Review of Australian and NZ budgets

Every year around mid to late May both the Australian and New Zealand Governments announce the budget for the next 12 months. It's always a question of who will be the winners and losers and becomes a bit of a lolly scramble.  Being the politico that I am I always tune in for the announcements.

I must say I am very disappointed with the budgets.

Nobody disputes that people are "doing it tough" especially families but both countries have a deficit - $40 billion in Australia and $800 million in NZ.  The last thing we, and by we, I mean both governments, should be doing is increasing welfare for families.  You can dress it up as tax credits all you like but come on, let's call a spade a spade.  Instead of further handouts, why not promote independence and why not give people real tools to help them?  As one of my Twitter followers suggested, why not promote fruit and vegetable growing in schools and local communities? This would help families be more self sufficient, reduce the need for welfare increases and curb obesity therefore helping people to be healthier in the long run.

Nobody doubts that housing is unsustainable at current prices but it's not the governments' role to hold people's hands into home ownership.  Home ownership is not a right.  We do have a right to shelter and food but nowhere in our Bill of Rights does it say that people have a right to own their own home.  What about other investments like in business? People make choices and we need to remember that.

I'm disappointed that there are no actual personal individual income tax cuts in both countries.  Bracket creep is a major problem in Australia and I have written about this in the past.  I'm concerned that the MSM says people are better off in NZ when the reality is a different story all together and finally, I'm disappointed that students and grads aren't being given a break. Just because the majority of grads are SINKS doesn't mean we have money to burn. New just have a different set of expenses.  Families may be the majority but it's time to start thinking about SINKS and DINKS as well, personal income tax cuts help everyone.

The Australian budget was marginally better than the NZ one with a hand up for small business.

Why you should exercise

Every day there are so many things to blog about from transport to politics to asylum seekers and everything in between.  Today however I'll be writing about the advantages to exercise because everywhere you turn people make excuses for why they can't exercise and they fabricate nonsense on why they should remain unfit.  Let's move away from the visual benefits to exercise and gravitate towards the health benefits.

1 - Exercise releases happy endorphins. I'm not a scientist.  I'm a journalist so I don't know if it's the fact that if you're angry and you exercise you end up exercising away excess energy and can't be angry anymore or if it's because physical movement releases happy endorphins.  Whatever it is there are health benefits to exercise.

2 - Do you ever wonder why some people never get sick? It is a well documented fact that exercise helps fight off colds, the flu and even some cancers and diabetes.  Basically by maintaining an active life you're prolonging your good health and improving your immune system.

3 - Exercise is satisfying for beating personal records.  Some people love the feeling of being lazy and inactive but the feeling you get when you beat a personal record tops that a thousand times over.  The fitter you are the more you can do.  Physical limits can be helped with and increase mental strength and stamina.  

4 - You will have more energy.  Ever noticed how some people never have energy and they say they're too tired to exercise?  That's actually untrue because exercise is energising and gives you a natural energy while burning calories so you'll need less coffee.  More energy means you're a better person to be around and that you are "always on" and some of my friends say.

5 - A surprising benefit of exercise is that your mental wellbeing will be improved.  I'm not talking about reducing your stress though that is a big advantage and reason to exercise.  I'm talking about alertness, memory and general mental well being.

The bottom line is there are so many benefits to exercise and you'd be crazy to choose the television over the gym, especially when most gyms now have televisions attached to the machines.

Why obesity isn't good for you (stating obvious but some people still don't listen)

Like Kate Hopkins I'm on an anti obesity crusade.  For full disclosure I was a skinny kid then I ate junk for a few years and was obese until my early teens when I started exercising a lot and lost the weight.  Then for a few years from 2006-2011 I was obese again before losing 80% of the weight. I maintained for a while but then gained back 3kgs, which I've now lost since upping my exercise, overhauling my diet and starting ISAGENIX which is a health and nutrition system. I still have 8.4/17.4 to lose.  I'll know once the first 8.4 kilos are gone. Anyway I'm back on my anti obesity crusade.

Day after day I see people making bad choices with their foods. I see them eating chocolate when they could opt for water or a piece of fruit instead.  They have fast food instead of going for a packaged meal at the supermarket or cooking a healthy stir fry, or simply having fresh fruit or vegetables for lunch or dinner. It drives me crazy.

People say they need salt on food. Nobody NEEDS salt on food. Salt is so bad for people in so many ways.  It causes water retention for starters.  Water retention may sound like no big deal but water retention actually causes your blood pressure to increase which can of course increase your risk of a heart attack and a myriad of other issues.  So when people say it's bad that you're losing water weight when you drop the kilos, it would appear it's actually a good thing and you're lowering your blood pressure.  There are other ways to flavour your foods. You can use herbs and spices which are more natural.

Chocolate or other sugar. Nobody needs a chocolate bar or other sugary treats. Instead you can have a piece of fruit and you'll be consuming fewer calories and natural sugars are not as Hague as processed sugars. Sugars can also cause diabetes. Diabetes is bad for you as well because just like salt it causes high blood pressure, high cholesterol and increases your risk of having a stroke.  

Then there are the people who point blank make excuses as to why they should remain obese.  There is no excuse.  Whenever people lose weight their mood improves, they have more energy and often are happier.  That's because the extra weight literally isn't there to weigh them down.  Extra weight puts pressure on the vital organs and particularly in men visceral fat is bad for you.  Visceral fat covers the vital organs.  Visceral fat can stop the liver doing what it is supposed to which means your body cannot metabolise foods correctly and that instead of getting rid of toxins your body holds onto them.

Obviously some people don't care enough about their health but given obesity can literally lead to your early death it confuses me as to why anyone would choose it.  There are so many healthy food and exercise alternatives that will give you a long and happy healthy life.

A Princess is born - Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge Kate have a baby daughter

Yesterday at 8:34am, Her Royal Highness Princess Cambridge was born.  Her name is not yet known.  She is younger sister to His Royal Highness Prince George who was born in July 2013.

Her Royal Highness Princess of Cambridge is now fourth in line to the throne.  Prince Charles is 1st, Prince William second, toddler Prince George third and Princess Cambridge fourth.  William's brother, Prince Harry has now dropped to fifth in line to the throne.  Princess Cambridge is the highest female in the throne's succession line which is very exciting.

There are now bets on what Her Royal Highness Princess of Cambridge's name will be.  Popular choices are Alice, Charlotte or Mary.

I'm picking Victoria Diana, Victoria Diana Elizabeth, Victoria Elizabeth Diana.  Any of those names would maintain royal tradition and be a nice throw back to the late Diana.

The Princess's first name will not be Diana as the Queen has to approve the name, and it has been said that she and Diana never were the best of friends.  It is also rumoured that Prince Charles only married Princess Diana because he had to get married, but he always loved Camilla Parker Bowles.

Watch this space for the name announcement in coming days.

The beginner's guide to maintaining your first apartment - a room by room guide of what you'll need.

There is a lot of talk in the mainstream media about people staying at home later because of the huge cost of housing, particularly in Sydney and Auckland.  The average age for men to leave home according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics is 20.9, while for women it is slightly younger at 19.8.  If you attended university the chances are that you stayed in a student hostel for the first year.  These are also known as party houses and amenities and furniture was probably provided for you. 

So what happens when you move into your first apartment?  In addition to the bond, which will make you want to cry because it is expensive there are so many different things you will need. 

I have been out of home for 12 years now but I've been very lucky.  I have either been in apartments, buildings or houses where amenities have been provided, and that includes sheets, towels and pillows.

Now, before I moved into my fully furnished apartment this week I had bought some things - a chest of drawers, a rubbish bin, a lamp, a couple of cushions, cushion covers and storage boxes along with peelers and a fish slice for the kitchen.  I had also realised I would need some things for the kitchen so bought a couple of pans but this week after moving I realised just how little I actually had.  The night I moved I had to buy pillows, a plate, some glasses and then today I decided to cook and I had no utensils or a dishwashing brush so I had to buy that too.

It has me thinking how much you actually need when you move into a new apartment, so I have compiled a list of things you will need when you move into your first apartment.  With the help of Google I have broken the list down into rooms.  This will of course differ if you are in a studio apartment or a small apartment rather than a house.

Kitchen
You'd be amazed at how much you actually need for a kitchen.  I was amazed but like I've said, I've always been in places where the things have already been there.

• Kitchen utensil drawer divider.  This way all your utensils will be nice and organised.
• Utensils.  You need knives, forks and spoons to eat your food.
• Pots and pans.  These are useful for cooking.
• Spoons and spatulas, you'll also need these for cooking.
• Dish rack.  This will be helpful for drying your dishes.
• Dish washing brush.  They help get the grime off.
• Tea towels for drying your dishes.
• Can opener.  Unless you want to use a knife to open your cans you'll need one of these.
• Vegetable peelers.
• Knives for cutting vegetables and other food items.
• Plates.  You will need plates and bowls to put your food in or on.
• Mugs.  These are good for coffee.  Glasses won't do the job.
• Sponges, these will help with cleaning dishes.
• Rubbish bin.  You may even need a bin for each room.  You don't need plastic bags though, you can just use the ones you get at the supermarket and that saves you ending up with a stack of plastic bags you won't use.
• Kettle.
• Toaster.
• Microwave.  You don't need a microwave, but if you want to quickly heat food it will come in handy.

Bedroom

• Sheets.  This may seem obvious but until you move into your first apartment you won't realise how much stuff you actually need.
• Pillows.  Again, until you move you won't realise something as obvious as pillows.  If you have cushions then these could do the job as well.
• Cushion covers, pillow covers and duvet covers.  These will keep your pillows looking and feeling nice and clean.
• Rubbish bin.  It wouldn't hurt to have a bin in your room either, that way all your rooms will be tidy and clean.
• Lamp.
• Drawers.  Even if your place is fully furnished you will need drawers for your clothes or other miscellaneous items.

Bathroom

• Rubbish bin.  As I've said, you need a bin for every room in your house to keep rubbish down.
• Bucket and mop.  A bucket and mop is essential for cleaning.
• Toilet brush and toilet brush holder.  Just in case you need to clean your toilet. 
• Toothbrush holder.
• Soap holder.
• Towels.

Living room

• Cushions.  Even if your place is fully furnished you may need some cushions.
• Depending on how much you like to entertain you'll need some chairs even if you already have some.  It gives people options and the more seats you have the more people you can invite over.
• If you're in a studio then you could get a room divider and that way your "bedroom" will be private and guests won't see your sleeping quarters.

Miscellaneous

• Wall art.  It isn't essential and some people like blank walls but wall art can brighten up your place and give it character it may not otherwise have.
• Hooks.  These are the 3M hooks that you can stick onto walls and doors.  They can be real space savers if you need to hang up bags or coats outside of your wardrobe.
• Clothes horse.  When you live in an apartment you do not have the luxury of hanging your clothes outside and if you don't have a laundry in your building you will need a clothes horse.  This will save you both time and money.  Nobody wants to hang out in the laundromat for a couple of hours or waste money, so save yourself time and money, and get a clothes horse.
• Rugs and mats.  Rugs will brighten up the space like the wall art and give it character it may not otherwise have.
• Vacuum cleaner.  This is one of those unavoidable things.
• dust pan and brush.  This is useful when you don't want to get out the vacuum cleaner and good for those little messes you need to clean up.

I hope this list of things you need has helped you out.  Now of course, there are consumables like salt, pepper, cleaning products and air freshener that you will need but these are things you can buy over time.  The list of items you need for your apartment are absolutely essential and this is keeping it simple on the assumption that your place is furnished or you already have things like a bed, table, chairs, drawers and book case or other storage.  If you want portable storage you can buy storage boxes or containers from IKEA.

The ongoing saga of Campbell Live

The ongoing saga of Campbell Live.  It sounds like a soap opera doesn't it?  To give you a back story, back in 2005 there was a man named Paul Holmes (at that time he wasn't knighted) who presented what was known as The Holmes Show at 7pm on TV One. 

At the time, the opposing network, TV Three didn't have a current affairs show after their news.  I actually don't recall what they had.  In 2005 it was announced that the then anchors, John Campbell and Carol Hirschfield would be getting their own TV show at 7pm on TV Three and it would be called Campbell Live.  Around about the same time the Holmes Show was cancelled and replaced by Close Up.  Close Up was hosted by a number of people including Susan Wood and most recently Mark Sainsbury.    Sainsbury wasn't drawing enough ratings so at the end of 2013 the show was cancelled.  This was 10 months after Sir Paul Holmes' death (he had been knighted a short time before his death) and replaced with Seven Sharp.  Seven Sharp is modeled on Australia's, The Project, a light hearted news and discussion show.  Campbell Live retained the more formal format.

Unfortunately for Campbell the ratings declined and declined and at one point it was reported they went below 200,000 which for a country with a population of 4, 500,000 people is very low and damaging, especially when your competitors, Shortland Street and Seven Sharp draw 800,000 between them.

So the question has to be asked, why did Campbell Live start losing viewers?  It's not a simple question to answer because things don't happen overnight.  They tend to happen gradually.  My first guess, and it's an educated guess is that it was caused by the obsession with Kim Dot Com (who I'm not going to waste time introducing, that's what Google is for) and people simply didn't return.  So the question then needs to be asked, if people stopped watching Campbell Live what did they do?  Seven Sharp's ratings have always been pretty stable as have Shortland Street's which can only mean one thing, they switched off the TV and did something else.

The good news though is that bad news about the Campbell Live show came out in the media last Thursday - that the show may be getting the chop.  Fortunately viewers have responded by signing several petitions, joining social media groups (of which I am a part of) and most importantly, they have begun watching the show again.

Now remember, I'm not in New Zealand and I no longer work for Australian Associated Press so I have less time to devote to watching, listening and writing news.  It normally happens late at night after the gym.  I'm not sure if the quality of the show improved following the end of the KDC saga or if it was still poor quality reporting, but one thing I do know is that the reports seen on Campbell Live are quality, and to lose the show would be disappointing. 

This week Campbell Live has shown important stories on breast cancer sufferers still waiting for their breast reconstruction in Dunedin, synthetic marijuana, zero hour contracts and the Auckland/NZ housing market.  These are reports that affect people's every day lives.  Now Prime Minister John Key does not seem to understand this, nor does Mediaworks CEO Mark Weldon.  Neither one of them is a journalist, they have never studied a journalism or media paper.  They haven't studied politics.  Their employment background is in economics and accountants.  They personally may not care about the news but clearly thousands of New Zealanders care about the news and I care about the news.

New Zealand Herald contributor Bryce Edwards wrote a piece in today's New Zealand Herald which basically, in a nutshell, went into the fact we need political discourse and if Campbell Live goes we will lose that, and we will lose the fourth estate.  With one less media vehicle it is much harder to hold those in positions of power accountable.

That is what this seems to be.  It seems like the powers that be want to axe Campbell Live because the show is a threat, but that does citizens of New Zealand a disservice.  Most people do not attend political meetings so they rely on the media for their political information.  It's hard to be engaged if you are not getting information, although, one could argue that is what those in power want.  They want people to be disengaged and apathetic because then they can get more unpopular policies through.

This will be an interesting saga to watch and I can only hope that Mediaworks come to their senses and retain Campbell Live because we need journalism which serves the public interest.  Regardless of your political leanings, retaining free speech and opposing views is essential for the integrity of democracy.

The politics of weight management

Today the Mainstream media has been reporting that doctors are failing to take weight examinations. They say that it's particularly hard with women.  I want to delve into the politics of weight management today.  Yes you read me right, the politics of weight management.  What I mean here is that for some reason it is not considered political to tell someone when they need to lose weight.

People generally avoid telling people they need to lose weight because depending on the person it could hurt them.  Here's the thing though folks, carrying extra weight is more hurtful and damaging because when someone carries extra weight they are opening themselves up to all kinds of disease - diabetes, heart disease just to name a couple.  You're actually being kinder if you tell people they need to lose weight especially if they know the scales say they've gained and their clothes aren't fitting as well. If you aren't honest then you're being crueler than the realisation they need to lose weight will ever be.

Now I'm not saying you should go up to strangers and say they're fat but if you have a friend or family member and they say they need to lose weight or that they've gained weight, instead of trying to be nice be honest because in the long run it's much better than you permitting them to be an unhealthy weight.

And don't tell someone that their weight is fine if it's not.  If they've opened up the conversation they actually need honesty that yes they do in fact need to lose weight.  By being honest you're doing them a favour because you're allowing them to move forward to a healthier body and healthier weight with your support.

It is much crueler to let someone remain fat/overweight/obese than it is to agree when they say they need to lose weight.  They may genuinely need to lose weight and if they do then by being honest you may actually be adding years to their life expectancy.