Radio NZ: Knowledge Economy

Read by Jim Mora on Afternoons 25th Sept 2012

What’s all this talk about a Smart Economy?
The up-shot is turning our kids into an export commodity because there is no market for smart people down here!
They might not have noticed you can not churn out %100 PhDs from our school system as it’s not an assembly line for goodness sake
Or is SMART just the wrong term for what modern capitalism desires, it seems the term they really mean is RUTHLESS!

Any way, I think they miss the whole point of our new “faith based” currency is that nobody has to do anything useful as long as they believe they are.

Southland Times: Reverse Racism?

Letters to the Editor 28th September 2012

On reading Sander Biczo’s Comments on reverse racism in NZ  one should recall the past to get things into context
You wouldn’t think it today, but the Maori Population of New Zealand helped rather a lot to make New Zealand one of the
World’s most Ideal Nation states, they did a lot to help bring the working people here up to a decent living standard
Working hand and hand with other ethnic New Zealanders.

The Problem now is that in the 1980s the Douglas-Lange Government used divide and rule tactics on the people of this country
And forced Tribalism on the Maori-Kiwi population then the mess was Compounded bad economics and by a media has really only been interested in the words of angry Radicals and not true leaders like Hone Karr (the Maori Nelson Mandela).

The Question is now Why when the Government tries to Bribe the Maori Aristocracy to support their crooked schemes... why don’t Said Maoris stand up for the good of their Nation as a Holistic Gesture? Have they lost that much faith in it?

Or have all the best ones fled the Country for Australia where they can live and thrive free from the tyranny of Tribalism?
  

Manapouri-Te Anau Merger

Letters to the Editor: Fiordland Advocate
27th September 2012

It seems the District Council says it is time to review the way our communities in the Basin are represented and the Idea of a Merging of the Manapouri CDA and the Te Anau Community Board is being mooted. On the surface I would say if we could all pull together as one it would be a Positive thing also these two communities are so close to each other they effect each other as one community anyway.

But I think the main worry at the moment is the polarisation and hostility that can occur in a smaller community where some individuals can act as if community representation means personal power over others and community assets, something that tends to be less acceptable in larger combined community Boards.

Anyway, if you want to have a say on the Mararoa-Waimea Ward Merger you can apparently tell Tamara through repreview@southlanddc.govt.nz

Borland Lodge Fiordland : ODT

Letters to the Editor: posted 25th September 2012 

After recently checking out and writing about the Historic Hollyford Camp with the Te Anau Scouts I thought I should Comment on the other Great Fiordland Group Camp
“Borland Lodge” at Pig Creek. Also a historic works camp but from a different Era. It too has great new modern facilities but unlike Gunn’s camp they tend to neglect their historic aspect which is a shame. I recall the old Pig Creek Camp and the Epic Construction of the the Manapouri Project Power lines had a large Dunedin contingent
As portrayed in the NFU Film made on the Project. It seems sad that there are not some information panels or indeed that there has never been a reunion of the Men that took on some of the toughest terrain in the World on the smell of an oily rag, war surplus equipment and Kiwi ingenuity.
The Modern “Lodge” is a lot bigger than it was when it was gifted as a school camp and is open to the public when it is not booked up. It is the gateway to the most scenic remote road experience you could imagine. All the original works Huts are gone now but the Main buildings remain, though they need some TLC.

Dominion Post: Dr Who in NZ?

letters to the Editor, 21st September 2012

I read on your Website Peter Jackson Has offered to produce some one off Doctor Who...

I bet they could use Peter & Richard for a big 50th anniversary Special
With all the Doctors in it.

Or they could do a story with JRR Tolkien, like the Shakespeare Code

Maybe they could do the missing Link Movies between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston

Or if they wanted to go crazy... Resurrect the lost 1st & Second Doctor episodes again using some Weta Magic!

Being a Dead Actor is not the career killer it use to be, now you can come back as a digital Avatar!

 and if Star Trek can regenerate its self from scratch in the TV Universe I like to think a Time-lord could too.

Any way what ever they do I am sure it would be cool. Though I wish they could re-generate Douglass Adams. They don’t make Writers like him these days!

Two Little Boys Premiere Invercargill

Letters to the Dominion Post
14th September 2012

Just need to thank Duncan and Robert for putting on a great premier show at the Invercargill Civic Theatre
Every body loved to make a fuss of New Zealand’s Coen Brothers doing a Cinematic Road Trip of their Childhood Stomping Grounds
Along the South Island’s South Coast. Hamish Blake and Brett McKenzie played their parts well as Celluloid Southlanders.
My wife and I loved working with the Sarkies in there Southern Films, as did a lot of others lucky enough to be involved.
I just Hope Duncan looks West, perhaps his next script could use the shadow lands of Fiordland National Park, a land of Forgotten Silver where even Peter Jackson has only captured in passing.

Word in the Pub is the Fiordland Cinema is thinking of shooting a sequel to it’s Amazing Ata Whenua Film!

Southland Times: NZ's Fragile Tourism

Letters to the Southland Times
13th September 2012

Interesting feedback on the Monorail Debate from Ray Willet and Ian Collie
Just a couple of thoughts first is Though we feel very confident that we are the most desirable tourist destination in the world
That might be from our own spin and assuming that Everyone and their dog will want to invest in our area because we are so great is a little fanciful.

There is also a myth that we lack great tourist infrastructure because of opposition from the Department of Conservation, So when they actually let people go through the process of discussing New Ideas people feel the flood gates of Money will open and we be swept away with Development.

The fact is Talk is not Money and there is no real danger of a flood of money coming our way any time soon. And Te Anau is an Invisible Town in a little known town in a Country that very few can even find on a map.

I guess we all got a bit HIGH on the financial Boom we just had and are having trouble getting back to normal thinking.

Kevin Roberts the Kiwi Head Man of Saatchi & Saatchi in New York said in 1998 that his Slogan for NZ Tourism was “On the Edge”

Right now that is very accurate, for the whole Country!

JRR Tolkien: 121st Birthday

Note to all:

          9th September 2012

It seem I am needed for great event to mark the Hundred and Twenty-First'ist Birthday of the great JRR Tolkien!

As I happen to have a Mountain Peak in the Fiordland Mountains of New Zealand
that has a Tolkien Story behind it. and I was instrumental in a bid to have another Tolkien name
nominated for posterity I have been asked to help put in a bid for a New Zealand Honor for the          World's most loved fantasy writer.

However I am looking for some online helpers.

I might have failled with the Anduin Reach proposal but it was a great media stunt : )
It seems a shame not to try Mount Tolkien.

* any News story to mark his 100 + 21st birthday will need to go out fairly soon to  be set for Jan 3rd 2013

It could turn out better than this story : http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/aft/aft-20110830-1421-honour_for_our_greatest_space_pioneer_dr_william_pickering-048.mp3

“Aaron Nicholson”

Radio NZ: Christchurch vs Catrina

to Jim Mora's afternoon show
4th September 2012

I have to say that if we had a proper leader in this Nation. One who truly cared for its people that leader would not have tolerated the suffering of the people of Christchurch as they have. Our Government should have got every transportable home company in the South Island Cranking out Houses on an Industrial Scale
And new Villages should have sprung up as fast as Humanly Possible for all the refugees. Then an only then should the rebuilding of Christchurch be discussed
All New Buildings for refugees should have Title Transfer automatically to owners of any lost Red Sticker’d property AUTOMATICALLY.

This was a DISASTER and as such there is no place at all for private enterprise or political posturing

Every one who lives in NZ faces the same danger in some form or other that is why we all have to be ready to help the unfortunate because next time it could be our city that falls, floods or is just plain buried.

As Far as I am Concerned this Distaster has been handled not un-like Hurricane Catrina.

Radio NZ: Media Barons of Austraila

to Colin Peacock of Mediawatch
27th August 2012 

Your show has confirmed the maths,
The Australian Media Barons have been interfering in New Zealand Politics too long now
This Country is the Land of plenty yet we fear to invest in our own industry or people.
Only People who move across the Ditch are spared!

As you pointed out though the small Kiwi Owned papers are holding their own and the Aussie mastheads are sinking

I hate to think what sort of damage has been done to our Nation over the years by being told who and what to fear from over the Tasman

But even worse is Political Wrong doers are not being taken to task, if our national and local governments are allowed to go on their journey of manic
economic delusion unchecked they will wreck this fair country, mark my words!

I submitted a letter to this point to the Southland Times today, It will be interesting to see if it is printed : )

Radio NZ: the Ultimate Question

to Colin Peacock of Mediawatch
23rd August 2012

There is on Question that Every News Broadcaster and News Journalist should have printed on the wall in big Red Letters
To remind them what to ask any politician or person in authority...
“What Gives you the Right” ?

I am not hearing this question being asked as much these days, but it is the REAL job of the media and if nobody ever asks it then civilisation will fall into despair.

This is where corruption starts and tyranny is born.

A Journalist not armed with such a question is just another PR Man

And an Editor becomes a Edit-whore.

Now more than ever, when Money is all electronic and economics is a form of punishment to lazy or disrespectful countries

We need to ask...

Radio NZ: Titanic 2 vs S.S. United States

to Jim Mora's Afternoons show
19th August 2012

Jim & Chris, you should do a follow up on Australian Clive Palmers Titanic 2 Replica
I am sure there are things the Panel Could Talk about with some local Titanic Fans
Like Brian Reeve of the Brentwood Hotel Wellington (you had him on before? )

I had a Thought that Clive has no need to spend 400 Million to Make a modern Chinese Replica when a Liner of similar Dimensions exists today in need of a new Life

The 47,300 ton SS United States would take a brilliant Edwardian Refit though it is now some 60 years old it is tied up and gutted since it had all its asbestos removed
She could be Towed to Harland and Wolf and refitted there (they no longer build Ships)

Yes a retro Bow and Stern would be in Order with a few Dummy Smoke stacks but Clive could have the RMS United States up and running for a bargain price
And she could run Titanic Cruises that would also take in the American Maritime Heritage aspect.. Without the spooky name!

A true Transatlantic ship and a Blue Ribband Holder that would be full 16 knots faster, you could be well gone by the time any Icebergs come by!

Radio NZ: Te Whiti vs Ghandi

to Chris Laidlaw 
19th August 2012

Listening to your programme on Non Violence
I think the best Memorial For Te Whiti O Rongomai would be a Statue of him beside the one of Ghandi at the Railway Station
Perhaps behind Ghandi gesturing to him as if from history..

But as for Ghandi has anyone written an alternative history if he had failed or never existed and the effect on the modern world?

Or what New Zealand would have been like if the Maori Population had not lost their battles with Microbes to which European genetics and medicine was the only
Salvation.

Southland Times: Philosophers Union

Published letter to the Editor:
7th September 2012

I would like to complain that there is not enough philosophy in this Publication, As a member of the local artist and Philosophers community I would like to point out that in times of Doubt and Uncertainty people need philosophers to put life into perspective. We live in unknown territory where improvements science and technology can change winners into losers in a blink of an eye, if philosophers don’t keep up it will hurt!

As our Nemesis: Politicians, Shakespeare nailed it when he wrote “Like inside plants two opposed kings encamp themselves in man, Grace and Rude Will and where the worser is predominant full soon the canker cancer eats up that plant.
With that in mind I propose that any good journalist should also be a good gardener and do some weeding.

Southland Times: Hydrogen Revolution

unpublished letter to the editor
4th September 2012

You gotta wonder at all John Key’s knuckle headed optimism about selling off State Energy Assets for profit.
Is he trying to mimic George Bush Jnr or does he know something We don’t?
Why is the Bluff Smelter looking shaky all of a sudden? Why are Coal mines pulling the plug?  Iceland may be the answer, before the “Crash” Iceland discovered that it could seriously swap fossil fuel imports for Hydrogen produced by their abundant Hydro Electric Production. At the time it was said technology for Hydrogen fuelled transport was a ways off for non Icelanders but it was coming. People in the know about this “coming” could make a real killing, People like for example Prime-Ministers and Ma & Pop CEOs. However our electrical energy and water rights are State owned at the moment so where is the fun in that for our key people!

ODT: Hollyford Camp Visit

letter to the editor:
Posted to the Otago Daily Times Dunedin 3rd September 2012

I just spent this last Weekend at Murray Gun’s old Camp in the Hollyford Valley, Fiordland with The Te Anau Scouts,

It is great to see the Trust that runs it has made it comfortable for groups with a new Common Room / Kitchen Facility
 as well as preserving the camp as a living museum, It is hard to believe that in the past the Park authorities wished to demolish it.

Now it is a link to the past of Pack Horse Pioneers, 1930s Works Schemes, Deer hunters and The last great Wilderness where the road from civilisation ends in primordial Jurassic like Forest.

The Kids loved the old Barry Crump Ambience and humorous touches from a pre sanitized-OSH era when life was lived by ones own wits.
And this has not gone un-noticed by special tour groups.


*Printed, date and page unknown.

Fiordland Tourism & Department of Conservation

Letter to the Editor: 
24th August 2012

I agree with VIV Shaw's article in last weeks Advocate saying that the Money a National Park Earns should not all be sent off to Central Government
And that charging for vehicle entry into the park might be well spent making the Park Better for Visitors but the Department need not charge Kiwis to use there own parks.
If the National Park can make money from its own Campsites and Walking Tracks why cant it run it’s own launch Trips and Bus tours?
Doubtful Sound and the Glow Worm caves are now under virtual commercial monopoly, they need competition
I would like also to see the park staff given performance bonuses just like in the private sector to give a flow on boost to the larger Fiordland Community.

Southland Times: Australian Media Barons

unpublished letter to the Editor:
27th August 2012

What is the deal with Australian News Barons and their colony Newspapers?
They seem to be accused of promoting hidden agendas
We have been living in times of plenty yet we are riddled with Paranoia
People don’t seem to be comfortable investing in this country or each other

We seem to be frightened, ignorantly grasping at straws such as Mineral & Dairy Extraction and Sports Stadiums or even State Asset sales
Even our Local and Regional Governments seem to be Ignoring the lives & happiness of ordinary New Zealanders
Who fail to move across the ditch.

But now something odd is happening small kiwi owned Newspapers are doing OK and the Australian Mastheads are taking on water.

Sorry to be a Devil’s Advocate Journo, but you need to know.

Southland Times: Coal Debate

the unprinted letter to the editor:
19th August 2012

Reading the Jack Murrell vs. Robert Guyton, Greed vs. Green Arguments in this publication make me think that People do not realise that the Nature of Money and Work has Change greatly in the last 3 decades and some people have not caught up.

 Jack has not noticed that nobody here wants to physically dig Coal anymore in a world where 99 percent of the Europeans now are being paid to be happy and keep out of trouble or enforce endless pointless regulation by the State Backed by Global Money passed around by Alpha European blokes in suits and their Asian Allies.

Modern Money today is “Electronic”, doled out from a highly convoluted mathematical game that rewards it’s best Players well but wastes resources both environmental and Human on an Industrial Scale!

Robert Guyton knows this and so do I, it’s obvious that the Coal we rip up will not sustain life, it will be turned into junk to fill the Global Landfills.

One day we might need it for an emergency and the cupboard will be bare.

Coal is part of the “Real” World, Electronic Money isn’t,  it can’t keep you warm or cook your tea.