My Dad once said...

...always, always, always give to the Salvos. Odd thing for him to say really since he was a committed agnostic. But, he was/is a humanist and recognised the unrivaled good work they do. He's a "give alms to all those that ask..." kinda bloke.

But what's a good cause? If you're charitably-minded, how do you ensure you're not salving only your guilt? Planned giving? Giving in to the chuggers who interrupt your lunch with their Bondi-burned brit-patois? Dishing out your credit card details to the 7 o'clock call centre? Not sure frankly. Still, I figure getup is a good cause and particularly the latest campaign to fund a primetime ad allowing Louise Barry, an Australian survivor of the 2005 London bombing, to ask John Howard (again) why Australia is in Iraq...

"Mr Howard, do you think that these things keep happening, at least in part, because of our involvement in the war in Iraq? The situation clearly isn't getting any better. And I don't want what happenedd to me to happen to any more Australians on anyone else for that matter. Prime Minister, please, it's your responsibility to get us out. That would make me feel a whole lots safer."

Young pretenders...

This is not a comment on the Wallabies, John Key or Kevin Rudd; it's about Christine Aguilera and the rest of the woohoohoos who lay claim to R&B or jazz bona fides.

Unlike Amy Winehouse, what is offensive about the woohoohoos is their inability to see the lyrics as the focus of any given song but instead see them as jumping off points for vocal gymnastics. Aguilera's treatment of Lennon's 'Mother' (on the latest Make Some Noise compilation) is awful compared with the brilliant Amy Winehouse's, uniquely updated, version of Me and Mr Jones.

Aguilera seems to think of lyrics as awkward corners; annoying interruptions to be carefully navigated before the real deal; the straights, where the throttle is let-out, diaphragm expanded and full noise, full volume, full whohoohoohoohoohoo...

I'll pay that...

The MCG is a spectacular venue; it is, in fact, the best I've attended in terms of atmosphere. On the weekend however it was not a good place to be as the All Blacks didn't close-out a game they should have and Wallaby supporters are a pretty vocal bunch (particularly when they've won against all odds).

What went wrong? Nothing irredeemable frankly. Yes McAlister missed a tackle or two and so to did McCaw and Jack but our scrum dominated, their lineout was not so flash and, whereas that game is possibly a high-point for the Wallabies, it's most certainly is not for us.

I like the fact that Henry's not panicking and that perhaps it was 'the loss we needed to have'. Either way, the All Blacks should perform well in the next two games. It'd be great to see a settled 15*/22** with maybe only some experimentation around the centre pairing (a game each for Toeava and Smith) and the other lock.

* Carter's not up to his best and that's good. Carter's the best five eighth in the world and needs to peak in the final few games in October, not now.

** Buggered if I know who the best reserves are. Is Mealamu the reserve or is Oliver (depends on the opposition I suspect), is Flavell best off the bench as lock/blindside cover or is Thorne? What about Nonu - better than McAlister at 13, but not 12; better as a back up three-quarter but what about McDonald, Howlett, Sivivatu...

The last time we played at the MCG...

...was almost ten years ago in 1998 and we we lost 24 - 16; Matt Burke scored 22 points himself (but he's in Newcastle now). Quite possibly, as many as four players from that game may take the paddock next Saturday - Oliver for the ABs and Gregan, Larkham and possibly Finegan for the Wallabies. Tells you something that...

The MCG holds a massive 100,000 people - I've been there twice, once on a tour and the second time for last year's Commonwealth Games. Nothing will compare with next Saturday. Next Saturday I expect the All Blacks will win; they'll be tired, combinations will be a little loose and form still building plus the Wallabies will be buoyed by a close loss to the Africans. Nevertheless, across all fifteen players, there's only a couple of Wallabies that can hope to match their opposite (Giteau, Larkham and maybe Sharpe) meaning that if the ABs play to their potential, they should win. I'm tipping at 10 - 15 point victory...

But how many times have Kiwi supporters felt this confident over the last twenty years? Phil Kearns has said that if there was a rugby world cup every year for the next thousand years, the All Blacks would be favourites... Is this year any different? I was pretty bloody certain we'd win in 2003 even after Tana's injury, even after the wobbles against the Welsh... but there I was, surrounded by Aussies, mostly as surprised as I was actually, watching Gregan lauding it over the defeated AB pack - "four more years boys, four more years..."

So this weekend, as confident and vocal as I'll be, somewhere slightly above the pit of my stomach, me and thousands of other All Black supporters will be wishing for a big win, huge win, massive thrashing of epic proportions... 'cause that's a really good predictor of what'll happen in the Cup right?

Darwin

I was up in the north-end last week for a few days, one day longer than intended thanks to my inability to read an itinerary (a 24-hour one), and had a chance to visit the parliament and learn about the bombing in WW II.

I was somewhat surprised to see a frigate patrolling the inner-harbour but it could easily have been for exercises rather than for duty. I've also been reading Peter FitzSimon's book on the Kakoda Track recently, which I'd recommend, which includes mention of the bombing of Darwin which claimed 243 lives. Check out the shrapnel...

I took a photo of the 1962 Remonstance; effectively a petition of Territorian representatives to the Australian Government for more independence (the Australian Constitution provides Territories the ability to self-govern but it is contingent upon Commonwealth law not the Constitution which means the power can be revoked).

It's an interesting place, small - very small in fact, only just over 110,000 people living in just a few population centres (Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine) and quite different from any of the other capital cities I've visited (all but Perth) not least of all because of the large urban Aboriginal population. I'm only sorry that I didn't get more time to look around...

ANZAC

Good to see that the ANZAC bridge in Sydney, which flies both flags, will soon have statues of both Australian and NZ soldiers. I regularly drive over the bridge and have often wondered why there's no NZ soldier alongside the statue of the digger.

This will soon be fixed as Clark's visit with Morris Iemma included an announcement that a new statue has been commissioned from the sculptor who crafted the existing statue.

Where will it end...

The Stellenbosch trial is designed to speed up the game of rugby. The new rules strip away the complexity and encourage an attacking, open style of play. Many of rugby's pointy-heads agree; too many rules, inconsistent interpretation = confusion and defensiveness. Certainly, I don't like the prospect of a return to penalties as the deciding factor in any test match but neither do would I like to see Test matches become extended 7's tournaments.

Planet-rugby reports the Australian coach, John Connelly, as saying the new rules favour NZ because they encourage non-stop rugby with few set pieces (Connelly isn't quoted saying this however). Again, I hope not as I thoroughly enjoy close matches where scrums and lineouts are attacking opportunities. Besides which, with Carl Hayman in the side, the NZ scrum is as intimidating as Dan Carter with the ball in hand.

Then again, last night's wins by the All Blacks and Wallabies were simultaneously enjoyable and frustrating. Yes there were lots of exciting open play, but neither the Welsh nor the French were competitive. This was, however, primarily a function of the farcical mid-year tours, a point made by Sean Fitzpatrick but I found myself switching to the Swans v Essendon game... which was anything but one-sided. AFL is generally competitive not least of all because of the draft system that means the lowest ranked team has the first pick of the new crop of talent. This ensures no one team dominates over a long period of time.

Would I want this in international rugby, hell no! I don't care if NZ win each and every World Cup game by two penalties to one... so long as we win.

REINZ

Are you guys listening, this is the sound of rushing regulation... frankly, I'm not opposed to it, there's a limited number of scrupulous professionals and a glut of charlatans... self-regulation can't work when the entry test is so low... they should have fixed it years ago, I remember when they were thinking about it but decided it was too hard, circa 1998/99.

Time to reign them in, the professional body (that's a stretch) has failed to provide consumers with anything close to adequate protection.

Waiting for the Sopranos...

I don't want to know what happens in the final season of the Sopranos until I can watch it for myself but odds are it'll be news long before series seven even starts on Australian television (and then it'll be shifted around to be screened at a shitty time). I've thought about the bittorrent option but so far, based on a brief look around, the new episodes aren't available... Anyone know of any other options, HBO on-demand is only available to subscribers (US-based)?

Here's a pretty cool YouTube overview of the first 6 series.

Graded assessment - NCEA fix-up

Social policy is always a compromise between the ideal and the practical. Adding grading to NCEA is really just raising the bar for what is considered competent however it has symbolic value that can't be ignored. Standard based assessment has never been well accepted in schools, despite being accepted elsewhere, and various implementation errors have further compromised its position. Whether this latest compromise will be sufficient to avoid major reform is unclear but National's criticisms aren't a substitute for an alternative policy (remembering it was under Lockwood Smith that standard based assessment really got going).

I have a clear memory of School Certificate. An examination designed for a time where unskilled work was plentiful and sustainable, it is neither now. However, suggesting that a university education is the only pathway is ludicrous. Leaving school with no qualifications almost guarantees unemployment and an increasing number of jobs, in the Australian labour market at least, require a vocational qualification not a degree. Therefore, whatever system applies it must give students options that improve tertiary enrolments and completions as well as improving school-to-work transitions.

That said, most of NZ's future workforce is already employed and an increasing number of them are more than happy with standards-based assessment...

End to the phony war

I'm pretty pleased with the All Blacks side to face France in the first test. It balances the need for a good win with the need to develop cover for the RWC. Thrashing the French is important both because this team needs momentum and because the French are highlighly likely to be in the finals.

I've just finished reading Spiro Zavos's book Watching the Rugby World Cup, which I'd recommend for its detailed preview of the Cup including the chapter on who'll win and why. Zavos is firstly a good writer then an excellent analyst of rugby. I didn't know he'd won the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship early in his career.

Apparently, in the history of French rugby, winning at home is far more important than winning at home; winning in defence of your home town and within earshot of the chiming of your local church. This means, if NZ face France in the finals, we need to have beaten them resoundingly and often in the lead-up to withstand their inevitable fanatacism at home.

Zavos suggests the winning team will have some or all of the following attributes; a brilliant five eighth, a dominant pack, an inspirational leader and momentum through the tournament. The All Blacks have these elements, my only fear is that they've fallen too often at the penultimate test and will again, likely, face the Wallabies in the semis. The Wallabies are one of only a very few sides to be able to play significantly better during the tournament than at any point previously. Therefore, I hope the All Blacks crack 40 points against the French and the Wallabies continue to struggle with the Welsh... either way, I'll be listening to the alternative rugby commentary of Jedi and his mates come Saturday.

Accoutrements

Boarding late, no struggle for overhead locker space, somewhere to hang your jacket, meal options and frequent refills and quick exit to the obscenely large taxi queue .... Business Class is nice.

Labor party supply chain management

In the era of out-sourcing, contract labour, fragmented supply chains, and flexible industrial relations, federal Labor has decided against reinstating compulsory student unionism if it wins the federal election. Quell horreur!

David Farrar and his NZ VSMers will be very impressed and, no doubt, on the hunt for a National or Act backbencher to front a NZ campaign for the 2008 general election.

Interestingly, Australia Student Unions are linked to parliamentary parties far more strongly than in NZ. Despite the ranting of the VSM movement in NZ, there isn't the cross over between campus and parliament in NZ that there is here. Sure there's a few on both sides of the house who're former presidents, and more than a few staff too, but I can only think of two recent senior student politicians who're high up in NZ Labour. Compared with Australia, where it seems every other recent parliamentarian (either state or federal) is either an ex-staffer or an ex-student pollie. For Australian Labor, losing the strong link to the universities will impact on their recruitment, possibly not a bad thing?

Sins of the son

"...for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth of them that hate me."

I wonder if the reverse is true? Are the sins of the son visited on their fathers? I'm sure all parents retain a sense of responsibility for their kids long after they're old enough to buy houses, start business, live and work abroad. I wonder then, how Terry Hicks feels about his son's misdeeds?

I know little of Hicks early life. Wikipedia tells us he struggled as a teenager, possibly because his parent's marriage broke up when he was ten, but equally likely not. My own parents split when I was 13, not significantly older than Hicks, and my failings are most certainly disconnected from that event. Regardless, Terry must struggle with the fact that his son is, whatever else, very misguided.

Is it any different from the parents of any other person with a criminal record. Frankly, yes. Though we'll not know if Hicks committed murder, it is likely people died, if not at his hands, then at the hands of his compatriots.

Terry's only ever argued that David's been ill-treated by the US military commission. He's never claimed his son's innocence. I get the impression Terry Hicks has never, and will never, understand his son's actions, but he has remained committed to his son despite the circumstances and despite being up against not only the US government, but also his own. At least Schapelle Corby's parents had some support in their endeavours.

Terry Hicks seems like a decent man to me. He's very much the Aussie battler Howard claims to represent. He has been through hell over at least the last five years, and if David Hicks can't sell his book, I'll sure as hell buy his father's.

All things rugby

The rugby year starts on June 2, but already I'm distracted by replays, highlights, commentary and trivia. Here's a clip of a new young bloke in the Wallabies (plus some footage of one of the blokes to have struggled this year).

Thanks to the rugbydump.

France v NZ: deconstruction

Courtesy of the very clever chaps at rugbyroundtable.com, this little clip explains the difference between All Black and French rugby tactics. Want some more? Professor Thian's exposition of the forthcoming Iveco series is here.

Someone give John Clarke a call, I think I've found his long-lost son.

Hicks is back...

... in Australia to serve the remaining 9 months of his sentence. He'll return to a public life, of sorts, not long after the federal election, likely to be in November, however his case will certainly be a factor during the election.

As I've said previously, I'm not at all sympathetic to those who see Hicks as exclusively a maytr. He was, almost certainly, a mercenary. However, I'm entirely unconvinced by the case against him and no more convinced by his guilty plea - afterall some of the actions he admitted where not crimes at the time he apparently committed them.

What significance his return has on the election is unclear - Howard may hope to have somewhat diffused the impact by having him back but this could backfire. Rudd won't be camping out in Adelaide, but the Greens and some Dems will and Howard will still have to defend at least one or two of his various positions...

The Hicks who'll have the biggest influence on this year's election is not David, it's his eminently belieavable and reasonable father, Terry.

Keeping up appearances

Lazy as it seems, I'm posting a brief list of preoccupationa in-lieu of a more informative or engaging post.

• Inspired by: the choir of hardknocks
  
• Concerned by: limited lock and prop back-up options
• Intrigued by: clap your hands say yeah
  
• Motivated by: being able to run 14 kms
  
• Distracted by: rugbyroundtable (and the dropkicks)
  
• Amused by: my daughter... "I want my frozen peas now dada"
  
• Annoyed by: the shameless rorting of public funds for electoral purposes

Ponying up...

Having yesterday criticised Howard's government for its disengenuous politics regarding the, now-cancelled, cricket tour of Zimbabwe, I should at least note that AusAid have increased funding to Zimbabwe.

I still wonder whether the decision to intervene would have occurred were it not for the proximity of the federal election, however this additional funding is significant. Interestingly, although the DFAT release claims Australia funding around $6 million (AUD) in 06/07, the UN's reliefweb database records only $3M (AUD), only $500,000 of which has in fact been paid.

By contrast, NZ's contribution in the same period was nil although I suspect this is incorrect having looked at NZ Aid's Fact Sheet on aid funding for Africa (perhaps this is a quirk of the reporting and Australian funding is direct whereas NZ's funding is via international bodies such as Unicef?).

Its worth having a look at norightturn's comments on Zimbabwe which, amongst other things, deals with the NZ parliament's equivocation about the 2005 Cricket NZ tour.

Right thing for the wrong reason...

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

John Howard is no St Thomas, not even close, but he is a clever tactician and his decision to come heavy with the Australian cricket team will serve him well. He's a well known cricket tragic and even Punter's said a polite thanks.

Most will agree that touring Zimbabwe now is straight out crazy (enter Sekai Holland as the first tempter) surely at the bottom of every professional cricketers wish list, but no-one should be fooled into thinking this isn't purely political.

But so what really, the focus should be on ending Mugabe's regime, not on Howard nor on cricket. However, I expect no greater effort will be made in Africa, Australia's foreign policy is too heavily focused on the Middle East. However, it does put into stark contrast the NZ government's unwillingness to intervene only a few years ago - a point well made by Keith Locke