Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take

I can't blame poor old Dr Reynolds - he hasn't really been in New Zealand very long.

But his choice of words in laying the blame for XT's repeated failure over the past three months could've been better.

"Enough is enough" he cried in his opening plea to the media (and all credit to him for fronting up for what was a gruelling - and often ill-informed - session with hacks from all over).

Unfortunately the only image I can conjure up with this particular phrase is one of one-eyed hatred and ignorant bigotry. Something that was just as powerful at splitting the nation as the foreshore and seabed - and perhaps a tad more depressing when you boil down the root causes.

Admittedly, you can almost understand his frustration with Telecom's french partner, Alcatel-Lucent and p'raps 'twas dark irony the phone company's flack were playing at, but I don't think so.

So credit to the telco for fessing up and paying out to its customers - I can almost feel the pain the CFO's going through opening up the cheque book yet again - but definitely a "could try harder" over the historical allusion.

PB.

Oh - and big ups to the flack at Telecom for being accessible and human - we (read me) had a bit a mare last week with to-ing and fro-ing over a regulator's statement - don't get me started on that one - but all is well after a good old-fashioned conversation. It's good to be a hack.

I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life

There's nothing I like better than sloppy PR - it gives me a warm feeling when people try to sneak in something under the radar to no avail.




Take Friday's late night announcement by that wonderful institution, NZX. They let the market know at 5.45pm on a Friday that they were going to have write off $20 million from the value of their TZ1 carbon registry which they sold for a stack of cash. No harm in that I suppose, but you'd expect a little more transparency from the bourse regulator about a fairly material impact on its balance sheet.



It wasn't the first time the NZX has put something out late on Friday, but the result was much more satisfying - investors weren't too keen on the announcement, and 8.9% was slashed from the share price, taking it close to a 10-month low.



That's not necessarily a good thing, as the NZX is a very well run company (if somewhat toothless regulator), but it is satisfying when something that looks like a stupid PR ploy backfires.



I can only hope our Labour Minister isn't trying something similar - she put out a fairly innocuous looking document today calling for submissions on a discussion document on Part 6A of the Employment Relations Act. Ms Wilkinson's statement says the law is required to be reviewed after three years, and "affects industries such as cleaning, food and laundry services, where work is often contracted and the change of a contract can create a restructuring or redundancy situation."



What this means, I have no idea as I can't quite draw myself to wade through the document at this stage, but a bit more clarification in the minister's release would've been nice.......



Maybe it'll be some weekend reading.....



PB.

Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand

Here's one for Jacinda and Darien - if you're going to come out swinging at some batshit crazy idea like reintroducing a youth minimum wage, don't just run your attack lines, point out why it's batshit crazy and somewhat (read very) concerning that the Labour Minister is thinking about it.

Youth rate affects workers under the age of 18. Unemployment rate for people between 15 and 19 is 27%. That's roughly 45,000 people. Take out the 18 and 19 year olds and that's what, about 30k? And your participation rate at this level is 53%. Why?

Because they're kids.

They're meant to be in school. Or training. Or figuring out what they're going to do with their lives. Unemployment isn't the most important thing to be worried about at this age.

What's concerning is that the government is considering providing an incentive to employers to tap the labour market at the expense of training (vocational and otherwise), and leaving the 20-24-year-old age brack, with its unemployment rate of 12%, participation rate of 74% and total number of people out of work at about 27,000.

Making school kids a more attractive option for employers is the wrong incentive to offer if you want them to consider some kind of training if school doesn't work out for them.

Making a song and dance about how they need more protection from employers ain't the way to go about it.

And it's not a very good lead-in to have another dig at the gummint's incompetence in creating youth employment opportunities.

So guys. Just look at things like a reptile and they'll all fit into place.

And gawd's sake, it's Roger!!! There's no real need to make a song and dance about what he's doing.....

Jeeeeeez - next you'll be telling me people take Wishart seriously......

PB.

Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.

Interlude as I reconsider my silence all these years.....

Isn't it curious that when Helen took over and came out swinging at Winz, it was all about the culture of extravagance with the department's management, and since John picked up the reins it's all about the culture of extravagance by the benes.....

Just sayin'....

PB.