You can't make this stuff up

According to Yahoo News, a 29 year old convicted sex offender posed as a 12yo boy to enrol in two schools in the US. He attended classes and even handed in homework regularly and there were no discipline issues. It would be easy to conclude he wanted to have sex with other pupils, but given that there appears to be no evidence of this he may simply be socially regressive (and clearly has a level of physical immaturity that he can fool people - his photo is here)
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He attended one school for 50 days until being kicked out for poor attendance, after all school is rather boring if you’re an adult and don’t actually have to go!
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Now there is no indication he actually committed a sexual offence on this occasion, he has been charged with assault, conspiracy to commit fraud, forgery, failing to register as a sex offender (some past conviction) and possession of a forgery device. He forged his birth certificate and some other documents.
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However, that isn’t the weirdest part.
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He shaved his body hair and wore make up to look like a boy, and met two men online (aged 61 and 45) who thought he was 12!! They had a sexual relationship with him, which actually means under Arizona law that they have been charged with attempted child molestation and attempted sexual contact with a minor. This is because they THOUGHT they were having sex with a 12 year old, when he actually is 29.
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Now there should be a decent post-grad law thesis on this one. There is no actual victim in this (besides the school system being defrauded, and the assault victim (which appears unrelated to the weird events). Yes all the men are pervs, but that in itself isn’t an offence. How can they have attempted sexual contact with a minor when there was no minor? Yes, police officers all the time pose as kids online to trap pervs, so it is the same – but isn’t something serious awry when this isn’t a sting operation but a case of some somewhat disturbed guy who can pose as a child for presumably his own pleasure? This is most certainly a thought crime without an actual or potential real victim, rather hypothetical future ones. Is this what the criminal law is meant to be capturing? Sounds to me like a couple of appeals will be part of this case!

Save small shops by shopping there

One of the major largely unchallenged themes in the UK media at the moment is the “plight of small shops”. You see apparently it is bad that 75% of shopping is undertaken at four large supermarket chains (this is called a monopoly? Has anyone read the definition), with the rest at small independently owned stores.
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A rather peculiar middle class concern is that these big chains, such as Tesco are soulless, offer less variety and “do harm” to shops that people no longer use because they prefer Tesco. A weirder concern is that these big chains have substantial buying power from food producers, so demand ever lower prices from them – because, apparently, consumers don’t matter in this. Another accusation is that they buy tracts of land suitable for shops and don’t use them, to shut out the competition. Follow it so far? Well it is like this:
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- Most of the time people choose to shop at big supermarkets, presumably because they are convenient, have the varieties people want and are cheap (one family asked by the BBC to try shopping at local independent stores instead of supermarkets/mega stores described how it took far longer to go to the independent stores, how the variety was often inferior and the prices far higher). So in essence people are voting with their feet and wallets, most of the time they don’t want to spend their money at independent stores:
- Independent store owners don’t like this, so they pull at the nostalgia strings of peoples’ hearts accusing big stores of being ugly (sometimes true), and how “important it is” (to the shop owners) to have high streets with lots of varieties of stores, and that it is “a pity” (to the shop owners) for these shops to close down;
- Independent store owners which cannot attract enough business accuse big stores than can attract enough business of acting “unfairly” somehow. These accusations largely focus on being “too cheap” (for the competing shops) and by teaming up with suppliers who undoubtedly prefer being paid more by many small shop owners (because the supplier can be the price setter rather than the buyer);
- Small minded politicians of all political creeds jump on this bandwagon on nostalgia grounds, demanding something be done.
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The answer is simple. If you like small shops in your area, ask yourself when was the last time you actually bought something there and how much was it? If you don’t support the shop, it wont remain and don’t expect everyone else who doesn’t see value in spending THEIR money at the shop to pay for it. After all, why should a family pay more for food and clothes at small stores just because you like the store existing?

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There is a competition body investigation into this, remember we are talking about four major chains shutting out competition - not one, and there is still plenty of choice. Within 15 minutes of my flat I can choose between three supermarkets (one independent) and umpteen convenience stores.
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David Cameron supports this stupid campaign – don’t be surprised, it appeals to the upper class conservative who thinks that working class people shopping in malls is “vulgar” and doesn’t care that people on low incomes demand convenience and low prices over boutique stores with personal service. It also appeals to the socialist who hates businesses being so successful that they become franchises and more and more people use them. After all, we can't simply let businesses rise or fall on the basis of what consumers want can we??

Jenny Gibbs can't get broadband?

*heart wails with agony* Who gives a flying f***?

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As a friend of Tame Iti, and someone who hardly share the enthusiasm for the free-market and entrepreneurism of her ex.husband, why should Telecom give a damn? After all it has to offer its property to competitors, so why invest in more capacity so the competition can use it?

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Gibbs said "When I see the amount of money they are spending on advertising without putting it into infrastructure I do think it is a bit outrageous"

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Raise it at the AGM Jenny if you still have shares, if that fails then frankly when I see the amount of money YOU spend on tasteless art and travel without putting it into free market publications and media, I do think it is a bit outrageous.

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Set up your own little network, you can afford it after all - stop telling others what to do with their property.

Kerry for Mayor of Wellington?

I can’t get too enthused, although she’s better than some it would be nicer if she could campaign on at least capping the overall rates take. So I’m looking for another mayoral candidate, one committed to less council and lower rates (especially for commercial properties, to attract business to the capital rather than relying on the state sector). It would be nice to see the council sell its minority share in Wellington Airport too, to help ease the debt burden (and consequently the rates burden).
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Prendergast is almost certainly a shoo in, although there will almost certainly be some leftie luddite candidate wanting everyone else to pay for a whole host of schemes nobody would voluntarily fund – and the Greens will probably give that person covert support (surely not!!! Surely the left is transparent in all of the organisations it backs and with all of its members, like than honest Marxist Nicky Hagar). The Nats and ACT will quietly back Kerry of course, and she is enough to the centre that Labour wont waste its time opposing her. What is more important is the council, which is currently stuck in a 50/50 left/right balance.
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So who could stand for Mayor? Maybe a young man who took the Prime Minister to court might have a shot?

PS: Blogging is erratic at the moment while I await 10 days for broadband to be installed at home, having waited 10 days for the phone line to be fixed. Of course there has been local loop unbundling here for years, so this first class service will be the norm in NZ shortly!!!

Well that's over

The wholly predictable expulsion of Jade Goody from the Celebrity Big Brother household has happened, and the drama of it is fading away. She was expelled, did not face booing crowds for security reasons, has been bawling her eyes out on TV a couple of times, and has now disappeared.

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Now Celebrity Big Brother if it is lucky will last its final week as the almost entirely boring crowd deliver next to nothing in entertainment for viewers. Hopefully the truly braindead Jack Tweed (apparently male model, training to be a footballer's agent, though frankly I'm surprised if he can do up his shoelace) will be gone next, with Jo from S Club 7 and Danielle Lloyd (pretty girl apparently has lost her footballing boyfriend for her racist remarks). Then we have the quiet sweet but thoroughly uninteresting Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict who flirts with women but can't stand them flirting back, Ian from Steps (yeah I know), Cleo Rocos (who was one in love with Kenny Everett, who was of course gay, and who has sufficient personality for her real job as TV and radio personality). There is Shilpa of course who will probably win anyway.

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Seriously the issue now is Channel 4's future. The papers in the weekend reported on the indirect subsidy it gets because unlike the other commercial channels, it doesn't have to pay for its broadcast frequencies (ITV and Five do), and as it does pay for its digital channels there are questions about how it will survive longer term to meet its public service obligations.

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Given that the BBC exists, I think it should simply be privatised. Channel 4's main public service endeavours tend to consist of shows about sexually explicit topics. Partial as I am to some of these, it doesn't justify keeping it state owned. It is a commercial channel, it acts like a commercial channels, looks like a commercial channel - it should be sold.

Fly more domestically

So Air NZ is slashing domestic fares by up to 26%. It is like another leap downwards from when it dropped all frills with "Express Class" a few years ago. Most people will cheer, but I am sure around 5% will bemoan that this will mean more global warming - though few of those will stop flying because it "isn't convenient" and no doubt their flights are terribly important.

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Air NZ is engaging in a two pronged strategy:

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1. Stimulating a next level growth in air travel, to grow the business. It already has quite a profitable operation domestically, but there are economies of scale to exploit and its own research has indicated that people would fly more often if it was cheaper. Some people still drive long distances and this is designed to get them to fly instead, but more importantly people can take MORE trips more often. The flow on effects to the business sector are considerable too - this is called a positive externality.

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2. Warn away further competition. Qantas's dropping of Wellington-Christchurch and the collapse of Origin Pacific Airways have helped Air NZ a great deal. This also is about showing to Pacific/Virgin Blue that the NZ domestic market is not easy pickings, and helps to emphasise Qantas keeping a relatively small scale operation on the two routes it operates.

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"but what about emissions" I hear in the background, as the Greens clamour for a bill to freeze the amount of aviation emissions, I am sure they will support this as long as there are no more flights. However, there WILL be more flights. That is not a bad thing either. More flights mean businesspeople can do more business, trade more and there is more room for time sensitive domestic air cargo. It also has major social benefits, with families and friends being able to meet more often. These are not social benefits paid for by taxpayers, but by those buying airfares. It will be easier to hold conferences anywhere in the country, and will do a damned sight more for regional development than anything Jim Anderton or the Ministry of Economic Development does.

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This is a far cry from the bad old days, when Air NZ had a statutory monopoly on domestic routes (except routes that it didn' t want to fly), was 100% state owned and lost money on all routes except the Auckland-Wellington-Christchurch "main trunk". Ironically Richard Prebble of all people voted against removing the statutory monopoly in 1983 (but redeemed himself by raising the foreign ownership limits on domestic airlines to 50% a few years later to let Ansett NZ become established). The cost of domestic air travel back then was in today's terms around 2.5 times what it is now. NZ has one of the most open domestic airline markets in the world in that 100% foreign owned airlines can operate freely - this is unlike Australia and the US, and is only paralleled by the EU (but this only applies to EU airlines). The threat of competition is clearly very very good for NZ consumers. Now which political party would turn the clock back?

The rise and fall of Jade Goody

To find out why this is the biggest news in the UK in one easy read, try Bryony Gordon's column in the Daily Telegraph, she summarises it beautifully.
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You see, UK Celebrity Big Brother was doing badly in the ratings until the past few days. It had even more of a B and C list range of celebrities, with the only people in the Big Brother household with international celebrity status being Leo Sayer, Jermaine Jackson and (in South Asia) Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, also Dirk Benedict from the “A Team” and well known film director Ken Russell. The highlight until recently was Leo Sayer breaking his way out of the Big Brother house and being stopped by security guards, because he was sick of dirty laundry. Ken Russell left on his own accord as he was sick of it, and punk musician Donny Tourette hopped over the wall because he refused to take the role of servant to Jade and her family saying ""I'm not waiting hand on foot on some fucking moron and her family" - you'll soon find out why he would say that.
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Anyway, the key person in there now is clearly Jade Goody, who became famous for being a brainless chav in a Big Brother in 2002. She made a fortune out of being on TV since then, being stupid (Cambridge is in “East Angular” according to her, which she thought was overseas), with the BBC website listing a whole range of her insights, as does Digital Spy.
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She was popular because she is very WYSIWYG – which is basically not very bright, foul mouthed and gobby (eek I’m picking up the vernacular). She talks a lot, about anything and doesn’t know much about it – which a lot of people in Britain appreciate probably because they all know people like that. She has had an “autobiography” written for her, and “writes” a column (rather gets someone else to write the thoughts she gobs out). A workout video was made of her, describing how she lost lots of weight - except she actually had liposuction. Yes I know she had a hard life when young, father left, mother is a nutter - but i know a few people who have had it hard too - they're not making millions of out talking shit.
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So she is famous not because of talent, skills, having produced nothing besides laughter from people taking the piss out of her for talking like an adolescent with less intelligence.
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Now she is the centre of a row having lost the plot by engaging in a prolonged abusive tirade against Shilpa Shetty a major Bollywood star. Her rant went on and on almost without interruption, largely just abuse, calling Shilpa a “princess” and how she’s “just like everyone else” – in other words the truth about how Jade is a nobody who was lucky to make a fortune out of it, vs others who actually are more than a mouth, hurts Jade. With Jo O’Meara and “glamour model” (in the UK it is glamorous to show your tits for a tabloid paper) WAG Danielle Lloyd cheering Jade on (with comments like “Shilpa should f*** off home. She can't even speak English”, she speaks English and much more than you, ignorant tart) it has caused an international row.
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There is an element of racism, but moreso an element of rather common working class young women being bitchy with a more dignified and polite young women from another culture. However nothing beats Jade’s abusive tirade, calling Shilpa a liar and fake, and much more that you can read on wiki, or watch it under Jade and Shilpa fight over stock cubes.
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The culture that celebrates and rewards talentless foul mouthed stupidity needs to be crushed. Goody’s truly insane persistent rant shows her up for what she really is - a stupid little envy ridden bitch who would rather bring down people who have some dignity, class and talent than listen and be civilised. Shilpa stood there and heard this little toilet mouthed nobody spew out her chivvy abuse, Jermaine Jackson tried to intervene but Jade thinks she is special because “Big Brother” is her environment. I hope this is her downfall – sponsors and producers should steer far away from this.
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Jade – you’ve made your money from being brainless and talking like an adolescent – now get some advice, invest it and spend your life watching TV, reading gossip mags, eating ready meals and fly Ryanair to Spain ever year to get your tan and get trollied with people like you. You can take your equally stupid boyfriend with you. You are a side show freak and you’ve been shown up to be a bundle of anger and brainlessness with NO sense of when to stop and think about your actions. The age of fame and fortune without brains, talent or beauty should be over and it is about time you were given the same attention you got five years ago – nothing. Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd will also need to repent, although they have some talent (singing and tits/pretty face respectively). Essentially they are the stereotype of three bitchy bullying schoolgirls sniping and egging each other on, maybe they should get real jobs and learn to get on with people? Shilpa’s comment to Jade ““You know what? Your claim to fame is this. So, good for you.” is so true
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Channel 4 is thrilled because the ratings are now way up, and newspapers in the UK and India, and TV news is dominated by what has been going on in this show. Gordon Brown has had to respond to it during his visit to India.
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See coverage in The Times, Guardian, it is THE front page in the Independent. The Daily Star calls it World War 3, The Sun calls it a national disgrace.
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This Friday Jade goes head to head with Shilpa for the vote as to who should be removed from the Big Brother household. I suspect Jade will be gone, the only question is whether the fanciful career of this nobody will have been poisoned for good. Her abuse reflects only on herself.
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By the way, Channel 4 is state owned – you might wonder why the state has a stake in this?

British newspapers

To the uninitiated, the main national British dailies seem like a cornucopiae of choice for the reader, there being no less than 11 options available every day (excluding Sundays), and more if you include regional papers. For the average Kiwi putting up with a single paper of one of the two main chains (Fairfax represented online by Stuff and APN dominated by the NZ Herald) excluding the Otago Daily Times which remains as the leading daily independent paper.

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The character Jim Hacker on the UK comedy series Yes Prime Minister famously quipped the following about the UK papers:

"The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country;

The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country;

The Times is read by people who actually do run the country;

the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country;

the Financial Times is read by people who own the country;

the Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; and the The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is"

followed by Bernard Woolley saying "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits"

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Now this is not that far from the truth, except that the Times is not read by those who run the country as much as the Independent is (which post dates Yes Prime Minister). So here is my quick and dirty summary of the papers:

There are three daily papers that are definitive of British political news...

Daily Telegraph: Almost always pro-Tory, but generally more socially liberal than the Tory party tends to be (except lately). Almost always tends to be anti-Labour, but has moved to the centre over time. Certainly one of the best written dailies and the one closest to my point of view. The definitive paper for the market and social liberal. Most reliable for conservative commentary. In NZ it would be most comfortably read by ACT voters.

The Times: Best described as aligned between Blair and the Tories, probably comfortable with David Cameron. Has supported Thatcher and Blair in the past. My second choice, but regularly out does the Telegraph for analysis. Has smudges of conservatism, but generally a moderately socially liberal, pro-economic liberal paper. In NZ it would be most comfortably read by voters in the centre or National voters.

The Guardian: The paper of the Labour left. Easily pro-Labour, but this has been challenged by the war in Iraq. About as reliably pro-Labour at election time as the Telegraph is pro-Tory, but despite its strong leftwing credentials does contain some first class analysis and journalists on its books. Backs leftwing causes on poverty, aid, affirmative action, welfarism, Europe, environment, as much as it also tends to be socially liberal. While I may largely disagree with it, it regularly defends it position with some degree of intellectual rigour. In NZ it would be most comfortably read by Labour, Maori Party or Green voters.

While it sometimes has something worthwhile to say, the Independent no longer really is, as it is essentially the paper of the Liberal Democrats - which themselves promiscuously spread themselves over the political spectrum. The Independent is the leftwing young looking neo-tabloid, scaremongering about the environment, inviting Bono to be editor for a day - so it is constantly attention seeking. As a result its analysis is more once over lightly. In NZ it would be most comfortably read by Green voters.

There is also the Financial Times not just the paper of the City of London and business, but a far more serious analysis of news that is particularly relevant to the economy and business. A heavy read for most, but most comprehensive for hard hitting analysis.

Moving down the market is the Daily Express also referred to as the "Daily Diana" because of its obsession with a well known deceased member of the Windsor household, reflected in it publishing a picture of her on the front page on the anniversary of the July tube bombings last year. It has an English nationalist outlook, tends to have a tinge of bigotry flowing through it and often publishes scandals about government bureaucracy, "political correctness gone mad" (is it ever not mad?) and lots of pictures of tarty young women. It rarely has genuinely interesting gossip that its serious tabloid competitors have, it pretends to not be a T & A rag and can't be seen to be a NEWSpaper by anyone other than BNP voters. In NZ it would be read by NZ First voters.

Further down market is the Daily Mail. The Mail is similar to the express in being crassly conservative and nationalistic, jumps on the "bloody bureaucrats interfering with your lives" bandwagon whilst simultaneously demanding the government "do something" about many other things. The Mail is a paper for the average talkback caller. It has a dark history being pro-Nazi until 1939 (when threatened with closure if it didn't change!), with its then owners supporting the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. It supports the monarchy, is anti-immigrant, supports being mercilessly tough on criminals, is anti-EU. More than perhaps any other paper, a reader of the Daily Mail risks being stereotyped as a racist old fashioned bigot who hates "bloody foreigners" and blames the government for everything. In NZ it would be read by NZ First voters.

The Daily Star is more of a true gossip tabloid. It focuses on the proletariat's obsession with celebrities, sport and gossip about stars. It tends to be somewhat nationalistic as well, but likes T & A so is far less serious and insipid than the Mail and Express. It is for entertainment more than news.

The Sun is the quintessential British tabloid. It has the page 3 girl to attract the bumcrack showing class of workers for their morning wank. It has the highest circulation of any of the papers, with over 3.1 million per day (don't link that to the previous sentence). It has backed both Thatcher and Blair, but tends to be socially liberal and somewhat skeptical about government - so would appeal to young male ACT voters in NZ. It has exposed the BNP for being nasty, so while centre-right does not tend to pander to the anti-immigrant nationalism of the Express and Mail. This excludes slagging off the French (for being French) and the Germans (don't forget the war).

The Daily Mirror is the leftwing equivalent of the Sun, originally launched as a paper for women in 1903! It supported anti-Iraq war protests and is abusively critical of G.W.Bush. It has been overshadowed in recent years by the Sun and the Daily Mail in popularity.

The Daily Sport, takes the Sun and goes further "downmarket", by essentially being a rag on celebrities and stories of ordinary people doing naughty things. It publishes a lot more T & A than any other, so could be seen to be on the boundary between "newspaper" and softcore lads mag.

Finally there is the Morning Star - the communist newspaper of the UK, published daily. I'm serious, it is Marxist through and through. It has been pro IRA, supports Labour candidates that aren't "New Labour", used to be uncritical of the USSR. You might wonder why the Morning Star is the only paper which requires a subscription to see today's "news" online, while all of the "capitalist" ones are free.

Wellington's Inner City Bypass Part One

I drove on the northbound section of this very modest inner city one way road the day after it opened, and I should hope that for Wellingtonians the phrase “much ado about nothing” should come to the for. Sue Kedgley always referred to it as a motorway extension - because it is more dramatic than calling it a one-way system - it is only a motorway extension in that it moves the motorway south one block, from Ghuznee St/Vivian St to Vivian St/new road.

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The Greens make statements such as "“The Wellington City bypass is a controversial and expensive plan to extend the motorway through downtown Wellington by just over a kilometre saving motorists only a few seconds off their journey times, at the cost of tens of millions dollars as well as the loss of heritage buildings and a once thriving community.” It isn't a motorway extension, it isn't downtown Wellington (that is the golden mile, Abel Smith Street is downtown Wellington like Khyber Pass Rd is downtown Auckland), the new road itself is 700 metres long, it saves between 10 minutes and 90 seconds depending on the time of day and the community is hardly lost.

It continues "In Te Aro, heritage buildings are being demolished - including both listed buildings and those not listed for political reasons”. In fact NO listed buildings were demolished at all, and to imply the Historic Places Trust is politically driven in this is close to defamatory, as it implies it operates outside the law. In addition, what is an unlisted "heritage building"?

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The Green alternative was to “Halt or modify the route of the Wellington inner-city 'bypass' to reduce its social and environmental impact, and address child safety and air pollution issues” which means diverting traffic along Abel Smith Street - which was rejected early on as making things worse for traffic and the local environment (there is little property access off the new route).

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So if you go to Cuba Street now, notice how little of it has been lost by the bypass built so far, although you wont notice the slashing of traffic on Ghuznee Street until the project is finished - but judge for yourself whether a community has been destroyed and whether this is a motorway extension.
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I wont write a lot about the history behind the project, Transit has a short summary, it essentially followed on from the decision that a motorway across the foothills of Wellington would provide the best route for distributing and collecting traffic from the Hutt/Porirua and northern suburbs to the city, southern and eastern suburbs. It would have originally seen two Terrace Tunnels (the current one was meant to be northbound only) and two Mt Victoria Tunnels (2 lanes each way) with a four lane motorway stretching across Te Aro. However, the Muldoon government cut road funding in the mid 70s and it was cut back to Willis Street. The project remained in the background for years, until the other end of the motorway was connected to Ngauranga Gorge (it originally only served traffic to/from the Hutt) doubling the traffic at the city end. The politically driven funding processes of the 80s saw it have a relatively low priority, and in the early 1990s Ruth Richardson slashed road spending as part of the overall effort to balance the budget. As a result there was no way in hell that even the scaled down motorway extension (keeping one tunnel each end) would be funded for some years.
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At the same time, local authority pressure on urban design changed how road projects were viewed. Originally a 4-lane motorway type road with over and underpasses between the Terrace and Mt Victoria Tunnels, there was much pressure to put it all below ground level and ultimately it became the “covered trench” motorway. This would see a cut and cover tunnel built from Vivian St to the Basin Reserve, so that Te Aro would have no visible motorway – parks and some building could be placed on top, and with one third of traffic removed from Te Aro streets (and the Wellington waterfront) it could have helped regenerate both Te Aro and the waterfront by dramatically cutting traffic. Unfortunately that design priced it out of the funding available at the time, and Transit General Manager Robin Dunlop announced that a more modest option would need to be developed for the interim. The interim was to last till 2005!
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The City Council and Transit agreed on an option, which is the one now nearly completed, but then the fun began. All of the land was held by Transit and the Council as both had bought up properties as they became available over a 25 year period. After extensive hearings, the route was confirmed under an RMA designation in 1996, but this was appealed to the Environment Court by the ecologist group Campaign for a Better City in 1999, which lost comprehensively. CBC was thoroughly fisked by those who come from a not dissimilar perspective, but believe in evidence rather than anger based analysis. Transit was awarded partial costs for this, but CBC has refused to pay this. You see it thinks that it has a right to take court cases that fail paid for by you, the motorist. Sore losers are the ecologists. You’ll notice that their still active website does not include the decision – not that interested in competing arguments either.
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The Green campaign against the bypass got new impetus with the change in government. The official Transit website summarises how it got Historic Places Trust approval (phew) to dig up the site because of the “artefacts” (my old flat was older than them) and the CBC appealed it to the High Court but that was dismissed also.
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Following this, Transfund granted the project full construction funding….
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However, something else went on behind the scenes. With the change of government, and the Greens granting the Labour/Alliance coalition confidence and supply, they wanted to stop the project. Labour bent over backwards to do what it could to appease the Greens, but all of its best analysis, and more importantly the law – meant that the bypass was worthy to fund.

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In this process the Greens would distort lie and ignore everything put in their way, even though every Wellington city and regional council elected in the 20 or so years has supported the bypass or its predecessor. You see they are not that interested in democracy when it doesn't suit their point of view. However every chance was given to review the project. This included:

- Wellington Regional Councils and Wellington City Councils elected in 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001;

- Wellington Regional Land Transport Committees over that period;

- Transit New Zealand boards over that period;

- Transfund New Zealand boards considering investigation, design and construction funding;

- Hearings Committee on the designation;

- Environment Court;

- Historic Places Trust;

- High Court;

- Parliaments elected in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2002 (in refusing to propose or consider legislation to stop this particular project);

- Independent Peer Review of the evaluation of the project;

- Major Projects Review of major road projects in advance of entry into force of the Land Transport Management Act.

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When does someone wake up and realise that the argument is lost?

Red Ken must go

Day and Nightmare/mayor of London, Ken Livingstone was reported by the Daily Mail (one of the most scurrilous rags in the UK press) to be supporting the funding of 50th anniversary celebrations of the Cuba communist revolution. This has been rebutted as being untrue by his office, in that Cuba is simply being invited, like other Olympic countries to stage events before or after the Olympics in London. Nothing more.

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Which is an enormous relief, except when you see the fawning rubbish put out by Ken in support of the Cuban dictatorship. He claims "'Life expectancy and infant mortality are at levels comparable to far more economically advanced countries." We actually have no idea, because under a communist dictatorship you can't know - the stats are no more reliable than they were in the eastern bloc or North Korea today. He talks of " Fidel Castro is one of the most popular leaders around the world". Funny how Fidel has staunchly refused to put this to the test by allowing the Cuban people to vote for him or alternative candidates in a free and fair election.

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"There is no reason why Cuba should be singled out for controversy except for people coming at international issues from a very right wing perspective." Nor Chile under Pinochet Ken, except for those coming to things from a very left wing perspective - or perhaps both from people who believe in freedom of speech and individual liberty, you envy ridden Marxist bully.

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Cuba is not a land where you can criticise the government, in fact it means you go to prison or worse. That is what is wrong Ken - no free speech, free press or freedom of assembly or association.

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On top of that I received an invitation to this conference which is about challenging the notion that there is a clash of civilisations - part of Ken's warming up to Islamic radicals.

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Why can't the Tories find an intelligent candidate to run against him? Or has that candidate already been chased away by New New Labour leader David Cameron.

Telecom raises local line rentals

Having clapped with glee about the government’s decimation of much of Telecom’s property rights, there is now noise (from only two sources) that Telecom is increasing local residential line rentals of between $1 and $1.84 a month. Nevertheless, even though local fixed line phones are not compulsory, people will moan about it. A few will live in Wellington and Christchurch where they DO have a choice, but where the majority still use Telecom. What does that tell you?
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Telecom can’t just increase local line rentals willy nilly though, it is only allowed to do so under the Kiwi Share held by the government. Now from my point of view this is not an infringement on Telecom’s property rights because this was negotiated as part of the privatisation, but it does mean that every year Telecom hikes up the fixed line rental because it can quote the Kiwi Share as justification. Whether it would do it more often and more without the Kiwi Share is debatable.
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You see, unlike most countries, the government requires Telecom (through the Kiwi Share) to provide a flat rate unlimited free call option for local calls. In Australia you pay per call, in the UK you pay per minute per call, in the US it varies, so in NZ if you are a heavy user of the phone for local calls it is a pretty good deal, a particularly good deal if you use the internet for dialup access (which is perhaps one reason why New Zealand had quick takeup of dialup internet, but not so quick for broadband).
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New Zealand fixed telephone line customers don’t think twice about making very long calls on local lines, including dialing up their ISP. Those who use the phone occasionally effectively cross subsidise the rest. However there is more. The Kiwi Share also requires Telecom to charge rural customers no more than urban customers. This is where things really become interesting. The cost of providing a rural telephone line is many times in excess of the local line rental. I recall a government study undertaken in the late 1990s which indicated that the average cost of providing a phone to a rural property was around ten times that of the line rental. Don’t forget that these rural properties are always considered residential, when they are almost always farms – these would be businesses in the city, but because the farmers LIVE on the properties Telecom is required to charge them the same as if you lived in an apartment in downtown Auckland, where it costs less to provide. Remember business lines are completely outside the Kiwi Share’s ambit.
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Paul Budde, who has long made a career out of commenting on telecommunications for the media (and reprocessing and publishing publicly available information for a fee – notice the companies that he has NOT done CONSULTANCY work for) has criticised Telecom because “Prices in technology are dropping and dropping and dropping, and so it's very difficult to argue that these prices should go up”, ignoring that the provision of the line is not just about the capital cost of the line. It is also about the power, the labour costs of maintenance of the lines, power and poles. Budde is right that the marginal costs of making phone calls is tiny, but Telecom is not allowed to recover that cost from residential customers – it has to recover the average cost of providing the fixed line infrastructure nationwide and the marginal costs of local calls from all customers. It is worth noting that I have never ever heard Budde being quoted as an authoritative source from anyone in the industry or government circles, but that the press always trots him out because he is so desperate for attention that they can easily find him willing to comment on these matters. I would trust David Cunliffe on telecommunications more than Paul Budde (and that is saying something!).
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Clearly Telecom charges enough of a margin in main centres that it was economic for the then Telstra-Saturn to lay out a competing residential line network in Wellington (including the Hutt/Kapiti) and Christchurch. Maybe it would have done the same in Auckland had the government not been so willing to give it access to Telecom’s own lines, and local authorities not been so anally retentive about it laying cables in the streets using the RMA to stop it. We wont know under the current environment.
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So what options do you have?

1. Pay the extra and recognise that you are a consumer buying a service from a supplier, and nobody has forced you to buy that service. If you are in a major city you may ask your council what its policy is on new operator laying their own cables to provide a competing network. If you are in the rural hinterland, be grateful you’re probably paying a tenth of the cost of providing you with a phone line and that farms aren’t treated as businesses.

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2. If you are in Christchurch and much of greater Wellington, you can choose Telstra Clear. This is the network it owns, it can charge what it likes.

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3. Abandon your fixed phone line and use a mobile phone.

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4. Use one of the resellers that Telecom is forced to offer its lines to at a government regulated price for local phone access (Ihug and Telstra Clear offer this virtually nationwide).

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5. Set up your own network. Try raising the capital with all the others who complain what a ripoff it is and compete – after all, why waste time at your current job if you’re such a good market analyst? You'll complain Telecom will cut prices to compete with you, well Telstra Clear has managed over 50% market share in Kapiti and between 20 and 30% in Wellington and Christchurch, so work on the basis of doing about that well. Go on, you'll have thousands on your side wanting to stop the "monopoly gouging".

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So what will it be?

Update

Well thanks partly to the elderly woman in a wheelchair who coughed on me at Auckland airport, I caught the flu which kept me out of action for a week after arriving back in London.

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Then we moved flats - yay. So this is random statement time.

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As the phone line has not been connected as promised at home, I neither have phone nor broadband (don't even have decent TV reception), and there is a ton of work to catchup with there has beeen little blogging, but I will be up to speed shortly.

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It's sunny here - something I didn't notice much in New Zealand.

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I did notice parents with big families who fly in business class, what's that about?

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The Thai lounge at Hong Kong Airport doesn't clean the showers after each customer uses it, and the non-Thai food is inedible.

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anyway, it is nice to ignore politics. Few things are more insipid than people trying to appeal to the greatest numbers of people by deliberately avoiding believing in anything, and avoiding insulting them.

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Two men died being run over by a tube train as they were attempting to graffiti a building - how sad! They are exactly the type of people Barking needs rid of, the ones that help make it look run down.

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The UK is still obsessed with "climate change", which has replaced the Anglican Church as the leading UK religion.

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Um Happy New Year

As I sit at Auckland Airport a few things come to mind before the battery on my laptop conks out....

1. The weather is bloody disgusting in NZ this visit, except my last and first day (both in Hawke's Bay) and Auckland tonight. Freezing down south, peeing down in Welly. Yuk. I am NOT happy with that.

2. The bread is wonderful in NZ - the fat and sugar added to English bread is revolting and damn if I didn't over consume vogels.

3. Air NZ international lounge complementary massage for those flying to London etc is WONDERFUL.

4. NZ newspapers are 90% crap. (wow really?)

5. NZ bogans are like kids compared to chavs in the UK.

6. Service - a phenomenon unknown in England almost without exception - it used to be like that in NZ - thankfully it has changed.

7. Furniture removalists in the UK - thieves.

Award time

While the fecking rain appears and disappears to ruin the bbq in South Canterbury, a few awards:

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1. Best left wing blog: No Right Turn. Frankly the competition is pretty slack, but more often than not there is some decent argument and thought that goes into this blog. I'd rather read this than all the others combined, because it isn't part of the Labour party felchocracy. I may more often than not disagree, but I would rather disagree with someone with arguments I think are wrong than a fawning idiot.

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2. Best new word of the year: Felchocracy (n) 1. Participating in politics by engaging in support for one party to the extent that you are willing to swallow whatever shit it excretes, and spit it in the face of all others.

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3. Best non-left wing blog: Not PC. I did think hard about this, as PC is a friend of mine, but it is consistently one of the most pithy well balanced and thoughtful blogs on the freedom side of the fence.

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4. Smartest kid I know: My niece Jennifer. At 7 she is more articulate, thoughtful and mature than plenty who are 10 and counting. I can only wish her the best for the coming year, she's top of her class (which I understand isn't hard given the state of better state schools), precocious and very cute to boot. She'll outgrow Napier quicker than her peers, I only hope that she knows - politely - how much better she is than them. As long as she can avoid the provincial NZ diseases of mediocrity, pregnancy, welfare and drug addictions - she'll be fine, unfortunately too many of her peers wont.

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5. Book of the year: Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion. I've devoured half of it on my trip so far. Absolutely gripping, entertaining and insightful. Some of the answers are not a mystery (if God created the universe, who created God? Same problem). He should produce a kids version for distribution to all schools. He gives most of the answers. I believe Objectivism gives the rest. Religion isthe second greatest cancer in the world, only second because it is a subset of the first - irrationality.

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6. Best new blog: Pacific Empire. Damned good stuff in this, thoughtful and debatable too. A few young guys who enjoy a good bit of mental gymnastics.

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Anyway enough of that, have a Happy New Year wherever you may be... I may add random ramblings at times or not... just expect not too much until after the New Year.

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but if there is one single thing to take away from this, it is to be yourself and be true to yourself. Nothing is more important to live for than your own happiness - there is nothing else. Respect the right of others to do the same.

End of year....

Well like most bloggers, I'm too busy enjoying the holidays to be arsed writing about anything much... since I am currently in South Canterbury for a few days before heading up to Wellington, I thought I'd just make a few random remarks for the hell of it:

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1. Why is it that Air New Zealand's British and Chinese cabin crews from London to Auckland were friendlier and more helpful than the Kiwi ones (or the one in the front cabin)? The difference is between people who couldn't do enough, to sour faced bitch. The Chinese cleaner at the United lounge at Hong Kong was a blessing though, she came and got me when a shower was free - THAT is what benevolence is about.

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2. Appreciate the low density housing, wide open spaces, lack of traffic (seriously NZers, get over it, almost all congestion is a joke compared to London) and room. Think carefully about those who want to impose high density living on our cities, and the arguments they put forward. I can just say that it is one of the things I appreciate the most while away from London.

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3. When thinking about recovery of fines, think about tax. Think about how dedicated the state is to taking your money to fund its activities, and think how less dedicated it is to punishing criminals, ask yourself if things shouldn't be reversed, and whether the state is more interested in growing itself than undertaking its core function - to protect you from criminals. David Farrar comments rightly about how immoral it is to fine people based on wealth. An alternative is to deduct fines from people's incomes JUST like tax, including welfare.

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4. Death of Gerald Ford - the President who pardoned Nixon and shepherded the USA until the disaster of Jimmy Carter. Sadly he wont be remembered for much more. He survived two assassination attempts. On the bright side he fought the wasteful and destructive welfarism of Johnson, he reduced taxes, and entered into the Helsinki Accords with the USSR. These accord which included commitments on human rights, such as free speech, planted a seed that undermined the communist administrations in eastern Europe over the following decade or so, it gave NGOs in those countries something to start holding their regimes to account, though few would notice how significant it was for some years. On the other side he gave Suharto the nod to invade East Timor, which saw hundreds of thousands murdered. The justification was fear of a Marxist regime following Portugal's swift decolonisation - but Suharto's blood thirsty ways had been ignored. That must surely be his darkest moment, darker than pardoning Nixon. So I am ambivalent about Ford - he recovered the dignity of the Presidency, but only just.

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5. End of Don Brash's political career - I written almost enough about this. All I wish is that Don and his family have a great holiday season. He has done more for NZ than his colleagues will ever publicly give him credit for.

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6. Politicians I most want to see the back of before the end of 2006:

- Fidel Castro (come on, I'd like the year to end on a happy note);

- Robert Mugabe (he is surrounded by so many low lifes someone must be ambitious);

- Ken Livingstone (there must be a mad bus driver somewhere ready to give productive (i.e. 10% of) Londoners an end of year present;

- Helen Clark (you haven't climbed enough mountains yet Helen, you know 2008 is virtually unwinnable - oh that's right you're facing Key and English, fair enough then);

- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (time to visit God you bigoted knuckle dragging prick).

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7. Saddam's death sentence. Yawn get it over with, the man has the blood of hundreds of thousands on his hands. I have better things to do than waste time giving a damn.

Corrupt influence of blogs

I am sitting in the United Red Carpet Club Lounge at Hong Kong Airport, waiting in transit from London to Auckland. Following a shower, change of clothes and a light snack I thought I'd go online using one of the terminals in the lounge, and look at some of my favourite blogs. Could I?

No.

Most of you have the word "fuck" or "fucked" or variations thereof, including my own. Since I use blogrolls to check out others, i tried google but it is blocked as a "domain with forbidden content", so I used dogpile which of course works perfectly because the censorship nazis at the lounge are too dumb to know how easy it is to get around any of this.

So I couldn't see Not PC or Kiwiblog or my own even. Others not viewable include Cactus Kate and Whaleoil

but I could see NewZeal, Lindsay Mitchell, Gman, Oswald Bastable (feck not fuck remember), Crusader Rabbit, Pacific Empire, Sir Humphreys

I didn't look at left wing ones as I am on holiday and I don't want to be pissed off (the 2.5 hour wait for takeoff from Heathrow hasn't helped).

However AJ Chesswas's one was blocked, due to a weird obsession with Bill English categorised as disturbing content.

and flight is called...

Merry Christmas Turkmenistan

To round off a year of dictators' deaths, Saparmurat Niyazov or "Turkmenbashi" as he made his subjects call him, has died. I wrote about him briefly 13 months ago here.

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Had Sacha Baron Cohen done his research properly he probably would have picked Turkmenistan rather than Kazakhstan as the subject for his succesful film. Although having said that, he may have needed protection had he done so.

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Niyazov was only rivalled by Kim Jong Il for authoritarian power in the world today. Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko may try, but Niyazov is far closer to Stalin. Pinochet was an amateur compared to Niyazov. Reporters Without Borders rank Turkmenistan as having the 2nd worst press freedom in the world (after North Korea).

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Niyazov was one of those dreary nasty Soviet Communist Party officials who worked his way to the top of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic Communist Party, and ironically got his original position because Mikhail Gorbachev fired his corrupt predecessor. During glasnost and perestroika, Niyazov largely ignored what was happening elsewhere in the USSR. He supported the failed putsch against Gorbachev in 1991, and in the break up of the USSR inherited the Presidency of Turkmenistan.

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He held an election and got 99.2% of the vote (!) and essentially continued the old USSR except in his own image (I hope Matt Robson, George Galloway and Chris Trotter observe since they miss it so such). It is a totalitarian state with any expression of political opposition resulting in imprisonment or internment in a mental hospital. The state owns and operates all press, broadcasting and publications. While water, oil and gas are "free to citizens" nothing else is and state set wages for the state owned industries (i.e. virtually all jobs) are very low. It's official GDP per capita (PPP basis) is similar to neighbouring Iran, but it is almost impossible to rely on official statistics from a regime which has been eternally optimistic. He maintained neutrality on foreign policy, allowing US military aircraft overflight rights in the war in Afghanistan, but also close trading relations with Russia and Iran. The EU even granted Turkmenistan MFN trading status, largely to access its oil and gas.

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Niyazov had run a personality cult which was only rivalled by Kim Jong Il. His name and face are everywhere on billboards, banknotes, carpets, products and of course the news media is filled with his deeds. He wrote a philosophical book called the Ruhnama, which is literally the national bible. It is compulsory reading at school and must be kissed upon entering a mosque (Turkmenistan is Islamic, but Niyazov clearly created his own religion). Knowledge of the book is required for many jobs and even a driving licence. Criticism of even inadequate reverence for Ruhnama can land you in prison or even to face torture. He had built a gold statue that rotates to always face the sun (you can see it on google earth)

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The list of bizarre features is too long for even this blog but here goes with some of them:

- He introduced a new alphabet and made it compulsory;

- The months of the year have been renamed with Turkmen heroes;

- Despite being wealthy with the world's 5th largest gas deposits, Niyazov spent many of the national wealth on projects such as a ski resort, an ice palace outside the capital, and a 130 foot pyramid;

- Banned beards;

- Banned car radios;

- Banned video games;

- Banned opera and ballet;

- Banned smoking in public;

- Closed all rural libraries saying rural dwellers don't read anyway;

- Closed all hospitals outside the capital Ashqabat saying if people are ill they can come to the capital (country is 488,000 square km in area!);

- Niyazov's short stature can never be mentioned (he was 5ft);

- Women under 35 cannot leave the country without having given birth to 2 children;

- Teachers wishing to earn more than the lowest pay scale had to write articles praising Niyazov;

- Officially defined adolescence as 13-25 and defined others (I'm a youth!).

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I hope this results in real change, I hope the struggle for succession in Turkmenistan sees someone benevolent take over, free his country and avoid the vacuum being filled by Islamists thanks to neighbouring Iran. Turkmenistan deserves to have freedom unfold, while maintaining personal security, and for its people to see the fruits of its ample energy wealth. Good luck Turkmenistanis, my best wishes are with you that your age of madness has come to an end. With 60% unemployment, it is easy to see the risk that this could unfold into a whole bloody mess. Isn't socialist central planning truly wonderful?

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Anyway I HAD to write that as I get ready to fly out of Heathrow through the blanket of fog!

11 things I like about Britain

Given I fly out in exactly 24 hours (hopefully since Heathrow is covered in fog and the number of flights permitted to land/takeoff has been halved - the 90 second safety factor gets doubled!), I thought I'd end my UK based blogging for the year with a positive note about this country I now call home. There is a lot to be negative about, so I figured I should spontaneously think of 10 good things and found 11:

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1. Comedians. The UK has some of the best comedians in the world. The highlights this year have been Russell Brand (probably considered the sexiest man on UK television), Dara O'Briain, Charlotte Church, Phil Jupitus are all people who have stood out as being extraordinarily funny. Paul Merton and Ian Hislop deserve a mention for Have I Got News for You, as does Simon Amstell on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. I'll even mention the million pound man, Jonathan Ross. Without these people UK TV would largely be pretty dire. Even Jeremy Paxman, who is by and large a serious journalist on Newsnight has a brilliant wit.

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2. Stage and theatre. London is almost unrivalled in talent and variety. It makes this city alive and after a while you take it for granted.

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3. Newspapers. You simply can't read the NZ Herald or the Dominion Post ever again for anything other than local interest stories and the very occasional columnist after devouring the Telegraph or the Times, or even the leftie Guardian. This is journalism at its best. Comparing these newspapers to NZ papers is like comparing 1st year undergraduates to their lecturers. The tabloids are just funny, especially the Sun and the News of the World.

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4. Friendliness of northerners and the Scots. Now it might be an exagerration to say they are either really friendly or ready to mug you, but almost all of the people in "the north" that I have met have been friendly and helpful. There is another side, but I'm going to be positive and many of you don't know what "Chav" means.

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5. Variety. It's not the best place to shop in Europe, but you can buy almost anything. Big population means specialisation. It may take some looking but you can find most things here. Of course I mean in London, this doesn't apply much the further you get out of town. Variety also means concerts, it means people (40% of people in London are not from London).

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6. Pride in appearance. So many people dress so much better here than in New Zealand (I don't mean Chavs). Classy, sophisticated, imaginative and individual. Women are wearing short skirts in 2 degrees weather. In other words, many people try harder here to look their best. Going to the corner shop on a Sunday does not mean dressing like a slob - well where I live anyway.

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7. Gordon Ramsay. This man is a culinary and business god. His original restaurant may outclass all of his others by a mile, but he is THE inspirational chef. He is passionate, hard working, intelligent, loves the food and the appearance and tolerates NO fools. If only a tenth of people in Britain were like him...
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8. "Take the piss" game shows on TV. I have mentioned Have I Got News for You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, but there is also QI. Forget nonsense like Deal or No Deal, these shows are funny, irreverent, witty and very clever. The Americans find it hard to make fun of themselves for fear of offending each other, NZers can only do it between close friends, but the Brits are brilliant at playing games which don't really matter in order to crack jokes.

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9. Properly heated and insulated homes. How do New Zealanders survive, especially down south, without central heating? In Britain nobody needs dehumidifiers, everyone has central heating and you wonder why NZ's asthma rate is so high?

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10. Transport hub for the world. Heathrow and Gatwick (and Eurostar). The greatest hubs in the world, makes it cheap and easy to go virtually anywhere. Eurostar means Paris is not far over 2 hours away by the end of next year and Brussels already is. If it gets a bit much, it is easy to leave.
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11. Irreverence for the royal family. Where else can you joke about the Queen's husband being a murderer, where else can you talk about the sovereign's grandchild as Harry the Nazi, where else can it be the norm to take the piss out of the next in line for the throne? In many countries you'd be executed, in Britain they are an object of affection and fun. Brits can laugh at themselves, and that is perhaps the greatest thing of all.
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Merry Christmas Brits, have fun and take care, and try not to fight.

Annoyed? Start a petition

10 Downing Street has a website where people can lodge serious petitions to the PM about various issues. If you ever wonder why Nanny State is alive and well in Britain, then consider the thousands of petitions that, by and large, statists promote for the government to run other people’s lives. Most of the ideas are crazy, showing how many people think the government is omnipotent and should be all encompassing (and authoritarian). Some of the funniest petitions that are still open (not rejected!) are:
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- Charge fat people more for using public transport when they take up more than one seat space;
- Bring back public flogging;
- Get people to stop bullying other people;
- Stop wives from nagging men
- Require eggnog to be available at all licensed premises at advent;
- Extend child benefits to cats (petitioner's name is Mrs Cat);
- Forbid hairdresser and fish and chip shop owners from giving their shops silly names;
- Keep HP Sauce in Britain;
- Cut taxes on lingerie, sex toys, chocolates and cigarettes;
- Make Spanish the only language taught at schools;
- Ignore petitions with poor spelling;
- Ensure exterior lights point downward to avoid light pollution of the sky at night
- PM to stand on his head and juggle ice cream;
- Move Parliament to Bradford;
- Dis-establish the Church of England and ban creation of new religions;
- Force house prices down to 25% of their current value;
- Ban all online petitions including this one
- Recognise Borat as leader of Kazakhstan
- Acknowledge fetishism and sadomasochism as sane sexual practices
- Replace God Save the Queen with Gold by Spandau Ballet as the National anthem

hmmm

Marian Hobbs's imminent retirement

David Farrar (who was campaign manager for Mark Blumsky's attempt to unseat Hobbs in 2005) reports on Wellygirl's report that Marian intends to retire from politics. This has been confirmed by Newstalk ZB so it then leaves Wellington Central wide open for Bernard Darnton :) doesn't it now?

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I first heard of Marian when she stood for Labour in the Selwyn by-election after Bolger stabbed Ruth Richardson in the back, and Marian came third against as the Alliance's halfwit extraordinaire John Wright came second. She won a list seat in 1996 and I shuddered when she defeated Richard Prebble in Wellington Central in 1999, reflecting both a swing against the government and changed electoral boundaries losing parts of Ngaio and gaining parts of Brooklyn and Newtown.

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As much as I despise most of her politics, I found her to be a good natured person and has a great sense of humour. While she was once a communist, she has also been pragmatic. She is prepared to listen and debate, and will actually read the entire content of a Cabinet paper. In short, after a rather difficult start (the 5th teletubby - Boo Boo nomenclature arrived quickly), she gained the respect of colleagues and bureaucrats for working hard and being willing to engage. In that sense, as a person, she will be missed.

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I followed her on the electoral trail twice with the Libertarianz candidates in the past two elections and she was always respectful and considerate of other candidates and their rights to speak and debate. She was probably not best suited to the lies, nastiness and vapid nature of politics, but very well suited as an auntie and someone to sit and have a good natter with.

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I never voted for Marian (I mean she is Labour, sheesh!), but she was, by and large a rare breed. A rather honest politician. She would rarely promise what couldn't be delivered and while she certainly is a socialist, she also knew some of the limits of her politics. Though I am sure I couldn't convince her that she committed many mistakes, most of them involve voting with the Labour Party since 1996 :)

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In an age when so many politicians are either vindictive, treacherous or complete political whores - it is something worth noting. I hope she enjoys her retirement.

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PS: It was Bernard's birthday on Monday, he is a ripe old 34, as one of the political heroes of 2006 he deserves that to be noted. Cheers Bernard!