Open mike 27/07/2010

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, July 27th, 2010 - 17 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

Comment on whatever takes your fancy.

The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

17 comments on “Open mike 27/07/2010 ”

  1. Jenny 1

    KIWI AID TO GAZA YOU CAN HELP BREAK THE SIEGE

    On 31 May 2010, a Gaza aid flotilla was hijacked on the open sea by Israel’s military. Nine civilian aid workers were shot to death.

    On 12th September 2010 mass aid convoys will set off from London by sea and land.

    Their mission – To break the siege of Gaza.

    We want to send Kiwi volunteers and aid to go with them.

    Interested?

    Follow the link: Kia Ora Gaza
    .

  2. comedy 2

    Meanwhile back in NZ home detention being considered for armed robber.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/3957741/Youth-admits-robbery

  3. jcuknz 3

    And over in the States we have people commenting that Industry is learning to increase profits with fewer workers .. a serious concern for the unemployed .. and a warning that we have too many people on earth to sustain it .. and we are breeding more and more.

  4. randal 4

    who heard the story on 9-noon this morning about the loss of neurological services from dunedin and the diminution of the neurological faculty at the medical school there.
    this government seems determined to change from the tried and true to anything that will offer a poorer service but cost more.
    it seems as if they are being driven by a gang of knotheads who dont care about the result as long as they have their way.
    this is not only childish but exceedingly detrimental to the overall health and community of this nation.

    • ak 4.1

      Ae, someone needs to kick off a list of health cuts already made and coming with a bullet to a DHB near you in coming months as Ryall tightens the screws – starting with A for Ashburton hospital perhaps…..death by a thousand incisions as we set up for another privatisation push….

    • prism 4.2

      I found this very informative too Randal. It seems a perfect example of ideology and fashionable, robust economic propositions triumphing over reality and practicality. The neurosurgeons had already come to an agreement that they would work together on a 4 in Christchurch and 2 in Dunedin team. Then somehow Christchurch has been given the full six so that anyone who would have used Dunedin has to go right to Christchurch. They have put all their eggs into a bad basket case of an idea which isn’t even justified on savings. The new regime will cost more they say.

      This means that people from the far south will now have to travel further for serious professional treatment than anywhere in NZ, and of course the terrain and weather conditions down there can make travel slow and difficult. Lives put at risk, or increased deterioration with longer hospitalisation and the family probably unable to visit or support the patient.

      Is this an indication of how the provinces are going to be treated I wonder? When Auckland puts its fingers in the pie chart to take all it is entitled to and more, that will aid its own growth and facilities and stifle other areas. And you can bet that the further away from Auckland you are the further towards outer space – off the planet with no rockets passing.

    • jcuknz 4.3

      I’m not sure about the neuro debate becuase though some lives will likely be lost due to the extra travelling time to CHCH for accident victims I also thought that Christchurch medical school was an offshoot of Otago so students can be simply rotated up there for awhile? Though the travelling time might not be too different if patients flown directly to CHCH instead of via Dunedin …. don’t know just surmising.
      It is nice for everybody to have a bit of everything in your home patch, saves relatives travelling, but only if they are in the Dunedin area, not if they have to come from Southland etc., but there is also the question of maintaining professional competance by peer association. So what some may call cuts could be a progressive move.

  5. Kevin Welsh 5

    Air New Zealand Lead The Way…

    I see Qantas have taken a leaf out of Air New Zealand’s playbook and set up a subsidiary company, Jetconnect, to fly routes between New Zealand and Australia. No problem with that, as long as you’re not working for them.

  6. Latest Roy Morgan

    Nats down 4 to 49
    Labour up 2.5 to 31.5
    Green up .5 to 9
    NZ First (gasp) 4.5

    At least the nats are on the decline.

    • loota 6.1

      Need to see a three month trend though…also waiting for Labour to stay above 33-34% consistently…man its hard work

    • felix 6.2

      Politics abhors a vacuum, and Winston is always happy to fill one.

      Step up your game, Labour.

    • I dreamed a dream 6.3

      I was heading towards the exit well before the final whistle. Game’s over, they’ve won. But, as I was heading toward the exit, the Oppostion team put on some points. And it’s now NACT 54.5% vs Opposition 45.5% — with the NACT’s lead whittled down to only 9%. I stop my walk towards the exit and think to myself that there may be life in this game yet. Maybe it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. Hmmmm.. Shall I walk back to my seat and hope for a victory for the Opposition. Maybe…

    • jcuknz 6.4

      Not if Winnie supports Nats this time … 40 : 60 with Maori and Act .. even without its 45 : 55. It is the total not individual parties

      • felix 6.4.1

        Exactly. Many presume to count Winston as somehow aligned with the left (usually those who are new to politics or those who wish to tar Labour with Winston’s oily old brush) but he’s always been far closer to National on social policy and has spent more time in govt with the Nats than with Labour.

        He’s always on the same side though – Winston’s side.

  7. Lazy Susan 7

    If anyone was in any doubt that we live in a neo-liberal world of pure madness they need look no further than BP’s former head Tony Hayword who has just “moved aside” taking with him an annual pension of NZ$1.2 million. Yes, that’s right, he will now earn $1.2 million every year until he dies for just sitting on his arse. At least if he just sits on his arse he can’t do any more damage but I reckon it would be cheaper and more effective to lock him up, throw away the key and feed him oily fish through the gap in the bars.

    This is the man who ran BP, the company responsible for the world’s biggest modern day ecological disaster and who has just announced third quarter losses of £10.9bn – one of the biggest in UK corporate history.

    In ShonKeys world of course this man would be described as aspirational.

Links to post

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.