hear hear: well said.

how fortunate for you to have DebHC in your neighborhood I'm sure she must raise the tone & don't think she would be sucked into talking those tabs.

however when my kids where tiny (60's/70s) Dr's always said to give them yogurt to stop the trots that anti-b's often bring on with chn . so how knows!

assault is assault . congrats to the jury .

its appalling how the media ( radio, print and tv) continue to use the' anti -smacking law' term. its lazy work.

I fear another referendum as we are surrounded by violent people who think they own chn and can hit them with impunity .

sound bites will always win a referendum and the media are culpable - get some backbone and write the truth - not tired, headline grabbing, untrue cliches

you have convinced me . i'l visit, and will put a link to this on my blog at wordpress

nothing like a laugh about something that could sooooo be true sometime soon !

although to help our economy i don't think they'll go 'offshore' for advice would they?

Sorry tony but I keep thinking of the old saying ... 'me think the man doth protest too much"

i'm so glad i'm not married to you as i would be very worried about my future.

i agree she did a great job in NZ and will do NZ proud overseas too

if auckland becomes a super city and all the power that follows, will it end up with the elected mayor not only controlling that area but all of nz .
will the auckland tail wag the New Zealand dog? hope not as 3/4 of nzers dont live there!

I really related to the sameness of news no matter where.

I have just returned from Thailand and although I was there for travel related stuff, could not refrain from reading the newspapers each morning.

Here are a couple of things I noted:

*just like milk prices in NZ, the rice farmers in Thailand have had their prices plummet - to under half the price they received in 08.
* bullying is a problem in schools
* a columnist is concerned re the growing of tulips ( cold weather flower) and the costs and problems it causes - saying peoplel should grow the local native 'thai tulip'

Seems we are so predictable.