Hong Kong Protests

Things are getting out of control in Hong Kong. It seems rather obvious to me that the protesters are playing into China's hands. It wouldn't be impossible for China to have planted fifth columnists amongst the activists, the intention to cause violence. China would then come to the rescue to restore order. A takeover would result, and the end of autonomy for Hong Kong.

Rugby World Cup 2019 Heating Up

The 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan is proving to be a close tournament. We've had two major upsets, the first was Uruguay beating Fiji, but then Japan beat Ireland the world's second ranked team. Now we have Wales beating Australia. Wales have never won a world cup while Australia has won two. If this continues, New Zealand's All Blacks will cruise to their third straight world cup, as the strong opponents will be weakened, eliminated or find themselves on the wrong side of the draw.

Big Oil and Electric Vehicles

I thought of this lovely conspiracy theory, have fun with it. I haven't seen this anywhere else, so I apologise in advance if this isn't an original idea.

As I've outlined numerous times, electric vehicles (EV's) are total nonsense, a complete waste of time, don't even think about them. That's the well considered experienced view of the matter, all very scientific.

But hang on, what if the fact EV's are utter crap has something to do with why they're being pushed so hard. What if the big oil companies and the myriad of companies heavily reliant on the liquid fuels infrastructure are pushing EV's as they know they're rubbish. They're doing this to discredit alternative fuels or forms of energy. The result would be to force people back to the internal combustion engine and this would be for the foreseeable future. In other words, EV's are a stalking horse, concealing big oil's desire to lock in fossil fuels. Hmm?

Note that Norway, the world's biggest hypocrite which has made a fortune from oil and gas is heavily promoting EV's. Sweden is not far behind this, they're massive hypocrite's too but they'd be promoting their carbon capture technology. There'd be a lot of interconnecting and overlapping agendas with this theory, but they all have one goal; to lock in people to a future that relies entirely on old industries that have morphed into new, sexy, born again new technology companies. Old technology companies that are really old tech re-branded or re-skinned.

To support this theory, consider ideas that never get looked at seriously. We have the idea of the water powered car, which are generally discredited. One in New Zealand was designed and built, the story of which you can read about here: https://waterpoweredcar.com/archieblue.html

The argument against this is that it involves more energy (or the same amount) to separate the hydrogen and so there is no gain. Fine, but what about a nuclear car? The nuclear reactor generating heat, then a steam engine is used for motive power. The amount of uranium needed to drive a car its entire useful life would be extremely small. Even microscopic. It would not be enough to create an explosion, it would be more like a clock with reflective hour and seconds hands and numbers.

Such a car completely circumvents the liquid fuels infrastructure. No gas stations, and very few oil refineries would be needed as only certain lubricants would be required for wheel bearings and the like. These ideas would be ditched because of that very fact. In this new green age of Corporate Green only the right technology is accepted and that has to be based upon centralised models that rely on the existing companies (or sources of capital ) to provide the solutions. Independence is not allowed, with this idea that's exactly why EV's are promoted, they're to fail as they must, sending people into the arms of Big Oil.

Boris Johnson's Brexit Escape Route?

An interesting blog post in The Spectator

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/09/has-the-supreme-court-handed-boris-johnson-a-brexit-escape-route/

"...the Supreme Court states that its ‘proper function’ under our constitution is to give effect to the separation of powers (which justifies court intervention in relation to prorogation). Then, in what appears to be an innocuous sentence in paragraph 55, it says that it is to be “remember[ed] always that the actual task of governing is for the executive and not for Parliament or the courts.”

<snip>

The way is now open for Boris Johnson to refuse to comply with the Benn Act on the legitimate ground that the Act is unconstitutional and that the courts (and ultimately the Supreme Court) will agree; and even if the Court won’t go so far as declaring it an actual nullity, then at least they will refuse to enforce it."

RWC 2019 Uruguay v Fiji

The 2019 Rugby World Cup has had its first upset; Uruguay defeated Fiji 30-27. Now Uruguay have 4 days until they meet Georgia. If they manage to win that game and secure bonus points in the other games, they could qualify for the knock-out stages. Wouldn't that be amazing.

Brexit Battle Continues

I have already used the phrase the new English Civil War. That's what we have in effect; the Remainers vs the Brexiteers. We now have a situation where the Supreme Court has become political and intervened to uphold a Scottish court decision that Boris Johnson's proroguing of parliament was unlawful.

This is a strange state of affairs. The executive cannot govern, the courts interfere, parliament itself cannot decide anything and then refuses a general election. It is a complete stalemate.

Boris Johnson must now take the gloves off and use every bit of the executive power at his disposal. To begin with, start stacking the House of Lords to block any Commons legislation. Then finally, consider calling for a state of emergency, and keep that in place until Brexit has been completed.

Rugby World Cup 2019

The Rugby World Cup is under way, exciting times indeed. I'm a supporter of the All Blacks, a team I never want to see lose. Just as well, as in fact, they rarely lose. Yay.

But even I can see this world cup is heavily stacked in favour of the All Blacks, and South Africa. That comes down to the structure of the tournament and what amounts to a very weak pool New Zealand and South Africa find themselves in. Not only that, but the pool's first and second place was essentially decided by the first game between the All Blacks and South Africa. 

Both teams are guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals where they're almost certain to advance as they'll play teams they'll probably beat. New Zealand will likely be playing Scotland, a team it has never lost to. South Africa will likely play Ireland, a team you'd fancy South Africa beating.

Across the competition you can find other situations that are less than ideal. For instance England are slated to win their pool, but then they'll either play Australia or Wales in their quarter-final. England could easily be out at that stage, not even making the semi-final.

What's the problem? As I see it the problem is with the way the game is structured globally, not just with the structure of this tournament which follows a familiar and popular pattern; pools, then knock-outs leading to a final.

Structurally, Rugby is not like Soccer (Association Football), the lesser teams are locked out and cannot develop. Unlike Soccer, where any team can beat any other team on the day, Rugby is an elitist game and the powerful countries entrench their position at the top. 

Solving this problem requires grassroots reform. That means international competitions with promotion and relegation. In this scenario Russia, Georgia and Japan would be able to qualify for the Six Nations; or Tonga, Fiji and Samoa qualifying to play in the southern hemisphere's Rugby Championship. Then when these teams get to the world cup, have a structure where losing a game may end up losing a life, not immediate elimination. This also allows pathways for lesser teams to advance. Whatever, the obvious bias has to be addressed as Rugby will stall in terms of global following if not corrected.

Thomas Cook Failure

The once great travel company, Thomas Cook is no longer. It has shut down overnight, stranding hundreds of thousands of travellers, with the loss of 20,000 jobs. Thomas Cook used to be as safe as the Bank of England, its travellers cheques a useful haven for storing funds. What has happened is unbelievable.

What went wrong? Clearly, a lot went wrong and no doubt we'll get to hear about it in time. When management stuff up, they can so spectacularly and I'm pretty sure this is one of those times. Was all this avoidable? Probably, the banks like to make an example of someone at times and this could be a case in point.

Climate Strikes: What Kind of Message?

Climate strikers are trying to save the planet. They're skipping school, work, and descending on houses of parliament and public spaces to demonstrate. Now it doesn't take a genius to work out their efforts will be for nought. But what I'm concerned about are two things: what is the end point for what is being proposed and who exactly is behind the giving of the message.

Imagine the strikes are successful and what is being asked for comes about. What kind of world would that be exactly. That would be a world I certainly wouldn't want to live in. Follow the logic; cars are bad, you can't use your car, you can't own a car, take your car away, the way you live is also bad, change how you live, tell you where to live, take your house away, all property is theft.

That's right, bloody communism, or whatever label you want to put on it. Look into the people behind organising these climate strikes, look at their politics. They can stuff off.

The Fall of Justin Trudeau and Jacinda Ardern

The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern have come under fire recently.

Trudeau has dressed in brown face and costume for a party, something he says he regrets and has apologised for. The first evidence of this was an event he attended in 2001 at the age of 29. Think about his age and the year. What? 2001 and 29. Not 1961 and 19. 

Justin Trudeau, the most 'woke' person on the planet, turns out he's just another racist. He's been playing the electorate like fools all along. Anyone who voted for him must feel badly cheated.

Then we have Jacinda Ardern. Six months ago she did an astoundingly good job in the wake of the Christchurch massacre. New Zealanders overlooked the stage managing of her hug of the Muslim woman, a picture that went around the world. NZ wanted to heal, and the picture helped. Okay, they ensured the angle was just right, and she held the other person long enough for the right picture to be taken, but who really cared, what happened was truly shocking and stage managing was acceptable.

But six months on and things have changed drastically. Now we have a different stage, this time it's the Beehive and Bowen House where the executive of the NZ government hangs out. Inside those buildings it is alleged a number of serious sexual assaults occurred. The predator initially kept his job while, apparently, his many victims were sidelined. What's worse, the PM may have known but did nothing. The Minister of Finance may have known but did nothing. It's hard to know what the two knew, when they knew and what they did about the allegations because a wall of silence has gone up. Inquiries will be held, the terms of reference for which are secret (yes, secret), while the alleged perpetrator has finally resigned. It's all very murky indeed and not a good look at all.

Justin Trudeau and Jacinda Ardern have experienced a sudden and astonishing fall from grace. One word sums up why that is: hubris.

USA and Saudi Arabia v Iran

A rather obvious question this but I haven't seen it addressed very closely. If - and that is a big if - Iran has attacked Saudi oil installations, knocking out about 6% of global oil supply, why is the USA so keen to fight Saudi Arabia's battles? The Saudis have spent a lot of money buying American equipment, can't they look after themselves?

FIBA Grand Final 2019

At many basketball tournaments the semi-finals prove to be the best games and this tournament in China was no exception. The final between Spain and Argentina was a comfortable win for Spain. They hit the front from the start and were leading throughout the contest. Argentina tried everything but they didn't have the size or talent to match the Spanish. It all came down to defense, Spain shut down Argentina completely. Toward the end of the game, Spain seemed to block shots at will.

Australia v Spain @ FIBA World Cup 2019

Now THAT'S basketball. Disappointment for Australia to go down in double overtime, I couldn't believe I was rooting for Australia. In the end, they ran out of juice and Spain showed their class. Australia play an abrasive style, it looks ugly to my eye, but they're effective and are a team. Spain look more stylish, smooth, and when they needed to they upped the ante and put the stops on defensively.

US Basketball Aura of Invincibility Ends

The USA are going to playing off for 7th place at the FIBA World Cup taking place in China. The US had been beaten in the quarter-finals by France 89-79 and following that defeat the US lost to Serbia 97-89 to prole them down to the basement of world basketball.

Is it because of a lack of talent and quality coaching? Hardly, as the team is fully stacked. Maybe many of the players are not exactly household names, but you cannot question the Team USA pedigree, especially the coaching staff which includes Greg Popovich and Steve Kerr. 

No, what happened is the rest of the world has caught up. They no longer fear the US, they see Team USA as beatable. Look at Turkey at this tournament, they lost by one point in overtime to the US, then lose to New Zealand and end up finishing in 21st place (or thereabouts). What I'm saying is that on the day any team can beat any other team and no outcomes are guaranteed. And as I write this the first quarter of the first semi-final has ended, Australia on 21, Spain on 20. Really close, the world of basketball just got intense.

Jacinda Ardern's Credibility Shredded

The New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern's credibility has been brought into question over her handling of a serious complaint of sexual assault within the executive branch of her administration. What did she know about it, when did she know and did she cover it up.

Read about it here, short video is embedded: https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mike-hosking-pm-jacinda-ardern-is-donkey-deep-in-sex-scandal-botch-up/

This is all really concerning and right now, Jacinda Ardern is not believable and quite frankly, she's shredded her chances of re-election. What she should have done is talk to the woman who was allegedly assaulted and brought in the police toot sweet.

NZ v Turkey @ FIBA World Cup 2019

Classification rounds: New Zealand beat Turkey 102-101. Does NZ understand how huge that is? Turkey are really good and NZ just beat them. This NZ team can score, only three players failed to get on the score sheet. C'mon NZ government, fund some proper development for these guys, NZ can be top 10 in the world at this rate.

US Open 2019 Women's Singles Final

Congratulations to Bianca Andreescu, the Canadian pocket rocket who has quickly risen to the top. Along with Naomi Osaka and Ashleigh Barty, she's the face of the modern game of women's tennis; all power, skill, accuracy and mobility.

Serena Williams was totally outclassed in the final and one has to wonder how her current ranking is justified. In finals since coming back from giving birth, she's failed to win a set in finals at any of the Majors. Her game is now badly exposed, previously she bludgeoned her opponents into submission, a lot of power and some skill. But now she faces younger opponents who have all that and more, their accuracy, fitness and skill level moves Williams around and she can't keep up. Williams sideways movement is almost non-existent these days. This poses a problem for the modern game as viewing numbers must be plummeting, no-one wants to watch such one-sided match-ups.

NZ v Greece @ FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019

New Zealand's best performance by far, but a loss 97-103. NZ played with intensity throughout and the difference really came down to Greece's superior shooting skill. NZ won two quarters and only lost the final quarter by 1 point. So it was getting a little ragged in the first quarter that cost them the game. The verdict? They were under-prepared, going up against Euroleague and NBA players who have a lot more quality games under their belts. NZ are now out of the running for the title but still continue playing for a place at the Olympics. They'll likely regret not beating Brazil in their first game, they could have definitely won that game, shame as Brazil go through as the top team, having found their stride. For NZ it was so close and yet so far.

Boris Johnson and Brexit

Just when you thought Brexit was back on track with Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister of Britain, everything goes pear shaped with game playing from Jeremy Corbyn's Labour team and the Remainer camp. Technically Corbyn is not a Remainer, but I think it's safe to label him as such now the gloves are off. We can see him for what he really is, selling out the British working class to London's chattering classes who are dead against Brexit.

I have no idea how this will pan out or who will win. We have a second English Civil War of sorts. On the one side the Leave team made up of Conservatives, along with the hard left of Britain siding with the working class districts which solidly voted Leave. Against them are the South-east of England, Remain camp soft-centred technocrats with their holiday homes on the Continent and a will to defy anyone who gets in the way of their cushy lifestyles. Whoever wins sets the course of Britain's future; either an independent future and world leading or a follower and supplicant to Brussels and the princes of Europe.

NZ v Montenegro @ FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019

New Zealand improved in beating Montenegro 93-83. Once again the stand out for the Kiwis was Isaac Fotu, along with Shea Ili's energy and speed.

The NZ performance was a more complete team effort, with their full court zone press creating several turnovers. But they still have things to work on; they need to stop the silly errors, such as stepping out of bounds, or trying to control the ball with one hand instead of getting two hands on it. The big men have got to learn to control the ball and stay on their feet, several times they fell over and lost possession.Shot selection improved but they still need to improve some more, with the hot hands getting the ball more.

The NZ team effort was assisted by the lack of discipline of the Montenegro coach who was ejected from the game.

Can NZ beat Greece? Why not, NZ is far better than its 38th rank in the world suggests. But they'll have to play a near perfect game, making their free throws count and not making stupid unforced errors.

Azealia Banks Disses Sweden

Azealia Banks has found out the truth about Sweden; the country is racist and lives so far up its own arse they can't find daylight. That's the nub of it I reckon. The thing that is most annoying about Sweden is their attitude. They think they're always right and that everyone should listen to them. Hang on though, they were neutral during WWII but were happy to take German money. Hmm? They're monumental hypocrites, the best example right now being that grandstanding publicity seeker Greta Thunberg (or is that her parents?). I am always amused by Ms Banks antics, she's rarely wrong but certainly will not win any points for diplomacy.

NZ v Brazil @ FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019

The New Zealand men got off to a bad start, losing 94-102 to Brazil. They won two of the four quarters, but the third quarter decided the final outcome, with a bad display for the Kiwis despite a promising start in the second half.

For me it came down to the quality of the shooting from the field and from the free throw line. The Kiwis lost it in both departments, their shot selection was poor at times, players were often bombing away from long range without a single Kiwi in a rebounding position. And they didn't make the free throws count despite getting Brazil into foul trouble. I haven't seen the exact stats but I wouldn't be surprised if NZ's missed free throws were the difference between the teams. By contrast the Brazilians shot the lights out.

I don't see Brazil going deep in this tournament, they looked to be a team that preferred to shoot from the perimeter, eschewing the rough stuff inside the keyhole. I liked the Kiwis physical style of play and on attack their up tempo style, that alone kept them in the game.

For individuals, I like Alex Garcia for Brazil. He's a defensive specialist and his intensity turned the game for them. For New Zealand, Corey Webster looked useful, but the best of the Kiwis had to be Isaac Fotu. It's a shame the Kiwis don't have more like him. Contrast his efforts with those of Tai Webster who was playing hero ball the whole time. He needed to settle and play sensibly, he pushed too hard, forcing his shots and ending up looking awful. Then Tom Abercrombie looked out of his depth. However, Shea Ili and Ethan Rusbatch looked full of energy, they both chimed in well.

Where to for NZ now? They have to beat Montenegro (possible) and Greece (unlikely) to advance. They've got to sort out their shot selection and sink those free throws. Then stop playing hero ball. More importantly, continue to play physically and fast. Good luck Kiwis. Oh and don't expect to get the referee calls go your way, they're clearly favouring the more fancied teams, so put the result beyond doubt.