With Only Minor Hitches

Winston Peters returned home in the past week with the apparent intention of defying the naysayers' -- that is, the media's -- subliminal claims that he had performed the tasks involved in his role of foreign minister inadequately when he was at the Commonwealth conference in Malta recently. Much like in the case of his visit to the Apec meetings in South Korea, political observers were looking to pull Winston up on small factors so as to lead him to fail at his new job before he had even really started it.

Winston's defences of his own integrity upon his return to New Zealand were reinforced by Helen Clark who allegedly commented that he had made a "pretty good effort" whilst at the overseas engagements, and that also he has made a concerted attempt to further New Zealand's interests, particularly in terms of the potential vulnerability of it and other small nations to terrorist attacks given that they have only small military forces. Winston at least recognises the potential benefits for New Zealand that come from its being a part of the British Commonwealth and at the conference he admirably made attempts to reap them.

However, it would appear that Winston's decidedly triumphant return home, dampened only by the extensive negative commentary provided by the various local media sources, caused him to drift into a notably cocky state of mind and lead to apparent throwaway comments that could well be further detrimental to Winston's image as projected in the media. On One News a couple of nights ago Winston was seen to say, disregarding the digs from the media and holding up the coalition deal as a success, "The facts are that the prime minister's happy with it, the government's happy with it, and I'm happy with it." The failure to acknowledge the New Zealand people's stance on his decision in this widely-publicised comment could well prove to be one that his detractors choose to pick at in order to further their argument that Winston joined in coalition with Labour only in the pursuit of the baubles of office.

A Trip To The Beach

I'm lucky to live where I do. Despite the fact that I complain constantly to my parents about how far we are away from the Shore, making it a slight pain every time I want to go and see any of my friends, living on the edge of the urban sprawl certainly has its upsides. West Harbour is virtually the closest that one can live to the countryside without actually being in a rural area. One of my favourite weekend activities is to drive out towards Kumeu and Helensville, often sidetracking to the surfbeach at Muriwai. Living so far out makes doing this that much easier!

It usually takes around twenty minutes to get to Muriwai, and as a bonus it's a nice drive because there is not really a significant amount of traffic travelling in there on an average weekend. Upon reaching one's destination it is very easy to be overcome by sheer awe at the majesty of it all. As of this year, most of the times that I have been to Muriwai I have gone on my own. This affords me more ability to do exactly what I want to do; which is usually just to relax and make an attempt at taking it all in. There are carparks on the clifftops at Maori Bay. I can pull in there, put on my music and watch the waves, the surfers, and the paragliders taking off from the slope that leads down to the sea.

However, the real drawcard of Muriwai is most probably the gannet colony, which occupies a group of rock formations at the point that lies between Maori Bay and the main, occasionally over-populated surfbeach. The way that the water churns around there serves to boggle the mind. When I stand out on the viewing platform I feel completely separated from all the fuss that is going on in civilisation (which is, nonetheless, only twenty minutes away). There is a sense of being much more involved with the forces that are acting upon those cliffs than anything else. It's humbling to look out over the overwhelmingly blue Tasman Sea, which stretches uninterrupted all the way to the horizon, and down into the natural washing machine at the base of the gannet colony. At Muriwai, the scale of everything is accentuated tenfold. It's surreal in its scope.

It is easy for one to come to realise that the forces of nature acting upon Muriwai could easily destroy them. But in turn it's also established in the beholder that they could just as easily destroy the ocean, which harbours so many important aspects of the Earth, through various human means; in fact the ocean is the very reason that the entire coastal landscape at Muriwai exists in the form that it does. This brings one to the humbling realisation that every aspect of the entire system is important.

I very much like the idea that any individual on its own is insignificant, but the united whole of which it is a part is the absolute epitome of significance. It gives a thoroughly comforting sense that in the end, everything of nature is connected, and that as a result of that connection all of the Earth's creatures really do mean something. Every component of the Universe is special because without each one, the entirety would simply not be the same. Every person, every seabird, every wave and every tussock, every rock and every gust of wind, are all a part of the universal balance; and for the most seemingly tiny aspect missing there is a consequence.

Born To Quash

It has emerged that, in alleged recognition of information that was featured in an article in British newspaper The Daily Mirror being potentially detrimental to international relations, the British government has threatened to take court action against the media if any further information regarding the sensitive issue in question is leaked. As was probably to be expected, the memo containing the information reached a number of publications throughout the United Kingdom, meaning that it is now located in a variety of organisations' hands; organisations that could possibly all choose to utilise it in different ways.

The memo was leaked from the British attorney general and is said to highlight that United States President George W. Bush expressed the intention to order the bombing of the headquarters of Al Jazeera, the Arabic television network that was relatively unknown to the Western world until it rose to prominence as a significant media outlet following the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September, 2001. Apparently, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had to "talk Bush out of bombing the broadcaster in April last year." Bush's alleged intent is obviously in light of the fact that his administration, as its past actions could be strongly taken to support, solidly suspects Al Jazeera of being a "pro-insurgent" media source in the Middle East that is opposed to the so-called Coalition of the Willing's war in Iraq.

The article in The Daily Mirror that initially broke the news is swift to point out that Qatar, where Al Jazeera is located, is actually on the side of the United States, thus rendering the fact that Bush raised this suggestion as even more unethical and, as a consequence, decidedly disagreeable. It has certainly not been made a secret throughout the years since the "war on terror" first began that the Bush administration feels distinctly unfavourably towards the Arabic network. What with the office in Kabul, Saudi Arabia having been bombed in 2001, and a reporter named Tareq Ayyoub having been murdered in 2003 when United States forces conducted a raid upon Al Jazeera's office in Baghdad, it could be confidently assumed that Bush's intentions expressed earlier this year are certainly not intended to be "humourous," as a British government official apparently suggested. How such a morbid statement could be taken as humourous anyway is beyond me.

One of the most disheartening aspects of this scenario is that all but the most casual observer could be forgiven for perceiving that Tony Blair is something of a hypocrit. It was evident that, in the performance of the act of talking Bush out of bombing Al Jazeera, Blair was showing a far more pacifistic and libertine-prone stance than his United States partner-in-arms. The effect was that he was standing up for the right of media services to express the sort of opinion that they see fit. By the proponents of democracy, he could be looked upon almost favourably in light of this. However, the British government's action that it is taking now -- threatening British media publications with legal repurcussions under the Official Secrets Act if they are to give air to what they may wish to -- is a distinct contradiction to the compassion that Blair could be taken to have shown before.

Winston Cries Foul Once More

With Foreign Minister Winston Peters having returned to the country on Friday -- following his trip to the Apec forum in Korea, where he oddly stated that he was concerned with the decreasing number of Asian students coming to New Zealand to do their studies -- it was reported yesterday that he had another bone to pick with the media, and that he was going to go about denouncing the coverage of his trip at a party conference later in the day. He is said to have expressed the belief that the New Zealand media trivialised exactly what did occur whilst he was attending the forum.

From what I saw of the coverage, it would appear that Winston's accusations are, in fact, to as much of an extent as the statements of such a man can be, justified. As Winston has been quick to point out since arriving home, consumers of the media in New Zealand received no real reports as to what exactly went on in the meetings, with none of journalists having actually attended them at all. Most of what was broadcast by both television networks seemed to focus on Winston's inexperience in his new position, making a special concerted effort to highlight awkward moments.

For example, when Winston first met with the Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, he took to barely-visibly shaking his counterpart's hand -- on the side of his body that was facing away from the cameras -- whilst clutching his briefcase in the hand that was closest to the reporters. When Zhaoxing discretely broke it to Winston that they needed to pose for the media as opposed to pretend that they were not there, Winston hurriedly put his briefcase aside and whipped around to smile crookedly at the cameras whilst slightly over-enthusiastically shaking Zhaoxing's hand.

These are the sorts of moments that observers in New Zealand were exposed to, as opposed to the real political content of the forum that should undoubtedly have been rendered of higher importance. A big deal was made and a degree of surprise issued from all quarters when, last week, it was heard that Winston had made statements in Korea that could possibly be construed as not anti-Asian. However, in the end, the consequences of those statements were not made known to the New Zealand public because of the media's intention to focus on Winston's ineptness.

It felt somewhat as if the media were making a concerted effort to paint Winston as some kind of excitable child. They placed liberal emphasis upon the fact that he had claimed he was eager to have a meeting with the United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, apparently trying to put across the impression that he idolised her. The amount of media attention accorded to this aspect of the trip could certainly give some people the idea that meeting Condoleeza Rice was Winston's own primary purpose of being in attendance at the Apec forum. The fact that she is a representative of the United States could be made to serve to suggest that Winston was not going about government business whilst in Korea, but rather Winston business.

This is, of course, certainly not the first time that Winston has taken a dig at the media for their alleged attempts to create significant spin against him. The most recent previous occasion was when New Zealand First entered into the coalition with Labour under Winston's leadership. He was widely denounced in the media for retreating on his election promises for the sake of securing the perks of a ministerial job; perks that he has now experienced the first of in meeting Condoleeza Rice. However, it could perhaps be said that this time around, his complaints against the media are more justified than ever. As has been said, it would appear that many journalists have the distinct intention of making Winston fail at his role of foreign minister.

It was noted that, following prior reporting that Winston was going to address his acceptance of the ministerial post at a New Zealand First Party conference yesterday, he skirted the issue altogether in the end for the alleged reason of not "being subsumed" by the past. The prediction that he was going to focus heavily on what he sees as the flawed nature of the media's reporting was proved correct, however, with Winston going as far as to accuse the Herald of treason. The Herald had, allegedly incorrectly, read his friendly interactions with Condoleeza Rice as an attempt to strengthen ties between New Zealand and the United States.

Overall, however, thanks to Winston's omission of certain undesirable topics at the conference, such as the manner in which he played the electorate during New Zealand First's election campaign, things seem to be looking up for Winston in terms of his support base, with it having been said that he received significant statements of support at the conference for his decision to enter into a coalition with the Labour Party. He also provided the assurance that he is not, in fact, as many have speculated, going to retire at the end of this Parliamentary term. There now appears to be the potential that Winston will be around for quite a while yet.

Windmilling

The residents of Awhitu Peninsula, south-west of Auckland, have given up in their battle against Genesis Energy. Their plight was aimed at preventing the green power company from setting up a wind farm in their area. However, the community's two hundred thousand dollars that was spent taking their case to the Environment Court would appear to have gone to waste, with the go-ahead having already been given for Genesis to begin operations. In recognition of the fact that Awhitu is a significant rural tourism area, Genesis has promised to provide the community with cash over the next five years, so that it may fund tree planting projects and also with the purpose in mind of combating erosion. Erosion is a significant problem for Awhitu due to that it is essentially a sand dune, or spit, protruding out into the sea.

It is easy to perceive that these hastily-contracted compensatory reparations effectively symbolise the event of the company purchasing the Awhitu residents' support, or at least buying itself some room to manoeuvre when it comes to getting down to the business of starting construction on the windmills themselves. Richard Gordon, the spokesman for Genesis Energy, has insisted, however, that this is not the case and that the company genuinely cares about the natural environment. Given the overall efforts that Genesis appears to have been taking to integrate the use of sustainable energy sources into their operations, and the approval that it has recently received from various environmental organisations such as Greenpeace, it could probably be safely assumed that Richard is not being dishonest.

Nonetheless, in many people's eyes, Awhitu still stands to potentially lose a significant amount of its natural beauty in light of the eighteen windmills that are going to be situated there. As a rural tourism area it is dependent to a great degree on that natural beauty to attract the consistent flow of visitors that much of the community undoubtedly relies on for their income. However, the mention that there are racing stables and an equestrian centre nearby leads me personally in the direction of the conclusion that perhaps Awhitu isn't so untouched after all, as the notably zealous actions of the residents would have suggested. It also turns out that Awhitu is not a community that distances itself from an involvement in eco-tourism; in fact it prides itself on this.

It's quite possible that this new wind farm project -- the Auckland region's first -- could actually serve to mark the beginning of a new era for Awhitu, and contrary to the attitudes that are apparently being expressed by the locals, it has the potential to be a very good one. The presence of an operation in sustainable energy production, in addition to the tree planting and erosion prevention works that Genesis Energy will be funding, and the fact that it is all taking place in such a unique location -- on a sandspit -- could likely provide completely new business opportunities to the Awhitu community. It wouldn't be surprising at all -- indeed, it would be very heartening -- if Awhitu were to develop into some kind of exemplary model of thoughtful, progressive-minded interaction between people and the environment for the good of the Earth as a whole. This, of course, could prove in the end to be very lucrative for the local community.

Self-Caricature

Appropriately, given that the idea of selling off state-owned enterprises has been brought to the fore by the Treasury report, Rodney's opinions on just what the status of TVNZ should be have been floated in the mainstream media. Contrary to what the Herald article may suggest, the ACT leader has held this opinion, and indeed has been pushing it, for a significant amount of time now. It is only now that Rodney's idea has properly made its way into the public eye, due to the fact that it fits in nicely alongside the news stories of Cullen's embarassment at the expressions of the Treasury.

It is surprising what one can find out about Rodney and his personal convictions just by reading his blog. When I say personal, I am meaning that some of the views expressed are somewhat beyond political, in that they would appear to be based on reactionary kneejerking as opposed to sound political thought. I completely accept that Rodney is, indeed, a right-wing politician, and as such he is virtually inherently opposed to socialist ideologies. However, I find it somewhat interesting that, as who I perceive to be an ever-more legitimate politician, Rodney appears to buy into the fear of so-called communism.

Earlier on in the week he described his meeting with his alleged "hero" Wei Jingsheng, a Chinese human rights advocate who, admittedly very bravely, opposes the misleadingly-named Communist Party that is, of course, in power in his home country. It was all very good-natured between them, but despite this I get the general feeling that Rodney is more concerned about the fact that the Chinese state is apparently "communist" than he is about the fact that it's a government that is mercilessly oppressing and repressing people systematically. In his blog entry he mentions that "the communist authorities tried hard to break his [Wei's] spirit" -- to me this shows direct identification with paranoid anti-communism. That Rodney did not capitalise the word "communist" serves to indicate that he is talking about the ideology, as opposed to the party that is in power in China. Ultimately it sounds to me as though Rodney is very afraid of a political system that is, in theory, good natured, and has never actually been realised on a significant scale anywhere in the world.

In the days that have passed since then, on the other hand, Rodney has come out with a number of amusing light-hearted jests that, in my eyes, serve to reinforce the notion that he is, after all, human just like all the people of this country. The jests have the same sort of effect as when footage of Parliament in session is shown on TV, and the MPs are all laughing at each other's statements and saying "ooooh" when one of them takes a stab at another. One example of Rodney's jests was this comment on a statement by Jeanette, which could possibly suggest that he recognises those factors that people unjustly pull him up on, and that he can maintain a sense of humour about them. That's a very admirable and very human position to be able to take.


The best and definitely the most amusing comment, entitled "Oops," was provided by Rodney on Wednesday evening. "Bother," he says, "I just got chucked out of the House by Assistant Speaker Ann Hartley. Unfortunately I am the first MP this session. Not good." Poor Rodney. It is clear that it really is being driven home to him that his ways are not without significant, pseudo-infantile error. In this case he was virtually trying to make satire over the fact that he has been pulled up "countless times" for mispronouncing Tau Henare's name. He thought that he was being intelligently abrasive with the initial comment. It would be apparant that he still thought he was being intelligently abrasive when he objected to the Assistant Speaker's ruling, in what could be perceived to be a performance of heat-of-the-moment antagonism. He would have been brought to back to reality when he was kicked out. One could certainly perceive, though, that he was in touch with reality for the whole spell -- Rodney, after all, acted just like any average person would have in a similar circumstance.

Rather Taxing

In light of advice recently given to the government by the Treasury, suggesting that it should look to including plans for tax cuts as a part of the next Budget, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Michael Cullen has gone on the defence, going so far as to state on Close-Up last night that he believed that the problems that "high" taxes allegedly pose may possibly cease to exist over the next year. The Treasury has identified what it perceives to be a potential risk inherent within the practise of what is (apparently) high taxation -- that economic growth is being stifled significantly, and that it will be stifled further should the current tax rates be maintained.

The counter-punches to these risks that were cited were, in fact, somewhat to the contrary of what the National Party chose to argue in the lead-up to the election; but they nonetheless provide the opposition with a significant amount of clout that it may wield against the Labour-led coalition government. The alleged need was pressed for the growth rate in government spending to be decreased substantially, in order to allow for minor-yet-meaningful incremental changes in personal and company tax rates at the high end of the scale. Other possible solutions put forward by the Treasury included the weakening of established tariffs, a rethought of the carbon tax plan, and the sale of further state-owned enterprises.

Michael Cullen has been quick to jump on the Treasury's words and point out to all concerned that the ministry is not, after all, suggesting that tax cuts be implemented for all New Zealanders, but merely that the most highly-taxed individuals and companies be given a break. This served to emphasise that the advice that has been issued is not exactly supportive of National's economic policy. However, that hasn't deprived the National Party of the opportunity to tell Labour "I told you so," in light of the fact that the potential benefits of tax cuts have, effectively, been announced by a decidedly reputable authority -- no less, one that is working in the interests of the established government. The Treasury's focus on the importance of significantly decreasing tax rates in the highest brackets in particular, also potentially shows a slant to which Labour is directly philosophically opposed.

National came under extensive fire from the bulk of the left of Parliament during the election campaign, with Labour taking advantage of the fact that the National Party's tax policy could very easily be perceived to distinctly favour those families and individuals included within the highest income brackets. It was successfully made clear that National's promise to provide tax cuts to all New Zealanders would, in reality, probably only have a noticeable effect on a small number of people, should the party have made it into power. Thus, that the Treasury has now identified that such rich-favouring policies would be the most lucrative for the national economy puts the government in a bad position, in which it can easily be picked to bits over this issue.

Double Substandards

Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First Party and self-styled anti-immigration voice of apparent reason in Parliament, has issued a shock revelation today in the form of the announcement of his taking up of a new position on the international student issue. He has said he is going to engage in discussions with the Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, in light of the declining numbers of Chinese students that are coming to New Zealand for their educations. The new stance that he appears to have taken up on the issue is, of course, a significant contradiction to the ideas that he has been espousing for the past several years.

Winston has said that the perception of him having very hardline views on immigration -- a perception that has been established both locally and internationally -- is one that has emerged simply as a result of some of his statements being "misconstrued." He is now, apparently, becoming "increasingly concerned" about the falling numbers of international students coming from Asia to New Zealand to partake in their studies. This is despite the statement that Winston issued earlier this year, that "We have now reached the point where you wander down Queen Street in Auckland and wonder if you are in New Zealand or some other country."

It's quite possible that this sudden change in his key stance is a result of Winston's being present in Asia at this point in time. It was something that should have been expected, and by many people undoubtedly was expected, that Winston would alternate his hardline tone a bit whilst overseas. As the Foreign Affairs Minister, he is of course supposed to be representative of the New Zealand government as opposed to himself, despite the fact that New Zealand First is not actually a component of the government proper and that Winston has recently strongly taken to asserting himself as still a part of the opposition. He also doesn't have the tenacity to stride into the Apec meeting in South Korea and declare that New Zealand is undergoing "Asianisation by stealth." That would undoubtedly be a reckless move even by Winstonian standards.

The Herald article gives one the impression that Prime Minister Helen Clark has issued a positive, if somewhat muted response to Winston's apparent one hundred and eighty degree turnaround, quoting her as saying his help is "much appreciated." Needless to say, it is quite possible that she recognises the plainly obvious -- that Winston always intended to draw back his stance whilst in the presence of Asian leaders, and in doing so on this occasion he has maybe gone further back than was expected of him. However, in the end it is still apparent that at his core, Winston is quite something of an ethnic purist. He has asserted that the deals he brokered in the past to bring Chinese students into New Zealand included the request that they return home after completing their educations, and he does not believe that New Zealand has kept that end of the deal.

Time Immaterial?

It seems impossible to fathom. The epic struggle that was the last university exam period of the year is over. I am hoping that I have passed every course, because if I haven't my mum's certainly going to have something to say about it. Somehow all of that doesn't matter now, though. The holidays are here and I, along with many other people, have an absolutely gargantuan amount of free time sprawling out in front of me; imploring me to make actual use of it, as opposed to just wage labouring sixty hours a week like I did last summer.

In anticipation of the fact that if I did not make plans I would inevitably waste this summer, however, I have ensured that there is a significant amount of productive (productively fun) activity in store for me. Contrasting with that, I will wage labour a mere eleven hours per week, for the sole reasons of paying for petrol (I shouldn't even be driving anyway) and saving up to help pay next year's university tuition fees. I can say with a great degree of confidence that I am going to find it thoroughly pleasurable to give my manager one week's notice of the fact that I am going to leave, come late December. He deserves no better considering the way that he has treated me.


The ball last night, organised by Jenni and her father, was great fun. I don't think that I could have done without something like that after my last exam. It gave a sense of resolution and it was important for me to have a gathering with some of my best friends to mark the end of the university year, which I do not hesitate to say has been something of a battle at a significant number of points. It really is my new friends that got me through this year. Everybody put so much effort into looking good for the ball that I felt rather guilty having gone in the clothes that I wore to my exam. Nonetheless it was very fun anyway. Alison and Cynthia were resplendent in fantastic 1920s-esque garb. Jenni and her dad had decorated the scout cub den with streamers, balloons and fairy lights. Nicola had prepared a massive feast of nibbles.

It is now that those of us who attended university this year stand on a milestone, having survived the first year of our tertiary education and come out the other end more-or-less psychologically intact. To be honest, I was virtually already in "holiday mode" when I honourably completed my film exam on Thursday, due to the fact that passing sociology (my final exam proper, which I sat yesterday) meant nothing to me in comparison. I'm slightly disconcerted by the fact that in the time between the two exams, I was already feeling myself becoming rather bored, with nothing to do. Also, I am conscious of the fact that the holidays do not really start until Tuesday -- since I have wage labour today and tomorrow -- and until the sun comes back. All of this, however, fails to belittle the fact that this point in the year has been reached at last. There is much fun to be had. I'm looking forward to being able to take my time.

Enhanced Tragedy

The fact that Rod Donald's death has been revealed to have been caused by a lowly and subversive viral infection serves only to to make his untimely death seem all the more tragic. One of the things that has really struck people about this exponentially unfortunate happenstance is how Rod died so suddenly, when he was the last person that anyone had expected to reach the end of the line. Now the idea that it could happen to virtually anyone is a thought that is bound to further upset many people.

Rod's passing, I feel, has not only caused an outpouring of sympathy for the man himself, but it has prompted people like you and me to look at themselves and their friends in the consideration of mortality. Given the hazy, almost automated state that the complacent Westerners of this day and age have a tendency to constantly be engulfed in, seeing a high-profile case of someone that most of us did not know personally -- but who felt we knew rather well through the media -- passing away this easily has really hammered home the idea that eventually, we will all come to an end after all.

I am one of the individuals guilty of taking my life for granted at many points throughout, but I can certainly be more grateful that I am alive after Rod's passing and the grief that I have seen it cause. When the news broke that Rod had died due to a "suspected heart attack," I felt as if this tragedy was particularly relevant to me, despite the fact that I did not know Rod personally. As a person with very high blood pressure at a very young age, a history of such problems in the family, and a grandmother who recently suffered from a heart attack (but survived, thank goodness), I have found myself preparing for the prospect that I may die as a result of some sort of cardiac mulfunction when I am middle-aged.

It's hard to describe, but Rod's passing has really made me realise that when your time is up, that's it, and you have no more chance to do anything for the world. You have no idea when exactly you are going to die, so you may as well start right now in your contributions of what you perceive to be for the betterment of society. I can only dream that I will have contributed as much as Rod once my time comes. You can watch a stream of Rod's funeral that pays tribute to his life achievements and the wonderful personality that he was at the TVNZ Web site.

The most significant effect of Rod's passing for people in general, I think, is, as I said earlier, just about everyone who has been touched by this tragedy has violently come to the realisation that they and their loved ones are only human, and that their time will come eventually. This is accentuated by the fact that Rod was so vibrant and so full of life. Rod's story serves as an example that -- no matter how successful a person is in all of their endeavours, how good-natured they are, how much they remain on top of things, how much promise they show and how much respect they are accorded by all who know them -- we are all mortal in the end.

A Significant Setback

It is looking distinctly as though British Prime Minister Tony Blair may be in a fair degree of trouble, electorally, in light of his personally-favoured Terrorism Bill being officially defeated by a series of votes in the British Parliament that have taken place over the past few days. The highly controversial piece of legislation was voted against not only by MPs in the opposition to the government, but also by a significant number of members of Blair's own Labour Party. This denotes a growing degree of disagreement within the party that may eventually lead to Blair's prime ministerial downfall before Britain's next general election, which will take place in 2008 or 2009.

The legislation, which many MPs and citizens of Britain alike often chose to cite as "draconian," would have allowed terror suspects to be held without charge for up to ninety days; that is certainly substantial in comparison to the original time limit of fourteen days. After the bill was defeated by a clearer-than-expected majority of the votes, a Labour Party backbench MP proposed a less severe, but nonetheless significant increase in the amount of time that suspects could be held to twenty-eight days. That decidedly softer measure was passed with roughly the same majority, asserting that Britain's members of Parliament are possibly fence-sitters; they do not want to impose legislation deemed "draconian" upon the people, but neither do they want to be too complacent.

Blair is still convinced that the MPs who voted against the original Terrorism Bill have made a wrong decision, as the BBC reports, and is wary that they may come to regret their decision in the future if a major event of a negative nature were to occur. However, Blair's loss of support could be, to a degree, reflective of the fact that the Labour Party has betrayed its social democratic routes. It no longer has involvement with Britain's workers' unions and seems to have chosen to take an approach to democracy that is to the expense of listening to its constituents -- the very people who helped the party to get into power in the first place. Britain's Labour has also completely changed direction since the "beginning" of the "war on terror," bearing a much closer resemblance to a Conservative government in light of the military action that it has taken against various alleged threats.

Apparently, the Conservative Party were in fact part of the bastion of MPs that voted against the Terrorism Bill, despite the legislation's authoritarian nature being stringently consistent with the policy of that party. Concerns have been expressed that the Conservatives are engaging in this, which would essentially be a tactical action, in order to ensure that they maintain a degree of credibility in the eyes of the public. Following their defeat by a wide margin in the most recent election, which took place in May this year, the Conservatives need to scrape together every additional nuance of support that they can get. Not only does having contributed significantly to the voting down of the Terrorism Bill establish the Conservatives as a politically relevant force, but it sets them on a clear populist path that has the strong potential to serve them well in the event of Blair falling down before the next election.

All Over Again

Four straight hours already spent online, repeatedly perusing the blog roll in search of outrageous revelations, as well as camping on the Trade Me site in the hopes of finding something to recklessly fritter my much-needed cash reserves away on, and also making futile attempts at getting my stressed message across via IM, appears to have not been enough. Hence, I am now back on the computer, steaming steadily towards my fifth hour of Internet usage today. The synopsis with which I have just provided you would have been identical to that which I would have entered into my blog yesterday. In effect, this is, yesterday's blog entry, today.

It would appear that there were no major revelations to be found amongst my extended network's commentaries today. This is probably attributable to the fact that it is exam season, and that consequently it is only sensible for one to be making intelligent use of one's time. It doesn't really make sense that I'm not doing the same thing; unlike others, I have engaged in no preliminary study. Technically, I would have done myself a favour by doing that. At least I would have something to fall back on in the event of these last two exams actually being a challenge.

The MPs are back in attendance at their place of work and, unsurprisingly, Winston Peters has been one of the first individuals to get a rocket. The article clearly describes that as Rodney's big guns came out (do pardon me for the unintended pun), Winston sat back in his seat grinning, which of course serves to suggest that questions as to Winston's legitimacy post-taking-up-of-the-baubles are not going to be taken seriously by the man himself. He wishes to show no visible doubts that what he did was the right thing. As Rodney points out, some of Winston's supposed teammates may beg to differ. It's going to be an interesting parliamentary term for New Zealand First, an organisation in which fractures are already beginning to emerge.

Winston has been swift in his attempts to shift the negative political limelight onto other individuals that are part of the opposition to the government. Immediately after Rodney criticised him in the House, Winston responded, arguably rather feebly -- but nonetheless quickly -- with the stock response of accusing Rodney of overspending in his Epsom electorate campaign. He also dug his claws into National Party deputy leader Gerry Brownlee today, in light of the opposition MP's criticism of the Governor-General that was spurred on by the decidedly messy way in which this government came together.

Also today, Parliament paid tribute to the late politicians David Lange and Rod Donald. On that note, for me personally it is a cause of concern that so much focus is being placed, by both the media and casual political observers, on speculation as to who will be the Green Party's new co-leader and whether Nandor Tanczos will re-enter Parliament. Some leftists are excited by the prospect of hearing that Nandor is to return, whilst their right-wing counterparts are feeling a degree of apprehension. I absolutely understand that one of the central tenets of politics is that one should look to the future. However, I find it disheartening that people seem so keen to speculate what is going to happen that they have virtually shouldered aside the notion that a great New Zealand politician and citizen has just passed away. The Greens are going about it the right way -- they're not rushing anything; they are taking the time to grieve. A lot of other people seem inappropriately wrapped up in speculative self-interest to me. For those of you who have the day free tomorrow, TVNZ will air a live stream of Rod's funeral service from half past ten in the morning. You may also wish to sign a condolence book at one of the Green Party's regional offices.


The notion that there may be a lack of unfairness in the world today is further dismissed by the sheer horror that appears to be taking place in France right at this very moment. The violence that has been rife in that country for the past twelve days is continuing to rage, with the last thing I heard about the events being that they have apparently crossed over into Germany -- cars there are being torched now as well. If you are not aware as to what is going on, the riots in France were triggered as a result of two suspects, who were being chased by police, running into an electric sub-station to hide and ending up being electrocuted. As Dad put it, in a way that I find disagreeable, "they happened to be coloured." This has led to widespread accusations of racism. While they're at it, people have raised the concerns that they have about other problems too, including such things as unemployment. With France looking as if it might be on the edge of civil war, things are, unfortunately, bound to get even worse. Such is the way things tend to go.

On an exponentially more light-hearted note, it has emerged today that there is a distinctly increasing degree of likelihood that veteran rock band Genesis -- the outfit that took the two pop stars Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins to international fame -- is going to indulge in a reunion in the near future, to the delight of the old band's fans all over the world. So far the vocalist, flute-player, dancer and actor Peter, as well as the drummer Phil, and the band's greatest guitarist Steve Hackett, are already on-board. With bassist Mike Rutherford having previously declared the intention to take part in a reunion, this leaves only keyboardist Tony Banks to be roped in before we are finally in action. If the reunion goes ahead it will be the second recent high-profile reformation of a rock band that reached its artistic height in the progressive area of the seventies, with Pink Floyd having got back together for the Live 8 charity cause in July this year.

Rod Donald 1957 - 2005

By this stage you will have undoubtedly already heard that Rod Donald, co-leader of the Green Party, passed away on Saturday night as a result of a heart attack, but I'd just like to pay my respects to this great New Zealander. He was a powerful driving force behind progressive politics in this country as well as internationally, and also was one of the strongest advocates for the system of proportional presentation in Parliament that the citizens of this society reap the benefits of today. People located at all points along the length and breadth of the political spectrum can appreciate that Rod was a remarkable individual who contributed richly to New Zealand as a whole.

In my eyes, Rod was the embodiment of the courage, the positivity and the persistence that the Green Party managed to exhibit during the recent adversity brought on by the party's disappointing election result and its rejection from Labour's coalition arrangement. Despite the grillings that he underwent in numerous television interviews post-election, Rod always stood tall for the values of the Green Party, and never let the commentators pull him down. He was consistent in his citing of the factors that he believed to have caused the Greens to suffer in the final election results -- a fear of a National government leading would-be Green voters to shift their support to the Labour Party.

Rod was also to be the face of the imminent implementation of the Buy NZ-Made campaign, a programme that he had made extensive efforts to have put in place should the Labour government be re-elected -- which of course it has been. Although the campaign will now be fronted by another individual, the New Zealand people have Rod to thank for having secured the go-ahead for it. Most tragically, of course, this indescribable misfortune occurs with Rod having made it only to a mere forty-eight years of age. The fact that he was a healthy-living middle-aged person serves only to increase the sense of disbelief that one is compelled to feel towards this sudden, shocking and unexpected event. It is undoubtable that he would have had further ambitions still, in the interests of making New Zealand an even better place. Rod Donald's noble legacy will ensure that his contributions to society are felt for years to come.

Drama At The Meteor

As it turned out, last night's gig was in fact open to people of all ages. This resulted in a diverse range of scene denominations being represented in the audience. However, there was not the omnipresent rabble of MySpace users and prominently-fringed emo children that is usually present at all ages shows, in particular those shows that include The Bleeders in their line-up, as I have heard there is a tendency to be the case. As is the feeling I have most often when I attend a gig, I did not go home disappointed last night. All of the bands were impressive in their own rights and a decent atmosphere was produced by the venue, The Meteor, in its decidedly peripheral location in the Hamilton city centre.

I had the privilege of seeing a number of bands that I had in fact been meaning to see for a considerable long time. Eric and I arrived via carpool (or perhaps more appropriately vanpool), courtesy of Scott Penk, near to the end of The Antagonist's set. The Antagonist were the first band of the evening and judging by what I heard of them, it would have been a very worthwhile set to have heard the whole of, despite the fact that the sound system seemed inappropriately quiet. The Cinix followed up as the second act, with an energetic performance that was, however, apparently not without extensive errors (my relatively-untrained-in-hardcore ears did not detect any faults amidst the unrelenting powerchording).

It was interesting to see that someone I knew from my media studies tutorial last semester was the drummer for this band. I was always aware that he was in a band, but I did not realise that it would be one as locally prominent as The Cinix. As was the case with Hanharr and Hayden's birthday gig last weekend, it's surprising just how much seeing someone who one knows, however vaguely, playing in a band can increase one's sense of affinity with the music and the feeling that is being put into it. Taking into account that I had run into this person at gigs in the past, and also that I overheard someone in Penk's van talking about a Disney-themed party that I am aware Jordan attended, one really begins to get the idea that it's a small scene after all.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly the performance that we were treated to by The Warpath, a band in which Eric's friend Zak now plays one of the two guitars. During The Warpath's blistering set, two fascists -- looking to be aged in their mid twenties, resplendent in National Front gear and who had been hanging around the gig for a significant amount of time, seemingly for the purpose of making a statement -- stood just to the left of the stage, in front of the PA, nodding their heads in overly masculine, subdued approval for the band's artistic output. In a gap between songs, The Warpath's vocalist Dylan Knuckles took it upon himself to decry their presence ("In case you hadn't noticed there are two people who don't belong here"), prompting at least one of the two men to raise his arm in a gesture of pride.

Dylan then carried on to proclaim that "Racism does not belong in this scene" and made a remark to the audience that was something closely along the lines of "If you have any sense I suggest you beat their heads in." The audience gave a light-hearted response, with some laughing and others cheekily "ooh"-ing. The fascists remained staunch. As The Warpath ripped into their next piece, however, a boy began hardcore dancing in the circle. He careered off to the side and lightly knocked into one of the fascists. This was too much of a coincidence for an inherently hateful individual, who had just heard the order issued for him to be beaten up. He grabbed the punk's shirt.

With it being apparent that the boy was possibly about to be beaten up himself, at least twenty people from the audience overcame both of the National Front members en masse, forcing them to the ground before proceeding to pummel them whilst they were down. The huge mob followed the facists out of the doors amidst resounding cheers from the rest of the audience. The Warpath apparently made a significant number of musical errors during the few minutes following on from those events. Dylan apologised for this, explaining that they were "distracted by the goings-on." At the end of The Warpath's otherwise flawless set, he said "Congratulations" to the audience for having not tolerated the allegedly antagonistic presence of fascists.

The Warpath were followed by Cobra Khan, who were excellent and marred only by some questionable mix settings that had been applied by the sound technician, and The Bleeders who of course played the last set of the night. A fanatical audience made it a decidedly uncomfortable experience to be trapped at the front, being forced to meld into the stage by the surging mass of "tuff" kids. Contrary to what it had felt like whilst standing at the front, I found when I moved to the back of the crowd and observed the goings-on that the majority of the crowd was relatively subdued. As a result of this, frequent attempts made by audience members to crowd surf failed miserably. Nonetheless The Bleeders whipped out a brilliant set with certainly the most animated live performance of the night, and a fair amount of new material to boot. A third consecutive Friday night well-spent.

Bugger The Pollsters

A TV3 political poll released today has provided a result which could easily be perceived by many to be exemplary of the flawed nature of the polling system. It indicates that the gap in support between Labour and National has widened to seven per cent, relative to a discrepancy of two per cent that was the case on election night. This is despite the quite clearly evident dissatisfaction that is rife amongst Labour voters in the wake of New Zealand First being brought into the finalised coalition arrangements, and the provision of the position of Foreign Minister to Winston Peters.

With Labour having campaigned on the platform that it would aim to achieve something of a unified left-wing in Parliament, involving the Greens in coalition and striving to overcome the new right -- a category which could be expected to contain Winston, who Helen has often unashamedly referred to as a "bigot" -- it comes as little surprise that the party's voters are feeling noticeably disenfranchised. It is somewhat surprising, however, that these feelings were not reflected in the recently released poll results. One would assume that a significant poll slump for Labour would have been appropriate.

What this poll result essentially serves to do most effectively is justify, to a degree, the lack of confidence that a lot of people have held in the validity of the polls, particularly that which was expressed in the lead-up to the election. What is perhaps the worst effect of the unrepresentative and inaccurate nature of the polls is that it has a significant influence on people's voting decisions, with tactical voting having become a significant aspect of the electoral workings of MMP now that the system has become properly entrenched. For example, it is certainly fair to say that the polls caused the Greens to lose a significant amount of their support on election night. Fearing the potential for a National-led government to come into existence, and observing National's strong showings in the polls, left-wing voters transferred their support over to Labour.

To today's poll's credit, however, it could be assumed that its depiction of the Greens' rise to seven per cent of the party vote may well be somewhat accurate -- now that we are back to media polls as opposed to official electoral polls, Green voters are being honest with themselves and others and embracing their support for their party of choice. Media polls are not a situation in which one must vote tactically. Unfortunately, this could well serve to highlight another flaw in the polling system, in that it may indicate that it is not properly reflective of the tactical voting activity that takes place under MMP. The fact that there are so many of these polls, showing such diversity of results and drawing statistics from such small samples of the population is also another glaring flaw. It is obvious that there's a lot to be done to the polling system if it is ever to function properly.

I'm off to Hamilton with Eric tonight for a hardcore gig that is to be headlined by The Bleeders. It is not an all-ages gig (as many that The Bleeders attend unfortunately have the tendency to be) so I expect that it will be a significantly enjoyable night. I haven't heard The Bleeders live before and am looking forward to doing so at long last. As I am particularly conscious of my finances at the moment, in recognition of the fact that the summer is fast approaching, I am feeling somewhat wary as to whether I will end up having to catch the bus home to Auckland tomorrow morning. That would no doubt set me back a notable degree in terms of my efforts to save. Add that to the prospect that I have to get a new passport tomorrow, with the price having shot up to around one hundred and fifty dollars just today, and I'm certainly looking at a potentially financially down-breaking weekend. Here's hoping that the breakdowns at the show make up for it.

This weekend will also be a weekend during which I intend to make minimal use of computers, in anticipation of the occurrence that I end up coming out of my political studies exam academically maimed. When one takes into account the absolute lack of study that I have put towards achieving anything at all in that exam, it becomes apparent that I may well be going into this exam hoping for the best to a substantial degree. I suppose it's relatively straightforward given the huge interest and decent level of knowledge that I have of this subject. However, I am well aware right now that the pre-exam study period is inherently unpleasant, as I'm sure a lot of you are.

The Little Things

It's a peculiar time of year right now. For those of us who are attending university, we are virtually facing the end of life as we have known it for most of the year, in light of the more-imminent-than-we-would-have-ourselves-believe conclusion of exams. Not only that, but the seasonal cycle is sitting right on that eery cuff that lies between spring and summer. The weather's a somewhat disorienting mix of all seasons, even by Auckland's standards. With the General Election out of the way, the most significant current affairs events of the year have been and gone (not to belittle the other serious things that are occurring overseas as I write). Topping it all off, the relatively hollow and meaningless "holidays" of Halloween and Guy Fawkes are making their existence known around this time.

It is apparent that some significant debate has arisen in the past few days as to what the legal status of fireworks should be, in reflection of the fact that Guy Fawkes night is fast approaching and fireworks are now on sale. The government, however, has decided to pass on taking any action against retailers' selling of fireworks. The Herald article mentions that Parliament looked into the issue in 1994 and 1996 "but decided that a few irresponsible people should not prevent others using fireworks," and notes that last decade's discussions ultimately lead only to public firework sales being limited to those aged fourteen or over. Presumably this is also the point at which skyrockets were banned. The legislation does not take into account the potentially low maturity of people who are only fourteen years old. The lack of action that the government has asserted it will take is surprising considering the events of recent days.


Yesterday I had the supposedly positive task of getting the first of my four exams out of the way -- anthropology. Having done very little study I was sceptical that I was going to be able to achieve an adequate mark to put me over the threshold that I required to pass the course. I was preparing myself for the prospect of failure, which could well have resulted in my parents withdrawing me from university (as opposed to making me take on a student loan, they are paying for my education as I go along, with me putting a significant amount of money in myself as well; Mum could not have handled me failing a single paper). However, in recognition of a classmate's recommendation I checked my marks online, discovering that I had already scored 40.5% in the course. Thus, not much was required of me in the exam in order for me to pass the course.

Within thirty minutes I had answered most of what I could, and enough to ensure that I passed the course. My attention was then diverted periodically to the graffiti on the desk, which included such scribblings as Comfortably Numb. Under that was Run Like Hell, and on the far edge of the desk was Yessongs. In keeping with the apparent prog rock theme of the desk, I chose to contribute Supper's Ready to its entourage of classic song and album names -- between glances from the patrolling exam supervisors. That should effectively articulate the impression of just how academically vacant I was during that exam. I'm absolutely confident that I have passed, however. What's wrong with thinking ahead to a summer of listening to great music when I'm supposed to be writing about circumcisions being rites of passage?

Rodney's made some further great points about Wayne Mapp's apparent misinterpretation of what exactly political correctness entails. Wayne made it quite obvious that his idea of political correctness is the allowance of minority groups to have a say. The reality, of course, is that that is not political correctness at all -- it is in fact truly representative democracy. Personally, I would define accusations of political correctness as being expressions of concern that inappropriate amounts of attention are being paid to the aiding of minorities' progression from situations that the minorities themselves feel to be unjust. What would appear to be the case is that Wayne wants to neutralise the need for any accusations of political correctness, via the method of eliminating minority voices from the political field altogether. An allusion to sweeping things under the rug would be appropriate. Upon closer examination it would appear to me that Wayne has fallen into the defeatist trap; a situation in which he would seem to almost believe that "if there's no people, there's no problems."