The MacDoctor is all for using protective devices, if they have been shown to be effective, but too often he sees over-reaction like this: Schools urged to insist on helmets for push-scooter riders after claims to ACC rocket 500 per cent. The number of children seriously hurt while riding push scooters has skyrocketed with their [...]

I see there is another phishing scam running; this time involving the IRD. There is something particularly scummy about this – sort of like conning someone out of money by pretending to be collecting for the local protection racket… Anyway, in service to humanity, here are some quick tips on avoiding scams. I have kept [...]

The MacDoctor gets somewhat irritated by the furore generated by three-strike warnings, especially when they are blatantly misrepresented – like the nonsense being generated about the 21-year-old recidivist, Elijah Akeem Whaanga (I like the way my spellchecker offers me the alternative spelling of “whinge” for his surname). He is represented as having a third strike warning issued [...]

So the traffic cops are extending their 4km-only tolerance limit until the end of the month and are looking at making it permanent. This has a feeling of pre-concieved inevitability about it. Although Acting Superintendent Rob Morgan assures us that the permanent adoption “will really be an evidence-based decision”, we all know that this is complete [...]

Apparently Damian O’Connor would like to shoot my dog. It is about time we stopped pussyfooting around and advocated and implemented the destruction of any dog and breed of dog that is considered dangerous in New Zealand. No one is allowed to carry around a loaded gun and these dogs are just that. Three children [...]

There is a point where legislation slips from being a useful, if sometimes cumbersome, tool for achieving an orderly, well-functioning society into a meddlesome mess of nanny statism and absurd zealotry. Most of us can sense it easily when it effects us and impedes our lives. It is a little harder to appreciate when the [...]

The Rena has finally actually split in two after several weeks of being reported by the media as “splitting”. Apart from the temporary sudden increase in debris from the ship, this may actually be a good thing, in the long run. The MacDoctor has been told that it may be possible to float the back [...]

A survivor of a hunting “accident” asks the question “Why are people still being shot?“. The MacDoctor can help with this one. He was an ED doctor for 9 years in Southland, literally the “Happy Hunting Ground” of New Zealand. Of the dozens of shooting incidents he has seen, he has yet to see one [...]

Talking about the death toll from the February killer quake in Christchurch, Professor Mike Ardagh reckons that there will be a number of others who will have died from the quake who are not yet part of this toll. He is thinking mainly of those who succumbed to complications from their injuries or died as [...]

An article in the HoS today shows the stupidity of the idea of “menacing breeds”. A child was bitten, and significantly injured, not by a Pit-bull or Bull-mastif, but by a Fox Terrier. This particular animal has not been put down and is still allowed to be around children – because it is small. While [...]