mcuddy1

Keep it in the family, eh

lardyl

and remember: don't climb out of the gene puddle if you can helpt it..........

Seriously, I know and worked very closely with quite a few dedicated "shooters" in the UK who hated the restrictions applied following Dunblaine, but I've seen the other side of the culture and personally I'm for fairly tight restrictions on firearms, so I'm certainly not an NRA man, especially where the drugs culture has taken hold in some parts of the country as the fallout from drugs often includes guns - not a good thing as we saw in the West Midlands as the Yardees arrived killing too many innocent people.

On balance, I'd favour a British approach rather than the US example - although I don't shoot any more myself.
As far as hunting goes, fair enough but maybe not on the scale of some parts of the world where the poor little creatures are massacred rather than hunted.

Certainly anything that causes kids or the impressionalbe to idolise firearms (or the people who use them) has, on balance, got to be a bad thing

lardyl

Futher reflection - somewhat tighter gun laws, along with being nuke-free are probably some of the major reasons we are here and not in the US!

Woodlea

We often forget than only 100 years ago here in NZ and also in the US people needed guns to live, as protection and a source of food, whereas us soft poms haven't needed guns since before the industrial revolution. So I can understand the history behind the 'gun culture' - to some extent.

With regard to a nuke free NZ, I understand that NZ is too small to have nuclear generating capacity, but I'm begining to feel that nuclear is far cleaner than the alternatives, particularly when China is building ONE new coal fired power station every week!! Our children's children's children etc etc won't have to worry about the bi-products of nuclear waste, they'll all be dead from the atmospheric pollutants from China and eventually India.

Tracy24

I think everyone in NZ should be lucky they aren't in the UK where killings by guns and knives are rife - it seems that almost once a week you hear of someone being murdered which is very sad and makes me wish I could get out of the UK now! Only last week a young girl was murderd in lift in a tower block in London - if memory serves me correct she was stabbed and was only 15 years old.

I think no matter where you live in the world though murders by gun or knife will happen as it seems to be the society in which we live today which is very unfortunate.

lardyl

As far as nuclear power goes - I wouldn't trust the chinese to operate nuclear plants to cover that coal-fired production given their health, safety and environmental record, never mind build one every week - cue the Warehouse jingle!!!!

I used to work in a lab with a couple of guys who ended up working for BNFL and had friends who's academic research funding came from that industry. I also used to work with people from the UK Home Office who had links to the agencies involved in the nuclear industry.

I'm not saying I have inside knowledge but the little information and steers that come to me from those areas, along with my scientific training, lead me to be "circumspect" about almost anything that the nuclear industry tells the general public (and what is published about what they are telling the politicians) about the numbers behind their real "carbon footprint". That industry was founded on deception and double-dealing and I doubt that the institutional provaracation that it was riven with from the 50s through to the 90s has been shaken off.

Also readng some of the general scientific literature leads me to think that they are not telling us all......there is due to be a study published on the "true" environmental impacts of mining for uranium in Oz and that may provide a little more balance to these arguments. What also amazes me is how the Japanese love nuclear power and my Japanese friends think that it is great - not quite convinced how nuclear power (and that is not just the power plants/installations but the transport of waste and fuel, etc) sits well with being in an earthquake prone area.......another reason that NZ is well rid of the technology.

In the meantime perhaps bio-fuels from lignin, and other wood products may be good for NZ along with the renewable we are blessed - /rain dance ensues/

What I can't believe is the amount of gas that is being flared off from the Tui oil field - as reported on the news last night. Must account for the reduction in emissions from all the energy saving lightbulbs in NZ, or something like that - shocking!

Woodlea

Tell me about it!! I used to work offshore and was always disappointed with the seemingly wasteful flares that would cover the horizon in the oilfield areas. You could be 500m away from some of them and still feel the heat and hear the roar!

Mind you my mate Mick was just as bad - see attached

LizaJane

bizarre but true

Browner_

[QUOTE=Tracy24;6452882]I think everyone in NZ should be lucky they aren't in the UK where killings by guns and knives are rife - it seems that almost once a week you hear of someone being murdered which is very sad and makes me wish I could get out of the UK now! Only last week a young girl was murderd in lift in a tower block in London - if memory serves me correct she was stabbed and was only 15 years old.

QUOTE]


Ah, but there are normally around 1,000 murders in England each year, more than 2 a day, so you dont actually here about all of them do you?

NZ's murder rates is not that dissimilar given the small population, and equates to about 60 murders a year. All of those will probably be reported in the papers.

But what worries me is the sheer stupidity of these Auckland dairy robbers. Apparently high on P, it seems likely they have gone into rob their local dairy, and only lived two streets away.

Coming from one of the more affluent parts of the UK, I am astonished by the incredibly stupid lowlife scum like there is in South Auckland and unfortunately many other parts of NZ.

newt

There is much sooth in what you say. I think the thing people should take from it, is that while New Zealand may have been the setting for Middle Earth, that doesn't mean that the whole country is like the Shire.

This is a varied, disparate, and in many parts, a violent society.

South Auckland is most assuredly by far the worst. But there are plenty of other places in NZ which are subject to crime, violence, drugs, gangs, and so forth.

Utopia, I think, exists in the hearts and minds of those who have discovered their own version of it, for themselves, wherever and whenever that may be.

For many, many British migrants, many parts of New Zealand may be just that. Having lived in a few bits of Britain, admitedly a fair while ago now, I can understand that.

Just don't make the mistake of assuming that the entire country is like a tourist brochure.

And although I'm the first one to admit I'm biased, I think it is still fair to say that a majority of Poms will probably find they prefer the South Island over the North.

LizaJane

or UK over NZ?

newt

Since an overwheming majority of Brits will never leave Britain, let alone settle in New Zealand, I can't argue the reality of that.

Perhaps I should have said "a majority of the Poms who choose to emigrate to New Zealand", which may prove more accurate.

There are parts of Britain for which I retain a great fondness. There is much which is good, indeed very good, about Britain.

And there are bad bits, and bad things. Just like here.

LizaJane

sorry wasn't trying to get at you...

newt

I never presumed such.

Yummy_Mummy

I think there is always gonna be bad parts everywhere.

But like you say... many of the pics you see are like a tourist brochure.
So guys... lets see some of the more awful ones... I could post a few ones of Glasgow and how bad it is!!! lol But i'm sure you really wouldnt want to see it.

I doubt it would be anywhere near as bad as the worst parts of NZ. There are very bad parts of Glasgow, in which there are gangs who walk about with swords, knives and illegal firearms.... And even if you walk by minding your own business they would still find a reason to mame you!!!

I think this can be found in every corner of the world, but if you learn the areas and people to keep away from then you will be fine.

Part of my family live in South Africa, there is also alot of crime there, but the same goes, stay away from it and you will be ok.

On the other part of it tho, there are amazing places in each corner of the world, with little crime, and people live very happy lives.

So i guess it all depends on where you choose to go and the type of life you choose to lead.

C xxx