Census prosecution

Nik Haden, Wellington economist, is being charged by the Statistics Department, because of his alleged behaviour in relation to protests last year against the compulsion around filling out census forms. This protest was about one simple point – that the state should not require you, by threat of force, to fill out a form just because you happen to be in the country at a certain time. There would be nothing wrong with it being voluntary, but the concept of people actually being able to choose themselves is alien to statists. Like I said at the time, I never filled out the two before it and nothing happened, and well I was in London for the last one.

Most of the economy seems to work on the basis of surveys, such as the entire broadcasting sector. Imagine if you were legally required to fill in a TV survey form every year, or a radio one and if you did it incorrectly, you would be prosecuted? No, seriously. It IS like that.

It is a crime in Clarkistan, though it also was in Bolgeria and Shipleyvakia. When Katrina Bach was a Deputy Secretary at MED, a contractor had his contract summarily terminated for sending round the joke email about entering your religion as a Jedi – the sense of humour bypass clearly was a roaring success. By contrast, the UK Office for National Statistics was relaxed about it for the 2001 UK census, because more people filled it out because they enjoyed putting their religion as Jedi.

If you want to know who supports this sort of prosecution then you might ask one David Farrar. He said of this issue:

“as the census is used to in construction of electoral rolls etc, then my view would be that if you refuse to fill in a census, then you lose the right to vote.
AFter all if you want to be a non-person, then you can't demand rights.”

So filling in a census grants you rights!! So is the anonymous census actually used to match people to houses? Hmmm… What gets me is that yes, to many people this seems simple – fill in a form, what’s the big deal?

The point is principle, something that most people associated with a major political party sell like a whore, it is that I have the right to remain silent. The same should also apply to entering the country, given that many countries have virtually open borders (I crossed between Denmark and Sweden four times in two days and didn't have to show a passport, and as a UK resident (not citizen) I do not need to fill in any damned form when I arrive from anywhere in the world).

If I peacefully go about my day to day business, I have the right to not be forced to fill out a damned form because the state wants to assist itself with planning etc. Yes, if I want to vote I should go on the electoral roll and then let electoral boundaries be determined by who is on the roll, not the entire population.

I am quite agnostic about there being a census, but it should be voluntary. It is telling that the state can charge Nik Haden so swiftly, whereas if you are burgled or your car is stolen, you’ll probably never hear of it again. The efficient by which the state prosecutes those who threaten its taxes and statistics far outranks its efficiency in protecting the population.

Go Nik, defend this on principle. There is a right to protest against the census law, a right that few are interested in, but which does go to the heart of what a liberal democracy is. You shouldn't be prosecuted for protesting against a bureaucratic law.

absence and food miles ticks on

Well I've been to Scandinavia where people are friendly, beautiful and most things are clean, safe, there aren't CCTV cameras and cops everywhere to deter braindead "youf" from causing havoc.... and I've been very busy working.... and my damned new internet service provider with 2 weeks notice hasn't even managed to get the line sorted out so has to come back next week... and the old one's billing agent keeps trying to extract money out of me for services I cancelled weeks ago (and the contract HAS ended).

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but meanwhile food miles keep being repeated....

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The Times on Saturday in its lifestyle feature (not online) talked of why buying New Zealand lamb might be risky because apparently it isn't as inspected as British lamb - no doubt spread by the EU tit sucking British farmers, which I help pay for without even buying their high carbon footprint product. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of people have read this now - and the forces of UK Green delusions and old fashioned protectionism continue to wage war against the efficient and environmentally friendly New Zealand farmer.

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On top of this a so-called think tank the International Institute for Environment and Development is harping on about food miles according to Reuters, but only gives respite when considering developing countries. Well sorry, the highly subsidised, environmentally unfriendly European farmer deserves all of the approbrium directed at them. Perhaps IIED should do more thinking before promoting food miles like a bunch of sheep.

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According to Belfast Today Northern Ireland farmers want supermarkets to label beef and lamb food miles, as a direct attack against efficient farmers in New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. This is part of a campaign from Fairness for Farmers in Europe.

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Fairness? Fuck them!! Fairness means:

- Being the most heavily subsidised farmers in the world, bar none;

- Not even having the new EU member state farmers subsidised the same, because Polish and Hungarian farmers are more efficient than French and British ones;

- Having one of the most protected markets for food in the world, with high tariffs, quotas and prohibitions on imported food all to protect the poor little bleeting farmers from facing real market prices and compete with farmers from countries where it is their backbone;

- Being subsidised even further to undercut local unsubsidised farmers or other less subsidised farmers from other countries outside Europe.

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The only thing that will be fair will be to end all of this nonsense and let rural Europe be farmed efficiently or return to untilled empty land.

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and here Tesco and Sainsburys have pledged to cut food miles..... great

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By the way I've tried to deal with this on the BBC website with limited success, but you can try here too.

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Helen Clark apparently mentioned this to Tony Blair when she met him recently, but you wouldn't know anything of that in the UK. Clark and John Howard should meet and discuss how to deal with this...

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but still the mainstream NZ media says nothing, maybe the handful of real journalists will wake up and do a story on it, particularly if TVNZ or a newspaper flies one of the plucky young hopefuls to London for a free trip to report on it.

We're twats known as

… the Parliamentary Labour Party.
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THIS is what your taxes help pay for. Little twerps to click repeatedly on a stuff poll about John Key. 17,104 out of 33,600 votes cast (nearly 51%) came from Parliament. Let’s assume that some should have been in favour of Key (should have been around 40% perhaps?) then a few little smart arses in the Labour (and maybe other pro government parties) have been clicking their tiny mice as if they had been wanking online as 80% of votes from Parliament were anti-Key. It still means there have been a lot of votes from the Nat side of course, but really... they thought they were SO clever.

Harry Potter is never nude

Some eye candy for the female readers who aim a bit below 20 (and the male ones too, including at least one MP, it's hardly academic who that is).
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Daniel Radcliffe may be nude, but not Harry Potter.

Good on him, hell he's pursuing a dream of millions. Be a much loved role model and object of the affection of millions of girls, and now he's on the West End and worth a fortune at 17. The Daily Mail has the photo here (larger) to squeeze the juices from his fans. The Sun has more photos of Radcliffe almost naked (google likes these words)

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His nudity will no doubt mean that hundreds of thousands of girls (and a few thousand boys) will be trying to get into the play, and a smaller number of pervy men (and women) will also pursue him (such is life). Hey he's 17, let him enjoy it, he clearly looks after himself and his reputation is far from tarnished. His main problem are the gold-digging tarts looking to whore their way into his substantial fortune. In the UK they are as common as rats. I presume he is having fun screening the 0.1% who will meet his esteemed standards (being hot, smart enough to not blab and not be an excessive leech, having an equally discreet hot friend so he can watch them together). I'm sure Emma Watson can advise on some suitable companions from her Oxford private school. According to Stuff some parents are apparently upset about his nudity, because their "9yo son is a fan", well don't take the boy to the play and maybe explain why you make your son self conscious about his nudity when he showers. Another asked why his parents thought it was ok to do it, well maybe at 17 being legal age and all, he can decide? Remember the average Brit loses their virginity several years before that, appearing nude on stage is a lot less risky than that! May he continue to enjoy his career, money, life and most of all be happy, and for people to get over nudity!

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Now all that is needed is for Emma Watson to do the same (though if she does some of the press will probably be quite cruel, for women who expose are treated differently from men), as she is 17 in April (on Kim Il Sung's birthday go figure - you read it first), but she has to finish school first (don't go there). She shouldn't and wont do the "glamour model" thing, because she is smarter than that - so better to perform a serious role in a film or play that involves her being passionate and sexy. Her fluency in French should help this. So so few young female British stars can do that without simply looking cheap. She, of course, doesn't need a 45 year old sugar daddy from the City, or the money from doing doggerrell in the UK tabloid press. Don't forget Rupert Grint, he is older and may well be the most popular ginga in the UK - good on them all!

Fight foodmiles now

Phil Goff has missed the point. Tesco's plan wont hurt New Zealand exporters in itself, but the philosophical mantra behind food miles does, and it is almost universally unquestioned. I have yet to see a single item on British TV questioning food miles, and the items in the newspapers are rare indeed. You see, the food miles myth is as good as fact in the minds of many many consumers in the UK.

If you are a NZ farmer, read very very carefully, your livelihood is at stake. Whether or not you believe global warming is occurring, and regardless of your political philosophy, you need to take an initiative, together to fight the propaganda coming from the European farming sector, many European politicians and the mass media about "food miles". Why? It is becoming also quasi-religious to "avoid food miles and save the planet", when you and I both know things are far from that simple.

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You could embark on a campaign denying global warming, but frankly that is a bigger battle and one you are poorly equipped to fight. However, what you can fight is the "food miles" faith, based on evidence.

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The entire NZ agricultural export sector needs to take out full page ads in the Guardian, the Independent, the Times and the Daily Telegraph (not cheap) for starters (and then work on the rest of Europe) explaining the carbon footprint for NZ lamb vs UK lamb, NZ butter and cheese vs UK butter and cheese. You might also explain how much you might sell these products to the UK market if the EU didn't impose quotas and tariffs, let alone the effect of subsidising your competitors.

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You need to do it this year, and if you can use television as well, then the better. This campaign will cost multiple tens of millions of dollars, but you need to do it.

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The food miles fad isn't just followed by a minority of environmentalists in the UK, it is accepted mainstream mantra. You want proof? Well see these reports in the past few weeks in ALL major UK media outlets:

- Daily Telegraph;

- The Times and again;

- The Independent (French rather than NZ wine) and again;

- Guardian and again;

- BBC and again and again and again.

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I live in the UK, I hear "food miles" nearly every day from somewhere and it is frustrating, but it has caught on. Naive reporters on television urge people at every turn to think about food miles, and New Zealand is mentioned rather frequently. No Right Turn is spot on that it is time to wake up and realise what a threat this is. While I don't agree with Sue Kedgley that some farmers should target markets closer to home, and that the sector should buy into carbon footprints as the be all and end all, sacrificing other factors for competitiveness, she is right that this is changing consumer behaviour.

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On a side note, I haven't heard that the British Greens have written back to the NZ Greens about food miles, after Russel Norman wrote to correct misinformation about food miles. I guess this says a lot about how committed British Greens are to the environment rather than protectionism.

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By the way, these two reports remain the main evidence i know of to date about why food miles are a bad proxy for environmental impact. You can't publicise these enough.