To Tour or not to Tour?

Should the Black Caps tour Zimbabwe with the current situation under President Mugabe's rule? If they decide not to, they will be fined about $2.8 million by the ICC, who have refused to ban Zimbabwe from international cricket (their justification being that sport and politics should not mix). Even so, we must put pressure on Zimbabwe to change!

National have pledged to pay for any fines incurred if the Black Caps forego the Zimbabwe tour, which is likely to be above the $2.8 million fine as television rights etc. must be put into account. Why should taxpayers' money have to be spent on this? We shouldn't have to be paying anything to Zimbabwe. If this occurred President Mugabe would be smiling.

If the government bans the Black Caps from touring Zimbabwe, then the Black Caps would be exempt from having to pay the fine. OK so we have human rights, freedom of choice and so on, but surely this could be a feasible option? NZ Cricket would not have to pay out.

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Blind Date

Well it is official now. I've bought my ball tickets and (if the ball does go ahead!) my partner will be Ayesha...or at least on paper she will be. What makes this interesting is that although I've chatted to her on MSN, I've never actually talked to her nor have I met her in real life. So really this is a bit like a blind date, even though we're really going as friends.

I met Ayesha through Kat, and originally our plan was to get Kat and Joon (neither of them were keen on going to the ball at first) to go to the ball together. Kat was starting to think about it, but would only go if her friend Ayesha went with her (and other conditions as well). Anyway so Ayesha decided to go to the ball as my partner (I hope she didn't feel forced to!)

Now we all know what happens when you pair Calum up with a girl...DISASTER

A bet has been put on the table - if I kiss her on the cheek, I won't have to pay Zippo the $5.00 I owe her for the last bet I made with her (the person who bid $20.00 on Heather's artwork would pay up). I will definitely not do something like that again...for a while at least! It wasn't too bad last time because when I screwed up it was in front of strangers whom I would never have to see again, but I definitely don't want to look like a fool in front of friends I spend most of the year with!

I have no idea how the ball will turn out, whether Ayesha will ditch me or whatever, but hey at least it'll make things a lot more interesting! That's definitely something I need in the days of repetitiveness and boringness! Whatever happens happens! Bring on the ball!

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Where's Calum?

See if you can spot me in the orchestra! (with a little help!)

Performances

On Saturday and Sunday Hamish, Aonghas and I performed with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra at the Night of the Proms concert. It featured British music, with some of the highlights being Scottish bagpipers and Irish dancers who danced to Lord of the Dance (which I really enjoyed playing!).

We had to attend orchestra rehearsals every Monday and Wednesday nights leading up to the performances, and now that it is all over its a bit sad and I'm starting to miss playing in the orchestra! Hopefully they will call us back sometime soon when they're short on players!

 

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Calum Comments - Monday 27 June 2005

What are we doing with our prisoners? They most likely are living a better life in prison than out there in the real world. The latest is that inmates were given KFC for allowing prison guards to search their cells, despite drugs, cellphones and other objects being found.

Why are inmates given TVs, pool tables, and other luxury items in prison? In prison they should be given the basics - a bed, toilet, wash basin and two or three meals a day. Nothing fancy, no flash meal, just enough to get through the day. Prison is about punishment, not reward.

Rid our prisons of those unnecessary items, and reduce spending on these crims. Would bringing back capital punishment be another possible way to reduce costs, possibly for the worst offenders?

Now would be about the right time for Labour to start bucking up its policies. Obviously people are not happy with the current situation. National have been making all sorts of unrealistic promises which they have yet to prove how they will fulfil, and if Labour lets these elections slip from them, the NZ public will only realise once Dr Brash is in power that they have elected a lemon.

National plans to open a few more single-sex schools and convert a few co-ed schools to single-sex schools. National claim that the best achieving schools are single-sex schools, but this isn't the only factor. Most of these high-achieving single-sex schools are also private, and so obviously have an advantage over state schools who don't get adequate funding from the government!

I watched TV ONE's Test the Nation quiz show tonight. Shamefully...I only got 69/100!  Most of the questions were related to pre 1980s New Zealand. It was good to watch some video clips of historical moments in New Zealand!

The end for Judy Bailey is nigh. You can tell the bosses at TVNZ don't want to fork out that $800,000 for another year just to keep her on. Head of TVNZ News and Current Affairs Bill Ralston claimed the days when TV personalities held networks to ransom were over, and he is probably making this true.

Possible replacements for Judy Bailey are:

• Wendy Petrie
• Kate Hawkesby

I remember watching Wendy Petrie reading the news at the time when the tsunami hit. I was amused at how it looked as though she was smiling right throughout that! She probably wasn't though!

Ralston has also been auditioning/trialling male newsreaders thank goodness! We need a few more men on our TV screens!

One thing I still don't understand is that if personality-driven current affairs shows are supposed to be a thing of the past at TVNZ, why does Susan Wood's face appear in most Close-Up billboards and advertisements?

 

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