INVERCARGILL SLOWLY SHEDDING GANGS

In the 70's 80's and 90's gang activity in Invercargill was high. There were the Road Knights, the Damned, Mongrel Mob and Black Power all taking positions of dominance at some time. Now its down to 1. The Road Knights - although they are just a shadow of their former strength. In fact you could liken them now to balanced challenged kids trotting on donkeys - instead of murderous thugs riding around on Harleys.

This particular branch of the Mob were never held in very high regard by the mob further north. They were considered by the old guard as particularly stupid try hards.

However they gained some creedence when they managed to burn down the Road Knights headquarters .

So today we see that the Mob has moved out of Invercargill - almost. They have been squatting because the city's eccentric property developer Lou Crimp finally worked out that the buggers hadn't been paying any rent. So he put the hard word on them.

We have had very close associations with Lou in the past. He owned whole streets of houses he bought from Housing Corp that the Black Power once lay siege to. So he knows a thing or too about gangs and he hates them.

So it is pleasing to see that Invercargill is cleaning out their rats nests.

SMITH IN HOT SEAT IN SOUTHLAND

Oh dear, it appears that there was a change in the climate in Southland tonight but it had nothing to do with Global warming and everything to do with people getting hot under the collar about the ETS.

Southland is famous for its fiestiness and although its pretty much a Blue ribbon province they are not so keen on the ETS.

You only have to go back to the late 70's, to the day the streets of Invercargill ran red with blood as farmers , distressed by a lengthy strike by the meatworkers unions in the middle of a drought, staged a macabre protest. They were desperate to get the starving stock off the farms and into the works. So they took their protest to the people and slaughtered stock on the main street of Invercargill. It was not a pleasant sight. The sheep were dying on their feet so for most it was a mercy killing. It was an event that earned the moniker Bloody Friday.

It worked.

So they are capable of getting their dander up. And it seems that the ETS has got them in a lather....

Nick Smith and Eric Roy would have had a tough time of it....

TIME FOR THE DON?

Trevor Mallard has made some predictions over at Red Rag  that the stodgy Aaron Gilmore might be prepping up for a tilt at the  selection for Invercargill  on the basis that Eric Roy may resign. Well if Eric decides that it is time to  hang up his kilt
( and we are not sure he is ready to hand over his dirk) then we expect a good candidate to step into the breach. But it wont be Aaron Gilmore.

We reckon that if the Nats want a logical successor to Eric there is only one candidate.

Thats the Don.  Don Nicholson. He's the man for the job.

$3.4 MILLION ON SHAGGING!

We are speechless. That is very expensive tail.

Versalko was just ahead of us at High School in Invercargill. He came from a really nice family. We were suprised and sad at learning what he had done.

Whale Oil has done some numbers on how much sex you could get for $3.4 million.

Its quite a bit....

And the ASB has moved to reassure people that they have tightened up practices and procedures in the wake of Versalkos offending...

HAS SHADBOLT SHOT HIS BOLT?

Tim Shadbolt probably faces his toughest local body election for some time next year. He presides over a fractured Invercargill City council and it seems he feels undermined and uninformed.

Personally we think Shadbolt is a dickhead and a sifty dickhead at that. Invercargill could do much better than having a seedy old shit like Shadbolt as their Mayor.. Time for new blood.

We reckon Suzanne Prentice is the gal for the South..

COMPETITION IN THE FRIENDLY SKIES

Yee bloody hah! Finally some competition in the skies around the provinces. Pacific Blue is set to fly We have been gobsmacked by the cost of flights to Invercargill and Queenstown over the past year. It means we give all our spare cash to Air New Zealand instead of spending it in local shops. And the planes are pretty cool too -the Brazilian-built 104-seat Embraer 190 E-Jets.
While we love Air New Zealands on the ground service and the cabin crew are tops, they fall woefully short in getting bags off the plane and the snacks are crap.

RACISM MUST BE STAMPED OUT

We have been, in the past very big users of taxis. In Wellington we always use Status. In Auckland its Co-op if the Government is paying and Corporate if they aren't.
Auckland is still a big mystery to us and we rely on taxi drivers having a reasonable understanding of they city so we get to where we want to go on time.

Status drivers are a melting pot of races and religious persuasions. Over the years they have made our lives richer with new knowledge of far away places.

We were saddened to see yet another attack on a taxi driver in Auckland. He was a veterinarian in his home country so he is no intellectual slug. He has been unable to get work here as a veterinarian so he turned to taxi driving and then someone beats him up and tears off his turban. It is part of his religion as a Sikh, so the removal of his turban comes with some measure of embarrassment and shame.

It is not this good man who should be ashamed - it is us.

We are increasingly becoming a society that does not tolerate differences.

In Invercargill it is the Gypsy wagoners.

Sadly the stories of bashing up and harassing of people who are "different" is becoming so common place that they are not making the front pages - the incidences are becoming side bar stories.

The Invercargill story is particularly galling. The gypsies are parked on the city fringes about three blocks from the city police station.

We are a good nation but to become a great one we need to ensure that our children grow up tolerant of differences and embrace those who add another dimension to our already rich culture.

There is a nasty vindictive racist element that is raging in our society and simply,and collectively we need to put a stop to this burgeoning evil.

BURT MUNRO BIKE - WHO HAS THE REAL ONE

When we saw the stories about the sale of Burt Munro's famous 1936 Velocette motorcyle we thought our old boss Neville Hayes from Invercargill must have parted with his. For as long as I can remember everyone knew that his Dad Norman had Burt's bike. ( Sadly Norman died a couple of weeks prior to the movie release.) We were surprised by the sale as the Hayes family has an extensive collection of vintage vehicles and the Munro bike has always taken pride of place.
Anyway The Southland Times has a yarn this morning that clarifies the position . The real Burt Munro bike is still owned by the Hayes family. So while someone has paid $71,000 for the " Burt Munro bike - it begs the question - did he get a good deal?

SLAP AND TICKLE POPULAR IN SOUTHLAND

Love it - Invercargill has a newish brothel, Elite Ladies gets some publicity because a few business residents are worried it will lower the tone of the CBD. Suddenly its business goes ballistic. Noice.
BB has a link with Southern brothels. Her son had a wonderful nanny in Invercargill, one of the best. She asked BB for some advice about buying some property. BB was quite nonplussed - how could she manage to buy some property as a nanny? She explained that she loved looking after kids ( BB's little boy especially ) but in fact she was a madam. She bought some flats with the money she earned and she told BB how much money she made. BB seriously considered a career change.

Funnily, it appears its the bondage and discipline that's the most popular service at the new brothel. Seems nothing much has changed in the deep south.