Hard News: The Report Card
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Man that wedding picture is powerful.
Another reminder that the death toll from this war (or any war) is only the begining of the horror. What so few people understand about the war in Iraq is that the tremendous advances in medicine and trauma care in particular disguise the fact that the allied troops are taking casualties at a huge rate ... the thing is the casualties just don't die as often as they used to.
As for comparing ourselves to the rest fo the world ...
If, as so regularly is the case in studies like these, countries like the Netherlands and Norway do really well and the USA does really badly
Why do so many politicians try and model our society on "what works so well the the US"?????cheers
Bart -
Sorry Marcus, I actually agree that declining apprenticeship rates are a problem - however other forms of vocational training have gone through the roof. Fixing apprenticeships relies on their being jobs and industries where employers can and will hire and train young people for four years... and that ain't Glassons(incidentally McDonalds have a good training record/program).
There's a vast gaping hole in New Zealand labour after previous governments ripped the guts out of the apprenticeship system. The current government has fixed it reasonably well about 6 or so years ago, but it's taken years for numbers to get back up to the levels that the country needs, and another decade or so until the 'new kids' have progressed far enough into the system (owning their own business and assets instead of working for someone else, moving around the country to spread themselves where the work is etc) until it's back to 'normal'.
There's still big shortages in various areas around the country, particularly the building trade, as a result of the national government doing away with apprenticeships.
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Another reminder that the death toll from this war (or any war) is only the begining of the horror
very true. people have long been pointing out that current body armour doesn't protect hands, feet, digits, or limbs.
anyone have stats on US soldiers permanently disabled in iraq?
There's still big shortages in various areas around the country, particularly the building trade
anyone care to source the real reason for inflated house prices?
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Forget first request.
if this article is reliable, we have 152,000 claims for disability from iraq and afghanistan, with 12% of soldiers having served suffering post-traumatic stress.
1500 soldiers are recognised as 'permanently disabled'.
here's another report on PTSD.
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anyone care to source the real reason for inflated house prices?
I thought it was the foreigners?
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I thought it was the foreigners?
throwing a rock-a-hula-tiki party isn't going to help...
who's idea is it to encourage all those foreign ideas anyhow...
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There's still big shortages in various areas around the country, particularly the building trade, as a result of the national government doing away with apprenticeships.
Kyle, the National government didn't do away with apprenticeships - they remained an option but not a well publicised one (which was a mistake). The push was for broader and "more flexible" forms of training (which was enormously successful).
You're right that traditional trade apprenticeships suffered but they were in fact static through the 80s, around 25,000 per annum, and the system wasn't working.
You're also right that Labour did an outstanding job reinvigorating the industry training sector - not just with additional funds, which were significant (doubled the funding from around $45m per annum to around $100m in 2002/03), but also with smarter policies and strong support from senior Ministers.
That said, the real issue in trade apprenticeships is industry's lack of demand - the changing nature of jobs and industry has largely been at the expense of larger trade employers (downsizing, outsourcing and contracting labour) who used to have the scale and internal career ladders to take on large numbers of apprentices (hence my comment about railways and the Post Office).
On skill shortages - the building industry has problems recruiting and retaining apprentices because they don't pay well compared with other jobs, particularly in the service industry - the problem (which I think span's alluding to) is that you can sometimes get better money in a relatively unskilled job... the classic in Australia is the kids who leave school without the NSW HSC to move to Queensland to get $80k working in the mining industry...
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Thanks for the links Che
Just sitting here crying.
cheers
Bart -
On the subject of this being a good time to call for the right to hit kids, we have the Chief Executive of For the Sake of Our Children Trust, Christine Rankin...
One:
“I again urge the government to do something – anything – to address the terrible treatment of our children.”
“It has been called the wackiest bill of the year and indeed, I agree it is,” says Ms Rankin.
“It means that good parents, who are doing their utmost to raise their children with love and care, are at risk of running foul of the law. It’s crazy to think these people could be labeled criminals."
Actually refers to the report in arguing this.
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On the subject of this being a good time to call for the right to hit kids, we have the Chief Executive of For the Sake of Our Children Trust, Christine Rankin...
A few people on the roster for The Panel on National Radio have specified other panelists they really don't want to appear with.
Guess who mine is?
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Can ypu clarify that Russell? She asked not to appear with you? Or the other way round?
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I think it's genius the way Boag and Edwards are usually paired.
But then I also think that every other panellist should put Deborah Hill Cone on their Not With Me Thanks list.
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