will Labour actually Axe the Tax?

The Labour Party's bus emblazoned with Axe the Tax - a reference to the Government's forthcoming increase in GST - begins its road trip around the country this week.

When asked if the next Labour Government will lower GST back to 12.5% however, the leader of the Labour Party, Phil Gough, says "I can't say that without knowing what our [fiscal] situation is" which most people interpret as another way of saying "no." Why can't he say "yes"? After all, the British Government was able to lower VAT there to combat the recession last year. Perhaps Gough just wants to be seen as being a little more honest than the National Party who before the last election said they would not increase it in their first term.

While on the subject of politicians, here's a joke as told by former US President Ronald Reagan which we like:-

An evangelical minister and a politician arrived at Heaven's gate one day together. And St. Peter, after doing all the necessary formalities, took them in hand to show them where their quarters would be. And he took them to a small, single room with a bed, a chair, and a table and said this was for the clergyman. And the politician was a little worried about what might be in store for him. And he couldn't believe it then when St. Peter stopped in front of a beautiful mansion with lovely grounds, many servants, and told him that these would be his quarters.

And he couldn't help but ask, he said, "But wait, how -- there's something wrong -- how do I get this mansion while that good and holy man only gets a single room?" And St. Peter said, "You have to understand how things are up here. We've got thousands and thousands of clergy. You're the first politician who ever made it."

Germany 100 years ago

Further to our post of 15 February on Berlin as it once was, the University of Texas Library has put on its website maps of German regions and cities as they were published 100 years ago in the book Northern Germany as far as the Bavarian and Austrian Frontiers; Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, Fifteenth Revised Edition, Leipzig, 1910.

The above map of Berlin has features that have since changed significantly. For example the big Kopfbahnhöfe or head railway stations - Anhalter, Potsdamer, Lehrter, Görlitzer and Stettiner - have now gone, victims of the post-WW2 division. Another map on the website shows the inner city in more detail.

Some cities, such as Liegnitz, Breslau, Stettin, Danzig and Königsberg, are no longer parts of Germany, while others such as Görlitz and Frankfurt an der Oder have been divided between Germany and Poland over the 'Oder-Neisse line'.

RIP Tom McGavin

In our post on The Railways of New Zealand: A journey through history (1 March) we neglected to mention the help we received in compiling this book from the late Tom McGavin who died on 5 February. DominionPost obituary.

In fact Tom also helped with other books from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s, inviting us to pour through his archives, or he would research them himself whenever we had a specific question and phone us back. He was always cheerful and willing to help.

He was the founder of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society in 1944 and edited its journal The New Zealand Railway Observer until the early 1990s as well the society's books until about the same time. His editorial standards were high, something that unfortunately can't be said about any of the country's present rail and tram magazines.

Farewell Tom, you are missed.

A book to soothe the soul

From an anger-inducing book to one which has the opposite effect. There have been many books on the landscape of the Scottish highlands, but few have gone above the treeline where the environment is cold and harsh but beautiful.

This hardback book is a collection of landscape photographer Joe Cornish's most alluring photos of Scotland's mountains, fells, tarns, waterfalls and dales, accompanied by text describing the experience of obtaining them. Most are colour, but some are duotone. Although we have an issue with the penchant of those who design this type of book for "artistic white space", an hour spent with the pictures in this book is sure to refresh you, make you better able to face life's stresses.

Gattung's bird book

...except that this book is about herself, and more specifically about how she turned Telecon into a train wreck to use her own term (and on that theme - that cover belongs on the Photoshop disasters website - what's with that chin?).

Well Gattung can't complain about her time as the studious schoolgirl look of the country's most hated company, she got $3 mil a year from 1999 to 2007 and a $5 mil departure golden handshake. Does she need to create any more train wrecks in this country, why doesn't she just take her millions and go somewhere else? She could build a mansion in Alaska alongside Sarah Palin, with whom she has a fair amount in common.

Clearly Random House who are publishing this book figure that her highly negative public profile will sell books, and they are probably right. However, this is one book we won't be stocking - read it in the library.

Living on the fault line

The massive earthquake near Concepcion in Chile last weekend which measured 8.8 on the Richter Scale only serves to remind people in NZ that a similar sized earthquake could hit here too. Chile sits more or less opposite to NZ on the the rim of the Pacific Ocean, and like NZ (and every other country around the ocean) straddles what is known as the 'Pacific Rim of Fire' - volcanoes and earthquake faultlines. The only surprising thing about the Chile earthquake was the relatively low death toll compared to the January earthquake in Haiti. How will NZ fare when the next big one hits?

Details of all NZ earthquakes (and they happen a lot more often than you think) are on the GeoNet website. In general, depending on how deep and close to populated areas they are, earthquakes under 6 on the Richter scale are unlikely to cause damage, between 6 and 7 will cause a limited amount of damage and over 7 will cause a lot of damage.

More logging truck crashes

As we have commented before, logging trucks are the most dangerous vehicles on the road, as well as the most damaging to the road surface. Last week a logging truck made the national news when it crashed and jackknified on a bridge south of Foxton. Luckily no-one was hurt on that occasion (except maybe the truck driver). Not so fortunate, however, was the victim of another incident, the full story of which is reproduced below from stuff.co.nz

Why do these trucks need to travel parallel to the North Island Main Trunk railway all the way from the Manawatu to Wellington wharf - why can't the copious quantity of logs travel on the railway? Any answers anyone?

....................

Covered in broken glass and with her "best mate" slumped unconscious beside her, Amiria Maihi had just two seconds to pull her dying uncle's truck to the roadside.

"People tell me it was brave, but it did not save him," the 18-year-old said yesterday, after farewelling Taylor Schouwenaars at his tangi at Waikanae's Whakarongotai Marae.

Mr Schouwenaars, 36, was killed when a three-metre log came loose from a passing vehicle and hit his truck's wing mirror, smashing it into the cab and hitting him in the head.

Miss Maihi was sitting in the passenger seat when the accident happened on State Highway 1 near Porirua about 6.50am on Friday.

She had never driven a truck before, but knew instinctively that she had to act immediately. "I had about two seconds. The glass hit me so I jumped over, got the truck to the side of the road and pulled it up."

She rang emergency services as soon as she stopped the eight-wheeler Big Chill Distribution truck. She could not get any reaction from her uncle.

"Once he was hit, he was pretty well unconscious straight away. He couldn't say nothing, he just bled. I was talking to him but he was not responding. It felt like forever for emergency services to arrive."

As she sat waiting for about 10 minutes for the emergency services, other trucks and cars drove past.

"No-one stopped. I was just doing it all myself with the lady on the phone. Truck drivers just drove past – I was pretty pissed off."

Police say her quick actions prevented further "carnage" on the road.

Mr Schouwenaars was flown to Wellington Hospital in a critical condition and died shortly before midday.

Ms Maihi had been her uncle's cab buddy for about a year. "He was like my best mate. I was able to open up to him. He did not judge me, made sure I was all right, happy – what a normal friend would do."

She would miss him and "love him for always".

Mr Schouwenaars' partner, who gave her name only as Kiri, described him as a marvellous man whose toothless grin lit up other people's lives.

"His face just gleamed `welcome'. He was a man of many people, much loved, a huge attraction to others – the young, teenagers, middle-aged and elderly – he touched everybody.

"He had this charisma about him, that smile and laugh, that made people crack up with him."

The couple had two children – Kararaina, 3 months, and Hinemoa, 2 – and Mr Schouwenaars had two older children aged 9 and 11.

The 20-year-old driver of the truck that lost its log has been interviewed by police, who said he carried on around a corner before pulling over to check his truck.

He noticed the log was missing but did not return to check for any damage or injuries. Police were waiting for results of vehicle and forensic tests before deciding on possible charges.

another lost city

Before WW2, Dresden was a lovely baroque city often called the Florence of the Elbe. Over13-15 February 1945 massive Allied fire-bombing destroyed it. After the war some key buildings in the centre were restored, but the rest were rebuilt in drab communist style. The city had no military significance and even if it had, as the Germans had demonstrated at Stalingrad, reducing a city to rubble does not remove its military obstacle. What was going on in the minds of Allied High Command is therefore hard to fathom. Another fact that is often overlooked is that for every ton of bombs the Luftwaffe dropped on the UK during the war, the Allies dropped over 100 on Germany. Some will be familiar with the book Slaughterhouse Five, turned into a film in 1972, which had the destruction of Dresden as a setting.

This book which translates as Above the Roofs of Dresden contains about 100 photos taken from the air compiled from the aerial photo archive of Walter Hahn who took them from 1919 to 1943, when the only aerial photography allowed was restricted to military purposes, and thus shows what Dresden used to look like: effectively another book for 20th century archeologists.

New Zealand considered world's least corrupt, most peaceful country

Further to our post on "Catching up with Australian incomes" these two factors may also be significant for some when it comes to a choice of the two countries. On the Global Peace index as posted on Wikipedia, New Zealand came in first place in 2009, and first place also in the Corruption Perceptions Index which is a ranking from least to most corrupt. Australia ranked number 19 and and number 8 respectively.

Denmark was the country in second place in both lists.

20 years since the book The Railways of New Zealand was published

The Railways of New Zealand: a journey through history was co-published by us 20 years ago this month. This was the first book of ours to make the national best-seller list where it stayed for 3 months, which demonstrated to bookshops that there are lots of people out there interested in this country's transport history (although some who have taken over shops since then need to be informed - for example, Te Papa [National Museum] has 116 NZR models in its collection, but how many books on the subject does it have in its shop? You guessed it.)

We have a very small number (about 15) of the second edition of this book from 2001 available in our online shop.