Mark Keown

I see in the Herald on Sunday that the lead story is about the tragic air bus crash in France. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10561736 . In this crash, tragically 5 people died pilot Brian Horrell, 52, aircraft engineers Noel Marsh, 35, Michael Gyles, 49 and Murray White 37, and Civil Aviation Authority inspector Jeremy Cook, 58. What gets me as I read this is how money ends up clouding every issue. One would have thought that the companies involved would move quickly and compassionately to compensate the families. These men gave their lives for the company and their families are now withut their fathers and husbands. Yet, according to this article, this is going to get messy as XL airlines, Air NZ and ACC decide who pays what, when etc. We are utterly held captive to money aren't we. We have formed our society on it, and we are in its grip. This demonstrates this. I saw this at the supermarket last night. I was in a bit of a rush and saw a check ...

I see in the paper the other day that Teresa Gattung has left Telecom with a $3.9m payout! Nice! This on top of her rather disappointing $1.25m per year. In fact according to the NZ Herald all up she leaves with a $5.125m payout plus 12 weeks annual leave ( http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10461941 )! I say disappointing; especially when her successor Paul Reynolds will receive $1.75m/anum! Joking aside, this is disgusting; a disgrace to our nation. Telecom are oppressing New Zealanders with exorbidant prices for cell phones and phone lines etc; and they are doing this! This is an example of the gap between rich and poor which is growing in our nation. I feel guilty though. A while ago I was taken by the option of switching from Vodafone to Telecom in one of those deals, and I took it. Of course I can't jump back because I signed one of those 12 month deals. But then, what is the problem, I am sure Vodafone are no different. I can hear the voice of ...