As someone who harboured childhood dreams of being an All Black or a Black Cap it was always re-assuring when I would look at the birthdays of players and see that there was still someone older than me in the team. I still had a chance. For several years I willed Dave Hewett to be picked in All Black squads. Sadly, at 38 these days are gone. Perhaps I need to re-focus on the Lawn Bowls team for the Commonwealth Games.
In any case this comes to mind as I thumbed through New Zealand Cricket’s glossy magazine previewing the year. The birthdates for our bowling attack give an old fella some hope.
Chris Martin-1974, Darryl Tuffey-1978, Shane Bond-1974, Jacob Oram-1978, James Franklin-1980, Daniel Vettori-1979, Kyle Mills-1979, Jeetan Patel-1980, Iain O’Brien-1976, Tim Southee-1988
Bond and O’Brien have already gone (from tests at least in Bond’s case), but only Franklin, Patel and Southee are under 30, and Franklin and Patel will both pass that mark by the end of next year. Through age and on-going injury almost all of the list could be gone in the next year or two.
There is a desperate need to bring through some young talent and have them playing at international level on a regular basis. If we end up with all of the above going in one hit we will struggle to bowl any international team out. I know there are some good young bowlers out there (I saw Corey Anderson at the Basin Reserve on Sunday and he looks good) but waiting any longer will leave them horribly exposed when they are called up.
Otherwise, I will put my hand up to roll down a few medium pacers. That is if my back holds out.
Posted in Sport, Music and other time wasting activities. |
Among the many things being dumped out at the end of the year by the government, was the Tertiary Education Strategy. The Press reported it focusing on changes to funding based around student performance. That is an interesting issue for debate, but further down the story is a very distrurbing signal.
Last night, Tolley said the current regime was “inflexible for providers and difficult to monitor for students. We are therefore looking at ways to simplify the regulation of fees.”
This is code for saying that the fee maxima policy that has limited fee increases to no more than 5% over recent years is going to go. This will see a return to the huge fee increases of the 1990s. In the two years I was the student representative of the Otago University Council fees went up by 18% and 15% respectively. Those sorts of increases contributed massively to student debt and ultimately put tertiary education beyond the reach of some people. Merry Christmas tertiary students of the future, from Anne Tolley.
Posted in Uncategorized. |
I tend not to read too much into political polls- and that is not just because this year they have not made particularly pretty reading! But I was fascinated by the media reaction (actually I think it was just the same NZPA story re-printed in a number of places) to the UMR state of the nation poll.
The headline focuses on the relatively high average popularity ratings of the PM and the government. While on average for the year it showed National in the mid 50s and Labour in the low 30s, the latest results (December) revealed something different. National had dipped to their lowest poll rating since the election (48%) and Labour had risen to its highest (35%).
Generally the reporting of polls focuses on the latest results. The high averages are interesting from an historical standpoint, but I would have thought the most recent results would have been the focus of the coverage. Hmm. Anyway, back to not reading too much into polls….
Posted in Polling. |
The Dom Post reports this morning that National is looking at cancelling unemployment benefits after a year and forcing applicants to re-apply. This is in the wake of a story of notorious South Island family who look like they have been ripping off the system for years.
Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the softening up phase of National’s welfare policy. Every New Zealander should be pi**ed off with the likes of the Harris family. If they have been ripping off the system in the way that has been described in the media then they are undermining our social assistance system, and effectively taking money from those who need it most. They have obviously intimidated Work and Income staff and some serious action is required.
But is their behaviour, and that of a small number of others, reason enough to slash and burn through the whole system? National want you to think so, and will drip these stories out there to soften the public up for cuts and tired old policies like work testing DPB parents and work for the dole. The reality is that the Harris’ of this world are a small minority and thousands of people legitimately need state support, only access it when they need it, and move off it in a reasonable timeframe.
Further, the headline announcement in this story- that people on the unemployment benefit will have to re-apply each year-is a deliberately misleading description of how the unemployment benefit operates. It is not a situation where you sign up and that is it for all of time. Nowadays people receiving the unemployment benefit are constantly followed up by Work and Income as to their progress with getting work. They are required to attend courses and training. The notion of re-applying is empty sloganeering, will achieve nothing and will really just be a bureaucratic burden.
By all means lets look at how we can help move people from welfare to work where that is possible. Lets crack down on those who abuse the system and let’s have more training and budget advice for those who need it. But sadly for National that is not really what this is about. It is quite simply about stirring up people against beneficiaries, and softening up the voting public for their welfare agenda.
Posted in Social Development. |
At 4.40pm on Friday the government announced their new appointments to the Human Rights Review Tribunal. The Standard and even David Farrar has expressed some concerns about them. While some appointments to boards etc by governments of all hues will favour those who are supportive of them, there is normally some attempt to find people who have appropriate skills and knowledge in the area. I am really struggling to find that with the appointments, particularly of Brian Neeson (ex National MP), Ravi Musuku (ex National Candidate) and Ken Shirley (ex ACT MP).
In fact it is far worse than that. I/S at No Right Turn has gone through Hansard and found some of Mr Neeson’s contributions on Human Rights matters, and one wonders if the agenda here is in fact to destroy the Human Rights Review Tribunal from within. He does not actually support some of the fundamental legislation on which the Tribunal is based. He is simply not appropriate to have on the Tribunal, and anyone headed towards the Tribunal needs to be aware of what will face them.
The timing of the announcement is a shocker also. Simon Power is better than this, and the timing (last Friday before Christmas) looks like he knows this is not something to be proud of.
Posted in Political Appointments, Ken Shirley, Ravi Musuku, Brian Neeson and Human Rights. |
