Tax cuts vs Family benefit

Scotty's blog on may 27th has an interesting post from Maxim about the "surplus" which got me thinking. On the surface, injecting money into the low - mid income family seems to be pro-family but is it really the best thing for the family? Sure, having a decent sized family can be a financial drain and some help would be gratefully welcomed but why not in the form of a tax cut? Do we want children being born purely for financial gain? Do we want society to become even more reliant on the government? No no NO! This is as Maxim says, an election year ruse to make the Labour government seem compassionate. It is as if they steal cars, gift wrap them and give them back. The money in the surplus is OURS NZ!! On the other hand, if we were to receive tax cuts, then a hard working bread-winner will reap the real results of hard work, Children will not be born just to bring in an extra buck, and our society will not comprise mainly of Labour party sucklings. Bring back personal responsibility - if anyone can remember what that is!

Of sport and music

You are likely surprised to see another post from me due to my busy postless week. I have been playing piccolo in the Opera for the season of Rigoletto for the NZ Opera. We get to play on-stage behind the curtain and see what all the actors/singers get up to. In one scene, the theme of "women as objects" is depicted through the use of mannequins and we (the musicians) were told to leave space for the actors to rush to their on-stage positions with their mannequins. Some of us didn't hear the instruction so I passed it on as "please leave space for them to make a dummy run!". Typical musicians - nobody got the joke.