The New Zealand government has now bowed before the school-teachers’ ongoing strike threat and reached an agreement of a new satisfactory salary order.

I don’t condemn the teachers in principle as everyone should be free to withdraw their labour. But what leaves a bad taste is when it’s union-organised which amounts to intimidation. That suggestion would bewilder all but our older generation who won’t have forgotten the endless black-mailing union strikes of the 1970s.

By far the worst were the inter-island ferries annual seamen’s strike just before every Christmas break. Each time, to avoid holiday chaos, the government was obliged to succumb.

The New Zealand Rugby Union has announced the qualification requirements for the new All Black coach.

1) He must have a perpetually gloomy demeanour and produce affidavits from two psychiatrists that he suffers from acute depression.

2) Additionally, affidavits are required from four witnesses who can swear they’ve known him for at least two decades and confirm he has never once smiled.

Trump may appear right to punish China with tariffs for its numerous trade practise agreement breaches as on face value it’s hard to see what other options are available to him. Thus he brags, as is his un-Presidential wont, that he’s taking effective action, unlike his wimpish predecessor Obama who attempted change by diplomacy.

But here’s the problem. Trump’s tariffs don’t directly cost China a penny, rather their expense is solely borne by American consumers and paid to their government. As is the nature of all governments dealing with free (other people’s) money, they will waste much of this windfall.

I’ve just read a waffly Quantity Surveyor’s report pertaining to a Sydney building I have an interest in. “All building’s have a finite life” it asserted.

That’s rubbish and brought to mind a discussion a few years back with a leading Wellington commercial property valuer. Why do you claim a particular newly built building (I won’t name it), rates as A Class and thus values higher than existing ones, I asked him. “Well, it’s newly built”, he declared.

Dear oh dear. The building had the glaring and intolerable fault of being massively underlifted and has other design issues as well.

In all of the jubilation at the shock defeat of Britain’s Anthony Joshua by Andy Ruiz, partly driven by the pleasure we all deprive from a sporting upset, and it would seem, elation a fatty triumphed over a superb athlete, it’s taken veteran promotor Bob Arum to throw some light on the shock.

“Ruiz can’t punch”, Arum, the former manager of Ruiz, declared and he’s 100% right. Of course all heavyweights can whack a bit, after all they’re heavyweights but Ruiz does not have the punching power to upset the likes of Joshua, who although no iron-jawed boxer as we know, would never normally be troubled by the Mexican-American.