Sideswipe

Washing instructions.

Tony Milne is Labour's Rakaia candidate, who works for Tim Barnett and lives in Christchurch with his partner and their cat Mischief. He started up a blog, I See Red, which caused a huge ruckus in the blogosphere last week. On his blog, Milne compliments the Press newspaper, which in response to the violent death of the Kahui twins, compiled photographs of children who had been murdered.

But he then goes on to say that it's a shame it "doesn't link the issue to the debate on the Safety of Children Bill (removing section 59 of the Crimes Act)".

Blogger Craig Ranapia, replies; "Yes, Tony, I'm sure if section 59 of the Crimes Act had been repealed five years ago, Bruce Howse would have stopped sexually and physically abusing his stepdaughters, Mark Lundy wouldn't have murdered his wife and daughter, the mothers of James Whakaruru, Delcelia Witika and Lilybing Karaitiana-Matiaha would have placed the lives and safety of their children above their ****ed up relationships with abusive men.

"I can understand why you want to focus on 'signals' rather than asking some hard questions, and the painful [and painfully slow] process of real culture change. But while I support the repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act, don't you dare pull this kind of manipulative and mindless crap. Remember those pictures are of 11 human beings whose lives were brutally cut short - in most cases, after prolonged and sadistic physical and/or sexual abuse. While I'd never spank a child, drawing any equivalence between a rare swat on the backside with the death and those deaths is revolting and hysterical."

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Philippa Thomson of Titirangi prefers comfort over speed: "Can somebody please tell the people who insist in walking around in freezing winter weather wearing the lightest of summer clothing - while they snivel into handkerchiefs and sneeze over everybody else - that warm clothing is a really good idea when the temperature drops. Venture out on to any street in New Zealand and you'll see some folk wrapped up in coats, scarves and jerseys and others [usually under 25] who are still wearing summer clothes. Is there something I'm missing here? Do some people have different thermostats?"

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An elderly reader experienced petty crime committed by the lowest of the low. Her entire stash of winter wood was nicked from her carport, where she had stored it every year for 25 years. They also took the trundler she used to cart the wood inside. What's more, the pile had been painstakingly cut by her 84-year-old neighbour, who had fetched it for her with his 74-year-old brother. If any wood supplier would like to replenish the stack, please contact Sideswipe.

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Leah Lott is 18. Her boyfriend, Christopher Raffo, is 21. That's not a big age difference. But the Pearl River, Mississippi, Central School Board seems to think it is a chasm. The board has a policy against allowing students to bring dates 21 or older to their prom. Despite pleas from Lott and her parents and Raffo's parents, the board upheld the rule and refused to allow Raffo to attend the prom. (Source: reason.com)

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A reader from Westmere writes: "To the couple sitting in their red Honda Prelude, who ate their McDonald's whilst looking at the lovely water view at the end of Garnet Rd, Westmere, on Thursday morning: Thanks for biffing your rubbish out the car window, even though a rubbish bin was 2m away."