Copyright © 1995 Brian Harmer
Some sort of celestial game of "gotcha" is being played with the weather. It seems to have been raining for weeks on end. The earth itself is oozing up between the battered blades of what used to be my lawn. And every so often.....it stops. If by day, then the sun shows us what the landscape used to be like, and once again I can see across the harbour to the Miramar peninsula. If by night, Southern stars glitter brilliantly against a black, moonless sky, promising clear days to follow. But they lie. Within twelve hours of any stoppage, just as hopes begin to rise, down it comes again. Sigh!
For all that, life goes on apace at the University. Students throng the corridors, chattering like starlings as they burst through the doors of the Hunter building, pausing bewildered at the door to orient themselves, though they've been here every day of the year. Dripping, they climb the stairs on their way to the moisture laden lecture theatres for their next dose of higher learning.
An Australian woman, Tania Marie Furlan was viciously bashed to death with a hammer in her home in Howick, Auckland. Her six week old daughter Tiffany was found abandoned at the Royal Oak Baptist Church 18 km away. Her other daughter Katrina aged 5, answered the telephone to her father, and told him that Mrs Furlan was lying on the floor covered in blood.
Police are apparently following a suspicion that the murder and abduction may have been the work of someone who was in the maternity hospital at the same time as Mrs Furlan.
Just when you were coming to terms with the fact that the Chinese Gooseberry was now called the kiwifruit, the Kiwifruit Marketing Board plans to introduce a new label. From next year, New Zealand kiwifruit will be marketed as "Zespri". The fabricated word was selected from a number of options and has thus far received a skeptical reaction.
(The logic seems to be that many nations are now passing off their own kiwifruit as New Zealand produce. The new registered brand is intended to protect the interests of New Zealand growers. Note for foreign readers: kiwi is a flightless bird, or a name by which most New Zealanders are happy to be known. A kiwifruit is the greenish brown fuzzy fruit. You can't eat a kiwi! - BH)
Politicians and media commentators of various stripes are asking the Government to remove Michelle Boag from her position as a director of TVNZ. In the wake of revelations that, as PR director of Fay Richwhite, she was behind the covert filming of Winston Peters at the winebox inquiry, people have focussed on an apparent conflict of interest between her various roles, not least that she is a key strategist for the National party. In an attempt to deflate the uproar, Ms Boag has said she will stand down from her directorship for three months. On behalf of Fay Richwhite, she admitted a charge of contempt against the commission. Sir Ronald Davison is considering his verdict.
(Watch this space - BH)
Under New Zealand law, the improper possession, use, or supply of anabolic steroids is illegal. The two latest suspects who are alleged to be significant suppliers in the Hutt Valley are two policemen, who have been stood down from duty pending investigation.
Sir Ronald Davison was stern in his criticism of Fay Richwhite and Zee Films for the contempt they committed by making a film under an assumed name, of Winston Peters at the winebox inquiry. He chose some special words of censure for Michelle Boag in recognition of her role. He imposed fines of $15,000 with costs of $5,000 on Fay Richwhite, and $2,500 with $800 costs against the film company. Ms Boag resigned from the board of TVNZ once the verdict was delivered. This has not abated the chorus of condemnation of political appointments, and charges of "cronyism"
An overwhelming rebuff from Wellingtonians, including a recent informal poll in which readers of the Evening Poll indicated that 85% of them were opposed to _any_ casino in Wellington, has not deterred the would-be developers of a casino on the Wellington Waterfront. As well as appealling against the finding of the planning tribunal which rejected them last time, they have submitted a new proposal for a smaller, less obtrusive building on the waterfront site currently occupied by the old Odlins building next to the former Cable St site of the Wellington Free Ambulance service.
Colenso Communications produced an advertisement for one of the several clinics which purport to offer solutions to men suffering erectile problems. The Advertisement involved a clip from the 1930 Empire games, and showed a javelin thrower whose javelin goes limp (Subtle, eh? - BH). Unfortunately for Colenso and their client, the athlete concerned, Mr Stan Lay, is alive and well and here in New Zealand. He expressed anger and embarrassment that his image was being used without his knowledge or permission for such a purpose. Colenso were embarrassed in their turn and the advertisement was withdrawn Apologies were extended, and a donation made to a charity.
(I love it when that happens - BH)
The Children and Young Person's Service of the DSW subjected itself to a review by Coopers & Lybrand, which was severely critical of the department's management systems. It noted that according to the records available, core competency training programmes costing $8.9 million have resulted in only 100 extra staff being trained to the required level.
(Rocket science = $8.9 million/100 staff = $89,000 per course :-O I wish the Government would pay us that much to teach. That seems like more than it costs to provide Bachelor's, Honours, Masters and a Ph.D. in quick succession - but it was just for core competency? - BH)
Ski fields remain closed. Civil Aviation continue to apply air space closures as wind carries the continuing ash cloud in various directions. The NZ Army are paying soldiers at Waiouru $5 per day for working with grit in their teeth.
Date: 1 August 1996
Brian Dooley
Wellington
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JP 74.38
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INTEREST RATES
Call : 10.00
90 Day: 9.92
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21 June 1993 $4.09
Today $5.00
Sorry for the short news - out of time. Rain stopped, more forecast.
See you next time
See you next week.
Brian M Harmer
email brian.harmer@vuw.ac.nz http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~bharmer
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