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Does anyone else out there have a problem with State Insurance?

We had a letter from them saying they nolonger provided the policy we had signed up for, there was nothing saying here are some other policies we recommend. Just a letter saying our policy had been cancelled because they don't do that any more!

An older friend of ours was told by State that because her glasses were 4 years old they would only pay out 60% on her insurance claim. When she asked about furniture she had had for some years when she took out her insurance. The man told her that she would get the same price from a second hand dealer as being the equivalent to that of State.

Makes you wonder what the point of having insurance if all the money you put in is going to be not much more that what second hand dealer will give you.

A big thumbs down to State Insurance.

Some locals like the direct and cheeky style of Dennis Pennefather and others consider him somewhat of an upstart, be it standing for the mayoralty and council or 'At the throat' letters to editors.

Be you 'for' or 'agin' him, there is no denying that his works as a books author are fast being recognised.

His first two books, 'Constable' and 'Sergeant' are in the process of being combined into one volume to be titled, 'New Zealand Policeman' as the originals received excellent reviews.

The most recent of his works are: 'An Almost Understanding' (fiction) of which Graeme CASS for HB Today said;
"Leaves you with an after-burn you will want to share with a friend."

Dame Fiona KIDMAN (Current Creative NZ Writers' Fellowship holder) said,
"Certainly packs some punches and touches several new spots in the emotions"

Hi Everyone,

Well since my last update i have been busy preparing for and racing a couple of one day races in Belgium, doing some testing in the Lab and i have just returned from a tough four day tour in Northern France. The overall preperation is going very well and my level of condition is right on in terms of where it should be as this time, with only 3 weeks more weeks of racing here in Belgium.
I have been enjoying the racing and we have also had some success with team mate Hayden Roulston winning the GP de Wilde, which is a well known one day amateur race. I managed to finish in 16th position this day, after i made the race winning break away group along with a couple other NZ riders.

Regardless of fuel prices and available fossil fuels, the internal combustion engine will be with us for a couple of decades yet.. New Zealand-Aotearoa could lead the world without encroaching on good food-production land too heavily. HOW?? We need to take a step back into the technology of yesteryear and then drag it past today and into the near future. In the past, turpentine was produced from the leaves of pine-trees. It was only with the abundance of crude-oil technology that turps (biological) was swapped for mineral-turps. I am not sure of the octane rating of turps, but it must equate quite well to that of kerosene. I am sure that the octane rating could be lifted with a little ethonol or methonol, but we can leave that detail to the bofins. What does NZ have heaps of? PINE TREES!!!!! What else does NZ have heaps of?

When did you last see a review of the works of a self-published or print-shop published author in a national newspaper or magazine?????

NOT RECENTLY?

Regional newspapers seem to be giving authors a fair go,but the nationals appear to be giving the publishing houses either a formal or informal, exclusive right to published reviews.

"Taihoa!  Hold on! "  - you say, "Perhaps the quality of such books are not up to national book-review standards?

With the dramatic rise in fuel costs and the likelyhood of peak oil being either on us or very near, it's looking like the Government's purchase of NZ Rail is a smart move. As fuel costs rise rail will become a more attractive option for business to move large quantities or heavy loads long distances.

We may be on the verge of seeing a change back to the door->road-Rail->road->door freight movement of the past instead of the Door->Road->Door movement which has been common since the mid to late 80s.

If so, the both the government and the company that owned the rail have made smart moves. The Government invests in the long distance infrastructure which has been woefully run down, and the former owner has ensured they get an income stream from the road business they kept hold of.

Personally I will welcome seeing fewer trucks on the road. This may help reduce the maintenance costs of the roading network as well.