So what’s all this shit about health and safety? Oh, it’s Lees-Galloway riding his high horse

Iain Lees-Galloway is a precious plonker.

But it is not clear from a Stuff report today whether he is being precious about Chester Borrow’s choice of words.

Or about Chester’s robust rebuke of health and safety nabobs.

At least, it is not immediately clear.

The report starts by suggesting his problem is with Chester’s vocabulary.

Chester shows off his improved education – but it’s how electorate voters mark him that matters

Chester Borrows draws a long bow today.

Alf makes this observation while acknowledging that his judgement is steeped in envy, because he missed out on the junket that Borrows is now defending.

The best means of defence, as Chester clearly knows, is attack.

So he is sticking it into the media for making a fuss about the cost of the junket that took him and a gaggle of other MPs to bits of Europe.

He is saying this treatment of the Speaker’s delegation shows it takes New Zealand’s democracy too lightly.

Annette King can now say her Mercedes Benz was Borrowed – but what were they doing at Ratana?

Alf has been invited to spare a thought for Chester Borrows, the National MP for Whanganui, who has made a dick of himself at Ratana.

He backed into a car “in front of a gaggle of chortling political journos”.

This news prompted Alf to spare some thoughts for the hacks in the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

“A gaggle of chortling journos” pretty well sums them up in just a few words.

As for Chester Borrows, frankly Alf finds him a bit of a plod and not his favourite person in the caucus.

Moreover Alf was not invited to be one of the MPs who travelled with Borrows to the Ratana celebrations.

This is just as well, as it turns out.

The growing list of coroners’ concerns now extends to the hiring of nail guns

It’s a bit bemusing to hear Courts Minister Chester Borrows say the coronial system is working well but he has ordered a review, regardless.

The Ministry of Justice will lead the review and Mr Borrows wants public input as well.

He can expect a submission from yours truly.

As Alf understands it from a TV3 news item (here), he’s concerned about the system’s impact on grieving families.

“I’m keen to look at how we can improve the timeliness and efficiency of the coronial process to reduce the impact on those families,” he said today.

But Borrows also wants to consider whether agencies should have to make formal responses when coroners make recommendations on ways to prevent future deaths.

The best response anyone can make in some cases is to take the recommendations and ram them through a shredder.

It’s a fine old mess – $644m in uncollected penalties shows crime does pay

The Southland Times today reports on police arresting a bloke in Queenstown for driving while prohibited and for the non-payment of $8000 in fines.

The Manawatu Standard a week or so ago reported that Palmerston North criminals owe more than $13 million in court fines, and one offender is owing almost $100,000.

He hasn’t made a payment in almost five years.

Moreover (as of November 30) $2.5m is owed directly to victims of crime in the form of reparation.

In other words, offenders who are fined can just keep the money in their wallets and get off scot free.

And if they don’t have to pay for their crimes…?

Banning forced marriages would prohibit shotgun weddings, which need reviving to help taxpayers

The headline-grabbing antics of ethnic women’s groups got Alf in a right tizz this morning.

The buggers are lobbying the Government to pass legislation against forced marriages. claiming that escalating numbers of “high-risk” young victims are coming forward to seek help.

Shakti, which runs refuges for Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern women in New Zealand, has joined with Pacific Women’s Watch and 46 others to petition Parliament to outlaw forced underage marriages – which they say put young girls in situations that can lead to horrendous physical and sexual abuse.

Calls to Shakti’s crisis line have risen to 350 calls a month since July 2010, when they averaged 250 a month. Among these are many young girls – and though more are coming forward, there would be others who are too fearful, Priyanca Radhakrishnan of the Shakti Community Council says.

Alf has every sympathy with the notion that under-age girls should be protected by the law.

But they are protected already.

What could a new law do that the current law can’t do to deal with offences committed within “honour-based” forced relationships, eh?

Hell’s Angels can go to the devil

It’s a bit rich when buggers like the Hells Angels complain about something being unlawful.

But that’s their latest stunt – they are invoking the Bill of Rights in support of their bid to block a bylaw that bans them from wearing their patches on the streets of Wanganui.

Among other arguments, they say they are a club, not a gang.

Why Rodney should never say never

A Bill empowering the Wanganui District Council to make by-laws banning Black Power, the Mongrel Mob, Hell’s Angels and other gangs from designated places such as the central business district and parks was introduced into parliament a year ago.

It started off as a local bill, promoted by Chester Borrows, and last night it was enacted.

Fines of up to $2000 (peanuts for mob members) can be imposed for breaches.

That’s peanuts for mob members, maybe. But as a tough law and order bloke, Alf supported the measure.

Actually, he kind of favours stripping gang members of all their clobber and making the buggers go naked. It’s not easy trying to hide your guns, knives and so on up your bare backside.

Nudity would knock ’em down to size, moreover.

But Alf enjoys a good debate and was impressed by the eloquence of some of its opponents.