Early New Zealand: interesting reading -
Thor in the South Pacific
NZ history questioned -- The Ruamahanga European skull
Friday, 11 July 2014
What makes a politician?
What makes a person want to be a politician? Is it the prestige, the power, the opportunity to improve things, or is it just about money? Governments the world over seem to be much of a muchness. Deceit, bullying, arrogance and smugness appear to be traits of some politicians in every government. Who do these people think they are and why do we let them get away with it? They are not our bosses, not our owners. They're supposed to work for us. We pay them, so why don't we have a say when it comes to perks and pay-rises?
In the "civilised world", governments are always speaking of cut-backs and down-sizing to try and save the country money, yet they don't cut back or down-size their own salaries, perks and pensions. They're quite happy to take their twice or thrice-yearly pay increases, regardless of whether or not they're earned or deserved. They certainly don't need them; how could they when they pay for literally nothing? The increases aren't small either - usually over 10 per cent. While they take that with one hand, with the other they decree wage earners will get only one or two per cent a year because "times are hard" and people "must manage their money better" and "learn to economise". Sure, they know people are struggling - well, they say they do - but they're hardly in touch with the real world. When one's getting several hundred thousand dollars a year plus perks (meaning we the tax-payers pay for their accommodation, cars, petrol, air travel, clothes, etc. etc.) they lose touch. When you don't pay your own power or fuel bills, why on earth would sky-rocketing power or petrol prices affect you? From that lofty position it would be easy to make the assumption the great struggling unwashed public don't know how to manage their money.
I'm sure there must be "good" politicians, people who went into the game because they want to do good, and the salary and everything that goes with it is just the icing on the cake. I'm also enough of a realist to know one can't change things without jumping through hoops and you just can't jump when your ankles are tied. It must be incredibly frustrating at times, seeing how things could be fixed but being unable to do anything about it.
Okay yes, constantly being interviewed and attending meetings would be tiring. Yes, the hours are long and one's in the public eye, every grimmace, facial tic and smirk reported upon. But gee, working days are long for everyone. Working one or more jobs to make ends meet, with all the travel and child-care costs that entails, missing out on your kids' special days because you have to work or sleep, knowing the onus is on you to pay for everything - that's tiring. Struggling is tiring.
Our ancestors were miners, sawyers, agricultural labourers, blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, soldiers; they knew what hard work was. They emigrated to make a better life for their families. Far as I know, not a one of them ever ventured into politics. Who'd want to be a politician?
In the "civilised world", governments are always speaking of cut-backs and down-sizing to try and save the country money, yet they don't cut back or down-size their own salaries, perks and pensions. They're quite happy to take their twice or thrice-yearly pay increases, regardless of whether or not they're earned or deserved. They certainly don't need them; how could they when they pay for literally nothing? The increases aren't small either - usually over 10 per cent. While they take that with one hand, with the other they decree wage earners will get only one or two per cent a year because "times are hard" and people "must manage their money better" and "learn to economise". Sure, they know people are struggling - well, they say they do - but they're hardly in touch with the real world. When one's getting several hundred thousand dollars a year plus perks (meaning we the tax-payers pay for their accommodation, cars, petrol, air travel, clothes, etc. etc.) they lose touch. When you don't pay your own power or fuel bills, why on earth would sky-rocketing power or petrol prices affect you? From that lofty position it would be easy to make the assumption the great struggling unwashed public don't know how to manage their money.
I'm sure there must be "good" politicians, people who went into the game because they want to do good, and the salary and everything that goes with it is just the icing on the cake. I'm also enough of a realist to know one can't change things without jumping through hoops and you just can't jump when your ankles are tied. It must be incredibly frustrating at times, seeing how things could be fixed but being unable to do anything about it.
Okay yes, constantly being interviewed and attending meetings would be tiring. Yes, the hours are long and one's in the public eye, every grimmace, facial tic and smirk reported upon. But gee, working days are long for everyone. Working one or more jobs to make ends meet, with all the travel and child-care costs that entails, missing out on your kids' special days because you have to work or sleep, knowing the onus is on you to pay for everything - that's tiring. Struggling is tiring.
Our ancestors were miners, sawyers, agricultural labourers, blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers, soldiers; they knew what hard work was. They emigrated to make a better life for their families. Far as I know, not a one of them ever ventured into politics. Who'd want to be a politician?
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Friday, 18 April 2014
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Monday, 24 March 2014
Grammar, spelling and punctuation - Are they still important?
When I was at primary school in the 1960s, every morning we recited the timestables from 2x1 through to 12x12. All these years later, the answers still come automatically to me.
Once a week we had a "spelling bee" and it was a matter of pride to move up to the next level book. Punctuation and grammar were given the same attention. How it annoys me now on social media to see misuse of apostrophes and capital letters, not to mention misspellings. The most common and annoying error appears to be "your" for you+are (you're). Some people think every word ending in s must have an apostrophe before the s. Have they never stopped to think of the actual purpose of an apostrophe?
I guess if one can make sense of the sentence, it doesn't really matter about spelling or punctuation but grammar is probably more important. Grammatical errors can be quite humorous; they're common in newspapers and magazines these days, not to mention on television. "Stupidness", "ambitiousness"? We know what is meant but they are so wrong.
Though I could spell and punctuate relatively well during my childhood, my grammar was less than perfect. One example was saying "should of" rather than "should have"; another was a "k" at the end of words ending with "thing", e.g. "something" became "somethink". I wasn't even aware I was doing it. Once my errors were pointed out to me, I became very conscious of the way I spoke and that in turn made me aware of how others speak.
It's not as if I don't still make the odd grammatical error but I'm careful with how I word things. It's a similar thing with spelling; I can usually tell when I spell an unfamiliar word incorrectly. I'm not happy with, "Oh, it doesn't matter; people will know what I mean." I have to make sure I get it right; it's the perfectionist in me.
It's said the English language is a difficult one to learn. I don't know how people learning English as a second or third language can get to grips with it when it confuses those that are "born into it". Language is a constantly evolving entity, I understand that, but surely punctuation was created for a reason? Or was it? Who first used punctuation and capital letters and what made them do so?
Perhaps young people today have decided it's no longer important. With "text speak", are vowels even necessary? Is language going to become a blend of letters and numbers; will numbers replace apostrophes? Texting is a nightmare for "oldies" like me.
L8ers
Once a week we had a "spelling bee" and it was a matter of pride to move up to the next level book. Punctuation and grammar were given the same attention. How it annoys me now on social media to see misuse of apostrophes and capital letters, not to mention misspellings. The most common and annoying error appears to be "your" for you+are (you're). Some people think every word ending in s must have an apostrophe before the s. Have they never stopped to think of the actual purpose of an apostrophe?
I guess if one can make sense of the sentence, it doesn't really matter about spelling or punctuation but grammar is probably more important. Grammatical errors can be quite humorous; they're common in newspapers and magazines these days, not to mention on television. "Stupidness", "ambitiousness"? We know what is meant but they are so wrong.
Though I could spell and punctuate relatively well during my childhood, my grammar was less than perfect. One example was saying "should of" rather than "should have"; another was a "k" at the end of words ending with "thing", e.g. "something" became "somethink". I wasn't even aware I was doing it. Once my errors were pointed out to me, I became very conscious of the way I spoke and that in turn made me aware of how others speak.
It's not as if I don't still make the odd grammatical error but I'm careful with how I word things. It's a similar thing with spelling; I can usually tell when I spell an unfamiliar word incorrectly. I'm not happy with, "Oh, it doesn't matter; people will know what I mean." I have to make sure I get it right; it's the perfectionist in me.
It's said the English language is a difficult one to learn. I don't know how people learning English as a second or third language can get to grips with it when it confuses those that are "born into it". Language is a constantly evolving entity, I understand that, but surely punctuation was created for a reason? Or was it? Who first used punctuation and capital letters and what made them do so?
Perhaps young people today have decided it's no longer important. With "text speak", are vowels even necessary? Is language going to become a blend of letters and numbers; will numbers replace apostrophes? Texting is a nightmare for "oldies" like me.
L8ers
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