Building a wall against progress

Surveys suggest the presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a 50-50 chance of being elected leader of the free world later this year. Should he succeed I fear he will take America back from the future. His slogan, Make America Great Again seems to have caught the imagination of a large number of constituents, but I wonder if the country has really lost its way in the world to the extent Mr Trump and his followers consider it has.

Many of his policies make some sort of sense and will certainly resonate with those who feel that they are losing traction in their personal lives, but his intention to abolish the free trade agreements like NAFTA and the TPPA would surely be a giant step backwards.

With few exceptions global trading has certainly brought benefits to this country. For instance our cars used to be built up in England, knocked down, and then rebuilt in New Zealand. Far better to purchase them intact from their country of origin and then sell to that country some product that we make well, whether it be whey, wine or even Wilson’s Whisky.

We can then enjoy the masterfully made models from those people whose craftsmanship is eugenic.

Old-fashioned values are fine in theory, but author and Past-President of Rotary International Frank Devlyn reckons we’re on the verge of ushering in the 4th industrial revolution. The world is likely to become more connected which will be an anathema to Mr Trump’s isolationist rhetoric.

Devlyn believes software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5 to 10 years. Uber is just a software tool; they don’t own any cars and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is the biggest hotel company on the planet although they don’t own any properties.

Because of ‘IBM Watson’ (look it up on Google) you can get legal advice within seconds with 90 percent accuracy compared with 70 per cent accuracy when done by humans. So Devlyn advises if you are studying law: “stop immediately.” There will be 90 percent less lawyers in the future, only specialists will remain.

Same with the medical profession. The Tricorder X price will be announced later this year. There will be companies who will build this medical device that works from your phone, and takes your retina scan. It will analyse 54 biomarkers that will identify nearly any disease. It will be cheap, so in a few years everyone on earth will have access to world class medicine, almost for free.

Devlyn talks of 3d printers, agricultural robots and autonomous electric cars that will pick you up and drive you to your destination. Built by Tesla, Google and Apple; the traditional car companies will disappear and road deaths will reduce dramatically.

He believes electricity will become incredibly cheap as the price of solar power improves and there will access for all to world class education through cheaper smartphones.

Much of this technology will have been initiated in the US which seems to indicate that it is still a great country.

Devlyn is the CEO of The Devlyn Group. He is domiciled in Mexico. Mr. Trump’s wall could well mean that never the twain shall meet.

“The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it” - Elbert Hubbard

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Paradise lost?

The trouble with having a roof over your head, food on the table and a nice warm bed is that you are constantly reminded that others are not so fortunate and your conscience is perpetually pricked.

Television news nightly show us disturbing images of people living on the street or in cars and then widens the scope with heart-rending advertisements requesting assistance for some African region where skeletal infants are dying for aid.

You start to think about your own creature comforts due in part at least to the accident of birth and although Paul Henry tells us each morning that we are living in paradise, that’s not how many would see it.

National MP Chester Borrows however is sceptical of some of the stories coming out of Auckland and wants the news media to dig more deeply. He reckons the mother of ten children living in a carport would be entitled to $1500 a week from WINZ and with an accommodation supplement on top of that, her income would be closer to $2000 a week. Other questions he wants asked, bearing in mind she had been renting previously, why did she move? Has she got a poor rent record? Did she always pay her rent on time? Was the accommodation ever damaged?

But Auckland’s problems are becoming everybody’s problem - or good fortune - whichever way you look at it. Local real estate people are cock-a-hoop over the number of Aucklander’s who have cashed up and come south to uncongested roads and cheaper housing.

Immigration and Asian investment is blamed for the Auckland housing crisis and the high costs have driven rents up to such a degree that despite the generous WINZ supplements, maybe a family with ten children can’t really afford to live in the Queen city.

Perhaps there are other reasons for Auckland’s property boom.

For instance for years we have been bombarded by entrepreneurs advising us to use the equity in our existing homes to buy other homes as an investment for our old age.

Ollie Newlands had a TV show called Property Climbers, Robert Kiyosaki wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad and stomped the country preaching to packed auditoriums and more recently Nikki Connors from Propellor Property Investments has hit the airwaves. These three, and countless others, have urged us to buy houses to rent out.

Many will have followed their advice. If they started early they would be reaping the benefit today, and if they chose to invest in Auckland then perhaps they have created the situation where there are fewer houses for first home buyers to buy.

No one wants to see people living in cardboard boxes under bridges, or begging on the street and we shouldn’t forget that charity begins at home. Locally our Food-Bank people have disclosed that their shelves are bare and they are giving away more food parcels than they ever have. Food-Bank co-ordinator Lyn Tankersley says there is huge poverty out there and it is starting to effect middle income earners, many who have two or three jobs, but simply can’t make ends meet.

But if Chester Borrow’s figures regarding mother of ten’s entitlements are accurate, then I suspect there is little more the guv’ment can do.

“Clothes make the poor invisible. America has the best dressed poverty the world has ever known.” - Michael Harrington

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Contrasting generations and cultures

Knowing how young men’s minds work - after all I used to be one once - I wasn’t particularly surprised when St Dominic’s Girls College in Henderson suggested their ball-going pupils wear attire that refrained from exposing cleavage, kept any split in their skirts below the knees and covered their backs. I would imagine that’s the sort of advice you’d expect from a catholic girl’s school.

However St. Dominic’s liberal-minded parents were not happy and distributed a well-supported petition which declared: “The rules stated are extreme. Since when has a girl’s back caused such outrage for being ‘too exposed?’ This is sexualising a girl’s body and sending the message that they must be covered up and feel ashamed of showing skin. Girls at this age (16-18) do have breasts and the fact that they must be completely covered is outdated and shameful on the colleges behalf. Girls have backs and legs and breasts. All of which can be shown to an extent that is classy and elegant.”

The petition had the desired outcome. The college principal, Mrs Carol Coddington, withdrew the edict after claiming it didn’t exist in the first place! Surprising, given that 200 girls who attended the assembly where the ruling was announced confirmed its existence, adding that they were also told there were to be “no exceptions.”

The school’s motto is “Veritas,” Latin for truth, which may now be deemed inappropriate.

The change of attitude over a lifetime as to the modesty or otherwise of women’s clothing has been perplexing for the mere male, though we have understandably stood aside without protest. I can even remember back when women’s bathing costumes were invariably black, had straps that held the top section well above the cleavage (though I’m not entirely certain that word was even in existence at the time) and had a skirt across the bottom to stop male minds wandering where they ought not to.

Bikini was a Pacific atoll where the Americans tested their hydrogen bombs.

The Muslim community has made no such progress. Relating to the Hijab, their law states: “Islam holds women in very high esteem and the Islamic rules of covering are intended to protect and guard her dignity and honour.”

This is said to be more the outcome of a male-dominated society rather than the desire of those being dignified and honoured, though why men would adopt this particular consecution is curious.

And wearing seductive garments has not meant women are less chaste. American comedian Dave Barry complains that women might go out for an evening wearing revealing clothing, “gown-less evening straps” he calls them, but are likely to go home and slip into a long pair of Chinese pyjamas, buttoned right up to the neck, “Visibility zero” he says.

“If you start to undo the vestment by the time you get to the bottom button it’s time to get up and go to work,” he postulates.

“It’s alright for Chinese,” he concludes, “They’re more patient than we are; that’s why there’s so many of them.”

But if perchance you think women are the weaker sex, just try pulling the blankets back to your side 

of the bed.

“You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap.” - Dolly Parton

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The changing face of a world

We visited Dublin back in 1995 and as soon as we were ensconced in our B&B I accessed a telephone directory to book in at a cabaret where an Irish comedian I had admired from afar was performing. Booking made, I then perused the phone book and discovered that pretty well all the surnames had a familiar ring. It was like looking through a 1940s Wairarapa directory. No foreign names, but almost exclusively Irish and Anglo-Saxon nomenclatures. I was surprised. Do they not encourage outsiders to settle in Ireland - or if they do come, are they perhaps denied a telephone?

I don’t know what the Dublin telephone book looks like today, but I gather the London directory will have no such exclusions. I came to this conclusion a few weeks ago when the good people of London elected a Muslim mayor. Sadiq Khan assumed office earlier this month. The contrast from the previous incumbent, who was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, was startling.

How did this happen? I needed to do some research (thanks Google).

I found the government’s push to increase immigration has altered London’s population. The national census which looked at change over a decade has revealed that London’s racial and religious mix has changed dramatically.

Statistics from last year’s census showed that only 45 per cent of London’s 8.2 million population class themselves as white Britons. That compares with a figure of 58 percent when the last census was compiled in 2001. The next largest ethnic group is Asian, including both those who have arrived from abroad and those who were born in the country. They now account for 18 per cent of the capital’s population with a total of 1.5 million residents.

Black Londoners, of whom there are 1.1 million, represent another 13 per cent of the population. They include Africans, black Britons and those from the Caribbean. The capital’s 405,000 mixed race residents make up another 5 per cent of the population. Arabs represent 1.3 per cent while “other” ethnic groups make up 2 per cent.

Another 13 per cent of Londoners are “white other” - such as Europeans - meaning that the capital still has an overall majority of white residents despite white Britons becoming a minority.

Regarding country of birth, today’s figures show that three million Londoners were born abroad.

All of this may sound racist, but the changing face of London is history in the making; with an outcome we may find dismaying. Imagine if Beijing or Tokyo suddenly found that their native populations were being overtaken by outsiders. China and Japan are Asian countries and are no doubt determined to stay that way. Similarly, if an African country’s capital city found that it suddenly had a black African minority then it would probably consider it had been colonised and cry “foul”.

Molly Malone was said to have walked Dublin’s “fair” city wheeling a wheelbarrow full of cockles and mussels that were so fresh they were still alive. A modern counterpart walking the streets of London today would probably need to offer up an alternative slogan and different fare.

And I’m not sure just how long we will continue to refer to Britain as “the home country.”

“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.” - Dave Barry

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Good things from small beginnings

I’m no apologist and probably never shall be of Andrew Little’s, but I did feel uncharacteristically sorry for him a couple of weeks ago when, just as he was starting to make traction against the government’s handling of the Panama Papers, a newsreader at TV3 decided to quit her job and subsequently featured in the headlines for days.

Mrs Barry’s surprise decision caused unforeseen outcomes and even the unexpected resignation of TV 3’s CEO Mark Weldon

There are some Wairarapa connections in all of this and even one or two subtle ironies.

In 1992 Paul Henry set up a fledgling radio station called Today FM on a shoe-string budget in the old Masonic Hall in Carterton’s Holloway Street. He used second-hand gear and some second-hand staff including his old boss from Radio Wairarapa, veteran broadcaster Johnny Shearer, plus a Masterton butcher, who shall remain nameless, who was his talkback host from 9 to 10 each morning.

He also employed a newsreader named Georgina Beyer. I was only there for an hour a day so I’m not entirely sure just how competent Ms Beyer was at her job, but after a few months, Paul terminated her employment. I don’t know if there was any acrimony in the process; Donald Trump would simply have said, “You’re fired!”

(The irony bit starts here because seven years later, in 1999, Paul was the National Party candidate for Wairarapa and was up against the self-same Ms Beyer. She won the contest comfortably.)

Going back to when Georgina Beyer’s contract was terminated, Mr Henry replaced her with a savvy young lady fresh out of journalism school named Hilary Pankhurst. From my casual observation Ms Pankhurst was a consummate professional from day one.

The little station operated successfully for a year when Paul was made an offer for the business he couldn’t refuse from a South Island consortium and subsequently moved on to higher grounds and greener pastures.

Today FM went on to become Hitz 89 FM and then More FM, the name it trades under today.

Ms Pankhurst eventually moved to Auckland where she married Mike Barry the son of All Black Kevin Barry who played his early rugby for Wairarapa-Bush.

Paul’s following career included manager of National Radio under CEO Sharon Crosby, then a move to Auckland where he worked for Radio Pacific and Radio Live eventually hosting the breakfast show on TV One and was publically voted “Broadcaster of the Year.” However after making comments deemed by some to be unacceptable, TV One did a “Donald Trump” on Paul who then had a short stint on Australian TV where they obviously didn’t quite get his unique brand of humour.

He is now back hosting the hugely successful Paul Henry on TV 3 alongside his old colleague, Hilary Barry.

There was criticism that Ms Barry’s resignation was given such prominence, after all, some commentators reported, “She is just a newsreader.” But I think that’s understating her talent. She has that inexplicable attribute known as the x-factor and is the perfect foil for Henry’s exuberance and oft-times outrageous utterances.

They are a nationally recognised “dream team” that had its genesis in the heart of the Wairarapa.

“Do you realise if it weren’t for Edison we’d be watching television by candlelight?” - Al Boliska

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A feathered history of our land

I used to have a pet magpie. I must have been about nine or ten years of age when I was playing with friends in a paddock across the road from the Lansdowne golf course and we were attacked by a magpie protecting her young in the nest. She swooped down on us and inflicted superficial wounds to our faces and hands. My callous response was to steal one of her chicks and take it home and feed it warm milk from an eye dropper and some of Long’s Meatmarket’s best beef mince.

The bird thrived and became a much loved member of the family.

After her sex was determined, and with a total lack of original thinking, we called her Maggie. (We once had a cat named Ben, but after it had kittens we changed its name to Ben Hur.)

Maggie would sit on my shoulder as I rode around town on my bike and would nibble my ear affectionately. I was a sort of a modern day Long John Silver, but without a wooden leg it was really only the bird and the Long that fitted the comparison.

DOC and the regional councils consider magpies to be pests. This is mainly because of their propensity to attack people (which of course, I can verify), but there is also strong evidence that they also destroy native birds. Wherever the magpies have been eradicated, the native species return and thrive. Rooks are also described as pest animals; their unacceptable behaviour mainly revolves around destroying crops.

It got me to thinking that perhaps the settlers who colonised Aotearoa from the early 1800’s were a bit like the magpies (an all-white version) and the rooks. They came to this country and almost caused the total eradication of the natives. Despite the fact they often tended to nibble the ears of some of the more nubile of the Maori maidens by 1900 there were only 40,000 of the indigenees left in New Zealand.

The human version of the magpies and rooks had swooped on their lands and destroyed their crops.

Inevitably the descendants of the colonists started to realise the errors of their ancestors ways and agreed to negotiate with the original inhabitants to see how that could put some of the wrongs to rights. The Maoris have rebuilt their stocks to around 600,000 people, although as a result of ear nibbling many are now tainted with the blood of the European interlopers.

Recently the government announced that the Kahungunu people of the Wairarapa and Tararua were to be given $93 million in cash, the return of 23,000 hectares of land and significant cultural redress in settlement of the tribe’s historic grievances.

Then in a surprise move the Masterton District councillor’s agreed to appoint two unelected Maori representatives to sit around their table. Many saw this as a step too far, perhaps thinking that Ben Couch, Georgina Beyer, Jim Rimene and Edwin and Owen Perry had all achieved representation via the ballot box.

But the council is unrepentant.

I must say I did feel a tad guilty about stealing a baby magpie from its mothers nest.

But time wounds all heels.

“We are all still prisoners of our colonial history.” - Bob Hawke 

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Weak sentencing not the answer

There was once a school of thought that considered the death penalty should be reintroduced in New Zealand, not for murderers, but for drug dealers. It was further considered that people caught accessing drugs ought not to have a conviction entered against their names, and rather than being incarcerated, be sent to rehabilitation facilities.

A number of societies agree with this death sentence methodology as the ringleaders of Australia’s “Bali 9” would attest. Well, actually no they can’t, they were put to death by a firing squad. Some Muslim countries tend to be a bit harsh on their criminal element; women caught in adultery risk getting stoned to death and thieves are inclined to get their hands amputated.

Some years ago Labour MP and associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton, while agreeing with the notion of a strong penalty for drug dealers, thought execution was a bit harsh and instead introduced legislation allowing for a life sentence to apply.

As far as I am aware no judge has ever imposed this penalty.

Last week I noticed a young Masterton man was convicted of “supplying and offering supply” of methamphetamine. When apprehended, the police found a Taser gun in his possession, plus nearly five thousand dollars in cash. There may have been extenuating circumstances that were not reported, but the judge sentenced the offender to a mere sixteen months in jail.

He was taken back to Rimutaka prison and immediately released because of the time served on remand. I am not a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, but I’m starting to empathise with Garth McVicar’s concerns.

The police admitted recently that they are inclined not to follow up on burglary complaints citing that they have more serious crimes to attend to and yet the proceeds of burglaries will in many cases be being used to feed drug addiction.

The police also reported that methamphetamine production and sales have increased dramatically over the last twelve months.

Also last week we saw graphic images of a car full of thieves ramrodding a Z petrol station in Auckland, narrowly missing the lone attendant. The gang stole cigarettes and cash out of the till. There is a thriving black market for cigarettes and it is likely they were taken for on-selling to accommodate a drug habit rather than placate a nicotine addiction.

This was the seventh Z service station to be targeted this year. (Z responded by buying up all the Caltex service stations; they must have a death wish.)

You do have to feel some sympathy for drug users. They will have been coerced in a weak moment by the despicable dealers to try the substance and then find themselves desperately desiring more.

When someone uses meth, the drug enters the brain and releases huge amounts of dopamine, causing an extreme “high” or euphoria. Chronic use however will cause functional and structural changes in the brain which may be irreversible. The ongoing cost to our health system will surely rival obesity and diabetes.

Like Mr Anderton, I’m a bit squeamish about introducing the death penalty for drug dealers, but I’d happily go along with a life sentence with a minimum parole period of (say) 99 years.

“To pass a law and not have it enforced is to authorise the very thing you want to prohibit.” - Cardinal Richelieu

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