Congratulations Labour

So what do these companies have in common:
BNZ (twice)
Origin Pacific
Air New Zealand
Feltex

other than being iconic New Zealand brands? Which others can you name that should be included?

[Edit] Add to the list as an exception:
Georgie Pie

The Phishers are getting good!

I'm impressed - note how even once you follow the link in the email the URL looks like a paypal URL on first glance.
Just remember folks - if you get an email like this it is always better to just type the URL yourself - following links is going to get you in a world of hurt!

Prohibition, because it works?

Hattip: Stuff

A survey commissioned by the Greens earlier this year found pies, doughnuts, chips, fizzy drinks and oversize cookies were the staple items sold in school canteens.
Shock, horror?

"This fund combined with new nutrition guidelines being worked on will require schools over the next few years will only allow schools to sell food and drinks that are healthy."
Now the main point here is that those kids whose parents devolve the responsibility of food provision onto their kids will continue to do so - which is the root cause of this issue. Those parents that actually care enough to provide food rather than money tend not to have a high incidence of their children overindulging in these types of foods.

And lets face it - kids are crafty and greedy. If they have money and the school cafeteria doesn't sell pies - they will just get them from the Dairies. We saw this at the school cafeteria in New Plymouth where there were no sweets sold in the tuckshop. So kids just left school and went to the nearby dairy - yeah that was a great win getting children to sneak out of school grounds.

So the school even managed to persuade the dairy not to sell to children during school hours (and I'll bet you won't manage to do that everywhere). This didn't decrease the amount of kids spending their money on lollies though - it just delayed it until the end of the day meaning they didn't eat anything during the day, and then got their lolly fix. Again, a great win for everyone.

Lets face it - how many times has prohibition worked?
Tags: nz, new zealand, prohibition, food, subsidy

Unions argue that keeping their members informed illegal

Hattip: Stuff

I loved this gem in the latest update on the Distribution Workers strike:
The unions representing them are also taking legal action against what they allege are Progressive's attempts to "undermine collective bargaining" by sending a copy of its only offer – which was rejected – directly to union members instead of the unions.

Basically the unions are arguing that it undermines their power when information is sent directly to members rather than only being diluted via their "official channels first". Which of course is probably right. It is much harder to force people to give up weeks of their wages to fight against a proposal that they actually know the full contents of, and have the chance to get independent advice on.
Tags: nz, newzealand, union, progressive, strike, lockout