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10:20 pm
1st March 11
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doreen
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Well now is the first day of March, (once again) so I thought I could join the Mad crowd on here.
Doubt if anybody is reading but what does that matter.
I haven't been doing chat forums this winter but have been busy in Internet learning and reading.
My new friend is Ubuntu….Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning “humanity to others”
I think that sounds nice and if only we could practice what we preach.
The world is in a mess isn't it.??
In my part of the world it is 11.15pm and I have promised myself to be in bed before midnight
so that I can get up at 7am
If I can I will write each of these 31 days but knowing myself this is no promise.
Pleasant thoughts.
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6:55 am
2nd March 11
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Me.
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I have seen much of Ubuntu over the past week, especially coming out of Australia and Christchurch. The Aussies have been so generous regarding the problems caused by the major earthquake. They have sent rescue workers, machinery, specialists in all fields then gave 5 million dollars to the New Zealand Red Cross to distribute amongst the people who have lost their all. It was quite moving to watch rescuers disembark their plane at Christchurch airport and be greeted by a standing ovation by passengers and airport staff alike. There have been many lows but then a real high would come along, a story where an ordinary person has done something quite extraordinary, bravery and heroism at it's finest.
Several countries have sent helpers so it just goes to show it takes the very worst to bring out the very best, and my goodness there have been some magnificent examples of humanity at its best over the past seven days.
It has been a week of problems, obviously the Christchurch quake and then last night Wellington had a short, sharp rattle as well. Now if that wasn't enough today one of the Wellington ferries had a wave come inboard, take out the front windscreen and proceed to swamp the vessel. Fortunately there were plenty of other boats on the harbour and the forty odd passengers and crew were rescued smartly.
It's been a funny week, but one that will stay in the forefront of people's minds for a very long time. The death toll in Christchurch now stands At 160. When you look at the pictures it's really quite a miracle is wasn't much, much higher.
Welcome back Doreen, you have been missed.  
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6:13 pm
2nd March 11
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doreen
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Yes only the second day in March when we here in the north. should be thinking
about spring and flowers but our newspaper are full of sadness.
The South island of NZ, one of the most beautiful places on earth and hit by an earthquake.
This happened.
What is happening along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa
is a tragedy caused by the greed of man.
Tens of thousands of Libyans are trying to escape the terror in their country and are
waiting on the frontier of Tunasia and Egypt
Both of these countries have enormous Political and Economical problems.
Many of these Refugees have reach Italy and have overcrowded the land.
Italy is now asking Germany and Switzerland to take in some of these people.
Problems sadness and despair.
Things like this have happened before only to be sorted out and then forgotten.
Until next time.
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7:02 am
3rd March 11
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Me.
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You will note that the West are offering advice and telling the dictator of Libya he should stand down. The UK has even mentioned it could send troops.
Call me a cynic, of course you can call me far worse, but where was this advice and offers of help with the rantings and oppression caused by Mugabe?
Oh silly me … Libya has oil just like Iraq.
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8:41 am
3rd March 11
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Tom
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Oh 'ME'. You cynic you. You're absolutely right of course. We are pathetically transparent are we not!
Send troops? What troops? We have none. They like everyone else in this country have become victims of the spending cuts. Everyone that is except the freeloaders and the endless stream of immigrants who for some strange reason find our shores so appealing.
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9:24 am
3rd March 11
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doreen
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Not only your shores Tom, crossing the boarders is easy and they land here and have thrown away their Passports.
I can understand them and if they had work and money in their own country, they wouldn't come.
ME, that about the oil…. I hadn't thought about that.
That is what Iraq was all about.
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9:32 am
3rd March 11
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doreen
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The 3rd of March and Thursday, my day off.
My motto today is “Hurry up” Am going out shopping but have to fill my purse with money.
I go to one of these little machines, put in my card,(full of chips) press a few buttons
and there it is, a pile of bank notes.
I feel my Grandmother frowning at me over my shoulder.
Times have changed, haven't they.???
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9:32 am
3rd March 11
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Tom
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I understand what you're saying Doreen, and you're absolutely right. But here the situation is out of control. The country some of you once called home is currently taking in a quarter of a million immigrants a year. This is clearly unsustainable. Is it any wonder many people already consider us a third world country!
If we were taking in people with skills, as are New Zealand and Australia, that would be one thing. But we are not. We are taking in the human detritus that no other country wants. Successive weak governments seem to have an agenda unfathomable to the rest of us. While the people with skills, those who should be providing the country with a future, are leaving in their thousands, they are being replaced by unskilled, uneducated, largely non-English speaking immigrants. Why?
Some of our schools are having to deal with pupils who between them speak 150 languages. Is it any wonder that our own children are leaving school unable to read and write their own language (English), and who are therefore effectively unemployable!
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9:40 am
3rd March 11
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doreen
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Tom in my Swiss newspaper this morning one Politician wrote that the
Refugees would mean more criminality
And of course we are glad when they leave their children at home
which they often do as we have already 4 official languages here
Must hurry , catch you later.
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9:42 am
3rd March 11
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Tom
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Have a good trip, Doreen. But don't spend it all. Remember to save some for a rainy day
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1:23 pm
3rd March 11
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annmarie
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My emails have been going walk about, I didn't realise until today you were out of hibernation, Doreen. It's lovely to see you back. I'm concern the world is in a right state.
Hope you have a nice day today. It's freezing here today. I thought spring had started but it does not feel like it.
I know the earthquake was felt all over New Zealand and even ice chunks fell from Tasman Glacier. Nice to see you, 'ME'.
The UK is falling apart. We have one of the highest unemployment figures of under 25s in the world. We are throwing 80 year old people out of their sheltered housing and now we are giving full benefits to migrants. What a mess. And on top of all that we are giving India aid of about £295m a year when India has more billionaires than us in the UK, a nuclear programme and a space programme to boot. What is going on?
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10:42 pm
3rd March 11
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doreen
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Tom said:
Have a good trip, Doreen. But don't spend it all. Remember to save some for a rainy day
I am not quite sure Tom about saving for a rainy day.
Of course I would never spend what I haven't got.
To save it and give it to the banks. No
Or for the Income tax. No I give them each year enough.
I bought today a garden charcoal grill.
It was made in China. imported by a German firm and from there exported to Switzerland
It's had an interesting journey and everybody had eared a little money.
And when that rainy day comes i shall stay in bed and read a book.
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1:06 am
4th March 11
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Me.
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There are a lot of figures bandied around regarding unemployment, this is something I have very strong opinions on. Many of the Eastern European immigrants landing in the UK have a very high work ethic, sadly there are many home grown youngsters who don't. This problem is not peculiar to the UK, we get the same happening here although in a little more complicated way.
I believe both our countries have bred a generation who have adjusted their living conditions to happily live off benefits. They question the sense of working 40 hours a week in an unskilled job to take home very little more than they get for sitting at home doing nothing. Until this cycle of benefit dependency can be broken, I hold little hope for any government in either country lowering the huge payout in social welfare payments.
Please don't think I am knocking the UK, far from it as we have very similar problems. Local fruit growers import people from the Pacific Islands to pick their fruit, unemployed locals don't want to know. A relative who employs workers on a seasonal basis always takes on two local workers for every vacancy, he knows that at least half won't last a week, in fact many won't last a day. They have no work ethic and strongly believe the world owes them a living, why work when the welfare cheque comes in every two weeks?
I am not showing my age, I am not getting cynical, sadly I have come to face a certain reality and it doesn't make for a very pleasing outlook. Interesting to note, many of our larger shops, especially supermarkets, are now employing people of the older generation. It's not uncommon to see several 55 to 65 year-olds on the checkouts. The reasons are not hard to find: they will turn up for work every day, they don't take time off every occasion there is a local sporting event to watch, they are reliable and mostly trustworthy and they are very grateful to have a job. I feel those reasons would exclude many of the younger generation, especially those who have had it too easy for far too long.
I will now step off my soapbox.
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8:00 am
4th March 11
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doreen
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March 4, cold – low pressure weather and for me a day of hard work.
Me these youngsters you talk about, yes I
know what you mean we have them here BUT
There are the other types those hard working motivated and sensible youngsters.
Now none have asked to be born some are lucky and have sensible parents and others!!
Perhaps they have never had a chance in life.
Perhaps they have inherited the wrong Genes
Perhaps their Parents were too rich, too poor, too uneducated to help them.
I have 6 Grandchildren, how very different their lives are to mine
Yes times have changed.
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8:52 am
4th March 11
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Tom
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Post edited 9:57 am – 4th March 11 by Tom
Me. said:
There are a lot of figures bandied around regarding unemployment, this is something I have very strong opinions on. Many of the Eastern European immigrants landing in the UK have a very high work ethic, sadly there are many home grown youngsters who don't. This problem is not peculiar to the UK, we get the same happening here although in a little more complicated way.
I believe both our countries have bred a generation who have adjusted their living conditions to happily live off benefits. They question the sense of working 40 hours a week in an unskilled job to take home very little more than they get for sitting at home doing nothing. Until this cycle of benefit dependency can be broken, I hold little hope for any government in either country lowering the huge payout in social welfare payments.
Please don't think I am knocking the UK, far from it as we have very similar problems. Local fruit growers import people from the Pacific Islands to pick their fruit, unemployed locals don't want to know. A relative who employs workers on a seasonal basis always takes on two local workers for every vacancy, he knows that at least half won't last a week, in fact many won't last a day. They have no work ethic and strongly believe the world owes them a living, why work when the welfare cheque comes in every two weeks?
I am not showing my age, I am not getting cynical, sadly I have come to face a certain reality and it doesn't make for a very pleasing outlook. Interesting to note, many of our larger shops, especially supermarkets, are now employing people of the older generation. It's not uncommon to see several 55 to 65 year-olds on the checkouts. The reasons are not hard to find: they will turn up for work every day, they don't take time off every occasion there is a local sporting event to watch, they are reliable and mostly trustworthy and they are very grateful to have a job. I feel those reasons would exclude many of the younger generation, especially those who have had it too easy for far too long.
I will now step off my soapbox.
Well you've enlightened me there, 'ME'. I had no idea you had a benefits system similar to us. Can those workers really be entitled to bring their families with them, to social housing if they tick the right boxes, to free medical care, to free schooling for their children with no requirement that their children have any command at all of English? When we watch relocation programmes about Australia and New Zealand, there appears to be very strict rules regarding such a move. Here they are welcomed with open arms which is why we have schools where they are trying to teach children with as many 150 languages between them.
While I appreciate what you say, and certainly agree with you regarding the youth of today, I simply cannot believe you have the same problems as the UK. You would have to live here to sense the utter despair felt by many of us. The UK is in terminal decline. Forget the 'green shoots of recovery' mentioned some years ago by the previous government. This country is never coming back from the brink, it has simply declined too far. We are a divided nation, with British people an endangered species. Forget the way you remember it, this is a Third World country. We have areas of our cities that are simply no-go areas even for the police, and areas when you see them on TV that you simply wouldn't believe were in this country. Here we don't insist incoming residents speak our language or adopt our culture. Rather, we pander to them by providing interpretors for them and permitting the likes of mosques in areas where you and I could never have a church.
Over to you with the soapbox
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9:05 pm
4th March 11
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Me.
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Tom, many thanks for your reply. I did mention the problem we have is different, perhaps I need to explain the differences. First of all permanent migrants to New Zealand need to have work and housing already arranged, they are usually sponsored by an employer and helped into their new home and environment. Prospective migrants need an occupation that is wanted here, if there work skills are not on the list of needed employees, then they get no further than the oral application.
When local fruit growers obtain a special dispensation to import foreign workers, this does not include families, only the person who will be picking apples. They can only stay for the duration of the apple season then they are sent home, the employer is responsible for seeing them safely repatriated.
I have been made very aware that many of the Eastern European workers recently allowed into the UK have an excellent work ethic, and now the countries where they originate from are improving economically, many are returning home. However, I do appreciate these are not the people you are concerned about, your interest is in those who get into the UK with their hands held out at the border. For obvious reasons I have no understanding of such a system but I have queried such a questionable practice of another message board, the explanation was as follows:
When the UK joined the EU, a policy of open borders with all other EU countries came into being. This policy allows anyone to move from country to country without restrictions of any form, and allows a person to seek and accept work anywhere it can be found. In the interest of fairness I am duty bound to add this means UK citizens are also free to seek work in any of the EU countries. It is said that many employers prefer to take on migrants because of their work ethic, this would exactly match what is to be found here.
With regard to youngsters I feel again in fairness it must be said there are those who choose to stay on in education, to seek and gain qualifications, these are usually successful in finding employment; exactly the same here. Then there are those who leave school at the earliest opportunity (drop out) and because of their complete lack of skills cannot find work. This is a difficult problem that can only be reversed by youth gaining skills before leaving school. A generation of so ago there was always a calling for unskilled labour, and in huge numbers, this generally came in all shapes and sizes. With the advent of computer generated employment, many jobs; even those that were considered highly skilled, especially in engineering have gone, being replaced by a PC. To give another simple example, it's not that long ago when a bus crew consisted of a driver and a conductor, this work is now all performed by the driver, putting half of the labour force out of work. There is a skill attached to driving a bus, there is no skill attached to the conductor's task.
All of the above is littered with generalisation, of course there are exceptions and this is recognised. However, I hope I have helped explain the difference between out two countries. In short we are fully in control of our rules and regulations, the UK now seems to be ruled from Brussels and there is a not a damn thing you can do about it. 
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8:08 am
5th March 11
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doreen
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March 5th and
I have read two very interesting posts from ME and Tom, BUT-BUT
The difference between these 2 countries is, and that makes a very big difference,
The UK has a population of about 60 Million and
NZ has perhaps a population of only 5 Million
NZ is also ,can we call it a “new country” where as Caesar landed in England in 54 BC.
Enjoy your day it is Saturday.
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8:21 am
5th March 11
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Ciderman
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It is, in fact, Doreen , the newest country in the world! all 4.1 million of us.
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Civilisation is a veneer, easily soluble in alcohol.
http://cidermannz.blogspot.com/
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12:52 pm
5th March 11
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Tom
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Absolutely spot on, 'ME'. There is no doubt that the Eastern Europeans have a far better work ethic than most Brits. In fact I know businesses who will only emply Eastern Europeans as opposed to Brits for that very reason. But the issues go deeper than that.
To begin with, we have a far more comprehensive welfare system than any of our EEC counterparts. Free schooling, free healthcare, welfare benefits, etc. We or they cannot go to say France, Germany or anywhere else in Europe and get such a comprehensive package. That is why so many make a beeline for the UK.
But the real issue here is that we take absolutely anybody, from anywhere, and these people are then given priority for the likes of housing over our own people. Even the tens of thousands every year who are refused permanent residence, either disappear into the black economy, or keep appealing until ultimately they are given permission to stay permanently. The vast majority of these are non-English speaking and unskilled, but that seems to make no difference. Instead of forcing them to learn our language, the taxpayer even has to provide them with interpreters. That is why we have schools having to deal with as many as 150 languages to the detriment of our own pupils. That is one of the reasons we are falling further and further behind the rest of the world.
We had a white doctor friend in South Africa. His wife too was a doctor. But they had a disabled child and so were refused residency. But we readily accept unskilled people who do not speak our language, who produce children like rabbits and spend their lives on benefits which they seem entitled to the moment they land. That is why any skilled youngsters from this country are heading for the likes of your shores where they have a future. There is absolutely no future for them here and they know that only too well. Would be that I was young enough to be one of them!
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8:06 pm
5th March 11
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Me.
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Tom, I agree and understand your appraisal of the migrant situation, especially the health care and welfare issues. The silly part being, in many cases your government cannot deny new migrants any of the benefits on offer although I am aware no doubt they would very much like to. However, on issues such as these they are controlled from Brussels not Westminster, to deny a migrant health care or social assistance would be considered a breach of their human rights regardless of who is paying the bill.
Doreen, the population of New Zealand when compared to the size of the UK is irrelevant, everything is pro rata, just on a far smaller scale. We still have all the welfare benefits, a system based on what the UK has to offer. Because we have a lesser population means there are far fewer people to fund welfare programmes, the tax take is tiny by comparison. Here is another anomaly, our GST (VAT) is at a lesser amount, our petrol is far cheaper, our houses are far cheaper, we have the highest car ownership per capita in the world, and generally people are far better off.
We don't try to behave as a world power, we don't waste money on wars and huge armed forces. We do use our small army, generally as peace keepers, the people who go into troubled areas rebuilding infrastructure. Our air force consists of transport planes, usually to fly supplies into troubled areas such as Christchurch over the past two weeks. Our navy is often involved in search and rescue and the smaller vessels are for fishery protection, I think we have the priorities right. The UK still wishes the world to view it as a force to be reckoned with, I'm sorry that is no longer the case. It could be said that the colossal cost to the tax payer for the armed forces is why this week there has been an increase in the cost of British prescription charges, oddly at a very time when Scotland, along with Ireland have done away with this charge altogether.
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