Mum has been a bloody good golfer in her day and she still hits a nice ball at 68. Her knees and back have more metal in them that a set of good kitchen pots so she has a golf cart to get around. The Nancy McCormick foursomes tournament is played in regions around the country and separates the girls from the blouses as it is played over 36 holes in one day.
Today mum and and her partner won their local Nancy McCormick with a net 140 for the two rounds. Well bloody done we say. We are very proud.

MUM WINS THE LOCAL NANCY MCCORMICK GOLF TOURNY

Mum has been a bloody good golfer in her day and she still hits a nice ball at 68. Her knees and back have more metal in them that a set of good kitchen pots so she has a golf cart to get around. The Nancy McCormick foursomes tournament is played in regions around the country and separates the girls from the blouses as it is played over 36 holes in one day.
Today mum and and her partner won their local Nancy McCormick tourny with a net 140 for the two rounds. Well bloody done we say. We are very proud.

KOI CLASS ACT

Wellington's newest restaurant Koi has opened quietly in the lovely space once occupied by Copita. It is part of the growing Dermot Murphy empire.

Anyway we dined there with the mustachioed (he not a she) big brown fella prawn for lunch.

He had been there before and was well versed with the menu.

For lunch you start with a range of stunning nibbly bits - We had the squid - which was the softest squid we have had in ages and then had beef tongue which was a bit chewy but tasty and chicken livers - again yum. We then tried some of the octopus sashimi - delicate and juicy!

The big brown fella had the lunch plate with mackerel. It is a lovely plate of fillets and a number of Japanese inspired condiments. You can have a vegetarian, 0r meat option. It looked yum but we opted for more squid. We had a lovely Yealands Sauvignon Blanc which was light and elegant.

We finished the meal off with a cheese board.Served simply with muscatels and figs.

We think that Dermot is on to a winner with Koi. The surroundings are lovely - warm white with touches of eastern decadence. And he has retained the lovely comfy chairs from Copita.
Koi is a little different and there are quiet elements of kiwi fusion layering the offerings. We understand that they have had a Japanese consultant in to assist with the menu.

The other feature of Dermot's foody fiefdom is the staff. They are always attentive, knowledgeable and efficient.

Anyway a mate and client was at the next table and he picked up our tab. You cant get better than that!

SHOULD NZ HAVE ITS OWN HUFF POST INVESTIGATIVE FUND?

We think that this is a great idea - open source reporting and a fund to back it. The Huffington Post is the number one blog in the world.

Here is the article on what maybe the most exciting advance in online reporting.

Already Blogs in NZ are making an impact.
whaleoil
roarprawn
Kiwiblog
Cactuskate have all broken stories.

NGAI TAHU WAHINE ON ACC BOARD

Jane Huria , a long time member of Ngai Tahu Holdings has been appointed to the Board of ACC.

Story here at NBR

Dr or MINISTER?

Well apparently Mr Worth was both.

Here's a report on Dr, Minister Worth as it appeared in India

AWARUA HUI - REPORT

This post is from one of the Ngai Tahu Wahine Toa who attended the Bluff Hui organised by the locals to get Mark Solomon to address some of their concerns.He first said he would visit any marae that asked for him to attend , then he backed off , then he agreed but only at a time when many of the whanau were at the muttonbird islands.

I didn’t hear a lot of anger apart from Anthony Fowler and a couple of terse responses directed by members of the audience against one of the fishers but I did hear a lot of distortions of truth, word games and outright fabrications from the member from Kaikoura, some very clear facts backed by documentation from Wally Stone, some sadness and disappointment from whānau members who had hoped, I think, to hear an admission from the Kaiwhakahaere that HE could have done better in his management of the NTHC / TRONT relationship.

Note from Editor BB : "We think that this still strikes to the heart of the matter. The amount of people who have worked for Te runanga O Ngai Tahu and been pushed out or sacked would have a listed company's shareholders baying for blood. As we have repeatedly said Solomon has been at the helm of an organisation that has been in turmoil for over a decade."

Instead they heard that Wally Stone was sacked because he did not supply ONE report even though the Kaiwhakahaere,Solomon, was present at the NTHC meeting and approved it, only to vote against it at the TRONT meeting. According to one of the involved fishers, it was also presented to TRONT in person by Colin Topi, Tahu Potiki and NTHC. The Kaiwhakahaere was apparently absent that day and TRONT was being chaired by the Deputy. Perhaps the Kaiwhakahaere didn’t read his papers or the minutes?

The meeting at Awarua ( Bluff) was orderly, well run and tikanga was observed at all times. The difference between the previous meetings and the Awarua meeting would appear to be that the mana remained with the ahi ka at all times. All who wished to speak were allowed to have a say but they were required to stick to the question of the moment rather than divert to other matters.

There was some "you said, I said" which was probably only to be expected but there was also some very pointed questions to the Kaiwhakahaere that he seemed unwilling or unable to answer in a direct fashion.

The meeting was well attended with the representatives from Oraka and Puketeraki present to support the Kaiwhakahaere while the Kaikoura whanau came to support the whanau from Awarua. However of the approximately 140 people present, about 120 were Awarua whanau, a very good result and well on a par with Rehua and Kaikoura.

FASTER THAN A FAST THING

Aucklanders are in for a shock - something is going to happen. After living for decades in a political cloud of inertia we have a Royal Commission - some findings , a Government with a will to make it happen quick fast and a Minister who will make it happen.

It the Words of BB's dad, "they wont know if their arse is bored, punched or countersunk", such is the speed of the changes - Key has said that he wants everything in place for the local body elections next year.

Rodney Hide says he can do it. We know he can.

Now we are in Auckland tomorrow and Thursday on a couple of missions, we like visiting but wouldn't like to live there. Too big. We like little big Wellington and our green acres but even if we will never live there, we recognise that in the tangled ribbons of highways and hodge podge of sprawled out suburbs, Auckland is an integral part of the NZ economy. So it needs a better system of government.

And we like it that the Chairman of the Board, John Key has set a target for the project and Rodney is project manager.

Good stuff. Good for Auckland and very good for New Zealand.

And when they are finished up there, can the Government turn its sights on Wellington - too many fiefdoms here as well.

AH SUCH DECISIVENESS

Power makes us go all fizzy. And if we didn't love the Aussie Rock to bits we would have John Key in our dewy sights.

Two of his team - Richard Worth and Nick Smith went a bit awry - Worth forgot who to tell the boss he was still tied up with an Invercargill Aviation School while he was in India and touted for a bit of business for them on the side.Now as much as we often go into bat for Southland , that's real irksome when BB's son is an instructor at another aviation school.

Then Nick Smith did a Maurice Williamson and waxed lyrical on the joys of charging shoppers a tax for using plastic bags. One of those ideas that sounds good coming from a Green Party member but is enough to turn a Blue heart to stone.

So both got kick up the bum from John.

Bewdy. Go John , there are plenty of MP's who have the mettle to take on the Ministerial mantle. For once National is spoilt for choice. So we applaud any message to underperforming Ministers that any silliness will not be tolerated.

MUTTONBIRD SEASON NOT GOING TO BE GOOD

One of the most unique harvests in New Zealand is about to get underway on Wednesday but the news is not all that good.

Hundreds of Rakiura Maori, those with a blood right to exclusively harvest muttonbirds, are on or on their way to over 25 islands around Stewart Island. However the early signs are that this is not going to be a good season.

It is nature - and it happens at least once a decade. And the fluctuations are well recorded.

The crook seasons are cyclical as we have blogged before. Our family has a policy of not harvesting muttonbirds if the season is not looking good. I suppose some would call that conservation - we just call it common sense.

Some birders will go to the island's to check on their properties and make any repairs others will stay away . They only good thing is that a bad season with low numbers of chicks or chicks in poor conditions is always a precursor to a bloody good season. So if the early information is correct then next year will produce a bumper crop.

And while we may not go to our island this year our favourite Hooker Sealions will have the island all to themselves.

WHANGANUI

Yip - its official Wanganui is now officially Whanganui - funny thing is if you hear the Whanganui people pronounce it - it sounds like hanganui with the W silent. The decision certainly follows previous precidents set by the Geographical Board.

Laws is very crappy about it - Interestingly I think that they could have some serious whun taking the piss out of the issue. It could be a good marketing hook.

Come have whun in Whanganui.

Whar - out - Maori 1- Pakeha 0. Don't get that very often.

FOT A LOT OF WHUSS OVER NOTHING

Today is H day for Wanganui. This is an issue of whether the H should be reinstated into the name of Wanganui as it is now known.

Interestingly if the Geographical Board
follows precident then it will change. It has changed many of the Ngai Tahu names to reflect the southern dialectical difference - We say K instead of Ng.. So Ngai Tahu is Kai Tahu, Aorangi is Aoraki etc etc.

Down south we also harden the P so it is pronounced B so Punga becomes Bungi, punui, Bunui, etc etc

Now we can sit on the Marae and get the general ghist of what is going down but when the locals up the Wanganui river get up - we get lost. They speak really bloody fast and the dialectical difference is bloody hard to follow.

Fowever fe still say that its a whucking big whuss whor fot is a very small issue.

THE CUPS RUNNETH OVER DOWN SOUTH.

There was a rather vivid Southland saying that referred to the sized of ones boobies - " Shes got tits bigger than a Taranaki cow"
Always fascinated me how a Taranaki Cow could have more pendulous udders than the ones that the Southland cows sported but the reference was always about "Naki cows.
So it came as no surprise that in the deep south the Southland Times chose to run a feature about how important it is to get fitted for a bra. Now at the tender age of 13 being mandhandled by a woman ( she sported a Stephanie Mills) who seemed to really enjoy playing with my tiggers during my first bra fitting is one of the horrific memories of my pubescent years.

I was also the only one in my class who went straight to being encased in an underwire over- the- shoulder boulder- holder -bypassing all the slinky malinky models my mates adorned their poached eggs with.

And as you get older and gravity, that evil foe of women, tugs on your jugs , a good bra is a must.
And as long as the manthing of my past has gone to lesbian heaven, getting a good bra fitting advice is imperative.

So good on the Southland Times for giving the sheilas of the south the information they need to make their world a little bit more comfy.

UKRAINE FINAINCIAL CRISIS POISED TO OPEN EUROPE FAULTLINE?

We blogged on the state of some of the Eastern Block countries a few weeks back and the prediction that a major financial calamity could create the European Faultline

The cracks are now appearing in Ukraine. The PM , Yulia Tymoshenko has come out stating that they are okay and they have not got the begging bowl out but clearly the country is in trouble

And it appears that more than a few mad politicians may not be helping.

SUNDAY STAR NEWS

We think it may only be a matter of time before the Sunday News disappears off the newstands.

We were wondering if we were going slightly barmy this morning, menopause does that to you periodically, as we immersed ourselves in the Sunday papers - normally we get all three , The Sunday News, Sunday Star Times and the Herald on Sunday but the HOS was not available in Masterton this morning.

Anyway page A6 and A7 had stories and pictures of Kirsten Dunne Powell written by Jonathan Marshall - It was on Page 3 of the Sunday News with his byline. On A6 was a story from Catherine Woulfe on Tattoos - it appeared with the same picture and byline on page 6 of the News .

Then Leigh Vand Der Stoep did a yarn on Serial Slayers on A7 and again, with her byline it appeared in the Sunday News on page 13.

This may have been happening for a while but its the first time we have noticed it and it does not bode well for competition and a better deal for readers - It also means you pay twice for the same news.

So why have two newspapers? We think that the Sunday News days are numbered....

EARTH HOUR IS A CROCK

We were going to wax lyrical about how stupid Earth Hour is. If you do a google search over Rangitumau you will see our lights blazing brightly - however we were having a squiz around the blogs and we reckon:

Home Paddock has a well researched reminder on how feel good events like this are often based on pseudo science...

PM is off to the Trots

And Motella is also lighting up


Just goes to show what a bright pack of bastards we right wingers are!

OUR NEW HERO

It has to be Jesse Ryder, now we have never been all that keen on cricket. We had a fling when we were in our twenties with a very nice man called Gary Langridge who was a well known rascal among his cricket buddies and a first class cricketer and ......... ooops - the memories got in the way of good sense, but thats about the extent of our association with the elegant game. Too much maths and pissing about for us.

However we are now tuning back in to watch due to the crazy, stunning, arrogant, self doubting, perfectionist, driven, piss head and enormously talented cricketer that Jesse is.

And it appears he is a Wairarapa boy as well

Anyway the best of sporting legends are always flawed or maybe its just because they are have a million eyes watching them and their flaws are magnified and picked over by an unforgiving media.Anyway we reckon he is on his way to being one of the greats and we will love him despite all his faults.

Weirdly every time we see the big bugger on the pitch we keep hearing this song play over and over .

NGAI TAHU NEED TO EMBRACE THE DIGITAL AGE

Some of the comments on this Blog have been pretty interesting of late. And there have been many many comments and visitors to all the pages about Ngai Tahu. In fact in the last month the topic has generated as much traffic as Scampi did.

Also I was never a nurse - not sure who started that rumour but my son would probably give me a pass mark for sticking plaster application and I am pretty good at anatomy after gutting 40,000 muttonbirds but nurse I aint nor ever have been. As for spin doctoring - I don't do spin. Ask any of my clients - which include a two very large offshore companies who employ about 40,000 people between them, and five other companies and two government departments. So if I am crap at spin - please don't tell them.

Okay back to what we have been thinking. Its this - while Ngai Tahu thinks its a big deal that 200 -300 turn up to hear Mark Solomon wax lyrical on the Marae at Rehua, We had, on one day, 1200 people visit this site. We can see what stories they were reading and we can tell you with absolute confidence that 987 of them read Ngai Tahu stories. In any given day between - 200 - and 987 people are coming into Roarprawn to specifically catch up on the Ngai Tahu stuff.

So went and had a cruise around the Ngai Tahu site - there is something called community net but you need your Whai Rawa pin number to access it. We like the Whai Rawa scheme but it appears that the only way you can access the community net is if you subscribe to whai rawa.
And we have seen some of the papers for TRONT - they obviously get to the Marae ( well we bloody hope they do) So why not purge them of all the commercial stuff and put them on the web site?

We also think the demand for an on line forum is very strong. And it is something that Ngai Tahu should investigate - As they should also investigate Twitter, And Facebook for getting the message across.

Now I can already here the screams but " we Ngai Tahu do things face to face on the Marae,"

Well thats open to debate - Marae are a relatively modern affectation for us - Kaika (semi permanent villages )were our thing. We were too nomadic to have any real strong roots especially in the South.

And we have always been responsive and taken advantage of the modern world. we dont put muttonbirds in kelp much any more and we dont use tins like we did when i was a kid - now we use plastic buckets and some are experimenting with vacuum packs. So we need to change with the times.

I issue a challenge to Ngai Tahu - be brave harness the internet and all it has to offer - reach out to your people and dont hide in the Wharenui.

You will get more than 200 people tuning in to listen and talk to you. You may even get a thousand.

HUMOUR FROM THE HUMOURLESS

The Commerce Commission shows some rare wit today as it warns consumers about the vagaries of on line IQ quizes...

Commerce Commission Director of Fair Trading, Adrian Sparrow said, “Many complainants felt misled about this continuing text subscription. However, if terms and conditions are clearly displayed on the website, as is the case on the sites the Commission has examined, it is really a matter for the consumer to make an informed decision.”

“If you want to check your IQ, the first test you should pass is knowing to read the terms and conditions and fully understand what you are entering into,” said Mr Sparrow.

Funny thing is we have worked with Mr Sparrow and we never thought he was capable of such dry toast wit.

Hat tip NBR

DORIS'S BIG DAY OUT

We are on the 1 o'clock train from Wellington to Masterton. While there are a few glide time public servants on it - it largely full of old age pensioners. Thanks to Winston's swansong - the elderly can go backwards and forwards between Wellington and the Wairarapa for free - off peak. So the one o'clock train has become the Tena express.
Its great to see but I wonder if restaurateurs etc are capitilising on this phenomena on both sides of the Rimutakas.
I think there are some who are just going for the ride - Surely someone can see the opportunity and can come up with some packages to keep them entertained.

PAUL HENRY- KING OF UN- PC

Well we have been watching the growing tide of angst over Paul Henry's comments about the abundant flora on the face of Greenpeace campaigner Stephanie Mills face the other morning.

She sports one of those 70's porn star upper lip adornments. -A moustache. One to be proud of if you are a bloke or a feminazi but not something you would wish to impose on people gobbing their cocopops in the morning .

We love Paul Henry - he is totally irreverent. He is all we would want to be in a broadcaster and he still finds time to take the piss out of himself.

And for the record we suffer from poly cystic ovaries and have a moustache and some nasty undergrowth on our chin that needs daily tending to.
( weird thing is the stuff down below is thinning out - a serious design fault we reckon)
So we wax, pluck, and fry it off all the time.

So go for it Paul keep us laughing at ourselves , take the piss and then take it some more.

WIKI, HOLOCOUSTS AND A WORLDLY LAMB

Lambcut's pen began to drip red ink when she read this post.

It is suspected that this post will be too left field for the Splendidly Busted One’s navy blue blog. But, if you are reading it then she has surprised the Lamb and published.

No sane person is a Holocaust denier. The Holocaust, without a breath of a doubt, was the greatest travesty and horror of the twentieth century. Having said that, if one puts aside sub groupings amongst Semitic peoples (Arabs, including Palestinians are Semitic too), the horror continues into this century unabated, and it continues unsung.

We, and I mean we in the Western aligned countries, continually report on the lives lost among our people in the fight against “terror”, against the “Axis of Evil”.

Oy! It’s enough already!

It’s actually quite hard to Google up good sound sources on the death ratio regarding US and Allied incursions. Try it and see. You have to go a lot more than six clicks deep. It behooves an inquiring mind to wonder why. Where are, and what happened to the ladies and gentlemen of the Fourth Estate. American and allied losses are around 4,500. That figure we can be sure of. It Googles easily and in bulk from sound sources.

On the other hand, estimates of the number of Iraqis killed since the war started on March 20, 2003, range from nearly 91,000 to more than 600,000. Blowed if I know with any certainty; and nor do you. What we can know with considerable certainty is that Iraqi civilian losses outweigh ours, tens of thousands to one. Reporters there make their reports from sheltered compounds in the major cities, quite misleadingly, as though they were in the field as first hand observers.

Lambcut knows this from first hand knowledge of reporting with regard to the 2006 Israeli incursion into the Lebanon. Let us not go into that, or BB, out of misplaced protectiveness toward Lambcut, will never publish.(note from Editor BB - But we will write the book!)

Try Googling Corporal Gilad Shalit. He is the Israeli soldier still held hostage presumably somewhere in the Lebanon. See what you get in the first six clicks. A multitude of sound sources Google up from that search. Now try Googling information on the 11,000 Palestinians held by Israel; held without trial or due process of law. You won’t find a single name from among the souls languishing there. Not one. Not in the first six clicks; probably not on the first six pages.

There can’t be much doubt for any “well informed person” (although Lambcut seldom meets any here in NZ) that the entire Middle Eastern problem centers on strategic control of Middle Eastern oil stocks and Palestine’s importance in that regard. It’s all about the oil. The Western media has managed very ably to perpetrate the myth that Palestinians and Israelis have “always fought” and that peace cannot reasonably be expected - ever. Let Lambcut tell you, as a matter of incontrovertible historical fact that Israel didn’t even bloody well exist until 1948.

Get this - England and France spent around 300 years at war. How long did the Irish conflict last? We can hope for and we can expect peace in the Middle East. Unnaturally drawn borders never last. Be in no doubt, the lack of hope with regard to the Israeli Palestinian conflict is Israeli generated spin.

As to Lambcut’s suspicion of fatuous, superficial, sound-bite twitter reporting: in that thing Lambcut shares BB’s suspicions. Poor, indeed very poor journalism is at the root of the matter. All of you who might still regard the media as a special thing, the fourth estate of government with a singular privilege and a commensurate responsibility, you go forward now, and do something about it.

HOOTON ON GROWN UPS

We wish that the NBR would put Hooton's column on line - even if it was after midday - its always a bloody good read - short and to the point but erudite laced with irony and lashings of subtlety and we are having lunch with him next week at one of Auckland's finest dining establishments.



Ooops we digress. Anyway we went out an bought a copy of NBR and got some hamsters to type it out again -

When Murray McCully was Housing Minister, tenants in Wainuiomata reported that paint fumes were making their homes unliveable. The complaints kept coming but Housing New Zealand kept denying them.

Eventually, Mr McCully had had enough. Without telling anyone, he had a government limo drive him to Wainuiomata to visit the main complainant. The fumes were overwhelming. Mr McCully sorted the problem and everyone was happy, except Housing New Zealand. He appears to be taking the same common-sense approach to his job as Foreign Minister.

Adolescence

Prior to 1984, New Zealand had a toddler foreign policy, dependent on the UK and the US. Our approach since has scarcely been more sophisticated, being based on the ludicrous notions of “independence” and “New Zealand leadership”.

In truth, there can be no such thing as an “independent” foreign policy. Foreign policy, especially for small states, is about interdependence: assessing one’s own interests and those of others, seeing where they align, and working together to achieve them, even when this requires the odd principle to be compromised.

A foreign policy that was truly independent would be entirely ineffectual.

“New Zealand leadership” is even more preposterous. The theory was that if New Zealand became nuclear-free, even at the cost of our security guarantee, other countries would be sufficiently impressed to follow. Later, the idea came to cover everything from trade liberalisation to climate change to goody-two-shoes foreign aid. Other than ironically securing Helen Clark a job at the UN (how “independent” does it make us to slavishly follow that corrupt body?) it has failed utterly.

No country awaits New Zealand leadership. The US and USSR didn’t abandon their nuclear arsenals; the EU hasn’t opened its market; no one will follow New Zealand in destroying their economy with an all-sectors, all-gases emissions trading scheme; and everyone else understands that states don’t give charity, they pursue their interests with cash.

A strategy of “independence and “leadership”, divorced from the interests of friends and allies, does not even work for great powers, with the only recent example of someone arguing otherwise, other than Ms Clark, being George W Bush.

To believe that one can be truly independent from others, and that one’s own recklessness will impress them, is to be the one thing more annoying than a toddler. It is to be an adolescent.

Adulthood

The unlikely figure of one-time larrikin Mr McCully has emerged to lead us into adulthood.

His speech this week to the NZ/US Council was firmly founded on New Zealand’s interests. “New Zealand”, “NZ” or “we” meaning New Zealand appeared 78 times. “United States”, “US”, “America” or “you” meaning the US appeared 40 times.

The content was about working with the Americans to fight protectionism to prevent a Great Depression; the benefits to New Zealand of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan; opportunities for American and New Zealand scientists to work together to combat climate change and the importance to New Zealand and the US of a stable South Pacific. It gave no ground on the nuclear issue. It included nothing Labour Leader Phil Goff could disagree with, emphasising that Mr McCully, as Foreign Minister, speaks for both main parties, consistent with the ideal of a bipartisan foreign policy.

But Mr McCully’s speech was not arrogant. It was common sense. Everything he said was based on facts gleaned from his conversations with his counterparts rather than lectures he plans to deliver to them. It included no highfalutin rhetoric about New Zealand’s importance to the rest of the world. “Leadership” was used once, in the context of the need for American leadership if trade liberalisation is to be progressed in the Pacific. And finally, after so many years, the nonsense about “independent” and “independence” appeared not at all.

We agree with Hooton on the issue of the UN - it is a very very corrupt organisation and we think it was a masterstoke by the current administration to back Clark into the post. They win if she lessens the corruption and they win if she falls flat on her face.A classic Dark Arts manouvre - very House of Cards.

THEY HAVE HIDDEN THEM

The Herald looks at the cap that SSC Minister Tony Ryall has imposed on the public service and has zeroed in on the communications sector. The numbers don't stack up. The government needs to insure that it takes a look at " Information departments " which are a home for all PR people who specialise in on line communications and often internal communications specialists. The trend started midway last year to shuffle communications staff around and tuck them in what is essentially an adjunct to IT departments while still churning out on line communications and in some cases publications. It was cynical ploy by comms managers to ensure that they still had a small army under their command.

So someone needs to go through all departments and ask some very specific question's to get the real answer to how many communications specialists are hiding in " non communications " groups.

AROUND AND ABOUT - EATING OUT

We have been lucky to have dined here and there in the last few weeks.

First up - our old favourite - Zicos a wonderful Italian restaurant in Courtney Place. A few old scribes meet there every so often and last week Spaz gave us all a treat and shouted us some lobster entree. It was superb. As was were the Bluff oysters.

Next it was Tulsi - still impeccable food and the service is some of the friendliest in town. We are noticing more " suits " in the lunch time crowd - Some of the same faces we used to see when we used to frequent Dockside.

And we recently called into Main Street Deli with the Irish Lass and had a superb breakfast of French toast . It was indulgent and a treat and the coffee was strong without being bitter.

The other nite we ended up at St Johns - it was oysters and whitebait all round for canapes. For Entree they served a lovely Alaskan Crab on a crab mousse. Our main was a done to perfection crispy skinned baby snapper on a cauliflower puree - it was bliss.

Dessert was a marsala poached pear encased in filo in a butterscotch sauce with pistachio ice cream, delicately sumptuous.

Peregrine Pinot Noir and a stunning sauvignon blanc with a name we cant find on their wine list but sounded like Staedel and it was from Marlborough. It was very different and very very yum. It has all the acid and fruit of a Marlborough Sav but had a hint of oak.
And yip we do not confess to being a wine expert but everyone loved it.

And finally today we dined at the Green Man - not really my cup of tea . I'm not a fan of soggy pizza. However the rest of the team liked their meals which were a Caesar salad, and burgers. The place is a riot of mismatched kitsch. Give me D4 any day.

PUBLIC SERVICE ON NOTICE - ESP COMMS

Well this will get the unions all fizzy and seriously reduce the muffin and coffee budgets.

Hon Tony Ryall

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Government Business & Legal nz government roarprawn.blogspot.c

NGAI TAHU LOSES A SOLID CORPORATE LEADER

Today we were saddened but not surprised at the departure of Andrew Harrison the Chief Operating officer for Ngai Tahu Group Holdings.

Andrew was very well regarded throughout the New Zealand business community and one business leader suggested today that if Ngai Tahu was a publicly listed company, the news "would have wiped ten percent of the share price "

Ngai Tahu have lost two good and true stewards of their assets with the departure of Wally Stone and Andrew. Two men, who were the concrete cornerstones of the Ngai Tahu commercial arm known as Ngai Tahu Holdings.

Again we reiterate that Mark Solomon needs to step aside.

We hope he gets a serious bollocking in Bluff this weekend.

Attached is the press release sent out by Ngai Tahu.

Media Statement Ngai Tahu

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Press Releases Business & Legal roarprawn.blogspot.c te runanga o ngai ta

RUDD FINANCIAL TICKLER

ATO letter_1

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Research tax australia

OF POLAR BEARS AND BACTERIA BINS, AND FAILED MISSIONS

We have already expressed some measure of joy at Key's announcement that " Hug a Polar Bear" programmes exhalted by the last government are for the chop. And Patrick Gower has a story in the Herald on Mission on Mission off, a health campaign administered by SPARC

Its has a website funded to the tune of $3.9 million.. They claim to have had 90,000 visitors - hell we have had 100,000 visitors to Roarprawn in less than seven months and it cost us nothing to set up.

What a bloody crock. We are glad that it is going but seriously someone should be looking at why it cost that much to build and administer.

We are hoping that we can get our rubbish tins back as well. If its good enough for the hamsters on the hill its good enough for us. We are waiting patiently for an email saying we can bif our desktop bacteria bin.

Commonsense reigns supreme.

Another excellent start to the day...

WIKI-ING AND TWEETING BUT NO HOLOCAUST

The Guardian in the UK is reporting a huge shake up in the primary school curriculum in the UK. Blogging, Twittering and Wiki will be standard options but out goes the Holocaust and Victorian studies. Chronology of history will be taught - the what but not the why, nor the impact.

We think that it is great that kids get their heads around the new communication mediums that are growing at an exponential rate but history should still be taught to remind them of evil that man can do.

Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum, the Guardian has learned.

However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.

The proposed curriculum, which would mark the biggest change to primary schooling in a decade, strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11 to allow schools greater flexibility in what they teach.

It emphasises traditional areas of learning - including phonics, the chronology of history and mental arithmetic - but includes more modern media and web-based skills as well as a greater focus on environmental education.

The plans have been drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted chief who was appointed by ministers to overhaul the primary school curriculum, and are due to be published next month.

The papers seen by the Guardian are draft plans for the detailed content of each of six core "learning areas" that Rose is proposing should replace the current 13 standalone subject areas.

• Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. They must gain "fluency" in handwriting and keyboard skills, and learn how to use a spellchecker alongside how to spell.

• Children to be able to place historical events within a chronology. "By the end of the primary phase, children should have gained an overview which enables them to place the periods, events and changes they have studied within a chronological framework, and to understand some of the links between them." Every child would learn two key periods of British history but it would be up to the school to decide which ones. Schools would still be able to opt to teach Victorian history or the second world war, but they would not be required to. The move is designed to prevent duplication with the secondary curriculum, which covers the second world war extensively.

• Less emphasis on the use of calculators than in the current curriculum.

• An understanding of physical development, health and wellbeing programme, which would address what Rose calls "deep societal concerns" about children's health, diet and physical activity, as well as their relationships with family and friends. They will be taught about peer pressure, how to deal with bullying and how to negotiate in their relationships.

The six core areas are: understanding English, communication and languages, mathematical understanding, scientific and technological understanding, human, social and environmental understanding, understanding physical health and wellbeing, and understanding arts and design.

Read the whole article here

BIG BAD BOYS AND THE LONGEST OF LUNCHES

Well bugger me, Just when when we thought one of the oldest men only lunch clubs in New Zealand had finally folded, its rises like the piss fairy from the bottle of sparkling Aussie shiraz .

Flagstaff, as we have blogged about before is one of the great Wellington institutions. A big boys pissy eyed long lunch with a ripper of a speaker. The membership is august and often international, the tone is definitely low in a high brow sort of way, and stories of big sessions are legend.

Anyway they are back, armed with speedy wheel chairs and zimmer frames, the baddest old bastards in Wellington are going to have a couple more lingering lunches.

Good on them we say . "Hip, hip" or should we say "hick hick" and all that.

FlagstaffNewsflash tina

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OUR JOHN AND NZ INC

We have been pondering the speech John Key gave to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce this morning. We have been thinking about John Key the man and John Key, the Prime Minister. Thing is there is no difference – what you see is what you get. Perhaps we noticed it first when the Chamber's CEO Charles Finny said “So now John it’s your turn” after Finny had warmed up the audience.

Yip that’s right, no “Prime Minister” just John. Our John.

You see more than anything we think that Key’s style means that we may actually achieve what is often talked about but never delivered - NZ Inc.

New Zealand Inc. means we all work together for a common purpose. So despite being told by our John that we should be well positioned to weather storm ahead he also said it was going to be tough. There was no need for a call to arms, it was implicit.

You knew that he meant we were all in it together, part of a big team.

Now we often listened to Clark speak and we never felt that inclusiveness - that we were working with the government. Instead we felt like someone was making the decisions for us and woe be tide if we didn’t do as we were told. There was a pecking order and look out if respect wasn’t paid. It was Them and Us.

Sure we know that John's government wont get everything right but we are confident that we will be told the truth, that there will be more transparency, that they will listen and they think we are all grown up enough to make decisions – witness Tony Ryall's decision to let nurses decide who will lead their national body today rather than leaving it up to him to impose his views on the lynch pins of the health sector.

It is a new age and while there maybe financial rocks in the sea of commerce in the months to come we reckon we picked the right leader to chart our course.

Rob Hosking has also been pondering some similar issues – at NBR.

CLARK GETS UN JOB

According to Trans Tasman -

For Immediate Release

Clark Gets UN Job

The Trans-Tasman Political Letter reports Helen Clark, NZ's Prime Minister
from 1999 to 2008, is to be named as head of the United Nations Development
Programme.

This is the highest international post held by a NZer since a former Prime
Minister Mike Moore held the post of Director-General of the World Trade
Organisation.

Highly placed sources have told Trans-Tasman the UN Secretary-General Ban
Ky-Moon is confirming the appointment within the next few hours.

The NZ Govt strongly supported Clark's nomination for the job, and John Key
lobbied other leaders as well as insisting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade did everything within its means to carry the message of support in
its chain of diplomatic missions abroad.

Earlier, Clark gained a place on the shortlist of three but then major
donors to the UNDP threw their support behind her.

Clark's credentials include not only her experience as Prime Minister but
her leadership on many international issues and the recognition of her role
in the evolution of NZ's anti-nuclear policy.

It is expected she will take up the post later this year. Her departure will
signal the need for a by-election in the Mt Albert electorate which she has
held since 1981.

JOHN KEY BREAKFAST

Full marks to the energetic and wise Charles Finny and the Wellington Chamber for putting on the breakfast address by John Key this morning . It was inspiring and as we walked down the waterfront on the way back to work - people were enthusiastically talking about Key and his message.

The venue was good - the breakfast was the antithesis of the healthy eating healthy action breakfast of the past. hash browns, cheese filled franks, bacon and a cheese filled omelette and white toast bread with a passing reference to healthy food in the form of a cooked tomato and a lilliputian bowl of bircher meusli.

Starters were heaving baskets of danish pasteries. Bliss.

Anyway - to the serious stuff. Key reiterated that he thinks we are well placed to weather the global financial storm. Our banks are some of the most solid in the world and they are still lending.

Our economy is based on exporting food and we are well regarded as producers of excellent food so that will stand us in good stead.

And the government is peeling back all the government restrictions on business growth such as the RMA and other regulatory impediments.

And they are refocussing the public service effort into areas that have an impact. No more "hug a polar bear campaigns" that sounded good but were bloody useless ( we resisted the urge to rush up to the stage and give him a hug at that point)

And he said that Broadband roll out plan is to be announced by Stephen Joyce in the next few days.

All good stuff and a very pleasant way to start the day. We met some very nice people and John stopped at our table to talk to a lovely woman about a helicopter trip. He really is a good bugger.

LISTENING TO JOHN KEY

We are off to listen to John Key this morning - we may blog later.

SENSIBLE ANALYSIS ON FONTERRA

Finally, we get a good meaty piece on the Fonterra accounts and half year announcement from Fran O'Sullivan in the NZ Herald. She also reinforces the view of the NBR the the PR around the half year announcement was very badly handled.

Fran leads with the fact that there has been a drop in revenue. And she focused in on the large milk mountains that Fonterra has warehoused around the country . But overall her tone is cautiously optimistic - noting that Ferrier has managed a reduction in operating expenses and that despite all the payout to farmers has been maintained at $5.10.

WIN A CAR

Well you can - if you go here

and we have already said what we think here

Check out the comments section



hat tip No Minister





Update - here are some of the comments on the site to date

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TIME TO LANCE THE BOYLE?

We are more and more turning to the NBR for up to the minute biz news and commentary. Today is this very funny insight from Allan Swann into how Fonterra's communications czars handled the half year result.


NBR has the story here



Here's an excerpt

6) Sit through a relatively easy press conference, reading almost word for word from said press release.

7) Make up absurd reasons why the 'results' were late and provided incomplete, during phone conference question time.

Blame either:
a) An earlier boardroom meeting that ran over time

b) That some journalists' email accounts can't accept email attachments.

8) After complaints from journalists, provide balance sheet data – by email in an attachment – at 12.53PM – nearly two hours past deadline.

9) Wonder why your company engenders suspicion from shareholders, the fourth estate and the general public.

FONTERRA

As we predicted - Fonterra has done a lovely job of dressing up their half yearly result and it is interesting how the main stream media has portrayed it.

The NZ Herald has reported an increase in revenue - here's the headline - no mention that the two reporting periods are different not any mention of the increase in debt ratios.

Stuff has it that revenue has risen - again no mention of the change in reporting periods which actually show that instead of a rise there has been a real time decline..

The real story is in the third paragraph

Adjusting for timing factors and including exchange hedging, Fonterra said total revenue would have been down by 7.6 percent reflecting the lower international dairy prices. Significantly Fonterra’s already high debt gearing has increased from 57.4 per cent to 61.5 per cent over the last six months.

And then the NBR has that Fonterra has revenue of $8billion in six months but debt is up then it doesn't shilly shally around and does a good precis of the issues.

While Fonterra has weathered the last six months better than many predicted we don't think that farmers will be overjoyed with todays announcement.

BIG DAY FOR FONTERRA

We wonder just what will be revealed today - as Fonterra does its half yearly results thing.

We think whatever they have to say it will be dressed up to look like a Sunday lamb roast when in reality it will be smelly old tough hunk of mutton.

NBR has been keeping a very close eye on what big issues are for Fonterra

It makes for very interesting reading.

We will keep you posted

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

All the Labour appointed directors have been given the DCM ( dont come Monday ) letters by Simon Powers.

Yeeee bloody ha .... Now we want to see some good financially savvy new faces in the boardrooms of SOES etc. It will be important as we head into these challenging times that we have people who know what they are doing on these boards.

NZ WELL PLACED TO WEATHER GLOBAL FINANCIAL TURMOIL

The IMF reckons that NZ is well placed to pull through the global downturn compared to other nations.

It has to do with the fact we dont have toxic bank debts, we have a range of exports and the stimulus applied so far has had an impact.

So it seems that Keys upbeat address last week on the State of the Nation was pretty much on the button.

There will still be some tought times to come but we will come out of it quicker than other nations.

THIS IS A CROCK

Come on TVNZ get hard. This guy does not deserve any favours -
TVNZ has decided to pull the Graeme Burton episode of Beyond the Darklands which takes a l;ook at our worst murderers.

Bloody silly really, when you think of all the coverage that is on the TV news leading up to trials - We wonder how many stories on David Bain were screened or published in the weeks leading up to his trial and even during the trial? It included this one on Bains love interests or this one about tee shirts

Silly wimpy buggers.

GOOD NEWS - GOVT TO BIFF COPYRIGHT LAW

Tom Puller- Stricker from the Dom Post knows his stuff so we reckon he will be on the button - and he is saying Section 92 the odious copyright act is gonna be scrapped -

COOOOL .

LESSONS FROM A LAMB ON THE RAM

We now understand about the ram

this from Lambcut

As Lambcut has stated before, BB is a wannabe rustic. She is in fact an
urban numpty. Upon the succulent smell of ovine pudenda, Rams curl their lips in
lurid anticipation, awaiting the precise time of ovulation. In a commercial
situation, a single Ram may be responsible for serving (yes it is called a
service) between 100 and 200 ewes.



The ratio depends on a number of factors, not the least being the
parsimoniousness of the farmer who must spend quite a bit for a good ram.
Ovulation generally occurs in three cycles, which cease when the ewe is
successfully served. The second cycle is the most fruitful.



Vasectomised teaser rams are sometimes used during the first cycle to get
the ewe’s juices flowing and to increase conception rates by only introducing
entire Rams in the lucrative second cycle. But on any reckoning, a Ram may serve
up to 200 ewes, and may serve many of them more than once. He does all of this
in no more than a 6 week period. Do the math.



On that basis, you too would curl your eager lips while waiting for the
optimum moment. Let Lambcut assure you, there is no lack of enthusiasm in a Ram.
In preparation for tupping a farmer feeds his rams prodigiously, trims their
feet, and trims around their pizzles (rustic for penis).

This, inter alia, is to avoid pizzle rot (a cruel and stinking disease, the details of
which are better known only unto rustics). Depending on the wooliness of the
breed, the farmer may also eyewig the Ram (eyewigging is rustic for an eyebrow
trim). This is so they can properly sight the salubrious nether organ of their
target.

Though the Rams are presented to their harem at the beginning of tupping in
optimum physical condition, they invariably return pale and emaciated. Some die. They will copulate even unto death.