No pressure on Luxon to match other landlords
Ask Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister, what the result of restoring interest deductability for landlords will be on rents. His answer: It will put "downward pressure" on rents so renters will be better off.
Ask Christopher Luxon, landlord, whether he will reduce rents on his rental properties. His answer "No". His reason? His properties are mortgage-free.
So no pressure then for him to reduce rents in order to match what he predicts other landlords will do? Of course not. Is hypocrisy the word I'm looking for here?
Sentencing reports
I absolutely agree with Russell Garbutt (ODT 18.3.24) that offenders from all backgrounds need to take responsibility for their actions.
They will be unlikely to make necessary changes without being confronted with the effects of their offending.
However, they are not absolved by judges considering contributing factors as Garbutt suggests. The purpose of these reports is to tailor a sentence that will hopefully steer them in a positive direction in future.
If a person's background cannot be fully considered by a judge due to the cost of a report then justice cannot be done.
I can find no justification for Garbutt's claim that a cottage industry has arisen from gangs writing the majority of cultural reports.
I suggest he familiarises himself with the Sentencing Act 2002 to understand the broader picture of sentencing and judicial responsibilities
Kris Gledhill, law professor at AUT, states that "axing court-ordered reports will result in longer trials with no cost savings and in fact costs will increase."
The $7.5 million cost of cultural reports over several years is a drop in the bucket compared to the total costs of incarceration and continued offending along with the devastating effects on the victims of crime.
Irony abounds
Does anyone else see the irony, when the deputy prime minister is apparently told by the prime minister to tone down his comments — presumably because the prime minister is attempting to defuse the disrespect that is currently missing in New Zealand society — yet no-one has reported whether the disrespectful journalist who twice asked Winston Peters "did the PM tell you to pull your head in?'' has been called before his superiors for his use of inflammatory and disrespectful language when addressing the deputy prime minister?
Paddling protester
David Kay (ODT 18.3.24) may need to get his head around the protest and my comments. I am 61 years old and have been surfing since the age of 16. Surfers like to hold themselves up as eco-friendly sorts which is actually a load of bollocks considering the apparatus required for surfing being petro-chemical based and then fly off on jet planes etc around the world to far-flung exotic locations in the search for the perfect wave.
Sorry mate, but using petrol-chemical based apparatus to protest pollutants seems a little two-faced.
Add it up
David Seymour congratulated school leaders at Freyberg School for achieving high pupil attendance. Freyberg School has been providing free school lunches since 2021. Is there a connection?
The new is all very well, but hooray for the old
Would it really hurt anyone to leave our landline phones where they are?
They came in handy during the Christchurch earthquake when all the cellphones were out.
Also they have a much clearer sound and don’t have to be charged all the time.
Cellphones have proven they are a vital commodity in many situations. They can save a lot of time and money by being so convenient, always with you when you are out and about, also saving lives when people are out in the bush etc on holiday.
But around the home the old landline phones are a dependable commodity. Both phones complement each other. I will be very sad if I don’t have mine.
Many homes have landlines as it is a great comfort to know there is one in a house in times of incidents and flat batteries.
Maybe someone should start up a landline company, if they are able to purchase it from whoever owns it now. I would join straight away, as I’m sure would others.
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