Len Brown comes good with his promise to look at a 'living wage' for Council employees!

I can hear the more cynical amongst you saying that Len Brown’s move to implement a  ‘living wage’ of over NZ$18 an hour for all Auckland City Council workers as being no more than  diversionary tactic to take the ‘big eye’ from his recent transgressions.

Leave that aside for a moment and think of what his move may mean. Living in Auckland is expensive to say the least and any move that makes it just that little bit more possible, albeit for a fairly small group of Aucklanders, does send a signal that such a move should be extended to all workers. There are those who oppose such a move and you can be sure that they do not struggle to live on a wage that is anywhere near that of the current minimum wage.

I get tired of hearing those who have so much more, decrying any move on the part of workers to receive a fair wage. They state that such moves will cause firms to go broke and that NZ can’t afford such levels of wages. I say we cannot afford not to pay our lowest earners less than a living wage because it will cost us in other ways; social costs that will far outweigh the small rise that proponents of a ‘living wage’ are espousing. Let those who are so vehemently opposed to giving workers a fair go try living on the wages that so many people subsist on in our largest city.

One more point: ‘They should therefore move to the provinces where costs are much less!’ Great, if the jobs were there.

www.authorneilcoleman.com

Get a Kindle! That's the way to go.

‘I love to hold a book,’ you say. ‘There’s just nothing to compare to the fell of paper, holding as you lay back in bed, finally putting the book on your bedside table before drifting off to sleep, most probably taking the pages you have just read into your dreamland. Well, that’s how it works for me, but now with a slightly different slant. I now take a Kindle and swipe the pages and what’s best is that my Kindle is more than 1000 books, potentially.

Do I miss the real books? Yes, sometimes I do, but the shear convenience is slowly winning the day. For publisher and book shops, I guess there is an emerging demon as book sales in the traditional form plummet. That is sad and unless there is some sort of backlash to the new medium then Kindle and its ‘relations’ (other reading Apps.) will rule the day. Of course there will always be the ‘diehards’ who will never accept the modern technology.

If you were thinking that a Kindle will hit you in the pocket, then think again. I see there is a link from my website (www.authorneilcoleman.com) that lets you buy one from Amazon for US$69. Yes, it is a basic model, but it does the trick. If you want one with better ‘backlighting,’ then you will have to pay more.

Xmas is coming up, so get your Kindle and then go and download ROSKILL and in a few weeks, TALK TO ME, my next little tale of improbable proportions.  Don’t forget to write a short review. Happy Kindleling!

India spends $72 million on a mission to Mars while millions more starve---good move!

On first glance one does wonder at the sense of India spending large amounts of money on a mission to Mars. How can they, you ask, while so many people go hungry or lack basic facilities?

Ok, we in New Zealand could also be accused of wasting money on the Americas Cup while many citizens could have received important medical help for that money (it was $32 million here).

Actually the payback to the government and the economy in general, plus the not to be underestimated ‘feel good’ factor benefits may be more than can be easily estimated.. India feels that it will reap the paybacks in the form of pride, scientific knowledge and probable huge increases in the technological area of its economy. Is that not similar to what we expect in NZ from our ‘failed’ attempt to win back the “Olde Mug?”

So, before people around the world criticise the ‘waste’ of money and resources, take a deeper look at the reasons why India (and New Zealand) embark on these grandiose’ programmes’

www.authorneilcoleman.com

'Roast Busters'---an angry nation wants you to stop your cruel actions. A game to you, but life destroying for your victims!

‘Roast Busters’ is a name for a group of young men in New Zealand who have shocked a nation. It should not have come as a surprise for New Zealanders that this group was operating in such a manner. They are sexual predators, plain and simple and their actions re enticing under-age girls for sex, then putting videos online; boasting of their activities is despicable. What should come as no surprise is that this ‘boasting’ after the event has gone on for many years. It seems that the only thing that has changed about ‘young and not so young) men’s’ behaviours is that it is so much easier now to reach a wider audience. This in turn encourages others to ‘copycat’ the actions of this ill-informed and criminal behaviour.

That one of the young men has been fired from his job, is just the beginning of the public back-lash. Before people go too far in their responses, I would say, ‘take a bigger look at what is happening’ in society in general. All the work of the last few decades feels like it has come to naught, when we consider how people behave towards those less powerful and more vulnerable.

It is right that we all take a look at ourselves and check to see if we are missing something in the way we bring up our boys. What sort of examples do we give when it comes to bullying of all types? How much time do we put in to monitoring the behaviours of our children online and how they behave, when we are not around? These boys are the product of the failings of us all, including the images that portray some of their activities as normal and in the examples that movies, games and other media versions of how we ‘can’ behave, are continually thrust in front of impressionable young people.

We must care more about the way we bring up our kids. The most important gifts we can give our young people are time and love.

Now, we need to look at this group, stop their activities and engage with them. We do not want to have a round of retribution that makes for another group of ‘victims, but they must be held accountable for their actions, in an appropriate manner, not in some vigilante actions that the NZ Herald reported as a possibility this morning, in the form of revenge from ‘gangs.’ ‘They’ hardly hold the high moral ground!

www.authorneilcoleman.com

Goff should resign, the Herald reports---How stupid!

The Labour Party Conference came up with a policy that they should work towards a 50% representation for females in their caucus. This in itself is a good move and one that they are very close to achieving already, but is it really necessary? I wonder if they actually need that extra push to achieve these figures and when I read the article in the NZ Herald today that suggests that Mallard and Goff may be pressured to resign, I felt that things have gone a but topsy-turvy. Most people, even some of Phil Goff’s political’ enemies would say that he is a strong force in Parliament and that he has contributed a great deal over the years. He is not a worn out piece of furniture, like some of his colleagues, in more than one party; indeed his knowledge in many areas far surpasses that of those who would replace him. If he is to be pushed aside, merely to achieve some sort of quota, then New Zealand and the Labour Party will be the losers. We need Phil’s knowledge and he would serve Parliament and NZ well in any Labour/Green alliance next year. He ain’t broken and he is still ‘running well,’ so stop the talk of trading him in on a shiny new unproven model. The latter will get their chances!

www.authorneilcoleman.com

When your solar oven doesn't quite measure up for 'real cooking.'

I have been ranting about my solar oven for a few months now, and the only food I have cooked is one vegetable dish and dried some Bay Leaves. Today I washed my sports shoes and I needed them for a walk in a few hours. You know what's coming. Yes, I died them in my solar oven and it took about 90 minutes. Whether they are dry or cooked, is another matter. Oh well, at lest the 'pathogens' will be gone, eh. So all the 'preppies' and survivalists will be having really clean, dry and healthy shoes! Now all I have to do is 'eat them.'

Healthy edible shoes!

www.authorneilcoleman.com

Sometimes I just want to turn the news off!

Today, I arose from my bed, had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese and mushrooms (but I was still down on the scales!  ---below 77kilos) and considered the tasks I needed to complete; the washing, dishes (OK, I lied about the dishes) and a few other necessary household-cohesive duties. Perdy, our Jack Russell was being patient, probably because she had read the signs; I wasn't going to work so it must be walkies time soon.
THEN I TURNED ON THE NEWS!
An item featuring one of the Pussy Riot ladies and her totally over the top punishment for what we would see in New Zealand as a nuisance issue, rather than a major breach of the law. Sure, it wasn't the brightest way to show opposition to a regime that is looking more and more like that of the old Tsarist or Communist examples of the past. For Russia it feels like there is an inbred psyche that is formed by a history of suffering and unbridled brutality of those in power. Just for a few years after the fall of the Soviet regime was there a glimmer of hope but then the selfishness of the ruling oligarchy rose from the depths from which they probably never sunk to. It seems that the ever-suffering mass of the people were going to have whatever brief gains they had made, stripped away from them. Putin and his cohorts merely replaced and in some cases were joined by those forces that the Russian people had dared to believe had 'had their day.' No such luck! Russia is rapidly heading 'back to the future;' nothing has changed. Sure there is an aura of wealth in the Russian capital and the shops are full of luxury consumer goods. The only difference is that that old 'Party' does not hold hegemony over who buys and is allowed access to the glittering shops. What stays the same is that a small elite who  can afford them; the holders of political and financial power, and they do not intend to give up their privileged status.
Before readers in the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand spout on about how much better we are, then they need only look at the stance taken by some Republican (Tea Party members, especially) and they will see another version of that nasty, selfish 'hold-on-to power,' at all cost mentality that pervades the corridors of power in Washington. The gap between rich and poor in the USA and in other 'Western Democracies' is also  an endemic fact. We see it in New Zealand; the same forces who would take what little some of the citizens at the bottom of the economic pile possess; those who live a life that looks like and is one of poverty. The numbers are growing and the politicians who espouse the theory that 'trickle-down' works, hold on and entrench their positions. Opposition parties can and often do look like lesser-versions of the same elitists bodies that hold sway in Wellington now. The vast majority of voters do not see hope in the choices they are offered.
In the USA, the great American dream is still a lie. From time to time, someone breaks the mould and achieves power and status, but those examples are massively offset by those who have no hope as the average wage/salary of Americans slides to new lows. The possible access to health resources for a larger number of Americans is lost in the argument put up by a Republican Party that  'Obama care' is 'anti-American.' Millions of citizens continue to suffer unnecessarily as the Whitehouse remains impotent to pass legislation that will make a real difference. The Republicans and their allies represent the same forces that operate in Russia.
Look to other nations of the world and exactly the same issues occur. In China, India and the Islamic world; it is the same, varying in degree and in name. Sometimes religion is used to divide the citizens and to retain power; in other countries a military elite will hold the same gang-like hold on it's people.
Before I throw up my hands and retreat to an unreal world of 'doggie-walking' on a beach, forgetting about the the woes of the world, I guess I have to find hope and identify what is good in my own country, be it at a national level or at a local level. We must hold on to hope. There are 'counter-forces, who struggle on a daily basis to achieve more for the lager majority of our people. In New Zealand it is still possible to make a differences, despite the forces arraigned against us. I don't like joining political parties, especially if it means that I have to speak the same voice at all times. I trust that the conference in Christchurch this weekend for the Labour Party engaged in vigorous debate and will result in a fairer NZ, if they gain power, but they should always look over their shoulders and learn from past mistakes when arrogance rears its ugly, yet very human head.
Do I feel better now, that I have had my rant? Well at least I know that I can go on down to the 'bay,' enjoy the sights and company and not worry about being arrested, but I still have to return to the reality of what life is and could become if we stick our heads ion the sand too deeply. Thank God, I live in New Zealand!

www.authorneilcoleman.com