A packet of chips and a can of lemonade

Last week the great Brian Lochore told more than 1000 fathers at a Parents Inc event that political correctness is destroying New Zealand.

"Yes, I smacked my children, but I've never hit them. Yes, I smacked other people's children, but I never hit them. But we are not allowed to do that any more in this PC world," he said.

Comments that sparked a furor, and saw the line drawn between those who th0ught Lochore was a chauvanistic child abuser and others who thought thank god Brian is someone who is willing to stand up and say that this PC mentality is a load of crap.

I remember as a child being at the rugby clubrooms with my parents. There were plenty of us who spent our weekends barefoot playing in the mud with a packet of chips and a can of lemonade for lunch. Kids, who hung around waiting while Dad swallowed a jug of well-earned beer with his mates and Mum sat in the corner gossiping with the other wives.

I have a hundred different Uncles and Aunties from that time, and the funny thing is that even though these people have no blood relationship to me they still cared enough to make sure that I was safe back then. Even today many still ask after me .

Brian Lochore rejects as "so much bullshit" the suggestion that a macho rugby culture is linked with violence. "It's unbelievable. I don't know any person I played rugby with that ever was involved in family violence because the point of playing rugby is that you get rid of your frustrations on the field because it's a physical game."

He said he and his wife never went to the pub but socialised at rugby clubrooms with other players and their wives and kids. Brian said the pub was only about drinking, the club was aobut friends.

And I have to agree, my Saturdays at the rugby field were all about friends and family. We wernt left at home while dad went and did his thing, we encouraged to join in. In fact on a Saturday morning we used to play netball at our local courts, wait for Mum to play her game and then head to the club rooms to watch Dad.

I remember rushing up to my dad after he came off the field and being lifted up in to his arms. I could smell the mud and sweat on his skin, and I know now that I have never felt more safe and secure.

I had to laugh at Brian Lochore's description of the birth of his children because my father had the same sort of outlook.

"It was always embarrassing, you know how you used to have to look through the glass in those days and they would throw one up in front of you and then throw another one up. There were fathers there gooing over their kid but I just found that whole thing quite embarrassing really. Everyone has got to have the old macho exterior I guess, and that was what it was like in those days. But God I can't understand how I would be without my children. My life would be totally empty. They are all great kids," Brian said.

"For the modern father it's the greatest day of their lives. But I was a farmer and I've probably calved 100 cows and thousands of lambs and the last thing I wanted to be was in that situation."

My dad almost missed my birth but this morning I called him and wished him a happy fathers because at the end of the day he is still my dad and he was and is a fantastic father, even if he is a little old school.

The big business - part 2

We are now officially in a technical economic recession. Although with the rising costs of fuel and food we have all known this for a very long time.


And we all know now that an economic recession is six months worth of negative growth - right? We also know that growth is represented by the change in GDP in the last three months (a quarter) - right? And GDP is usually measured by the equation C+I+G+(X-M), where C is Consumer spending, I is Investment, G is Government spending and the (X-M) is the net exports (ie cost of exports minus the cost of imports) - right?

I mean business reporters seem to have great fun in quoting economic terms like GDP and negative growth and the like, so we all know what these terms mean, right? Yet there are so many people out that are happy to stick their heads in the sand. They say "Why do we need to borrow and invest in our infrastructure? Sure we are in a recession and that means we have had two quarters of negative growth, but we will be fine wont we? I mean we have experienced good times in the last few years and our economy has been thriving. Isnt that enough?"

Well in short no.


If we are spending less, ie our GDP figure is down from six months ago, then that means that businesses are receiving less cash, which means that they will have less cash to pay their bills. And guess what - which business expense is the easiest to cut when hard times hit? Savings made by cutting overheads will limited, because although there are components of overheads that are variable the major costs remain fixed. The lease still stays the same and cutting back phone calls and turning off lights is a long term plan and not to mention a hard road to make the necessary savings. The easiest way to make large savings is by cutting employee numbers.


Take the media industry for example and more specifically the newspaper industry. Businesses have already started to cut back on variable costs and we are seeing a drop in advertising sales. With this decrease in a newspaper's income stream that obviously means that there is less money to put that paper out. And sure they can cut back on mobile phone calls, buying columns, paying for outside photos etc but really these are just stop-gap measures. Eventually the numbers of staff will need to be assessed.


In the last couple of months Fairfax have announced a change the sub-editing department, a cut in staff numbers across the country and a temporary new employment freeze (although apparently this has now come off). This is a recession at work.

So as to the question can we grow our economy is a way that is steady and still remain stable? The easy answer is yes we can but the problem is the economy is like a child, if we do not keep feeding it we will end up going backwards. Imagine if you thought well ive alreay committed five good years to that child I have got some time to cruise here, where do you think that child will end up in comparision to the rest of his/her peers. The economy is just like that if we do not keep investing/spending then we will lose any ground we have made and then if left to continue the economy will spiral downwards until hyper-inflation, high unemployment and negative growth are just a natural part of life. When there is no growth ,businesses push up their prices to make a profit, but then staff demand wage rises to cope with the rising costs which in turn pushes up business's costs effecting the price of goods. It is a dirty horrible cycle with very little way out - just ask the residents of Zimbawe, im sure they are feeling the pinch of 300 per cent inflation. And worse still, so many businesses do not last under these conditions and so they fold under the pressure, making their staff unemployed.

So here we are in a recession, and yes what comes up most come down and surely that means what goes down sure must come back up? But without investment to stimulate growth how do you think we are going to end up climbing back up the economic ladder, that is why they call it 'hyper'-inflation. And if we want tax cuts, which apparently we do because we are all demanding a financial break to cope with the rising food and fuel bills, then where do you think we are going to get the expenditure to stimulate growth - apart from borrowing to invest. Because keep in mind part of the GDP equation is government spending and if consumer spending is down because of the high prices, where do you think that needed stimulation is going to come from?