Friday, July 30, 2010

The Rule of Law

"Local Farmers have claimed that imports from New Zealand will affect their business". Yes. Generally, when someone exports a product as basic as milk to another country, this means local producers of milk will have to compete with the imported product.

Now it may be difficult for the Indian farmers to compete with ours. One imagines they are organised far less efficently, in small farms, with much less modern equipment and work practices. But perhaps the people who organised these violent attacks should ask themselves if it is worth destroying the trading relationship with New Zealand over this? How many more Indians are employed making goods that New Zealanders buy?

One hopes the Indian Government takes a strong stand against such criminals. Protest is one thing, but to actively attack and threaten legitimate trade is theft, vandalism and even terrorism.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Registering All Guns in New Zealand

This story has two interesting proposals; A) that very powerful Air Guns should require a licence to purchase and B) a recommendation by Keith Locke that ALL firearms be registered.


I agree with A). If a weapon has clearly lethal powers, and is known to be a weapon of choice amongst scumbag career criminals such as methamphetamine producers, FOR the fact that it is easier to obtain legally than a firearm that uses conventional bullets, it makes sense to close that loophole.


But B) is an attempt by Mr Locke to piggyback his own distaste for weapons onto that debate, in an attempt to make gun ownership that little bit more arduous, that little bit more bureaucratic. And more than that, it is difficult to see this measure have any impact on the ability of police to do their job, or reduce crime in any way. Scumbag criminals don't get licences now and exist in a state outside the law, and are not going to go through the process of registering firearms they are already not legally allowed to carry.


Lets keep NZ just that bit freer, and trust in law-abiding citizens to be responsible for their actions - and clamp down ever harder on those for whom the law is an inconvenience to sneak around, while selling poison and wreaking general havoc.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Course Passed

Ok so we have been rather slack - for myself, in the time since I last posted I've moved to Masterton and passed a Level 3 Professional Cooking Course at the Wairarapa Campus of UCOL. But we're back baby and better than ever.

I'm just going to note in passing that the debate about arming Police Officers is on again - it seems to come about every time an Officer is shot. How about we end it quickly before the next time to mourn a situation where if the Officers had been armed the confrontation with criminal elements would have gone quite differently or not taken place at all.

I'll assume that almost no one is watching this blog as it has been dormant the last few months, but we're definitely going to work on building a readership again over the next wee while.