The Weekender 10/05/2009

Welcome to possible the last nice week before winter!

Sport

The pundits were calling the outcome of the game before it even started and they were right as the Waikato/BOP Magic beat the Pulse 59-36 in the transtasman netball league. Last weekend the Northern Mystics managed an overtime 50-48 win over the Central Pulse, denying the Wellington team their first win.

Sporting legend Rob Waddell had a life-changing heart operation last week to correct his heart problems that he had previous controlled with medicine. However he is unsure if he will ever return to competitive rowing or sailing.

Well the game of the Super 14 rugby weekend was without doubt the top of the table clash between the No1 Hurricanes and the No2 Chiefs. The Chiefs were at home and they stepped up, winning 16-8 but remain second with the Bulls overtaking after a bonus point win. Because the table is so tight, the Chiefs still have to win next week to secure a semi final spot. On Friday night the Crusaders thrashed the Reds 32-12 to farewell Leon MacDonald in his last home game before he heads back to Japan. On Saturday the Lions beat the Highlanders 27-22 to ensure they remained the bottom placed NZ team, the Brumbies beat the Blues 37-15 to end their season. On Sunday the Waratahs beat the Sharks 12-16 and the Bulls beat the Cheetahs 29-20 and the Stormers ended the Force season with a 25-24 win. It took 10 or 11 weeks but Super rugby is interesting again!
So with all teams having played 12 games and the top seven with a chance to make the semi finals after next week, here is the table: Bulls 42, Chiefs 41, Hurricanes 39, Crusaders/Brumbies 37, Sharks/Waratahs 36, Force/Blues 31, Highlanders/Lions 24, Stormers 23, Reds 18, Cheetahs 11.

Although ANZAC day was a while ago, this week saw the annual Australia vs New Zealand ANZAC day rugby league test match - and a chance for Australia to try & win some friends back after their stunning 34-20 loss to the Kiwis in the World Cup final. NZ had never won an ANZAC day test and it didn't start now with Australia winning 38-10. Before the game Kangaroos captain Darren Lockyer said he would 'anoint the Kiwis as the No 1 team in rugby league' if they won, but sorry Mr Lockyer the kiwis are the rugby league world champions! ... and will be for another few years.
In Warriors news, Steve Price has signed up for a fifth season for the Warriors.

Bevan Docherty won the first triathlon in the ITU world champ series in Tongyeong in Korea. Cameron Brown came second in the Noumea triathlon last Saturday.

NZ News

The terrible news of the week was a standard police warrant being served by three policemen in Napier. The man the warrant was being served to, snapped without warning and started firing on the policemen. The gun fight left one policeman dead - Len Snee, the other two policemen and another man with serious gun shot injuries. The ensuing siege lasted several days and ended on Friday after the man shot himself. The other civilian was undoubtedly a hero as he attempted to help the police by wrestling the gun off the man and drawing fire away from the police. That is the third policeman to be killed on duty in the past year - apparently that puts us on par with the U.S.A. for police deaths. So does that give the police in NZ the right to start acting like the U.S. police?

Something that surely never would have happened under the previous government, the Ministry of Women's Affairs has officially recognised the need for men! The new government expected the ministry to be more inclusive and the specific wording is to "include men who can champion the actions" to support women and harness their talents.
I've said it before & no doubt I'll say it again, I expect National governments to fix the economy to the detriment of health and education, and Labour governments to fix health and education to the detriment of everything else. But those were just the good old days. It seems North Shore hospital warned the (Labour) government in June 2006 that they were in desperate need of more beds quickly. A year later they had a flood of patients and the hospital was overwhelmed. And now I hear that the soon to be released budget is most like to cut everything - except health and education - from a National government. What is the world coming to.
Fiji has officially blamed NZ & Australia for Fiji being suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum. So the Maori Party wants to send a delegation to Fiji to talk to Commodore Bainimarama, but Prime Minister John Key has vetoed Pita Sharples going since he is a government minister.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in NZ rose to seven after briefly dropping from six to five after one case was misdiagnosed. The number of people quarantined has dropped below 300.

Huge storms were predicted for the weekend and week to follow, but on Saturday I awoke to clear sky and sunshine. But it did start in the South Island and thunderstorms, hail, cold rain and snow are working their way up the country.

It was Mothers Day today. I guess most of you aren't in the same country as your mothers and I know the feeling! Mine went on holiday but I hope you managed more than just an email like I did ;-)

The Wairarapa is the third region to apply to be declared as a drought zone. Hawke's Bay was declared a medium-level drought region a week ago and Gisbourne/Wairoa a week before that.

The Numbers Game

2.2: % increase in average house prices in Auckland was unusual for April
4: of the top 5 NZ hotels are in Christchurch according to an international online travel company survey
5: c/L rise in petrol prices from the big four, but Gull has held out - until next week
6: th ranking for NZ out of 30 OECD countries for overall satisfaction with life (even though we aren't especially rich)
25: % of NZers time is spent in front of the TV - the lowest in the 18 OECD countries studied
64: jobs to be axed by Hamilton based Caravans International Munro
533,000: $ spent by the government informing people about the Super City plans for Auckland
1m: $ gift for the NZ Olympic Committee from retiring chairman Eion Edgar
25m: $ stage one redevelopment of Whangarei Hospital has been given the go ahead by the Government
115m: $ gifting of art to Auckland Art Gallery by an American billionaire couple is the largest act of philanthropy of its kind in Australasia

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.3959 (0.0147)
EUR 0.4422 (0.0136)
USD 0.6031 (0.0341)
AUD 0.7842 (0.0060)

The Weekender NZer of the week

Percy Marunui Murphy
Percy died this week and it sounds like he was a legend. He was Ngati Manawa's last remaining warrior from the 28th Maori Battalion and NZ's first Maori mayor down in Murupara in the eastern Bay of Plenty. He was mayor for three consecutive terms from 1960 to 1969.

Joke of the Weekender

Age Advice
An enormously wealthy 65-year-old man falls in love with a young woman in her twenties and is contemplating a proposal.
"Do you think she'd marry me if I tell her I'm 45?" he asked a friend.
"Your chances are better," said the friend, "if you tell her you're 90."

Weekender Photos

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