Craig

The Conservative Party meltdown is all but complete. The latest instalment - allegations by John Stringer that Colin Craig is corrupt. Stringer reckons that Craig was fiddling the numbers with his electorate expenses. A couple of thousand dollars -small beer. Police will have to waste their time investigating what is a party squabble. Craig's problems escalated today. Jordan Williams has filed defamation proceedings in the High Court seeking $900,000 in damages from Craig and officers of the Conservative Party. The claim relates to statements Mr Craig made at a media conference and a leaflet subsequently delivered to mailboxes across New Zealand. Its an implosion of massive proportions.

Trump

Donald Trump accused a woman moderator at the Republican debate of asking 'gotcha' questions because she was having her period. I'm not sure he said that but that is the way it was interpreted. There was the usual faux outrage. The result -Trumps poll ratings have lifted. Fox News more or less apologised to Trump and made up. Why ? Trump is a ratings winner. I don't think Trump will win the Republican nomination, but he's got something that people like - he's not PC, you don't get the usual political speak. People are sick of career politicians talking points on rotate.

Flag

The flag debate ramped up a notch. The Flag Consideration Panel comprising of the usual suspects on the taxpayers tit, delivered the 40 top designs for us to ponder. The panel will reduce it to 4. I'm surprised at the level of opposition to changing the flag. I think the current flag is not what modern NZ is all about. We are disconnected from Mother England.  They have no relevance to us now. The pity is, the anthem and the monarchy are not being booted out along with the flag.

Dumb Greens

The Green Party collected another 'Wally of the Week Award'  over their ludicrous stance on bars opening for the Rugby World Cup. Not only did they block David Seymour's bill, they embellished their argument by claiming that drunks would be rolling out of bars as kids were going to school or weekend sport. Unadulterated drivel. Politically, the Greens blundered. The Rugby World Cup is a significant national event. The government was always going to come to the rescue. The fact the Greens couldn't see their position would leave them open to ridicule isn't exactly a surprise.

Sex offenders register

The government is finally establishing a child sex offenders register. The register won't be public, only Police and Corrections will be able to access the register.  A public register would apparently breach human rights, and many sex offenders have name suppression to protect victims. I don't care about sex offenders human rights but I do care about the victims. I'm not sure this register will protect a child from a paedophile lurking in the suburbs. The cops don't have the resources to monitor high risk serial sex offenders 24/7. I doubt the cops will routinely be informing people of sex offenders in the community.

Solid Energy

Solid Energy is going into voluntary administration. In short, Solid Energy is stuffed. The company diversified into bio-fuels which flopped. At the same time the coal price tanked. Assets will be sold for a song. One coal mine in Western Australia was sold for a dollar the other week. This company was once worth over $3 billion, and it should have been sold then, but wasn't because of the anti asset sales hysteria. Apportioning blame is not difficult. Labour ticked off the diversified investment, the board let the management run amok, and the government are guilty of the most inept oversight.