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 [...]

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 [...]

The stoush between Ports of Auckland and the Maritime union appears to be heating up. Len Brown has at last showed up and planted himself down firmly on the side of PoAL, which is as it should be. It would have been utterly bizarre for the Mayor to side with the union against a business [...]

My friend ScrubOne suggests that my next post will be on this. Who am I to argue with such wisdom? A deluge of abusive drunks is straining Wellington Hospital’s emergency department, clogging its systems and demoralising staff to such an extent that at least one doctor is considering leaving her job. Nurses say they dread [...]

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 [...]

I have to say, I much preferred the WHO when they were only a rock and roll band and not a teeming hive of health BureauPrats*. This week, a meeting of the terminally stupid (otherwise known as the International Agency for Research on Cancer – IARC) issued a statement that flies in the face of logic, [...]

It really was a bumper day for left-wing whining today. The 90-day probation was extended to all businesses, the minimum wage went up to $13.00 ph and ACC re-introduced experience rating. All favorite left-wing bug-bears. The Herald shamelessly published a horribly slanted article on the 90-day trail with Helen Kelly in full cry, accusing National of [...]

It’s like magic. Every time the road statistics throw up something favorable, the police immediately take credit. A record low January road toll has been lauded by police as a sign their road safety messages are getting through to New Zealanders. No – it is not a sign of anything other than random fluctuations. Don’t [...]

Coroner Demands Jet Ski changes A Wellington coroner has demanded mandatory helmets, lap belts and roll bars for all Jet Skis in New Zealand, blasting the authorities for a lack of action. In his reserved findings into the death of 21-year-old Elephant Farmer, Hamish MacTavish, coroner Ian Smith said at least 3 people had died [...]

Dean Scanlen makes an impassioned plea for stricter driving license laws in the Herald today. I have much sympathy with his call to make the driving test more comprehensive. I have long been an advocate of making the defensive driving and the advanced driving courses compulsory for learner drivers. This would certainly provide new drivers [...]