Sideswipe

It's a new year Richard ... Rodney won ... Time to move on. (Photo taken outside Richard Worth's Epsom office by the park on the corner of Ranfurly Rd and Manukau Rd).

So the Real Estate Institute has a plan to create a new national rental database of good and bad tenants as declared by the omnipotence of the property manager, and the same Richard Worth gets all stroppy over having to declare airline upgrades as part of the new register of MPs' pecuniary interests. Tenants are often people who can't afford to buy their own home, and instead have to pay the mortgage on someone else's investment property to aid in the spending of their massive capital gains. MPs are often perk-laden, privileged civil servants. Wouldn't better use of Worth's hot air be for the people he's representing and not self-interest?

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A reader writes: "One New Zealand company gave its Auckland staff their yearly Christmas box which contained a great road map book and three small bottles of bubbly. So much for the don't drink and drive message!"

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A Newstalk ZB evening quiz on Wednesday asked listeners, "Who is the Prime Minister of Japan?" to win a box of Arnotts biscuits. Knowing the answer, a well-read young man rang in, only to be told the host had got the question wrong. He'd meant to ask, "Who is the PM of Spain?", and wouldn't be swayed into accepting the answer for the original question he'd asked (probably because he didn't know the answer). The caller knew the PM of Japan and the King of Spain, but was at a loss to name Spain's PM. The icing on the biscuit was that a correct answer only gave listeners the opportunity to go into the draw for a box of Arnotts biscuits.

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Overheard on Whangateau Beach: Two girls are carrying a small inflatable and one says to the other: "It's just like carrying a coffin."

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A Mt Albert reader writes: "Video Ezy has a good little earner going that parents need to be aware of. When the kids use a "two-for-one" voucher to pay for an overnight game and get an equal- or lesser-priced one for free, beware if they then pay extra to extend the hire a day or two more. Video Ezy says this extra time applies only to the first game, and pings customers an overdue fee of $6 if the second game is not returned the next day. So much for getting an 'equal-priced' hire for free!"