At least he’s honest…Those who work and pay taxes (and would feel stigmatised by accepting welfare handouts unless their circumstances were extremely dire) have every right to be indignant when beneficiaries cheat the system. So they will be disturbed by the news that convictions for sickness benefit cheating went up by more than 40 percent [...]
Poor cow - the boss can’t afford a generator. Pictures by Ian Britton, freefoto.com
A cow that is not milked for 48 hours is an abused animal. And thousands of cows went without milking for days, following the weather bomb that hit New Zealand last week. And what was the response from some cow cockies? They [...]
The Bank of England in the City of London, once the territory of robbers. Note the motto! (Picture by Ian Britton, freefoto.com)Loan sharks who prey on the poor in deprived parts of urban New Zealand are generally regarded with fear and loathing. This is slightly unfair because they are only carrying on a tradition that [...]
The Labour-led Government pledges that all New Zealand waters will be “swimmable” within a generation. That is to say, by about 2030.
From this…What they seem to have forgotten is that New Zealand waters (with the exception of places like Nelson’s dreadful Tahunanui Beach, and other sewage-polluted beaches around the country) were almost all swimmable only [...]
Biofuels are costing the EarthOur dairy farmers may be riding on the crest of a wave, but there is more than a hint of hypocrisy in the smug approach to dairying on the part of our politicians. Were it not for spiralling international prices for dairy products, New Zealand would be in an even more [...]
The price of just about everything (apart from houses and shares) is going through the roof, thanks to rocketing fuel costs. Many thousands are suffering genuine hardship that cannot be eased by Working for Families hand-outs, and we are in recession. So what does our Government do to protect the poor and vulnerable? It piles [...]
After almost ten years of Labour-led government, what have we to show for it? A bunch of wealthy polluting dairy farmers, an unruly underclass of gangsters, taggers, assorted criminals and hopelessly poor people, and the rest comprised of bewildered and helpless hard-working people. Many of them aren’t workers any more, thanks to a grotesquely overvalued [...]
In the face of rocketing fuel costs that – if they continue rising for much longer – will have very serious consequences for our economy and population, what does our Government do? It announces a futile public inquiry into petrol prices that will take six weeks and cost another small fortune in taxpayer funds. Commerce [...]
Two recent highly-publicised statements earn Gogs’ Nonsense of the Week Awards.
The first came from a financial “expert” who stated in one of our leading newspapers that Dr Alan Bollard’s high-interest rate policy was at last reining in house price inflation.
The second came from the usual suspect, Dr Michael Cullen, who put on his most miserable [...]
Home-owners became used to regular revaluations of their properties, when property prices were rocketing. In many areas, it was an annual event.
But now, Wellington City Council ratepayers have been advised that revaluations will henceforth take place every three years. This is an idea that is guaranteed to catch on in every other local authority in [...]
