billion, up a massive 53%.

Taxpayers might think that a junior Treasury analyst could work out that TNZ does a good job, and that a clerk at the Office of the Auditor General could check no one’s hand was in the till, but you would be wrong.

In fact, TNZ is monitored and evaluated by its board, its auditors and minister; by the Treasury, the State Services Commission and the Auditor-General; by the ministries of Women’s Affairs, Maori Development (TPK), Pacific Island Affairs and Ethnic Affairs; by a select committee of Parliament; and of course by the industry itself, including the Tourism Industry Association, the airlines, the Inbound Tour Operators Council, the Hospitality Association, the Motel Association, Regional Tourism Organisations and by dozens of tourism reporters and publications around the country.

This bureaucracy was not enough for Labour. In 2002, it set up a new Ministry of Tourism to advise the minister on “board appointments, roles and functions” and oversee TNZ’s “overall contribution to the government's policy objectives.” The ministry has 24 full-time staff and an annual budget of $7 million, more than 10% of all the money TNZ has to do the real work of getting tourists to New Zealand.

As a result, the levels of accountability from the person who places advertisements in the People’s Daily now run through TNZ’s Shanghai office, to the general manager consumer marketing, to the chief executive, to the board, and now to the ministry, and on to the minister, currently none other than the prime minister himself – all overseen by at least seven other government agencies. Everyone in this process, except perhaps the person who places the ads, earns over $100,000 a year.

Were the Ministry of Tourism simply abolished, and TNZ left to get on with the job, overseen by “just” seven other government agencies, the taxpayer would save $21 million over the next three years, and no one would notice any difference.

The Ministry of Tourism is far from being the worst case. Take the masakari to the corporate welfare programmes of the Ministry for Economic Development and NZ Trade and Enterprise; abolish the pointless Tertiary Education, Families and Electricity commissions; simplify the Emissions Trading Scheme so it won’t cost tens of millions to administer; slash the “policy advice streams” of TPK, Youth Development, Women’s Affairs and so forth, and you’ve saved a billion dollars before breakfast.

Not a single doctor, nurse, teacher, police officer, solider or overseas marketing clerk would be affected. There could even be money left over for pay rises.

Yip Hooton is on the money but we think he is being wimpy though which is unusual. He needs to harden up.



We reckon that a big shiny sharp edged Masakari is not the right tool for the job.

This is really whats needed ...