Israel is using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. The United Nations, the Pope and most governments have condemned its attacks on Gaza which have killed hundreds of innocent civilians.
The only comment from our new Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully is that he sees no point in finger-pointing.
No doubt his comments are the result of us having a Jewish prime minister.
JK Calvert (Tauranga)
THE whoops of triumph emanating from the South African dressing room signalled a new world order, but Australia still faces the ultimate humiliation — its first whitewash defeat on home soil in more than 120 years — if the Proteas complete a clean sweep of the series in Sydney.
Ricky Ponting confessed he didn't know what to feel after becoming the first Australian captain since Allan Border 16 years ago to be beaten in a series in his own backyard.
This history-making South African side has not just beaten Ponting's men, it has towelled them, and at the MCG yesterday added a nine-wicket pummelling to the six-wicket defeat dished out in Perth.
The dethroning will be complete if the Proteas secure a 3-0 victory at the SCG from Saturday, a result that would have Australia replaced at the top of the tree by a South African team cast in the tough, ambitious image of its leader, Graeme Smith.
Ponting will cling to Australia's title as the best team in the world until the official International Cricket Council rankings change, but anyone who witnessed the match-turning batting of Smith, Jacques Kallis, Jean-Paul Duminy and A.B. de Villiers or the new-age pace attack led by Dale Steyn knows that South Africa's claims on the No. 1 ranking are real and deserving.
Ponting is the only great in Australia's team playing like one and he did his best to keep the side in with a hope of setting a threatening victory target. However, with his partners exiting to rash shots on a firm pitch, Ponting was battling two teams. He did the best for his outfit and was unfortunate to miss becoming the only person to score twin centuries four times.
South Africa have out-played, out-fought and out-thought their opponents in a way that is shocking for those who have grown used to Australia's position. Over the past three months Ponting's men have showed they are not even the second-best team in the world.
The news on the first day of 2008 featured a national honour awarded to an expatriate transport tycoon this country hardly knew. Owen G. Glenn was a name on an imposing new building at Auckland University. He was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit not only for the $7.5 million he had contributed to the business school but for donations over many years to worthy causes in a country he left in 1966.
The events that were to keep him in the news this year are too fresh in the memory to need mention here. But one element of the saga has gone too little noted and the year should not pass without it being observed. The lengths to which Owen Glenn went to ensure the truth became known were a testament to a commitment to this country that is truly remarkable in someone who left it all of 42 years ago and made his fortune and several homes in the wider world.
Mr Glenn did not sound like a vindictive man when he took steps to straighten the record. He answered reporters' questions in an open, candid manner, sometimes too candid about casual conversations with Helen Clark. He did not seem to hold a grudge against her despite the disgraceful way she had snubbed him at the opening of the business school. But he was clear and straightforward on the questions that mattered: who asked him for money, how it was to be paid, where it went.
When his word was challenged before Parliament's privileges committee he cared enough to come back to the country with telephone records and allow us to compare his candour and consistency with that of Mr
Peters. It was no contest. He probably does not appreciate the full scale of the good he has done for New Zealand's public life.
Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has called for petrol companies to make immediate price cuts, accusing them of holding prices to capitalise on the peak holiday driving period.
"I would be disappointed if the oil companies are waiting until after the holiday season and high volume sales period before deciding to act," Mr Brownlee said.
New Zealand petrol companies cut the price of 91 octane petrol to 139.9 cents a litre on December 5, taking it to its lowest since February 2007. However, record low prices internationally for crude oil, combined with a slight rise in the value of the New Zealand dollar, gave petrol companies even more room to move, Mr Brownlee said.
"I can't help but think the time for further price reductions has arrived."
For New Zealand, 2008 was the year Valerie Vili won the country's first track and field gold medal since 1976; the year Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell confounded their opponents, and themselves, by winning a second consecutive gold medal in the double sculls; and the year the hottest of New Zealand favourites, Mahe Drysdale, was beaten into third place in the men's single sculls. But the manner in which he dealt with defeat was an example to all who play sport. So sick that he was on a drip the night before his race, Drysdale had to be carried from his boat and given oxygen after being overtaken in the final metres. But he still attended the medal ceremony "not so much for me, but to respect the guys I was racing".
Away from the Olympics, Graham Henry and his fellow coaches restored some pride to the All Blacks, and the Indian and South African cricket teams showed that the all-conquering Australian side is not unbeatable.
Sadly, the Black Caps showed they were capable of losing to almost any opposition. Perhaps the departure of John Bracewell, the coach who liked to experiment, will pave the way for more consistent
performances in the coming year.
The most surprising triumph was the Kiwis' victory over Australia in the final of the Rugby League World Cup, a victory so unexpected that many fans missed it. They had gone to bed rather than stay up for what they assumed would be another Australian romp.
The match featured everything: heroic defence, clever tactics, individual brilliance and surprise, surprise panic from the Kangaroos as it slowly dawned upon them that the Kiwis were not there merely to accept the runners-up medals. Most enjoyable of all was Australian coach Ricky Stuart's post-match outburst in which he accused the referee and league bosses of conspiring to achieve a Kiwi victory.
Two late West Indian wickets, including that of Ramnaresh Sarwan to a dreadful decision under the umpiring referral system, leaves the test wide open.The tourists refused to kick up a fuss about the leg-before decision that saw television umpire Mark Benson overrule Rudi Koetzen despite doubt on two counts, namely the legality of Daniel Vettori's front foot and also the path of the delivery.
Wrong! The side-on replay clearly showed that at least an inch of Vettori's heel was behind the back-edge of the popping crease, which is the marker for a front-foot no ball. Yes, the heel was raised, but that is allowed by the no-ball law, which requires part of the foot to be behind the popping crease WHETHER GROUNDED OR RAISED.
By all means umpires can be criticised for errors of fact - and the LBW dismissal of Kyle Mills was an example of a bad decision - but if you are going to criticise on a point of law, it helps to know the law!
And there lies Day Two of this Test match. A day I will never forget. A day I don’t want to forget. I have never felt like that in a Test match before. I had bowled 16 overs the previous day and woke this morning feeling a lot better than I would do normally. I’m not saying I feel that tired and stiff after 16 overs, I just felt real good. I had done my hot cold the previous night, had a really good massage and hit the sack after writing this. A good sleep, a chat to my wife this morning, breakfast and down to the ground early to get my feet strapped up for today’s play. For those that are interested, the big toe is a lot better. It was still a bit ‘weapy’ this morning, but wasn’t throbbing or painful to pressure. Good job that is otherwise the physio, who was ‘oh so very keen’ to get the paperclip in there, would have had some explaining to do!!
Do you need any proof that Robert Mugabe is mad? Have a read of this piece from today's Herald:"I will never, never sell my country. I will never, never, never surrender," Mugabe told members of his ZANU-PF party. "Zimbabwe is mine, I am a Zimbabwean, Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans. Zimbabwe never for the British. Britain for the British."
He was cheered by flag-waving supporters at annual three-day convention in Bindura, 60 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Harare, the capital. Some wore shirts printed with pictures of Mugabe's face and sang praise songs urging him: "Stay with us. We know you are our president."
Mugabe, 84, has ruled his country since its 1980 independence from Britain and refused to leave office following disputed elections in March.
He has faced renewed criticism amid a humanitarian crisis that has pushed thousands of Zimbabweans to the point of starvation and left 1,123 people dead from cholera since August. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have called recently for Mugabe to step down.
The ever-defiant Mugabe - in power for nearly three decades - hit back after the top US envoy to Africa called a day earlier for the "person who has ruined the country" to step down.
In the picture, Mugabe is clutching Zimbabwe's newest banknote - the $Z10-billion note - value $NZ44.03. Zimbabwe, once known as the foodbasket of Africa is in ruins, with inflation running at 231,000,000%. And the blame lies fairly and squarely with Robert Mugabe. The time for talking is over. The world sans Mugabe will be a far better place.
To borrow the immortal words of Australian politician Bill Hayden, some might argue National could have put up the proverbial drover's dog as leader and still won last month's election such was its huge lead in the polls over preceding months.
Maybe so. However, the history books should record the 2008 election result as a personal triumph for John Key. Hayden's sour grapes remark was directed at Bob Hawke who snaffled the leadership of the Australian Labour Party off him just hours before the Liberals called an election they were bound to lose. In contrast, Key was leader for two years before a victory the scale of which is disguised by the proportional voting system.
Had the election been fought under the pre-1996 first-past-the post system, the outcome would have been of the landslide proportions of Sir Robert Muldoon's stunning victory in 1975 and Jim Bolger's similar rout of Labour in 1990.
That achievement alone elevates John Key into a select group of National Party leaders. There can be no other choice for Politician of the Year. Winning elections is what it is all about. But Key has reinforced his claim to the title through the ease and confidence with which he has taken on the mantle of Prime Minister. His opponents and critics had predicted he would falter as Leader of the Opposition, wilt under the pressures of an election campaign, and fail as Prime Minister simply through lack of experience. Wrong, wrong and almost certainly wrong again.
And Armstrong singles out one act in particular, with which Keeping Stock agrees wholheartedly:
Far more courageous was Key's refusal to work with Winston Peters. It could have backfired. However, Key felt he was left no option after Peters' appalling performance over Owen Glenn and donations to NZ First.Key wanted his administration to be a clean break from the past. Having Peters on board would have tainted it from the beginning - as well as possibly harbouring the seed of its destruction.
John Key and his National-led government face some major challenges as we head towards 2009. But we at Keeping Stock (me, myself and I) feel much better about the new adminstration being able to handle those challenges, than those that went before them. And if Dr Cullen is feeling slighted about being overlooked for Pollie of the Year, we say to him - Key won, you lost, Merry Christmas!
A Labour Party staffer was still working in Parliament yesterday despite being charged with stealing wine from the Press Gallery's Christmas party.
Aidan Smith was arrested after allegedly being caught taking the wine to a car outside Wednesday night's party, which was attended by Prime Minister John Key and a collection of other ministers and senior MPs.
What - no suspension? But wait; it gets worse (our emphasis added)!
Smith was still working as Labour MP Pete Hodgson's assistant yesterday. He is due to leave that role soon to work for the party's finance spokesman, David Cunliffe. He has previously worked in the party's research unit.
Smith said police had charged him with theft and he would be appearing in court on Monday.
A spokesman for Parliamentary Services, Smith's employer, would not comment because it was an employment matter.
"They won; we lost; digest that - and come up with a plan"
The sentencing of gun collector John Mabey yesterday has provoked a degree of comment. Whilst it is one on hand good that Judge Phillip Connell decreed that jail time was needed, and rejected the defence plea for home detention, but is 21 months (of which he will probably serve seven) sufficient?The Green Party is furious that police-paid spy Rob Gilchrist infiltrated its offices and was used to report on the party's activities.
Green MP Keith Locke said there were rules about how police could act in Parliament's precincts and he would be writing to Prime Minister John Key, Police Minister Judith Collins and Police Commissioner Howard Broad with his concerns.
Mr Locke said that former MP Nandor Tanczos' secretary Rayna Fahey called the party after the story about Mr Gilchrist's activities broke.
Rochelle Rees, the ex-partner of Mr Gilchrist, alleged at the weekend that he had been spying on peaceful protests groups for years.
Ms Rees, an animal rights and Labour Party activist, discovered Mr Gilchrist had been paid by counter-terrorism police to spy on the protest groups when she helped him fix his computer.
She discovered emails between him and police.
Ms Fahey told the Green Party that Mr Gilchrist had befriended her and had been "keen" to visit the office and asked a lot of questions.
This happened in 2005, some time around the election.
"There are clear police protocols in Parliament between the Speaker and the police," Mr Locke said.
"It is very disturbing that police would be conducting surveillance on a political party, including its MPs."
Keeping Stock agrees with Mr Locke on this. It is very disturbing that the Police, a government department, would spy on a political party. And this question must be asked - if the Police were spying on a political party which supported the incumbent government, what were they doing to opposition parties? Maybe Nicky Hager knows the answer to that question - and maybe he has the e-mails to prove it!
Whatever, Rob Gilchrist and the Police have provided the new government with an abundance of ammunition to use in future skirmishes, especially when the subject being discussed is trust!
Craig Foss: What advice has the Minister received on the accuracy of a statement made by the Hon David Parker in respect of the non-earners account blowout not being in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update, where he says: “Papers show that Ministers acted appropriately throughout, as the money needed had not been quantified until the election period.”?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The money needed was clearly identified in a report to the former Minister on 14 August, based on a PricewaterhouseCoopers valuation. A further 60-page technical report was completed by the ACC on 22 August, which confirmed those figures. The election was not called until 12 September, and the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update closing-off date was 8 September, after the previous Government had that information.
Craig Foss: Is the Minister aware of the Cabinet minute of 10 December 2007 that noted increased costs in the non-earners account and required the then Minister to report back on a clear funding policy before the levy-setting process began in August 2008; if so, did that occur?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes, there was a very clear Cabinet minute last December requiring the former Minister to report back on funding issues in the non-earners account. That did not occur, and there is no explanation as to why it did not occur.
Craig Foss: Has the Minister received any advice about the accuracy of the statement issued by the former Labour Minister for ACC as to why the blowout was not included in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Yes. The statement is inaccurate in three respects. It states the first advice the former Minister received was on 14 August, yet the chief executive of the ACC has advised me that the then Minister was given a heads-up in May. The statement also claims that the paper, dated 14 August, states: “approximately $300 million per annum 2009-2013;”. The paper never uses the word “approximately”, but notes that the change in baselines was $305.654 million and gives equal accuracy in subsequent years. Contrary also to Ms Street’s statement, it also specifically notes a request for increased appropriations in this financial year—something she did not disclose.
Craig Foss: What advice has the Minister received on the accuracy of the claim made by the Hon David Parker that it would have been constitutionally inappropriate for the Labour Government to address this urgent problem in the non-earners account during the election period?
Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The statement is also incorrect. That additional appropriation was not from any change of policy but simply to maintain an existing level of accident compensation cover. I find it strange also that Labour would make that claim, when it seemed to be no problem at all for it to promise, in the middle of an election campaign, interest-free student loans, big increases in Working for Families, and many other initiatives. It seems that if it is good news, Labour can do it; if it is bad news, it hides it.
Well done gentlemen. If they were a WWE team, we could perhaps call them The Eviscerators! And Keeping Stock hopes that there might be some knife-sharpening going on at the Serious Fraud Office as well when this matter is considered in the context of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Gerry Brownlee says that we can take the picture to the left and destroy it. National will NOT ban the importation of incandescent light bulbs. This from Question Time yesterday:
12. AARON GILMORE (National) to the Minister of Energy and Resources: Will the Government be moving to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Energy and Resources) : I am delighted to inform the House that I have issued firm instructions to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to stop its plans to ban the sale of incandescent light bulbs. This Government, in stark contrast to the previous Government and the previous Minister of Energy, David Parker, rejects the idea that the Government knows best and must constantly meddle in the lives of New Zealanders. If people wish to buy incandescent light bulbs, then this Government will not stop them from doing so.
Aaron Gilmore: Why is the Government not going to ban incandescent light bulbs?
Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: There are a number of excellent reasons why we have not moved to ban those light bulbs. The first is that this Government believes that choice not compulsion, and the ability for individuals to make their own decisions about what sorts of lives they want to lead and what contribution they want to make to climate change, is far better than nanny State telling them what to do.
And so say all of us!!
An education review that some principals fear will spell an end to Shakespeare in schools is being held back a year by the new education minister.
Anne Tolley said yesterday that a review of NCEA standards papers used to assess pupils against the curriculum would be pushed back by 12 months to ensure greater consultation with worried principals and teachers.
It means changes due to be implemented from 2010 affecting thousands of high school pupils would not come into force till 2011.
"The timeline was so short at a very busy time of year," Mrs Tolley said. "I think it was too ambitious."
Her decision follows a meeting on Friday with the Auckland Secondary Schools Principals Association, which represents a quarter of the country's high schools.
Some members had called for a moratorium on the proposed changes, saying they would "dumb down" the education system.
This is another excellent call by Mrs Tolley, following her decision to defer the introduction of new ECE regulations which were due to come into force on 1 December 2008. She has brought a level of common-sense and pragmatism to the portfolio that was lacking with the former Minister. She is also showing a willingness to engage with the sector which was lacking with Chris Carter. With the focus that National is placing on education, Mrs Tolley has made a very encouraging start.
Judge Moss said the woman continued to deny her actions despite being convicted and interviewed by a psychiatrist and urgently needed to begin therapy.
The random nature of the threats had left the manager stressed and afraid.
"There is an absence of any remorse and empathy," Judge Moss said.
"This [crime] was serious. It's had a profound impact on the psychological wellbeing of the victim and still you maintain your denial."
OK - you'd think that a pretty stern sentence is about to be handed down...so let's go to the start of the story:
A woman who terrorised her boss with months of death threats and who left dog faeces in her letterbox has been sentenced to 100 hours' community work.
The 52-year-old hung her head as Judge Jill Moss sentenced her in Lower Hutt District Court yesterday. She had been convicted on a charge of criminal harassment and one of threatening to kill after a hate-mail campaign in Wellington that lasted nine months.
Both the woman and her employer were granted permanent name suppression yesterday.
Between August 2006 and June 2007, the woman sent her manager threatening e-mails and about 30 threatening messages, using words and letters cut from newspapers, that included the phrases "die bitch", "guilty" and "now it's war".
She also put dog faeces in the manager's letterbox and squirted filler in her car's locks and windows last April.
She returned to the manager's home a few weeks later and put glue in the car locks.
Defence lawyer Noel Sainsbury said the woman did not have previous convictions and had a good work history. He blamed her reaction on a difficult working relationship with the manager and "serious depression".
Something's not quite right here...
Former National Party leader Don Brash and former front-bench MP Katherine Rich are calling on new Justice Minister Simon Power to order a commission of inquiry into the Peter Ellis case, warning that the conviction is continuing to impact on the legal system.
Brash and Rich, along with Dunedin author Lynley Hood, have written to the minister asking him to consider a fresh inquiry.
We at Keeping Stock have read Lynley Hood's weighty tome on the Ellis case, and had a distinct dense of discomfort having done so. And in light of that discomfort, this request to Power comes as no surprise. The Press reports:
In a letter to Power, the trio say the Christchurch Civic Creche case remains a stain on the New Zealand justice system.
"In our view, the time is long overdue for the minister responsible for our justice system to demonstrate the political will and moral courage necessary to ensure that a comprehensive and genuinely independent inquiry is held into what is widely regarded as New Zealand's most egregious miscarriage of justice," they say.
"That the wrongs done in the creche case have not been righted after all this time is nothing short of a scandal.
"A full inquiry is needed to ensure that the mistakes made in the creche case will not be repeated."
It will be interesting to see how Power handles this. Given that, in the words of Ms Hood and her colleagues "Two former prime ministers, 12 law professors, 10 Queen's Counsel and thousands of other petitioners have already expressed their concerns.", there is a strong case for Power to convene a new enquiry. The former Labour government had nine years to do so, but for whatever reason, chose the path of least resistance. Simon Power now has the opportunity to stamp his own mark on his Ministry, and as DPF has noted at Kiwiblog to "restore faith in the justice system". No-one will be the loser if justice is done for Peter Ellis.
UPDATE: Poneke had a series of posts on the Ellis case some time back. This one is especially compelling, and it is worth taking a few moments to follow the link to the articles from thew New Zealand Law Journal.
National is expected to pull back on the number of bills it will push through under urgency as it starts its second week in government.
Its big battle this week will be the repeal of the law regulating the amount of biofuels oil companies must sell.
After the opening of Parliament last week, five new laws were passed.
Nearly all drew heated opposition, the exception being one covering crimes against children, which was passed unanimously during the marathon sitting on Saturday.
Justice Minister Simon Power has charge of five of the eight remaining pieces of legislation that National has promised to pass within 100 days.
But he said last night that only one of them - giving police the power to issue on-the-spot protection orders for victims of domestic violence - would be passed through all stages this week.
Keeping Stock strongly agrees with urgency being accorded to the protection order bill. The holiday period is well known for being a time when there is a higher incidence of domestic violence, and National is, in our opinion, right to push this through this week.
The other contentious piece of legislation is the repeal of the Biofeuls legislation. Interestingly, Peter Dunne will oppose this. Keeping Stock regards such opposition as healthy to the National-led government, rather than a possible hinderance to its future effectiveness. The Maori Party opposed the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, and yet the links between National and Maori seem to be strengthening by the day - and that will be a huge disappointment to Phil Goff and the Labour Party!!
The past nine years have been hard on employers, particularly small employers. A Government whose members had little personal experience of an employer's obligations loaded more holidays and other costs on to those obligations and made it fearfully difficult to get rid of an unsatisfactory employee. The new Government has moved to quickly to restore a balance, at least for small employers.
A speedily enacted law permitting them to hire people on 90 days' probation, with no redress for dismissal in that time, will be welcomed not only by employers but by all conscientious workers, particularly if their existing jobs are at risk in the present international climate. Workers should welcome it because there can be no better incentive to additional employment than a reduction in the risk that a new employee represents to a small business.
Doubtless the union/workers' rights element of the left will be beating their chests in anguish as to the bare-faced cheek of the Herald telling it like it is. And they won't like the next paragraph!!
Capable and conscientious workers have nothing to fear. In the ordinary course of business employers do not go to the trouble and expense of hiring somebody only to dismiss them lightly and go through the whole costly, time-consuming exercise again. In an ideal world recruitment methods would be foolproof and the need for a probationary employment period would not arise. But in the real world the best selection procedures will occasionally fail to ensure a job applicant is reliable and temperamentally suited to the job.
The Government's only justification for the haste can be the fear that international economic conditions will soon see widespread lay-offs. In these circumstances the country would need domestic consumption to take up the slack from lower export sales. If there is any capacity for more employment it is likely to be found in small, owner-managed businesses that have been ripe for expansion but dissuaded by the legal risks associated with taking on responsibility for full-time staff.
They have a Government that sympathises with them and has demonstrated its sympathy with swift action rather than words. That action alone may have done more to boost business confidence and employment than we dare expect.
Amen to that!
Dear Lord! Something has gone horribly wrong. It's utterly discombobulating. The Government is keeping its word. We're not used to this, you know. Last week there was a bad attack of the vapours from Labour, the Greens, the unions and some commentators about the Government going into urgency, ramming bills through Parliament and, horror of horrors, sitting on a Saturday to get its 100-day action plan underway.
Where is the debate, the argument and the painfully slow progress of legislation through select committees? Thankfully missing.
These issues were argued long and hard through the election campaign. In many cases Parliament has already debated them in the form of Private Members' Bills that were defeated under the last Government.
What the critics must realise is the public cast the deciding vote at the polls and National's wasting no time in getting the job done.
National is doing exactly what it pledged to do - a 90-day probationary trial for new employees of small businesses, tax cuts, changes to KiwiSaver, amending bail laws, toughening sentences for violent offenders, new numeracy and literacy standards for schools, and reinstating the wrongly sacked Hawke's Bay District Health Board.
Great stuff! Helen Clark was right - it was about trust, And National is showing that!
In the wake of the tumult and tragedy of the past week with the murder of 2 year old Jhia Te Tua a journalist asked me about the good side of gangs. I told her, there is no good side to a gang. Let me be clear- like being in prison, being in the trapped lifestyle of a gang is a waste of time and human potential. So why hang with gangs? Well, if that's where the problem is then from a community action perspective, you had better involve and work with the people who are part of the problem. It would be pointless having Alcoholics Anonymous without alcoholics like me. Pointless trying to resolve whatever it is going on in Aotearoa within this thing we call gangs without engaging with gang members. Gangs may be the locus of the stories in this series, but I'm committed to resolving a problem, not mount an apologia. My role is peacemaker.
Ria and Josh cradled her little casket and, as Tipi led the haka powhiri, time was suspended and we entered the realm of the metaphysical. That night there were prayers and necessary korero. There were long and complex recounting of whakapapa and linking as the tributaries to this mokopuna's existence were acknowledged and celebrated. Josh and Ria sat there and listened. Ria is again hapu and these ancestral lines are also exactly those of the child yet to be born. What will be this child's future? Late that night, sitting out the front of the house I say to Josh "Brother, no one will think badly of you if you put your patch down. You have another baby on the way brother. Do what is right for your whanau".
The group of warriors pause before her. Tears roll down tattooed faces. Perhaps, like me, they see the face of their own children in that wooden box and, like me, reflect on our own stupidity in past actions that could have resulted in a similar outcome. We are chastened.
If it were up to me, lbw decisions would be left in the hands of the on-field umpires.
The dismissal of Daniel Flynn on day one of the first test against the West Indies was a landmark moment for my money - test cricket has been changed forever. And not for the better.
The concept of the benefit of the doubt falling in the batters' favour has been lost now that decisions can be referred to a third umpire armed with video evidence. If you believe the technology is fail safe, there is no doubt Flynn's dismissal was a good shout. However, it was a not out decision by the standards of what we know as test cricket.
But suddenly it's out, and just as suddenly the game is changed. Flynn can feel rightly put out that he was denied a certain, and well-deserved, maiden hundred.
Parore is dead right. The balance of the game has changed, and the third umpire has the opportunity to make a decision which is far more precise than an on-field umpire could, given that the man in the middle gets but one look at full speed. And he suggests a compromise:
In a decision such as Flynn's, I believe the ball needs to hit the pads in line with the inside half of the off stump to allow for the batter to get the benefit of the doubt - but that's not what happened to him. Flynn was struck on the outside half of the off stump - only just in line with the stumps by even the most precise measure.Perhaps the answer may be to only use the referral system to determine if the ball has touched the bat, but leave any other part of lbw decisions to the men in the middle
It will be interesting to see how the ICC responds and whether they make any changes. The law has only been in force briefly and already has thrown up a scenario few anticipated.
Let's remember that this is just a trial. But unfortunately the ICC doesn't have a great track record in the way it has administered the "gentleman's game" - and that concerns this cricket tragic!
Liam James Reid – described by the judge as "an evil and dangerous predator" – bowed and waved to the clapping crowd as he began one of New Zealand's longest terms for murder, rape and attempted murder.
Justice Lester Chisholm said Reid's arrogance was unbelievable. He imposed a minimum non-parole term of 26 years as well as preventive detention for the murder and rapes in Christchurch and Dunedin.
The gallery in the No 1 High Court at Christchurch was packed to see the sentencing of the man convicted of the rape and murder of deaf woman Emma Agnew, and the rape, sexual violation, attempted murder and robbery of a 21-year-old student in Dunedin.
Many of the audience were members of the deaf community and the sentencing session was interpreted for them with sign language.
The public gallery broke into applause as sentence was finally imposed. Reid, 36, shaven headed, tattooed and flanked by three prison officers, bowed to the crowd and then raised both arms in a kind of victory salute as he was led away.
In one sense, he has fulfilled his life's ambition. The medical reports prepared on him before sentencing say he wanted to be serial murderer and rapist.
Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott and Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said they were delighted with the decision. "The people of Hawke's Bay will welcome this result as it avoids a costly court case and is the remedy that the councils were seeking," the mayors said. Former chairman Kevin Atkinson said yesterday that board members welcomed their reinstatement "and effective exoneration".
Board members felt it "fully justifies the unprecedented action taken by the five Hawke's Bay councils on behalf of the community to challenge former minister Cunliffe's decision to dismiss the board," Mr Atkinson said.
"The former board was always confident that an unbiased review of the facts under the judicial review sought by the five councils would reverse the injustice imposed on our community.
"Minister Cunliffe's unbalanced attack on the reputation of the former board members and the statements made by him under the protection of parliamentary privilege were reprehensible, as were those statements made by a number of people giving him advice at the time of the board's dismissal."
And what of Chris Clarke, the DHB's CEO (and former staffer of Helen Clark)? The Dom-Post reports that he is looking forward to "moving on". Keeping Stock ventures to suggest that moving on might involve an updated CV, letters of application, and a new role where he will have to progress on merit, and not rely on political patronage.
