0 Another crisis averted

You may remember a couple of months ago Labour and the Greens declared the forestry and wood processing industries to be in crisis. They called for tax breaks for the wood industry, which got a reaction from the cement and steel industries who were naturally enough felling left out. We blogged about it at the time.

Well Dear Readers, it looks as though another crisis has been averted, simply by opposition parties declaring a crisis; Rotorua's Daily Post reports:

Employment is on the rise in the region as one of Rotorua's biggest industries enjoys what could be its best period in 20 years.
Rotorua's booming forestry industry is experiencing its strongest growth since 1994, which is helping fuel a jump in regional employment, a local forestry leader says.
Bay of Plenty joblessness is down as national employment hits its highest rate since before the global financial crisis.

This is great news, both for Rotorua and for the country as a whole; the more people who are in work, the better. The March Household Labour Force Survey showed that the Labour Participation Rate had hit a record 69.3%. Here are the numbers from Statistics NZ:

Despite an increase in the population due largely to people returning from Australia, there are more people in work than at any other time in the country's history.

We have just one question for Labour and the Greens. Given that everything they declare to be in crisis turns to gold, could they please declare our personal finances a "crisis"? Much obliged! 

0 Whatever happened to Tamati's tweet?

We blogged on Wednesday about a rather unfortunate tweet from Tamati Coffey. The former TVNZ presenter and Labour candidate for Rotorua had made a rather unflattering reference to "Tory scum". Here's the tweet in question:

It's just as well that we took a screenshot, because it seems to have disappeared from Mr Coffey's Twitter feed; Whaleoil reports:

What page doesn’t exist?

That was the Tamati Coffey tweet where he found it was lovely to talk about Tory scum.

We've got some advice for Tamati, if he'd like to listen to it. If you make a cock-up (which as a first-time candidate, you may well do) own up to it and apologise, then move on.

But pulling the offending tweet without any acknowledgment and pretending it didn't happen is NOT the way to go. People already have a low enough opinion of politicians, and even former television personalities who aspire to be politicians. They don't need any excuse to diss them, so don't give them ammunition.

Social media can be a very useful tool for politicians or aspiring MP's to connect with their followers. But it can also turn to custard very quickly. Builders have an old saying; "Measure twice, cut once". 

We reckon the same logic should be applied by politicians to their social media engagement; type it out and read it, then read it again before hitting the "tweet" button. It might save some embarrassment later in the piece from future SMOG's (Social Media Own Goals). 

0 The Steven Adams dream continues

Steven Adams is one series away from taking part in basketball's Holy Grail; the NBA finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the LA Clippers 104-98 in Los Angeles yesterday to win their Western Conference semi-final series by four games to two. The Herald reports on Adams' massive contribution:

A career-best night from Steven Adams has helped Oklahoma City sneak past the Los Angeles Clippers and into the NBA Conference Finals.
Adams showed impeccable timing this afternoon (NZT) to produce a spectacular performance in the series' clinching game in Los Angeles, recording a double-double and setting career highs in both minutes and rebounds.
His side's 104-98 victory in game six of the conference semifinals saw the Thunder seal the series 4-2 and advance to a meeting with the San Antonio Spurs, with game one set for Tuesday.
The triumph leaves Adams eight wins away from capping an amazing rookie season with an NBA title and, based on today's performance, he should see significant game time against the Spurs.
Coming off the bench to finish the win with a whopping 40 minutes, Adams trailed only MVP Kevin Durant among his teammates and saw more court time than even All Star point guard Russell Westbrook. His previous career-high, set in the regular season, was 30 minutes.

The Kiwi produced the second double-double of his young career, scoring an invaluable 10 points and grabbing 11 boards, surpassing his career-best of 10. Adams also chimed in with a steal and a block on All Star Blake Griffin.
The impressive stat line hardly came in garbage time, either. Adams was contributing on the court as the Thunder hauled in an early 16-point deficit and he was still there as they finally found the lead in the fourth.
The 20-year-old was afforded such an opportunity to excel after Kendrick Perkins - ostensibly the Thunder's starting centre - fell into early foul trouble. Perkins picked up three fouls in the opening five minutes and, called on by coach Scott Brooks, Adams seized the resulting chance with both hands.

When he was drafted to OKC last year, Adams wouldn't have dreamed about playing 40 minutes in a series-winning match in the post-season. But that's exactly what happened yesterday in Los Angeles. The OKC brains trust who picked Adams in the draft last year will be quietly patting one another on the back.

Great players step up in the most important matches, and at the most important moments in matches. Steven Adams showed yesterday that even in his rookie NBA season, he has a big game temperament. When his rookie contract comes up for negotiation at the end of next season, he will command serious dollars.

The Herald also has a great background piece on Adams the young man. It's an excellent read for a Saturday morning, and includes this photo of a young Steve Adams with his late father Sid.

The wayward young lad from Rotorua has come a long way. But the young man in Oklahoma City has the basketball world at his feet; bring on the Spurs!