The Weekender 26/10/2008

Welcome to this weekend!

Sport

Earl Bamber is definitely a name to watch in motor sport as he continues to do well making a good start to the GP2 Asia Series finishing second in the first race.

One thing I failed to mention last week about the final netball game against England was that NZ goal shoot Irene van Dyk shot a perfect game - her first perfect international game after 162 test matches. It was her 90th game for NZ after 72 for South Africa.

It's not New Zealand news at all but India crushed Australia by 320 runs in their latest test match. We can always assume Australia will bounce back but it was fun to watch.
What wasn't so fun to watch was the Black Caps struggling against Bangladesh in the first test. NZ were set 317 to win with their previous highest run chase being 164. NZ had 5 sessions and with Daniel Vettori leading from the front (yet again), the Black Caps made it through for the win. The second test has been on hold due to rain.

The Cairns Taipans continue to be the bogey team for the NZ Breakers when the Taipans won 101-92 in overtime.

I'm not sure if this is rugby news or political news but Helen Clark announced a new rugby trophy for NZ vs England matches, the Hillary Shield in honour of Sir Edmund Hillary will be first played for in the upcoming All Blacks northern hemisphere tour.
In real rugby, Wanganui finished their flawless season in Heartland rugby beating Mid Canterbury 27-12 in the Meads Cup final.
In the Air NZ Cup final, Wellington (for the fifth time in six years) got to the final and couldn't quite do any more, losing to Canterbury 6-7. Wellington have had the best attack all season and Canterbury has had the best defence. The constant rain meant there was lots of kicking, and lots of handling errors.
There are seven new All Blacks in the squad for the northern tour, Corey Jane, Hosea Gear (Wellington), Kieran Reid (Canterbury), Liam Messam (Waikato), Ben Franks (Tasman), Jamie Mackintosh & Scott Waldrom.

The Annual HSBC Premier Coastal Classic Yacht Race was on this weekend. The race from Auckland to Russell had 229 entries but the huge waves, strong winds & rain meant that only 31 yachts finished the race. The race was won by Greg Roak in Taeping.

The Rugby League World Cup has begun with England just managing to beat Papua New Guinea in Australia. NZ vs Australia is later tonight.

NZ News

In politics Labour saw through National's ploy to improve the economy by requesting a bipartisan plan to protect the banking system during the current financial crisis. Yeah, fancy thinking of the economy rather than any desperate bid to retain power!
National has promised to recruit an extra 600 police with 300 more for Counties Manukau. Labour's negative campaign responded that the plan will pull police away from smaller centres. National has promised to complete the Waikato expressway within 10 years. This would cost an extra $790m and would include Huntly and Cambridge bypasses.
Also this week Helen attacked John Key for having a "hermetically sealed" campaign saying Labour were "out there taking the risks" - however a check of the schedules showed while National lifted it's game in the second week, but was 'out & about' as much as Labour anyway.

Botanists have rediscovered a fern previously thought to be extinct. The maidenhair spleenwort fern was last seen in the 1950's.

Contact Energy has bowed to public and government pressure and backed down on increasing their director's fees.

A Chinese man who was wanted in his homeland for "large-scale misappropriation and embezzlement" became an NZ citizen this week. He was given royal treatment by Labour MP Dover Samuels who said he could vouch for him as "a good bloke". Mr Liu had given $5000 to both Labour and National.

The Numbers Game

7: % increase in bus use helped along by free off-peak transport for retirees
8: cents drop in petrol by Mobil, Shell dropped petrol by another 5c, then the big five dropped petrol another 4 cents
36: % of pollsters thought John Key was most likely to roll up his sleeves and change a nappy - he was also most likely to host an exchange student
50.4: % support for National in the latest poll is a drop but still enough for them to govern alone - with two weeks to go
1b: $ is the estimated cost for taxpayers of marriage break-ups according to the Institute of Economic Research

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.3502 (-0.0035)
EUR 0.4387 (-0.0173)
USD 0.5573 (-0.0546)
AUD 0.9005 (+0.0130)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Maurice Wilkins
DNA ENABLER
Nobel Prize winner in Physiology and Medicine in 1962. Research undertaken by New Zealander Maurice Wilkins helped lead to the discovery in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick of the DNA molecule structure - the very essence of life itself. The discovery revolutionised biology and medicine.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/wilkins.html

Joke of the Weekender

Rental Description
On duty as a customer-service rep for a car-rental company, I took a call from a driver who needed a tow. He was stranded on a busy highway, but he didn't know the make of the car he was driving.
I asked again for a more detailed description beyond "a blue four-door."
After a pause, the driver replied, "It's the one on fire."

Weekender Photos

This week we have some more photos from the lovely beaches at Raglan
Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42/RaglanSunset02

Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
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