Posts by Terry Baucher
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<i>My point - the point of this post - is that there are distinctions between a) a deliberate strategy of terrorising the occupied population, b) a general lack of discipline or competence, c) individual sociopaths going mental, and d) geniune mistakes; and also, that attrocities committed by individuals don't automatically equal systematic war crimes, nor the reverse.
Like I said in the post, the attack on the van trying to load up the wounded was inexcusable. But I'm less certain about the identification in the first place. </i>
OK this is belated but this is a brave post Keith and your comments are spot on.
From the distance of time or location it's easy to be judgemental. At that spot in time however men see things differently. Read Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad, Berlin and D-Day or Max Hastings Armageddon and Nemesis and you will be shocked at the number of incidents where Allied soldiers casually shot German and Japanese prisoners. In the majority of instances these would be classified as simple murder. In the NZ context Sam F has pointed out what happened at Featherston POW and the disparity between the POW and guard casualties. Nothing was done however because that is the nature of war. Despite greater technology nothing has changed. Once the genie is out of the bottle war is an ugly and terrifying thing in which men usually terrified and tired do dreadful things.
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Well said Keith. The hysteria of the PIF has really got on my tits. What's astonishing is no-one is making more of the fact that some $213 billion is invested in residential property yet it costs the government $150 million in tax refunds. As Mark Weldon ruefully remarked at the Tax Working Group conference a NZSE of that size would be paying about $6-8 billlion in tax.
If you claim depreciation then it will be clawed back on sale unless you sale at below the depreciated value. (And yes manipulation is going on to massage down the figures).
I'd like to see some figures on how much depn is actually clawed back, I bet it's a small % of what is claimed as deductible.
Writing the OIA now...
Good luck with that but I doubt whether the breakdown you want would be available. Bear in mind that the bit the government is focussing on is the depreciation of buildings but what's clawed back on sale is masked to some extent by the losses on sale of the fixtures and fittings. In reporting to the IRD only a single depreciation figure would be shown and any clawback is likely to be reported as "other income"
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Excellent post. There's an irony, which would be magnificent if the stakes weren't so high, that National now has to confront the implications of three short term decisions taken years ago: scrapping the Kirk governments's compulsory superannuation scheme; abandoning full pre-funding of ACC (done in 1980 after employers howled about the surplus building up) and the Bradford electricity reforms. I can't say I'm confident about what they'll do but when the OECD is scratching its head as to why 'best practice' isn't delivering for NZ it's time to tell the Business Roundtable to bugger off and think afresh.
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Haydn, that's just a fantastic story. A real heartwarmer. Well done.
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Everywhere in the world rugby is on a roll. Everywhere except here. Rugby in New Zealand is in crisis. It is the typical New Zealand disease - a featherbedding complacent monopoly in denial with no answers except to blame the customers leading to more and more disinterested disgruntled and just plain bored fans
Now here I think you do have a point Tom even if I think you're overstating it. The NZRU needs to consider why someone like me a former player and coach is no longer engaged enough to go to either a Super 14 or NPC match in the past two seasons. The only time I groaned in my recent holiday in Rarotonga was when I heard about the Super 15.
What's the solution? Well accept that in professional sport there is only room for two tiers: club/province and international. Just as All Blacks don't play for their clubs anymore so they won't for the NPC sides. Does that mean scrap the NPC? No. I'd go for an 8 team NPC to replace the current NPC/Super 14.
The Saffas are determined to protect the Currie Cup and Joost van der Westhuizen made an interesting comment on the post Super 14 ReUnion show in South Africa. He wanted the Bulls to "kick on to the next level" ie the Currie Cup. Much as the Saffas are proud to have won the Super 14 it clearly ranks below the Currie Cup. Did you know that those perennial Super 14 cellar dwellers the Cheetahs and Lions have both appeared in Currie Cup finals in the past three years? (They met in the 2007 final).
So let's tell the Aussies to eff right off and sort out their own competition and put the NPC top of the pile again. Ditch the Super 14 but replace it with a 12 team Southern Hemisphere championship held in one country over a five week period. The top 4 NZ, 4 SA, 2 Aussie plus one of Argentina and the Pacific Islands would compete. (the 12th place would be a floater allocated to the best performing country). 4 pools of 3 teams then semi-finals and final (but like the 7s there would be a Bowl and Plate competition).
I'm not a fan of the repetitive Tri-Nations but it is a big earner so I'd cut back the Tri-Nations to its original format of one home and one away. It should be held in September/October followed by the EOYT. The new double round NPC (ie home and away) would begin in March/April with the Southern Hemisphere comp in July/August.
Key to this DON'T allow the TV moguls to dictate the entire schedule and devalue it by overexposure. Limit live screening in cities where matches are being played (or at least until say 75% of tickets are presold).
Just a few thoughts - whaddaya reckon.
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So where is the new talent? Where is our much vaunted "depth"?
Competing extremely successfully on the international stage. I don't think there is any other rugby nation which could have suffered the sustained loss NZ has and still be the world ranked number 1. On the same day that the ABs went down, England minus a few players on Lions duty lost to Argentina (who themselves lost key players after 2007). England's playing and financial resources dwarf NZ's but they cannot seem to get it together on a sustained basis (yet). Keep in mind the All Blacks only pick NZ based players (therefore playing with one hand tied behind our back). We don't compete on a level playing field but we're still there or thereabouts. That is a huge tribute to the quality of the playing and coaching systems.
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All seems pretty minor if I can be honest except that god awful GUTTING of the Super Fund. It will mean the fund will be smaller, be available later, and cover a lower portion of payments meaning more will have to be made up from taxation if entitlements are to remain the same.
My thoughts exactly. Another chapter in the holy book of "Let's pass the costs down to the next generation"
A politcally and economically gutless Budget. Still the chaps at S&P must be happy.
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Thanks Matthew. Sounds like the perfect defence for John Demanjuk. Slightly exaggerating of course.
Hyperbole aside I do understand where NZTA is coming from. However it does raise the issue as to why McDonald felt compelled to "remind" staff. Could it be that he was facing dissent and decided to issue a 'no bellyaching' injunction?
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From a Hurben Baynes on your views:
If I worked for LTSA & I had received such a threatening email like he sent to staff, I would have made sure that he saw me there & the union would have been involved, how dare he threaten staff with what they can do in their own private time ?
Anyone know anything more about this?
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Colin Espiner made a comment about today's Hikoi in his blog that whilst it provided great camera pictures it was irrelevant to the rest of the country and especially Wellington where the Budget is dominating everyone's thoughts. It's an interesting point possibly also applicable to the bridge protest. Although the attitude also reveals why Auckland's transport infrastructure has been allowed to become so vulnerable.
Paul Henry is "Your Views" with syntax coaching.
LOL. Excellent.