Revamp Rugby League

Rugby League in England is going through a tough time. Meanwhile, in Australia and New Zealand the game is resurgent. At the NRL level, games are sold out, and amongst youth, youngsters are on waiting lists trying to get into teams, and clubs are crying out for coaches.

Looking at the game in the North of England, there is a lot of history and passion there, no doubt about it. Moving to playing during the summer has been a big benefit. Games are now played in pleasant conditions, fans want to watch and players are not having to wade through ankle deep mud. Whoever came up with the idea was a genius.

I read somewhere that the NRL is making a takeover bid for Super League in England. As part of that, the games would have to move back to winter. Don't do it England, because if you do, you'll be consigned to the minors forever  (or is that miners...boom boom). The NRL see the competition on the TV and want to close it down, simple as that.

Better still, I have a few tentative suggestions for bringing life back to games in England:

1. Play over four, 20 minute quarters.

2. Introduce 2 point drop goals from anywhere (not the NRL two pointer from beyond the 40m line).

3. Scrap the 40:20 rule (largely due to the above, and what is explained below).

4. Only insist that the sixth play-the-ball must use the ball if play has not progressed 20 metres (this is like NFL, where you keep possession if you make yardage). If the team with the ball makes 20 metres, the referee calls tackle restart. 

5. Have two referees and scrap video referral.

6. Stop being ridiculous about how you define a knock-on. 

7. Score tries 5 points, conversion 1 point, penalties and drop goals 2 points.

8. Start the game and second half with a place kick-off, not drop-kick, and quarters restart from where play ended at quarter time.

9. Allow unlimited interchange, but have 5 players on the bench.

10. As a curtain-raiser, play women's Rugby League Nines.

11. Have a player draft, centralise player salaries with the cap at one million pounds per team. The local team becomes a licensee promoting the game.

12. Get rid of the 10 player overseas quota. This is nonsense as you can have an Englishman move to Australia at a young age, learn the game there, then return in their late 20's and be considered an import. Just scrap it, and have anyone of any nationality legally living in the UK able to play. 

13. Extra time is 10 minutes, with only a try immediately ending the match, otherwise the match ends in a draw if the score is still locked after extra time with no tries.

14. Scrap yellow cards. 13 players are on the field the whole time, but anyone sent from the field is excluded for the rest of the match. Teams only go to less than 13 when they run out of players on the bench.

Think about it; these suggestions would open up the game, reward effort both defensively and on attack, and make the contest fairer.

Sports for Men and Women on Equal Terms

Let's consider the question; what sports can currently be played between men and women on equal terms? I'm not talking about mixed teams, with the balance between men and women predetermined, I'm talking about any number of men and women being able to compete against each other.

A saying comes to mind which answers this question, at least in part:

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”

― Ernest Hemingway

Yes, these three sports all have women and men competing on equal terms.

When it comes to motor racing, that includes every type; motor boats, aircraft racing, motorcycles, and all manner of cars and trucks. 

Outside of this framework, anything to do with horses comes to mind. Equestrian eventing, dressage and showjumping are on equal terms. I remember the controversy surrounding female jockeys, but that seems to be fine now too, horse racing doesn't have women only jockey races, do they?

And then there is croquet. And don't forget snooker. 

When you think about it, there are a few more sports with men and women competing against each other than we are led to believe. 

Changes to MLB in 2023

Big changes made to Major League Baseball in 2023.

 

Lydia Ko - Champion

New Zealand golfer, Lydia Ko is back on top with her win in the season ending CME Group Tour Championship. I feel a sense of relief that she's back to the top where she belongs. She is such an inspiration and might I say, she's looking really fit. 

In the past I've commented on Lydia Ko twice:

I noticed her return to form in 2021: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2021/04/lydia-ko-2nd-at-ana-inspiration.html

Farther back I was critical of her choosing to work with people who had an obvious conflict of interest: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2018/07/lydia-ko-where-she-went-wrong.html

[Edit to add @ 28/11/2022: Lydia Ko is back to being world number 1 https://www.lpga.com/news/2022/lydia-ko-returns-to-no1 ]

FIA Boss: No Politics in Sport

Hear hear, Mohammed Ben Sulayem says what must be said. Enough of this grandstanding from entitled sportspeople. Do your job, don't force your opinions down our throats - thanks.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/motorsport-formula-1-boss-mohammed-ben-sulayem-criticises-drivers-for-putting-politics-ahead-of-sport/VWEFZELJLNSQ77CGL7EHMXKABA/

In an interview with GrandPrix247, Ben Sulayem said he doesn't impose his beliefs on other people and wants the drivers to do the same.

"Niki Lauda and Alain Prost only cared about driving," he said.

"Now, Vettel drives a rainbow bicycle, Lewis is passionate about human rights and Norris addresses mental health. Everybody has the right to think. To me, it is about deciding whether we should impose our beliefs in something over the sport all the time.

"I am from an Arabian culture. I am international and Muslim. I do not impose my beliefs on other people? No way! Never. If you look at my operation in the UAE: 16 nationalities! Name me one federation that has that many nationalities.

Manifesto for New Zealand

The following are what I believe to be the critical policies to get New Zealand back on track and leading the world again. Seriously, at one stage little old NZ was top in the OECD, but that was so long ago there are few alive now who remember.

Keys to New Zealand success:-

1. Defence 

The opposite of the problem the United States has, NZ does not spend enough on defence. NZ needs to raise its defence spending to 2% of GDP. I suggest it take the 1.1% of GDP it now spends, take that as a constant and on top of that use the balance to (a) set up a professional Coast Guard service and (b) establish a permanent and full-time disaster relief agency, both bodies to be part of the defence force.

Rationale: think about employment and training, many young people would get the opportunity to learn something and make a contribution. They are denied the chance now. Add to that a readiness to deal with poaching of the fisheries, search and rescue and a better earthquake and tsunami response.

2. Immigration

Freeze immigration until house prices stabilise. The exceptions; marriage and family reunification and refugees.

Rationale: numbers equivalent to the population of New Plymouth arrive every year and many of these new immigrants add very little, they're either too old, over educated or they scarper to Australia at the first opportunity. NZ needs to think very carefully about its immigration policy, to start with, the housing stock has to exist to accommodate them. That isn't the case right now, so Kiwis should put themselves first and halt immigration until housing construction rises.

3. Manufacturing

Back manufacturers in tangible ways and raise the profile of NZ's quality manufactured goods.

Rationale: NZ fools itself into thinking there is such a thing as free trade. Every nation protects its own, it's just that tariff barriers have been lowered.

I'll give you three examples of protectionism; (a) Japan and their vehicle registration which means it's very hard for a car or truck to stay on the road for longer than six years, (b) US defence procurement and the Boeing and Lockheed Martin et al tie ups, (c) Australia and its not letting NZ apples in or bananas from anywhere and its strange requirement for 'lock-out' on industrial machines that means all imported machines must undergo alteration before being put to work - they're all protectionist.

New Zealand has an anaemic economy, with too many service and primary sector businesses and not enough secondary producers.

Industrial sectors NZ should dominate but don't - land clearing, logging, shipping, transport, aircraft.

* Land clearing: NZ was at one time covered with forest but it is now largely farmland with some forest. NZ makes virtually none of the types of machines used to do this work. You'd think that with Africa and South America needing this type of thing that NZ would be there with boots on but it just isn't.

* Logging is huge in NZ. It does make Yarders for pulling logs off hills, and some stuff; wire ropes and the like, but the big brands are from Finland or somewhere else. Why? Oh that's because the Finns and others back their manufacturers.

* NZ has a long coastline and relies on ships to trade, but it doesn't make any cargo ships. Just super-yachts, which don't carry cargo.

* Trailers are made in Kiwiland, but no tractor units or trucks of any kind, name that big Kiwi brand of truck.....Scania, that's Sweden.

* Pacific Aerospace is NZ's only aircraft manufacturer, which is very strange when you consider that NZ invented powered flight and use aircraft extensively (Richard Pearse was the first to fly, not the Wright Brothers, the latter just had the better propaganda machine).

4. Crime

Bring back the death penalty for crimes that have an aggravating factor, like murder with torture, or serial rapists. Bring back hard labour for repeat offenders that are violent.

Rationale: It costs too much to incarcerate these criminals. Execute the bad ones, and work the almost as bad ones. Consider remote locations like building a road from Karamea to Collingwood in the South Island, and a rail line from Gisborne to Whakatane in the North.

5. Education

Take education seriously by making teachers teach.

Rationale: Since the 1970's the system has been skewed toward promoting able teachers out of the classroom and into management. If NZ wants to see better results, it must pay good teachers to stay in the classroom.

6. Social Policy and Full Employment

Anyone registered unemployed should be given a meaningful job.

Rationale: Anyone who wants to work should work. Those not registered or on a sickness benefit clearly either don't want to or cannot. One way of doing this - getting everyone a job - is to take all employers with 10 or more employees and pay them to employ people on the minimum wage, with the government topping up between that amount and a living wage. Rock and hard place approach, each employer would be told how many new hires they have to take, if they decline, any penalty interest on overdue sums to Inland Revenue would double.

7. Oil, Gas and other Minerals

Establish a State mineral exploration company, focussing on New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Rationale: NZ should be exploring all the time. There is a lot of oil and gas and other minerals in NZ, just no-one looks very hard. Take the Takaka Hill for instance, it has iron ores, marble, limestone, soap stone, but it is hardly mined. Parliament and the Beehive is made of beautiful marble from Takaka but if you asked at any school, the children would likely guess the marble was from China or Italy.

8. Political reform

Make government a lot smaller, return to first past the post elections and have fewer representatives and fewer state and public servants. Let people get on with their lives without the ever-present government meddling.

Rationale: structure NZ more like a multinational company. It has only 4.5 million people but a bureaucracy more suitable to a country with ten times the existing population.

9. Taxation reform

Reduce GST to the same rate as Australia, reduce the excise tax on cigarettes, scrap tax refunds like Working for Families which favour a certain few.

Rationale: keep it simple with a GST rate that is easy to calculate and apply, and does not act as a disincentive to consume (lower prices). Thresholds could be lowered from the $60,000 now to $30,000, bringing more into the tent who must pay GST.  With cigarettes, the poor have few pleasures and they're increasingly going to more harmful drugs, like meth and alcohol.

Then Working for Families sets poorer families with children apart, they are more favoured than anyone else. The young and childless along with the rich of any kind, subsidise the lower earners with kids. Here's a radical idea, how about not taxing that much to begin with and let people just get on and make their own choices. Hmm? Working for Families simply funds someone's TAB, booze and tobacco budget. It's cynical vote buying and both Labour and National are guilty.

10. Promote NZ 

Establish a 24 hour news service and broadcast on cable television in the USA and Europe. NZ has brilliant documentaries and newscasters, the rest of the world needs to see them, and they then learn and buy our stuff.

Rationale: most of the world forms its opinions from what they see on the TV and the rest of the world sees very little of NZ. The cost of setting this up could be quite cheap, just sell off TV2 as a commercial channel and put TV1, both state owned, onto the news and doco format. Or buy TV3 when they next go bust and do the same with them, sell of the profitable radio stations (or float them on the NZX) and put the TV3 channel over to news and doco. A deal could be struck with the excellent Maori Television for content.

11. Sport 

Get all children into sport, whether cross-country running or chess, what that sport is doesn't matter.

Rationale: When it comes to sporting potential, someone good at something finds the sport fun. NZ needs to find what children are good at and support them. Right now, finding that right sport is a grab bag of wrong-headed thinking.

Take every child from birth, blood test, register them then test at age 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18. Test for everything, then send them to the right class and the right school and the right sport.

NZ has many Steven Adams out there, I know as I played basketball alongside them, they need developing and promoting. Why is NZ not all over this?

12. Infrastructure

Build infrastructure and do not favour one sector over another.

Rationale: the Kaikoura earthquakes remind us how fixated NZ has become on one form of transport, in this case road transport. NZ was caught with its pants down, State Highway 1, the national road is blocked and now how to move stuff? Air is expensive, rail blocked as well and little or no coastal shipping. That is a serious headache for anyone living in the South Island.

But NZ can't just stop there; the sewer pipes will need replacing, bridges right across the nation are in the same boat as the sewer pipes. People may remember that when the rail network last went bust, the government subsequently got it up and running but had to put in a huge amount toward repair or replacement of the rail bridges. That work was due and rail is a lot older than the road network. By my calculation thousands of NZ's road bridges, which are largely managed by often poorly governed local authorities, will be due for major upgrade or replacement in about 20 years. This is an expenditure far more serious than the ballooning retired population. Being brutal about this, at least the oldies like me will one day die. But when those bridges collapse, that's it, NZ will be finished.

The chickens are coming home to roost, get those prisoners to work.

13. Maori

No more handouts via the treaty settlement process. Offer semi-autonomy to certain tribes.

Rationale: bulk fund the noisy tribes. See if they can hack it on their own. Don't allow them to raise taxes, an army, or conduct foreign policy, but let them be like Wales. Wales is part of the U.K. but still a principality.

The benefit for NZ would be winning first, second and third place at the Rugby World Cup. That wouldn't happen of course as the IRB would ban NZ, that kind of thinking is for the 'home' nations only (just joking, NZ'd win first, second, and third of both Rugby World Cups - Union and League). And think about two things, change the national anthem to be only sung in Maori, that way it sounds acceptable, and change the name of NZ to Aotearoa, initially Aotearoa New Zealand or Aotearoa Kiwiland. NZ'd enter the Olympics ahead of Australia, which is key I think.

New Zealand, why call a country New when it isn't, and Zealand when that's a territory in the Netherlands; a country that supposedly 'discovered' NZ but the discoverer didn't set foot on land, he ran away when the Maori killed one of his men for having the temerity to invade. Do you see my point? NZ is not Dutch and does not run away.

Kiwis are not that imaginative with names I know, hence Short Vly (sic) off the road between Blenheim and Nelson, at least the signwriter had a sense of humour. Plus too many Bull Creek, Small Creek, Long Valley, and of course the very imaginative North and South Island because New Ulster and New Munster was too complicated. Don't get me started on all those places called N****r something, usually called that after a black Labrador, which are traditionally called N****r (watch the Dambusters movie from the 50's if you don't believe me). When it comes to naming things, Kiwis are not at all imaginative, so Aotearoa makes a lot of sense as it's easy to use. Like Zimbabwe is better than Southern Rhodesia, though it's the bottom of the alphabet, but at least they dropped the name of a genocidal maniac.

14. Regional Development

Send government departments to the regions - disperse.

Rationale: this protects NZ in case of natural disaster by not concentrating services and spreads incomes, it means government would be cheaper. Along with Maori semi-autonomy, the regions get a boost from the employment and construction.

15. Health

Concentrate on day clinics and reach into schools and workplaces. Take healthcare to the masses, don't sit behind the desk at the hospital. Expand free healthcare to include basic orthodontic for children up to age 18 and dental surgery for adults once every four years. Free teeth cleaning annually.

Rationale: NZ is getting ever bigger hospitals and worse services. Reverse this by going small, locate clinics for same day procedures close to the people.

16. Police

Freeze the existing police budget but create a new force similar to the Federal police in Australia dealing with serious and international crime.

Rationale: drug dealers, precursor shippers, organised crime, internet scammers look out. The existing police do a good job at the lower level but they're out of their depth on the serious stuff. Arm these Federal police officers heavily and give them sweeping powers of arrest and seizure. That'd sort the gangs out, lock em up on sight; this is possible if you create a force with the powers to do so.

17. Retirement

Over the next decade the baby boomers will be retiring and they'll begin drawing on National Superannuation. This is really not a problem as they're investors and enterprising, they'll manage and so will NZ.

There is really nothing that needs to be done, apart from two innovations; look at retirement being on a sliding scale, paying less if retiring from age 60 (you can retire as early as 55 in Australia), or paying more from age 68. By taking bets like this, the government can smooth expenditure, some people who take a later retirement age (and more money) may actually die early and be no cost at all. Those going for early retirement would receive less over the subsequent 15 years, only catching up on those who retire at age 65 when they reach 75, again they may die before getting there.

The other problem is retirees are strongly incentivized to invest in rental housing as the capital gain is not taxed. There are peculiar whiz bang rules that make a genuine international portfolio of shares almost impossible for the small investor. By simply changing the rules to put capital gains from share investment onto the same footing as rental housing, as well as only paying tax on actual income from dividends, would diversify investors into stocks on the NYSE and Nasdaq and make retirement savers more independent and less vulnerable.

******

There you have it, follow this prescription and watch NZ take off. Right now it's sinking, sorry to have to tell you that, but it's true.

Rugby Quidditch

J.K. Rowling invented the sport of Quidditch in her ripping yarn about Harry Potter and his friends. It's a game that resembles Australian Rules Football, except players ride broomsticks, which I'm sure you'll agree isn't exactly practical in the muggle world.

I have devised rule changes to the game of Rugby Union which incorporates Quidditch. Please refer to the image below for the scoring zones.

Here's how I'd change the game of Rugby to create Rugby Quidditch:-

Scoring:-

As now a try is five points, conversion two, drop kick three and penalty three points.

Then add; four points if scoring in the goal placed between the uprights above the crossbar (shown as yellow in the diagram), scoring is achieved by kicking a goal on the full (a punt) during general play and from beyond the 22 metre line (also a drop kick in certain instances, see note in blue at the foot of this post below). 

Then in the areas shown in pink on the diagram, if a try is scored in that area it counts as a Seek (new scoring term, still five points for the try with the conversion to follow as normal). Further, from beyond the line of the 22, if the ball kicked by the player designated Seeker drops on the full into the area, and lands without being touched in flight by any opposing player, the score is four points and the score also counts as a Seek. 

Three Seeks scored in one game by the same team and the game ends, meaning the Snitch has been caught. If the team that catches the Snitch is ahead on the scoreboard then they win, if behind then they lose.

Note that I've created some new things; a player is designated Seeker (likely the First Five Eighth/Fly Half), and only they can kick to the pink scoring area. If a team is behind on the scoreboard then they wouldn't want to score on the area in pink as it contributes to ending the game (the team would want to catch up). Conversely any team that was ahead would be trying to end the game and score in that area by scoring a try or by their Seeker kicking into it on the full from beyond the 22 metre line. Thus, defence would be paramount.

General rule changes:- 

Penalty kicks to touch could be restarted with a tap kick as in Rugby League, the option would be with the attacking team to choose; tap, lineout or scrum.

Lineouts would have no lifting in them, it would be a contest to jump. 

Scrums would be liberalised and twisting the scrum allowed.

Rucking would return; if a player is on the ground and in the way of the ball, the feet could be used to move them out of the way (as you used to able to do), and the ball moved with the feet, thus speeding up play.

If the ball passes through the yellow goal between the uprights off the kick-off, from a drop kick or penalty kick, this is either worth no points or no extra points (the goal worth four points must be scored off a punt from beyond the 22 metre line during general play).

Have a look at the diagram below, the extra goal and the scoring zones could be adjusted in size:-

Possible variation:-

The introduction of a Bludger; this is complicated so may not work. Bear in mind I've done away with lifting in the lineouts and gone back to rucking to make the game more difficult as I've introduced more ways to score. In effect I've reintroduced elements of the 1970's type of game.

A Bludger would change the game entirely. This would be a round ball that was soft on the outside but very heavy, with a core inside the ball that moved, making it somewhat irregular in flight. The Bludger could be possessed by any team and could only be used to take out a player carrying the oval shaped rugby ball (representing the Quaffle).

The Bludger would be secondary to the rugby ball itself, when play is dead, the Bludger is dead. When play restarts any player may keep the Bludger or challenge for it, the normal rules of offside and no forward pass still applies.

With this variation, I'd think two referees would be needed. If the Bludger goes out the linesman (assistant referee) would throw the Bludger in backwards over his head from where it went out, as in Aussie Rules. If the game is stopped before that can be done, then the Bludger is thrown in after play resumes.

How would it work? Take the Beauden Barrett runaway try for the All Blacks against France last weekend. If the French team possessed the Bludger they could throw it at Barrett to bring him down and prevent him scoring a try. It is most likely the Bludger would be held by the fullback, but it may also have a use with the flankers.

[Update: as a drop kick occurs in general play; then if the kick originates beyond the line of the 22 and passes through the goal marked yellow, then the score counts four points. Also, off a penalty kick or conversion, if the ball hits the goal marked yellow and rebounds into the field, it will count as a score either three or two points, only the uprights and cross bar rebound can prevent a score from a place kick]

New Zealand: Change Needed

At some stage New Zealand will implode. Everything will simply stop working, and it'll be back to basics. What went wrong? I explain it like this: New Zealand gave up the British Empire model which concentrated on national development above all else and adopted the US consumerist approach, and since then everything has gone downhill.

This is not to say that everything the United States does is wrong, they've developed a pretty impressive economy, and there's the rub, when adopting the American way foreigners often cherry pick. What consumers end up doing is buying lots of pretty things, and the hard work involved in building a complete infrastructure is avoided.

New Zealand is one such country. Any visitor to NZ will find a modern set-up; roads. bridges, ports, airports, cities, when you flush the toilet the waste runs somewhere and is treated, and when you turn the tap on fresh water flows limitlessly. Put your rubbish bin out on the right day and voilà, the contents are spirited away. You get the idea.

Thing is, almost all of this infrastructure was put in place during a time when it was hard to buy something. If you wanted to buy a car, you needed permission to do so unless you had overseas funds. And assuming you could buy that new car, you had to take the colour it was delivered in. As a result, secondhand cars could sell for more than new ones. This sounds really bad, right? In a way it was but the upside was a country got built in less than a hundred years.

I will illustrate using the example of the bridge I use every day, just down the road from where I live. It's a solid structure, put there back in the 1940's. The steel on it was made in London, how I know this is under the bridge I can see the name of the manufacturer stamped onto each beam. Yet the bridge was built at a time when it was hard to even buy a car to use that bridge.

Here's what I'm getting at, does anyone believe for a minute that that bridge can be replaced easily, even though I can now buy whatever car my heart desires? Which is better, car not so good and wonderful bridge, or luxury car and bridge falling down?

I won't be alive to see the inevitable, but my children will be and I'm worried about them. Things will go bad very quickly, it will be when the pipes in the ground expire, the bridges finally give up the ghost, when the roads become so potholed or congested you can't get anywhere. It will seem to happen all at once because all of these things were built at about the same time, so they will expire at about the same time.

What is the solution? Given that New Zealand has drifted for so long, the solution needs to be radical. I don't believe the current crop of politicians have it in them to make the hard decisions. What is needed is complete reform of the political process in New Zealand.

New Zealand can begin by reducing the size of government. At the central government level, there are currently over 40 ministries and departments, add to that other entities that are government owned or controlled, as well as local and regional government. This in a country of only 4.5 million people. No wonder nothing gets done, the only employment available is in endlessly planning what not to do (I'm being facetious).

Look at it like this; if California was to exit the United States, Calexit, it would likely form into six independent states, all being part of the newly independent California which would be the world's fifth largest economy. Any one of those six Californian states would be larger than all New Zealand. Has that sobered you up?

Reform New Zealand by taking the following steps; get rid of the Governor-General and instead elect a President and Vice-President who run the country like CEO and Deputy CEO (the President takes over the Governor-General's residence, the Vice-President gets Premier House). The President would appoint an advisory committee to oversee things, and this would replace the current Cabinet. The advantage of a system like this, like that of the USA, is specialist skills can be recruited that would not otherwise be elected. I wouldn't call them ministers however, but rather something like adviser or secretary.

Reduce the size of parliament from over 120 now, to only 60, do away with MMP, each member of parliament would represent a territorial electorate, elected on first-past-the-post.

Merge all those central government ministries, departments and agencies into eight, no more than ten departmental groups.

From a further eight, no more than ten industry groups, the job would be to design the framework for output, set goals and referee the game played within the economy.

Have a board running each sector and industry group, the majority on each board to comprise members of parliament, the balance directly elected from employers, unions, Maori, church, and members of the public.

Do away with all regional and local body authorities.

How would this work? There would be sixteen, no more than twenty state sector, public service and industry groups. Each sector group would, apart from running things, propose laws by referring anything to the President for signature. These become regulations within existing legislation. How many laws do you need for heavens sake? New legislation would need to be passed through parliament but I'd restrict their sitting days to one calendar month for this purpose. Laws could be sent down to the parliament from the office of the President, or arise from the sector groups, or the members themselves.

Remember, the government is embodied in the office of the President, so there is no reason for the parliament to vote on any grounds other than what is in the best interest of the nation. Political parties may be useful to advance policy, but would be meaningless in terms of trying to defeat a government as that can only happen upon the outcome of the vote at the general election.

In practical terms let's look at transport and use that example to see how things would function.

The transport group would own and control all roads, ports, rail and airports. It could be overseen by a board of nineteen members, a chairperson, and eighteen other members, nine of whom, along with the chairperson must be elected parliamentarians. The other nine board members come from sector groups who hold their own elections; two from employers, two from unions, one Maori, one church, plus three members of the public voted for in the general election.

This group then sets about building and repairing the infrastructure, with the chairperson reporting directly to the President or Vice-President (CEO's). This is how to get something done. Think multinational companies and how they operate.

New Zealand would be better off with this structure. Citizens would have almost direct access to the top, and they'd get a vote in matters that directly affected them; if a bridge needed repair or replacement the locals would contact the area manager, who reports the matter to the area committee, then on to the board as a whole who sign off or reject the proposal. Decisions would be made in weeks, perhaps months, not the decades it sometimes takes now.

Politically, the President and deputy are forced to work with the parliament, but the House of Representatives becomes a body that chooses who will sit on the state sector and industry groups, the government is essentially the President and advisory committee and the President appoints sector group chairpersons.

The result would be a cost-effective way of doing things, as well as a speedy way of developing the country. General elections would be held every three or four years, with the sector groups voted on at the same time.  There would be no local body elections, and staffing could change, with general managers and area managers taking over from mayors and council CEO's.

Services would likely improve. Take healthcare as an example. Each city would no longer have a divided health board. The hospitals would be run by an area manager, reporting to a general manager and chairperson. Those employees would have performance pay based on their health outcomes. The risk is they may prune waiting lists to make it look like they're doing a swell job. But then it just comes down to how their performance is measured, and to eliminate possible anomalies.

The great part of this approach is that each state sector and industry group can be measured and a report card issued. Ultimately a report card can be produced on even the President, resulting in an overall negative or positive score. Clearly the state sector group led by the Auditor-General would need independence from political interference to achieve this aim.

The report card could be issued just before the general election, putting anyone standing for re-election on the spot.

Taxation would need to change. I propose that with this much smaller government, that GST be reduced to 10%, the same as Australia. Direct personal tax would stay the same, but I'd scrap Working for Families, which is the silliest thing I've ever seen. I'd make cigarettes cheaper, I don't see the need to pay poor people to smoke, just make the ciggies cheap to begin with (what I'm saying is that families on low earnings are paid for each child through Working for Families, and the parents then buy cigarettes at $30 a packet, why not make the smokes $10 a packet and do away with the middleman, Inland Revenue in this case).

Council rates would become property tax, paid directly to central government, it could even come out of each pay packet.

I'd scrap user pays. If you're a citizen or permanent resident, all government services would be free, including obtaining a passport.

At birth all New Zealanders would be registered and documented, being issued an identity smart card. This would hold all biometric information; health data, criminal history, test scores and the like (backed up in the cloud of course). When applying for work in the public sector, this card must be produced (not in the private sector this would breach privacy and not be valid).

The first thing this identity system would deliver is the ability to teach children based on their needs, and deliver Olympic medals. Using this system I'd have all children tested at age six, nine, twelve, fifteen and eighteen. The test would be of personality, dexterity, attention span, intelligence, muscle, physical dimensions (height, wingspan etc), stamina, speed, and overall health.

Then based on the result, children would be placed in classes (and schools) that best suited their needs and they'd be directed to sports that suited them as well. Tall to basketball and volleyball, fast to sprinting, supple to gymnastics, geniuses to mathematics, practical to engineering and trades. New Zealand has the Plunket book, why this has not been extended and digitised I have no idea, the country is sitting on a gold mine (get it, gold mine boom boom).