Roughan on Len's dilemma

Weekend Herald columnist John Roughan has been out into the suburbs. And what he has seen and heard doesn't bode well for Len Brown's chances of re-election; he opines (with our emphasis added):

The little church basement where the Campbells Bay Community Association holds thinly attended public meetings was packed on Tuesday night. People were polite to the Auckland planners and patient with the deceptive language that planning employs.
A man at the back, English by his accent, lost his composure when it was confirmed that three-storey apartments could be built on either side of him and he would have no right to object. The rest of us absorbed the news quietly, as New Zealanders do.
Just about all our properties were zoned for this prospect on a map projected on a screen at the front of the room. Mine was in a strip designated a special environmental area, which appears to mean the trees could prevent multi-unit developments, but most were not so fortunate.
The man with the English accent declared that he was going to sell to a developer as soon as he could, in case his neighbours did so.
The two planners present looked sheepish. Both previously worked for the North Shore Council, I think. Now they service local boards for the Super City. They said they were not involved in designing the Unitary Plan but they would try to explain it.
I haven't seen real suburban unrest before. This isn't a "rates revolt" where people come to public meetings and sound off about an additional hundred dollars as though it matters. There is a deathly quiet about this plan.
We weren't asked to vote on Tuesday night, just urged to send individual submissions to the council. Forms were distributed by a group organised to call for a "rethink" but our association wasn't ready to endorse them.
Its founders are folk who believe more is to be gained in co-operation than combat. Just a month ago when the chairman circulated information on the council's contentious metropolitan boundaries, he said he didn't think it had much to do with Campbells Bay.
Nor did I - then.

Residents of Auckland's outer suburbs are suddenly discovering what Len Brown's flagship Unitary Plan means for them and the suburbs they've chosen to call home. And they are not impressed. Roughan continues:

The debate over the containment of Auckland's sprawl appeared to be about whether the bulk of the additional population projected by 2040 could be accommodated in suburbs that have a railway station.
I've been criticising this notion for years, arguing that people come to Auckland primarily for its climate and coastal attractions and that planners who want to reshape the city to support public transport are swimming against the tide.
It appears planners now agree. They are not yet ready to let the city spread north of Long Bay and east along the firth, as it will inevitably, but are designating established coastal suburbs for much larger populations.
Julia Parfitt, chairwoman of the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board, told the meeting the Unitary Plan is not accompanied by additional roading or other infrastructure for a higher population.
The area's council representative, Wayne Walker, who speaks the language of planning, said it was "not a fine-grained thing". I think that means it was hastily drafted by bureaucrats who lacked the time or wit to do better than throw a higher density blanket over the entire city.
Council members seem as dismayed as anybody, which is odd because planning is about all they have been able to do.
At the creation of the single city the mayor and council members discovered their role was to be strictly limited. They were not to interest themselves in the operations of drains and rubbish collections and other services their voters expect. Their role was "governance", which meant above all, planning.
Council members must feel they have done nothing else but planning for the past three years. They have had to read volumes of paper, nearly all of it containing mind-numbing bromides that nobody would dispute.
Their grand opus, the Auckland Plan, was published in richly illustrated bound volumes last year. Now its platitudes have been given practical expression in the Unitary Plan. That sort of detail is a job for staff, it seems, not elected members.
The mayor has stressed that the plan is a draft and will be changed, but it would be dangerous to rely on that. It is the careful and deliberate work of members of a profession who believe fervently in what they do.

The Unitary Plan is Len Brown's baby, but if he gets taken down by irate ratepayers in the local body elections later this year. a few councillors are likely to go with him. we reckon that there are some very nervous elected officials around Auckland at the moment, some of whom do not deserve to be tarred with the brush that the mayor has been wielding.

Roughan concludes:

They have been producing this sort of scheme for a blessedly powerless regional body for the past 40 years. They knew that every time a council tried to impose their desired densities on a place such as Panmure, the residents rebelled. But they persevered, convinced that urban planning should not be led by the plain preferences of ordinary people.
Nimbys, they call us. We prefer that our backyard not be overlooked and shaded by apartment blocks next door. If that is too much to ask of Auckland's planners then I think the rumbling in the suburbs is going to become an eruption that will have its way.

Planners of course are salaried employees, not elected representatives of the community. They will not bear the brunt of a backlash later in the year, or an "eruption" as John Roughan describes it.

That indignity will belong to Len Brown, and those who are trying to drive an unpopular Unitary Plan through.

The Civilian on Chinese food and other xenophobic things

The Civilian is in fine form in the wake of a certain politician's speech to the elderly in Auckland yesterday; check this out:

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has told a North Shore Grey Power meeting this afternoon that he has learned how to cook “that Chinese rubbish, or whatever it is these kids like to eat,” thus removing any possible need for Chinese immigrants to enter the New Zealand economy.
He said he felt that learning to cook sweet and sour pork and “that cashew stuff” was a necessary measure after successive governments failed to crack down on what he says is an “out of control” Asian immigration problem.
“We’ve been warning them about this for two decades now, but they never bloody well get it right,” he said. “If you think Mr. Key and his cronies are going to pony up and do what’s right by real New Zealanders, then by golly, you’ve got another thing coming.”
He then donned an apron and used a small portable stove to demonstrate the cooking of egg foo young.
“See?” he said. “I can make it fine. There’s no bloody need for them to do it.”
Peters then walked outside and proceeded to offer his moderately burnt creation to passing pedestrians and motorists.
“Come and get it!” he yelled, throwing the food at moving vehicles. “It tastes fucking terrible.”
Peters added that he was considering starting a prostitution ring “so no one needs the Chinese to do that, either.”

This is great stuff from The Civilian, and is bound to be the topic of discussion in all the 150 Asian restaurants in Dominion Road that said politician was so upset about last year.

And laughing at the politician is now probably the best way to treat him. We abhor his xenophobia, especially as we are rather partial to a feed of sweet and sour pork. or an Asian seafood or duck meal. A mixed grill at the Green Parrot is fine every now and again, but variety is the spice of life, and the diverse range of ethnic foods available in Auckland and right around New Zealand these days certainly provides variety!

Good on you Ali

One of the sad features of sport is the number of players who try to hang around at the top level for a season or two too long.

Ali Williams announced his retirement from international rugby yesterday, and Gregor Paul suggests that the big fella's timing was spot on; check this out:

Timing hasn't previously been a strong point for Ali Williams, but his decision today to retire from test rugby is indisputably perfect.

Kudos to him for being proactive in going out on his terms. So often portrayed as the clown prince, Williams has pulled off one of the hardest gigs in the game - getting out of the test arena with his legacy and reputation intact.
His knee is bung. His body is creaking - the athleticism and elasticity that enabled him to reach the top echelon of international locks between 2005 and 2008 has gone.
Everyone, Williams admirers and haters, could see in the last few weeks that, after a promising start to the season, he was fading. Scott Higginbotham brushed him off much like he might be the remnants of an unwanted sandwich.
Against the Crusaders last week, Sam Whitelock had ownership of Williams. Any lingering hopes Williams may still have had about his test aspirations surely evaporated in Christchurch. Not only was Whitelock rampaging everywhere Williams wasn't, so too was Luke Romano and then Dominic Bird came off the bench to drive in the last nail.
It was perhaps a little cruel to then bring Williams into the All Black training camp the next day to provide him with yet another opportunity to see that New Zealand rugby is full of younger, fitter, better locks than him.

In the mid-2000's there were few better locks in world rugby that Ali Williams. His domestic form was not always brilliant, but he could pull out big games for the All Blacks when they were needed. Against the Lions in 2005, Williams was one of the All Blacks' best players.

Ali Williams was always different; a bit of a hard case and a practical joker, and certainly a far cry from the unsmiling All Black forwards of years gone by. But his passion and desire when clad in black could never be questioned.With 77 test caps in a test career lasting from 2002 to 2012, Ali Williams will be remembered as a very good All Black, and as one who ended his career on his terms, and not those of the selectors.

Plus ça change

Someone made a speech at a Grey Power meeting today, on which the Herald reports:

New Zealand First Leader and former Foreign Minister Winston Peters has again lashed out at growing Chinese influence, saying it is turning Auckland into "the Supercity of sin".
Mr Peters, who has often been criticised for stirring up xenophobia for the sake of political gain, warned that New Zealand was turning a blind eye to the level of corruption in China. That corruption had already affected New Zealand through the recent revelations about fraud involving Zespri's exports to China and the earlier Fonterra melamine scandal.
"It stands to reason that corruption can be exported and imported" Mr Peters said in a speech to North Shore Grey Power.

Xenophobia from this politician is nothing new. His anti-Asian invective has been his stock-in-trade since the early 1990's. Despite that, Helen Clark saw fit to make him Foreign Minister, and send him overseas to represent New Zealand. We deplore his xeonophobic rhetoric and scaremongering.

Plus ça change; the more things change, the more this politician reverts to type.

Time to heal the wounds of Lord's

They say that the best way to recover from falling off a horse is to get straight back on it and try again. So it is for the New Zealand cricket team when they go into battle against England at Headingley in Leeds tonight.

And they'll be doing it without their most experienced player; Newstalk ZB reports:

Daniel Vettori's hopes of returning to Test cricket in the series finale against England have ultimately come to nought.
The former captain has ruled himself out of the test starting in Leeds tonight, due to uncertainty over whether he can last the full five days.
Vettori came through yesterday's training session okay, but has not scrubbed up quite so well after a night's sleep.
That's opened the door for Doug Bracewell to be named in the playing 11 in a four prong pace attack with Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner.
Vettori hasn't played a test for 10 months, and battled a number of injuries over summer. 

Kudos to Vettori for putting the team ahead of himself and acknowledging that he isn't in good enough shape to front up for a test match. New Zealand will have to rely on a quartet of pace bowlers now.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing. When New Zealand beat Australia at Hobart in 2011, Vettori was a late withdrawl from the team, and the Kiwis went into the match with four pace bowlers, three of whom will play in this match. They had been comprehensively beaten in the first test, yet regrouped to win one of New Zealand cricket's most famous victories against a star-studded Australian side.

Need another omen? Headingley was the site of New Zealand's first-ever win over England away in 1983. Lance Cairns was the chief destroyer in that match, whilst New Zealand's premier bowler Richard Hadlee went wicketless for one of the few times in his stellar career.

So we are not entirely without hope, but it's going to be up to the batsmen. Martin Guptill returns to the side to replace BJ Watling, and with Doug Bracewell coming into the side, Tim Southee will move down the order. At least Bracewell has shown an appetite to bat sensibly in the past; we remember a match-saving unbeaten partnership with Kane Williamson at the Basin Reserve 18 months ago against South Africa.

Play begins tonight at 10pm (NZ time). Test cricket; you've gotta love it!  

"The facts don't suit them"

Police Minister Anne Tolley has come out swinging at her Labour opposite; Stuff reports:

Police Minister Anne Tolley says her Labour counterpart's comments on the force are nothing but desperate scare tactics.
This week Kris Faafoi told the Taranaki Daily News public confidence in the police was dropping and said he was concerned about senior officers leaving the force around New Zealand.
But Mrs Tolley said Labour should stop undermining the police and scaremongering.
"The truth is, the facts don't suit them," she said.
"Under Labour, crime was rising. Under National, it has fallen in each of the last three years, with recorded crimes down a total of 16.7 per cent and down 10.7 per cent last year in New Plymouth."
She said last year there was a 70 per cent increase in foot patrols, and an extra 600 frontline police.
"And let's not forget our investment in a brand new police station for New Plymouth which is currently under construction.
"So there are now more cops, spending more time, in the right places preventing crime before it happens."
She said things would improve even further when 6000 smartphones and tablets were rolled out to frontline officers.
The rollout would result in an extra half a million frontline hours every year, as officers would not need to go back to stations to input and access data.
"No wonder that public confidence in our police is at a record high, and I know New Zealanders will see through the desperate scare tactics from Labour." 

Anne Tolley has been largely out of the news since she took over the Police portfolio from Judith Collins after the 2011 General Election. To us, that suggests that she's making a pretty good fist of Police, together with Commissioner Peter Marshall and his leadership team.

Police officers we have spoken to lately are more than happy with the direction that the Government and the Minister are taking the Police. The facts may not suit Kris Faafoi's narrative, but that's his problem.

Emmerson on Ford

No additional words are needed; except to say "Well done Rod Emmerson"...

The shot in the arm that the West Coast needs

Nick Smith has given access approval for Bathurst Resources to mine a small portion of the Denniston Plateau near Westport; the Beehive website reports:

Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith today announced his approval under the Crown Minerals Act for an access agreement for Bathurst Resources for its Escarpment Mining Project on the Denniston Plateau, near Westport.
“This approval is for an open-cast mine on 106 hectares of the 2026 hectares that comprise the Denniston Plateau. This area is not National Park, nor Conservation Park nor does it have any particular reserve status. It is general stewardship land, which is the lowest legal status of protection of land managed by the Department of Conservation. The area does have conservation values although there has been some disturbance from previous mining including roads, bulldozer tracks and an artificial reservoir. The area also has some infestation from weeds like gorse and broom,” Dr Smith said.
“The loss of conservation values is compensated by a $22 million package by Bathurst Resources. This will fund pest and predator control over 25,000 hectares of the Heaphy River catchment in the Kahurangi National Park, 4,500 hectares on and around the Denniston Plateau, as well as for historic projects on the Plateau itself. This is the largest ever compensation package negotiated by DOC for a mine or other commercial venture.
“I am also satisfied that the comprehensive conditions associated with this access agreement covering rehabilitation of the land, enhancement of water quality, health and safety, debris, rubbish and fire hazards, will minimise the adverse effects of the mine. The agreement also contains detailed provisions for monitoring environmental effects, bonds and insurance.

Not surprisingly, there has been opposition from Groups such as Forest and Bird. And the Greens have had this to say:

Dark Day For Conservation In NZ
The Government is eroding the conservation estate by allowing Australian owned Bathurst Resources Ltd access to conservation land to build open cast coal mine, the Green Party said today.
“Today is a dark day for conservation,” said Green Party mining spokesperson Catherine Delahunty.
Ms Delahunty was responding to Conservation Minister Nick Smith’s decision to allow Australian owned Bathurst Resources Ltd to access conservation land on the Denniston Plateau to build an open cast coal mine.
“This decision is an erosion of the conservation estate. Nothing can make up for ripping open this rare and stunning landscape for coal mining,” said Ms Delahunty.
“Denniston Plateau is conservation land for a reason, its distinctive landscape and wildlife are worth protecting.
“The Government has been determined to make this project work from the outset, no matter what the environmental cost.

We wonder what West Coast-based Green MP Kevin Hague makes of this. Sometimes, compromises have to be made, and the Bathurst project will create up to 450 jobs in an area that really needs jobs. The closure of Pike River mine after the tragedy there, and the collapse of Solid Energy has devastated the mining industry on the Coast, and affected businesses that relied on mining income for their survival.

Nick Smith says that this is not the thin end of the wedge in terms of the Denniston Plateau:

“I wish to signal, that in giving this approval, I do not consider it is acceptable to open-cast mine all of the Denniston Plateau. The plateau does have unique biodiversity and landscape values from its raised elevation, high rainfall and unusual land form. I wish to see some of the high value areas reserved and put into permanent protection.
“I am encouraged by the constructive discussions that have been taking place between mining companies, environmental, historic and recreational groups over recent months. A better way forward than having long protracted legal proceedings would be for the parties to come to a common agreement on the remaining areas of the plateau that should be set aside permanently for conservation and for mining.
“The Government will be working with all parties to try and find a ‘bluegreen’ long term plan for the whole Denniston Plateau that balances conservation protection with the need for jobs and development,” said Dr Smith.

Striking a balance between economic and environmental concerns is absolutely essential, and the decision that Dr Smith announced yesterday will be a fillip to the West Coast, whilst the vast majority of the Denniston Plateau is unaffected. That is a triumph for pragmatism and common sense, which we applaud.

Photo of the Day

These were happier times for Lee James Rigby, the soldier murdered in London yesterday; The Telegraph reports:

A drummer with the Army, he was 25 years old and a member of 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

A statement on the Ministry of Defence’s website said: “It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that the soldier killed in yesterday's incident in Woolwich, South East London, is believed to be Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (attached to the Regimental Recruiting Team in London)…

“An extremely popular and witty soldier, Drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers. He was a passionate and life-long Manchester United fan.

“A loving father to his son Jack, aged 2 years, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The Regiment’s thoughts and prayers are with his family during this extremely difficult time.”

His former brother-in-law voiced the family’s anguish, saying “he died in the most horrific way.” 

Though the couple has since split, his former wife is reportedly shattered; understandably so. A young lad will grow up without his father. This is a tragedy, on so many levels.

RIP Drummer Rigby.

Happy birthday Peg!

Meet Peg Griffin; the Dom-Post explains why she's celebrating:

Longevity clearly runs in Peg Griffin's family.
Mrs Griffin, who turns 109 tomorrow, still takes part in exercise classes at Kapiti Rest Home, gets around on her walker, entertains fellow residents and staff with witty quips and enjoys a glass of wine at happy hour.
Her sister, Betty Fleming, who lives in Blenheim, is due to turn 104 in September. Their mother lived to 90, grandmother to 91 and great-grandmother to 89.
On their father's side, their grandmother lived to 90 and great-grandmother to 70.
Betty used to visit the rest home for sleepovers and to celebrate her sister's birthdays but this year, being blind, has decided to send her regards from home.
Mrs Griffin is believed to be the second-oldest woman in the country. She enjoyed a pre-birthday glass of wine yesterday, quipping to the photographer: "I do not know why you want to waste the film. I cannot think what all the fuss is about."
The former Karitane nurse smoked until she was 86, was a keen fisherwoman and photographer, and believed good company contributed to her longevity as much as anything.
"Be yourself, carry on and keep doing things," she said.
Her daughter Meg, 68, said the sisters had always been fiercely independent and very keen gardeners.
"Mum used to garden all day. She could turn her hand to anything."
Mrs Griffin has three children, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
She will have a party at the rest home today with family and friends. 

People turning 100 is no longer the rarity that it once was, but 109 is a darned good innings in anyone's language. And Mrs Griffin looks as though she has a few good years left in her.

Happy birthday Peg, and may there be many more.

An Australian icon falls

The iconic Ford versus Holden battle will soon be no more; the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Ford's announcement that it will cease building cars in Australia in late 2016 is a giant body-blow to the Australian car industry and wider manufacturing sector in general, but comes as no surprise to industry observers.
The impending shutdown has been writ large for years in the form of news headlines highlighting plummeting sales figures for the flagship Falcon large car.
This mainstay of Ford's local manufacturing operation was once an Australian favourite, but has clearly failed to move with the times. A recent boost in sales of Ford's Territory SUV – based largely around the addition of an imported diesel engine – came too late to stave off the inevitable.
The impact of the decision, felt most keenly around Ford's manufacturing facilities at Broadmeadows and Geelong, is already reverberating through the wider automotive industry like a thunderclap.
Ford's decision to scale-back its operation to simply importing cars and offering its engineering services to Ford's global operations leaves Toyota and Holden as the two remaining manufacturers in Australia, and both will move quickly in a bid to shore-up suddenly weakened supply lines.
Australia's remaining automotive component suppliers have been forced to rationalise and restructure significantly in recent years and the majority now operate – pardon the pun – on the smell of an oily rag.
Some supply all three car-builders, most others supply at least two, and a few supply one builder only. Clearly, those companies supplying Ford only are most exposed and further job losses downstream at Tier 1 (suppliers to Ford) and Tier 2 (suppliers to Tier 1) companies are a strong possibility.
Contracts negotiated on the basis of Ford Australia's repeated assurances that it was keen to continue manufacturing in Australia will be hastily revisited in the coming months, although supplier firms should already have factored this exact scenario into their forward-planning.

The demise of the Ford Falcon is a particularly sad moment for petrolheads such as ourselves. The Falcon is an iconic Australian car, stretching back to the 1960's. The Falcon GTHO was a magnificent muscle car. Who will forget the trials and tribulations of Dick Johnson at Bathurst in the #17 Falcon? It's almost impossible to comprehend the roads without Falcons.

As much as this news will be a body-blow for Broadmeadows and Geelong, it may be the final nail in Julia Gillard's Prime Ministership. A loss of jobs on this scale and the loss of an iconic Australian car will do nothing to revive the flagging fortunes of the ALP.

Farewell Ford Falcon; you will be missed!

That'll do their reputation no good...

Used car salesmen often get a bad rap. In some cases it's deserving, but we have friends in the industry who we regard as honest as the day is long, and with whom we do business.

But stories like this don't help the industry; the Herald reports:

An online car dealer has been snared placing thousands of fake bids on more than 500 of its own auctions.
The Auto Co (Millennium) Ltd pilfered more than $100,000 from Trade Me users in a year by "shill bidding" on $1 reserve auctions.
The company was the biggest motor trader on the site at the time and the case is the largest of its kind in New Zealand.
The scam came undone after a buyer complained about the Auckland-based trader.
Trade Me's trust and safety manager, Jon Duffy, said The Auto Co's scheme was sophisticated "and they were covering their tracks pretty well. Our normal detection mechanisms weren't picking up their behaviour".
"The employees of The Auto Co were convincing genuine users to let them access their accounts to place bids."
The Commerce Commission laid 13 charges against The Auto Co under the Fair Trading Act covering a period between June 27, 2011 and July 12 last year, when the company was removed from Trade Me.
On March 5, The Auto Co pleaded guilty to all charges and is set to be sentenced this morning in the Auckland District Court.

It could be fined up to $200,000.
Trade Me secured refunds for all the victims, but there's a disparity in the final figure because sometimes the buyer turned out to be associated with The Auto Co.
"We hope they get the book thrown at them and get a decent fine," Mr Duffy said. "There needs to be a penalty that says this conduct is unacceptable."

We wouldn't buy a car online; we like to try before we buy, and our Scottish heritage makes us cautious in handing over our hard-earned loot. But there are obviously plenty who do.

The old maxim of caveat emptor (Let the buyer beware) applies even more to online transactions than it does to over-the-counter purchases. But this kind of conduct from The Auto Co does nothing to soften the image of the "Have-I-got-a-deal-for-you" merchants.

More details on the London atrocity

The Daily Mail has more details on the murder of a young man at the Woolwich in south-east London this morning (NZ time):

A dramatic video tonight emerged of a man with bloodied hands, carrying knives and ranting 'We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you', after a serving soldier was hacked to death by two men just 200 yards from an Army barracks.
The man can be seen and heard talking to the camera. The video came as terrified eyewitnesses saw two men shot by police marksmen after the machete attack in Woolwich, south-east London.
The two men are thought to have waited around for 20 minutes until Metropolitan Police officers arrived and then tried to attack them - but were swiftly shot by armed policemen, including a woman.
They apparently shouted 'Allahu Akbar', which means 'God is great' in Arabic, and tried to film the attack, the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe tonight confirmed two men had been arrested and officers from the counter-terrorist unit were leading the investigation into the killing.

He said: 'It is hard to comprehend the shocking and horrific scenes we have seen this afternoon on a busy street as Londoners went about their day as normal. We have launched a murder investigation.'

Theresa May tonight called a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee in response to the machete and knife attack on the man who was wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt.
The Home Secretary said she had been briefed on the killing by the head of MI5 and police later confirmed they were treating the incident as a possible terror attack.

Meanwhile Prime Minister David Cameron cancelled a meeting with French President Francois Hollande to return to London. He said Britain has faced similar terror attacks before and added: ‘We will never buckle in the face of it.’

Before the dramatic video of the bloodied man was obtained by ITV News, eyewitnesses said the 'crazed' men in their 20s launched a ferocious attack and were 'hacking, chopping and cutting him.'
In footage released by ITV News, a man with bloodied hands carrying a knife and a machete addresses people holding a camera, where he appears to attempt to justify the incident.
Speaking to those recording the scene he says: 'I apologise that women had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same.
'You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don't care about you.'

In footage obtained by The Sun, he can also be heard saying: 'You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns you think politicians are going to die?

There are obvious political overtones to this despicable act. The alleged assailants waited for the police to arrive, then tried to attack them as well. Had this been a simple act of violence, the assailants would most likely have fled; they certainly wouldn't have waited, and asked witnesses to photograph them and film them as they made hate-filled political statements.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the slain soldier, with his colleagues at Woolwich and elsewhere, and with those who will have been traumatised today by witnessing an act of utter brutality. 

And even as we type this, news reports are coming in of extreme tension and bottle-throwing in the Woolwich area, and of two attacks on mosques in the UK; Sky News reports:

 

English Defence League supporters have thrown missiles at police in Woolwich after a machete attack that left one man dead.

A group of between 75 and 100 men gathered at The Queen's Arms pub on Burrage Grove, where they sang nationalistic songs.
Sky News correspondent Alistair Bunkall, who is at the scene, said: "As soon as the EDL got into the town centre ... it became not only a lot harder for the police to try and contain anything, but also the aggression (increased) quite considerably.
"A few missiles have been thrown, glass bottles and the like. The police are trying to surround them and they've been charging them as well with batons."
It came after two men were arrested after separate attacks on mosques following the suspected terrorist incident in Woolwich.
A 43-year-old man is in custody on suspicion of attempted arson after reportedly walking into a mosque with a knife in Braintree, Essex.
Local MP Brooks Newmark said on this Twitter account: "Local mosque in Braintree attacked by man with knives and incendiary device. Man arrested. No one injured.
"Just met with leaders of local mosque in Braintree which was attacked this evening. Thanked local police for their swift response."
Essex Police confirmed a 43-year-old from Braintree had been arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and attempted arson after the incident in Silks Way at 7.15pm.
Meanwhile police in Kent were called to reports of criminal damage at a mosque in Canterbury Street, Gillingham, at 8.40pm.
A spokesman said a man was in custody on suspicion of racially-aggravated criminal damage.

Calm heads are required on both sides of this argument. Further violence or bloodshed will achieve nothing but further hatred.
 

Photo of the Day - 23 May 2013

There has been a nasty incident in London overnight:

If media reports of the utterances of the alleged killers after the fatal attack are correct, this incident is an act of terrorism; it is certainly being treated as one by British authorities as the Herald reports:

British Prime Minister David Cameron says there are "strong indications" that a brutal attack in London is terror-related.
Two men attacked another man near a London military barracks. One man died and the two others believed to have weapons were shot by police.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris with French President Francois Hollande, Cameron called the attack "the most appalling crime" and said there are "strong indications" that it is a terrorist incident.
Hollande says a British soldier was killed in the attack, but Cameron didn't immediately confirm that.
Cameron said he would be cutting his trip short to return to London.

There will doubtless be more to come on this story. We make no apologies for the graphic image above; terrorism in whatever form it takes cannot be ignored.

Mystery for Mayor?

John "Mystery" Morrison is having a tilt at the Wellington mayoralty; the Dom-Post reports:

Wellington's mayoral race has just moved up a notch, with veteran councillor and former New Zealand cricketer John Morrison declaring his candidacy.
"Mystery" Morrison, who has been a Western ward councillor since 1998, plans to put the heat on Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, with a focus on the economy and job creation from the Centre-Right.
Wellington had been "stagnant" for the past three years and it was time for key matters such as regional governance and the Wellington Airport expansion to be resolved, he said.
"The city and the council need good leadership and some decisiveness and some action. We're the centre of the region, so we should be leading the pack, not following."
Environmental concerns should have been part of council processes, but instead had become main strategies or policies and were debated endlessly, he said.
"It's not just the domain of the Greens, it's the domain of everybody. The area we need to focus on is jobs and opportunities and energising people."
Decisions on the airport expansion and the Basin Reserve flyover had languished when they could be massive job creators.
If amalgamation reforms meant he lasted only one term, that would be enough, he said.
"We just need to be making headway." 

Having served 15 years as a councillor in Wellington has been a good apprenticeship for Morrison, and he is certainly well known as a result both of that and his cricketing exploits.

The vagaries of Wellington's STV local electoral system saw Celia Wade-Brown narrowly beat former mayor Kerry Prendegast. With Cr. Morrison's candidacy now declared, it will be interesting to see who else emerges from the pack to stand, or whether he enjoys the support of enough of his council colleagues to be in a head-to-head race with Ms Wade-Brown. We wish him well.