Update: Twin Horsemen ride in with lit blowtorches

Wellington is a Labour town;

thus the trepidation felt now the Twin Horsemen of the state sector's Apocalypse -

a National Government and bad economic times - have taken up residence in the capital.



National has positioned itself as the party putting the emphasis on customers and services.

putting the onus on departmental chief executives to do the job.

All good stuff. Would have never happened under Liarbour.

if there was ever a time to apply the blowtorch to the bureaucracy it is now.

With widespread job losses anticipated in the private sector, not much notice is going to be taken of squealing by the public sector.

Keep the torches lit and go hard!

WOBH smells bacon sarnies.

Sinner has the comment of the day:

Frankly I'd start with the unions. Just pass a simple law: every civil servant (except police and army) in a union fired. non benefits.

Couldn't agree more.

Redbaiter has been winding up socialists.

Make the grasping greedy leftist bastards face the real consequences of their selfish power driven junket. It will do them so much good.

What will be so good for them is also good for me and you on so many different levels as the bureaucrats are pared to the bone.

80:20 rule fairly applied

We are not a country of whiners. We are not a country of slackers. We are not a country of selfish individuals. We are a gritty little country with the smarts and determination needed to weather this storm.

John Boy's opener to 200 invited representing 80% of real-world production in NZ.

the summit "scares the hell out of bureaucracy"

And the unproductive, unwashed, unionised wonder why they didn't get an invite. So how did Laila get in?

a suggestion that a cycleway is built along the length of New Zealand to create jobs and boost tourism numbers

The unemployed unwashed and tree huggers will be well entertained building cycle tracks on the Central Plateau in the depths of a NZ winter on the minimum wage.

A very fair application of 80:20 I would have thought.

Telecom Asia calling..

Well, maybe not. But I kid you not. Telecom has an 0800 number for Telecom Asia on their Contact Us page. Shows how much support that monopoly has for NZ workers and their jobs.

Yesterday I placed my monthly or so irregular call into the depths of the call centre in the Manila slums at Telecom Asia to enquire when a mere whiff of increased speed might be noticed on my piece of their copper network.

Dialup seems to be getting worse - endless dropouts, poor connections and low transfer rates. Maybe so much has been promised to those higher in the food chain, my meagre allocation of bandwidth between tin cans is being further throttled.

'We do not have a timeframe for that' is the new catchcry. Previously a timeframe of 5 years has been mentioned, now I cannot even drag out 'months' or 'a couple of years' out of the call centre seat warmer. Must be one of these staff on trial, newly trained in the Kiwi way.

Broadband at a crossroads

Not any bloody crossroads near my place Mr Joyce.

Yes, I can only hope that John Boy saves some of the tea and biccie money at today's talkfest and allocates it toward my piece of copper.

NZ Boat builders hit the wall

After reports not so long ago that Sensation Yachts in Henderson were in financial trouble, another two large boat builders hit the wall last week.

Both were industry leaders with a long history. Cookson has 62 staff out of a job. Genesis numbers unknown, but 35 years plus up the spout.

The recession is biting hard. Our once proud world leading boat building industry has been reduced to small boat chilly bin production. Even that is under threat as China puts out similar product at a much cheaper price. Is Alloy Yachts still hanging in? Salthouse?

Custom yacht building has died. Wallets are firmly shut, gathering cobwebs. Except at Fitzroy Yachts in Taranaki. They are in the big league. $50M+ steel yachts. Genesis was sub-$1M fibreglass sport boats. Cookson has long built yachts of all sizes and shapes.

What do our many and well qualified boat builders do? Maybe R&M, but this is limited. Maintenance work never stops on boats. 10% a year for R&M is a good estimate, even this spend is probably at a bare minimum at present. Might keep a few employed. The flow on effects are huge. All those outboards and inboards that are not being brought. Small and large boat chandlery and associated products that are not being purchased.

Where will this recession end? And just how much taxpayer money did Jamderton pour into his mates marine park at Hobsonville? All for nought.

Back in Technicolor

Section 92a has been delayed for a month, so I have lifted the blackout on my blog early.

Good response and support by all involved. Good to see WOBH and KB made TV One news tonight. Proves the effect the blogs have in this modern age.

And remember, like on the telly, since everything you might read on this blog is in full colour, it is all true.

Gone black for s92a blackout

Have changed to Minima dark template.

Why any political party would want to put up such bad law, one can only imagine.

Redirection about to go on and comments off.

See ya Tuesday sometime.

Ouch!

Taking 70 boy-racer cars off the road and 17 arrests in one go must hurt the mob ethos.

There were no major driving incidents and no large gatherings of boy racers conducting illegal activity.

Others got the message very quickly.

the blitz was held to coincide with a car event in the city and involved 70 police staff, as well as court and New Zealand Transport Agency staff

See, there are already laws to deal with this.

Extremist tree-huggers fight over dung-heap

Tree-hugger co-leader Genetix is tossing in the towel, possibly by the next election. The reporter thinks the replacement will be a 'her'.

Anti-smacker Bradford, whose 'wall of shame' grows daily is next in line, along with radical Turei. Rabid Kedgeley is not standing. Mad new girl Delahunty is in the frame, but does not have the experience.

This will be fun to watch as the extremist Greens duke it out on top of the dung-heap. We already have one there in "dirty-dairying' Norman.

Jeanette was a conservative and moderate figure who reassured people who might otherwise think of the Greens as an extremist party.

The end of the Greens as they implode over the selection and lose any support. 10-12%? I reckon 1-2% by the time this saga plays out. Especially when their cousins over the ditch wear the full yet to be expressed wrath of setting fire to Victoria.

High Noon at toxic Corrections

And who is going to blink first?

Mr Matthews said he believed that he personally had "nothing to fear" from an inquiry into who was accountable after a damning Auditor-General's report on how the department managed parole.

Not Barry. He has upped the ante be telling her indoors that he's there to stay. A couple of years to run on a $375K contract and super added in is going to look like a golden parachute if he is forced out early.

Leading employment lawyer John Haigh, QC, said it would now be "very difficult" for the Government if it wanted to remove Mr Matthews.

Big gun lawyers are lining up for the slice of the post-shootout action.

Ms Collins cannot sack Mr Matthews herself, but refusal to express confidence and blunt criticism of the department have been interpreted as a signal to his employer, the State Services Commissioner, that she cannot work with him.

Not her indoors. She has told him indirectly that he is a goneburger.

Mr Matthews said he did not believe Ms Collins was trying to get rid of him, and said he looked forward to working with her.

Bazza must be the only person in NZ that thinks that way.

Ms Collins said she was pleased Mr Matthews was staying on and acting in a professional way but could not comment on whether she had confidence in him until the State Services Commissioner reported back.

Ten days is not going to pass quickly.

Labour Corrections spokesman Clayton Cosgrove said Ms Collins' position had shifted significantly and it looked as if "this toxic relationship is going to have to co-exist".

As always Liarbour sees it differently through rose tints. Barry must be a card carrying member.

The tension is palpable.

Talk is cheap. I want to see the whites of their eyes with guns blazing as this new government stamps its authority on the Public Service and other Liarbour minions. Bugger the cost, bring it on.

Billy Connolly II

As PC as ever. Very strong the fairer sex.

Something only females can do.

Make silence audible.

On vegans.

Every time I meet a vegan, I have an overwhelming urge to bite a live pig's arse.

And on a nice Irish lass, a number of observations.

... a face like a bulldog chewing on a wasp.

... a face like a bulldog licking piss off a nettle.

... a face that could turn a funeral up a side street.

Classic Billy. If ya don't like it, you can all f**k off!

Billy Connolly: Live in Hastings tonight

HP has rain on her roof.


Looking at that weather map, Ele will need a boat. Billy has brought his own special dose of dour Scottish weather specially for the Mainland.

Hopefully it's not over Pettigrew Arena tonight.

I'll leave you with one of his classics.

Can I eat it, can it eat me, can I shag it? Maybe I could shag it, then eat it!

Fully booked out, off to Hastings now. See ya tomorrow...

The road to eternal damnation

Whilst there possibly are many that I would relish (Liarbour politicians being high on that list) being consigned to the hellfire of eternal damnation, the road to get there starts from two different places. Dependent on gender it seems.

it is clear that men experience them [capital sins] differently from women

For mere males, lust is the order of the day.

For men the most difficult to take on is lust, followed by gluttony, sloth, anger pride, envy and avarice

For females, pride is numero uno.

For women the most dangerous is pride and then envy, anger, lust, gluttony and the last is slothfulness

Don't worry, depending on your chromosomes, you will get there.

And if the seven mortal sins are not enough for a quick trip to eternal damnation, there are a few new 'unsuspecting resources of weakness' to speed you on your merry way.

Last year the Vatican added seven new capital sins which are genetic modification, human experimentations, polluting the environment, social injustice, causing poverty, financial gluttony and and taking or selling drugs.

Together with geneticists, dirty dairy farmers, bankers, economists, politicians, landlords and PhilU, you and me are stuffed. We're going to be in fine company.

DOC master plan

Weeds could soon take over the world

the species that are most likely to survive are those with short life cycles that can adapt quickly and those that are readily dispersed, common characteristics of most weed species

The DOC master plan for the South Island High Country conservancy?

That's more like it

At last some sense being applied to residential tenancies.

throw out the property-damage limit and ensure landlords do not have to pay the costs of damage done by tenants or their guests

Tenants seem to forget at times that they are renting my expensive assets.

Update: WINZ Staffer to get gong?

The request.

Please Sir / Madam,

I am in hock up to my eyeballs with this and that on drip feed. I cannot afford to live after I have paid for my smokes and booze. The repo guys are after my need to have 50" plasma and the Beemer. I have fines to pay or else I am going to be locked up. My current welfare benefits are just are not covering my so necessary expenses, I might have to stop the Sky sub. God knows how I am going to feed all the rugrats and find some dollars for the pokies.

Can you help?

Ms A. Bludger

The reply.

Dear Ms Bludger,

I am sorry we are are not able to help at this time. A recent change in government has seen a crackdown on these supplementary benefits. You are no longer entitled to feed off the taxpayer teat.

Can I suggest you consider sex and travel before visiting a loan shark after pawning any possessions to cover your debts. I have noticed that is what most working stiffs are doing to survive this recession.

Your choices. We are assisting you in making the hard decisions.

A. Socialist
WINZ Staffer

I say, get that WINZ Staffer a gong. But no, the ministry is probing.

Update:
CK suggests a dose of common sense.

EPMU fisk

From the Department of Labour referring to employment law contained in the Employment Relations Act 2000.

Every employee ... must have a written employment agreement. It can be either an individual agreement or a collective agreement.

From the EPMU over prison workers doing real jobs in these recessionary times.

... but businesses would lay off workers if they did not have contracts.

So which employees without contracts are to be sacked?

Unions greedy demands reversed

Remember '5% in 05'? Where the unions decided the long term chances of another Liarbour government was nil and so they pushed for a general wage order for the unionised whilst they still had the ear of the government. Productivity hadn't risen 5%, now the companies are struggling.

The true cost of those greedy union demands is now coming home to roost as companies strip the 5% from staff in an effort to beat the recession.

Wanganui City name to change?

Long time activist Ken Mair says a proposal has been made to the Geographic Board to add an 'h' into Wanganui's name. To 'correct a wrong', it is supposedly supported by local MPs. I wonder which MPs they could be? National's Chester Borrows has caved in and endorses the change. New National at its PC worst. Tariana's support is guaranteed. Anything for a vote.

Mair will be long remembered as a prime activist in the 1995 illegal occupation of Moutoa Gardens in Wanganui. He has surfaced again after a long absence, maybe hoping to cash in on the new found alliances of the Maori and National parties.

A staunch opponent, local mayor Michael Laws will not take this lying down. Expect much press on the matter. Talkback will go through the roof as the community re-endorses no change. In 2006 a referendum 82% said no.

The board has already allowed changes in the river name and the DHB name. Not far away, Mt Egmont was suddenly renamed Taranaki overnight. Wanganui was transcribed without an 'h' as that was how the early European heard the name. Same as Whangarei is 'wonga-ray' rather than 'fonga-ray' as is the PC custom today. Maori was a spoken language, not written and has no letter 'h'.

Next step, the country called New Zealand will soon cease to exist, welcome to the Land of the Long White Cloud.

details from an article in Manawatu Standard 16 Feb 2009 - not online

A blast from the past

A name that I thought had long disappeared into the annals of union history. I actually thought he had been locked up for some union thuggery or the like, but not so it seems.

Pops up on TVNZ tonight, still leeching off the working stiff.

Has risen to the dizzy heights of Secretary of Northern Amalgamated Workers Union.

A short CV.

"Fridges, pie warmers and heaters which were common prior to the ECA are today a wondrous sight to behold".

Those words came from union secretary Ray Bianchi - who was heavily involved in the Marsden Point project which was nearly crippled by strike action.

Marsden Point.
BNZ Building Wellington.
Mangere Bridge at Onehunga on the motorway.

Union strikes crippled each of these sites and from what I remember the name was always prominent. On TV all the time, in your face unioism.

This unionist must have cost the country billions over his tenure.

'Emery deserved a medal'

a neighbour who wanted to be known only as John for fear of reprisal said Emery deserved a medal for what he did, and called him a hero.

John, who had his home vandalised with graffiti six times last year, said tagging used to be a "massive problem" on the street but had "stopped overnight" since the stabbing.

"Emery did what the police and city council failed to do, and for that he deserves a medal, not a jail sentence."

I am sure more than a few property owners feel the same way.

Transpower, Maintenance

Mutually exclusive terms.

Hamas: 'Agreement on long-term truce' with Israel

Amazing how quickly their line of thought has changed.

Noticed how many rockets have been fired since Israel suggested such action would engender 'a sudden and disproportionate response'?

Sanlu bankrupted

The end to an expensive exercise in free trade is formalised. NZ $165M will look good on the negative side of the books in this recession.

Or is it the end?

The Fonterra brand has taken a hit as NZ's largest company and about fifth largest dairy company in the world.

I still wonder is there more yet to be divulged. Something just does not stack up with the Fonterra story to date. I cannot believe that a company such supposed expertise and skill in their laboratories and product would have not noticed the goings on.

Someone is being very economical with the truth.

"I have no intention of calling meetings with gangs"

A start in the right direction. Predictably the separatist racist tribalist Maori Party thinks dialogue is possible. 'Enduring solutions' are said to be required. I could make a few suggestion on such long term solutions, but I am sure my readers will be thinking along similar lines.

I expect prisoner restraints to be fitted to vehicles and escape hatches removed irrespective of the law. The law needs changing post-haste. Convicted prisoners do not have rights the general public enjoy.

Whilst on the change in direction. A number of other recent issues.

Mr Plod needs a 24x7 presence in this area. It is not the HC jobs to ascertain whether their clientele are gang members. Like WINZ, most of their clientele already are.

Police told The Dominion Post that their officers avoided the area.

Totally unacceptable Mr Broad. It is the Police's job to ensure every street in NZ is safe.

Another issue. This oxygen sucker on a massive salary needs to work out when bail is breached. Caught with alcohol, pisses drugs.

Bailey Junior Kurariki, I don't know whether you'll come before me again but let me make it quite clear to you for your sake ... I really should have refused bail for you, and that is because the record shows that time and time again you have [been] given the opportunity to be at large, or on bail terms ... which is that you are not to consume alcohol and drugs.

But time and time again a drugs test has been given and you have failed. And once more, although you have protested that you have not taken any drugs, it wasn't until after you've been administered that test that you realised the game was up.

You then admitted that you've been taking drugs.

This is not a game, Kurariki.

What else is needed? Bail has been broken, lock the little prick up. The game was over for him six years ago.


Sort out the mess in Corrections, the soft Judiciary and the lawyers milking the legal aid system which has been left by Helengrad.

Spit roasting and charged squid

The ABC reckons things are looking up for those of you out there with kinky desires.

'the only unnatural sex act is the one you can't perform,'

And we know you are out there.

Paraphilias -- or socially unacceptable sexual practices -- are more common than most ordinary "vanilla" teleiophiles [those who desire adults] would imagine

A couple of new words for you. That should lift the traffic for the day.

Obama-Messiah upsets Dead Tree Press hacks

In a copycat move where a paid journo from our MSM recently got up all himself for bloggers being treated as real news sources, the Obama Messiah has done the same.

Guido reports that the online-only Huffington post was favoured at question time over those from the Dead Tree Press. A first for a President.

The Whitehouse press corps are up in arms that Obama called on Huffington Post's Sam Stein to ask a question during the Presidential press conference.

It was the first time a President called on an online-only publication during a press conference.

Obama ignored hacks from the Dead Tree Press, in favour of the blogger

G also notes that the next UK government needs to admit that it goes to blogs for the real news and commentary.

If the Lobby was being honest, they know that the next government, Cameron and Osborne in particular, start the day the Guido way.

RIP MSM-DTP.

As G suggests, 'That must hurt a lot...'.

Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too

Just when you thought we were milking the cow for all it's worth, along comes a fresh idea:

cow urine as a fizzy drink.

That's one taste you can keep to yourself.

Speaking of odd tastes, I did wonder how CK knows what the taste of burnt sperm is like.

Curves Central out to prove Ten for One rule

An extremely annoyed past customer of Curves Central Gym is very piqued after being thrown a curve ball and has responded by inviting their own customers and friends to test the ten for one concept with some success.

Curves remains defiant, sticking to their strict interpretation of the contract, as customers disappear.

Rubberneckers need to f... off!

Amidst the misery of the tragedy still unfolding in Victoria.

callous looters had attempted to steal from the only assets spared in the inferno

noted the appearance of a suspicious Holden Commodore with a trailer, driven by two outsiders, who looked like there were "from the city".

The depths of depravity to which humanity will sink knows no bounds.

One can only hope looters, along with the arsonists are dealt to most severely. A lead aspirin is a starting point. Alternatively, a personal swing constructed of the finest hemp would be more fitting. Maybe a lingering burning at the stake. Now, there's a thought...

Fire safety analysis to come

A disturbing piece from one who has had first hand experience of being burnt out, but got lucky this weekend.

Bushfire survival should not be an individual responsibility. It should be a community concern. Maybe the death toll of this weekend’s Victorian fires will change things, but for now it seems that too often individuals were left in situations that proved fatally beyond them.

He suggests the areas that got hit hard did not have community shelters but relied on individual solutions. Speed and wind was a factor, but methods will change. Maybe this will change after a Royal Commission.

Very worrying is this further down in his article.

On Saturday afternoon the Mount Tassie radio and TV Communications tower in the Strezlecki's was burnt and now -- Monday -- nothing has been patched together. Why not? The Dargo fires in East Gippsland are still burning at the time of writing. This has left a large area of Gippsland without any TV and FM radio communication as the AM Radio signal to the east is weak or non existent.

In a mountainous area general radio will be the only means of getting info out to the masses when the power lines have burnt down. Too late to find out you have no comms when the fire front comes knocking. My question is where were the signals component of the Army or Territorials that should have been there as a high priority providing temporary mobile relay towers for the area?

Local TV was on to it in Bendigo. [Insert Tui here.]

Bendigo residents had their local fire reporting on regional ABC interrupted by a State wide round up just as the fires were heading up the streets burning houses -- lessons can be learned here too.

Too bloody late when then fire is in your street melting the copper powering your TV.

Surely in this modern age comms can be a whole lot better.

Finally,

How can communications be better secured in these extreme conditions? Only objective analysis will provide the answers.

Welcome rain

25mm so far today at 1600. Enough to wash all the dust off the roof into the tank. Adds flavour.

Reserve Bank stiffs increased user fees to rural users

direct charges will probably be significantly higher at ATMs in regional areas than metropolitan areas

The ultimate in tact and diplomacy. Whilst rural Australia is being razed, the RBA implements increased ATM fees for rural users.

(mis)Quote of the day

Frog has a post over at Tree Hugger Central with this PC gem.

There can be no doubt that the Treaty is the founding document of our nation and that the day of its signing should hold a special place on our calendars.

Sam Buchanan replies.

Come off it, Frog! How can a treaty that gurantees tino rangatiratanga and Maori possession of their lands be the founding document of a nation built on British systems and British law, and which operates in the English language? The New Zealand state ignored, wrote off and re-wrote the Treaty and never gave it any legal standing.

If you really want a statement to found “our nation” on, you might dig around the days after the invasion of the Waikato - I’m sure some colonist said “We’re in charge now and that’s that” or words to that effect.

Couldn't agree more or put it any better.

Australian Hell: 108 and likely to rise

Smoke visible from space

Bushfire smoke visible from a NASA shot. This fire appears to be in the Healesville-Marysville area.

Fantastic red sunset

Pics taken a few minutes ago looking south towards Woodville from 40S. Fantastic reds, not given justice by camera, caused by smoke from the fatal Australian bush-fires.

Complete with neighbour's nosy stock.

Our thoughts are with those families who have lost loved ones in these fires. We spent many a weekend whilst resident in Melbourne a decade or so ago in the very beautiful country and bush areas transiting through places like Healesville and Myrtleford. We used to drive to these areas on a Saturday, have a squiz at local attractions, stay overnight and then drive back to the rat race late on Sunday.

Corrections staff on the take

today's Sunday News reports Dixon lived the high life behind bars, with "unfettered" access to Class A drugs and other illegal contraband.

The newspaper also reports that Dixon had sex in prison with a female friend who posed as a registered psychologist to gain entry to his cell in 2003.

And how else would any sane person explain such unfettered access? High time Corrections was exposed to a detailed inquisition, starting with management.

Ms Epiphany Throbbe tumescent with promise

Nothing much in the papers this morning on this our supposed National Day. Very quiet so far. The movers and shakers must be getting long in the tooth or very happy they are directly hooked into the motherlode of funding as National sells what is left of its soul.

For the past 30 plus years it has been a day of protest where the multitudes have been held to ransom by a few activists with their hands out for a piece of the action. Always accompanied by much in your face action and waving of flagpoles.

Jim Hopkins has the only piece worth reading on the topic.

at least this year we don't seem quite so hellbent on turning Waitangi Day into an orgy of angst and anger

Except for a couple of stirrers whose message was unknown as they manhandled our John Boy. Lost in translation - had they actually delivered it in the main language of this country some more might have understood.

Thy Treaty bought a nation for
Three blankets and a shirt

Scattered outbreaks of harmony are things to celebrate, not undermine. The nation's new mood is too precious, and fragile, to threaten.

Ms Epiphany may be rightly so as hard as a rampant flagpole.

Corrections: 'Stuffed up'

So says the lawyer as his cash cow ended his tortured life this morning apparently from self-inflicted injuries hours away from sentencing.

I suspect many will be thinking this is the only bit of good news that ever came from Corrections of late.

Telecom extends monopoly on poor service

In other areas, where specific, technical knowledge was particularly important, offshore staff have delivered strong results for the New Zealand customers they dealt with.

Strong results? Would that be something like your customers voting with their feet after trying to understand an overseas technician from the sub-continent or the depths of a Manila slum?

One of these days companies might wake up and support New Zealand jobs.

Pssst! Wanna cheap laptop?

A hot laptop for $20 bucks? Probably runs on curry.

Dealing with adversity

The likelihood of you surviving, you know, decreases absolutely amazingly by factors exponentially if you panic

Stuff that for a lark. Why people jump out of airplanes, I will never understand.

Eco-dinosaur finally defeated: WAAG wins

Finally Liarbour's ex Pres Bob Harvey has admitted defeat on his grandiose social engineering scheme. The grand plan was to strip mine ratepayers wallets and build Orklund's newest slum on the possibly soon to vacated Whenuapai airport land. Defence will not be vacating so Mare Bob's socialism on a a grand scale will not now occur.

Dr Wayne Mapp MP stiffs it to the thieves at Waitakere Council.

I confirmed to them that the Government will be retaining Whenuapai as an RNZAF base. Cabinet will in the near future be considering measures needed to ensure efficient operations. After years of neglect, important remedial work particularly on the runway will be undertaken.

I wonder how much that useless exercise has cost me in rates over 10 years? WAAG must be really happy with this outcome.

Ordinary people

...dedicated to all people in the Armed Forces.


Ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.

Have just finished watching the excellent TVNZ programme Ross Kemp in Afghanistan.

Nice see a down to earth doco on the military in action that does not concentrate on the orificers.

Well done.

Intoxicated in public

While Mr Plod and CYFS in NZ fails to retain control of pissed pregnant 14 year old driver, Wyoming has problems of its own with a headless horseman on a white nag in whiteout conditions.

Vodafone ditches hated paper bill charge

"Our customers have told us they quite like the idea of online billing but they hate, hate, HATE the idea of being charged to receive a paper bill," wrote Vodafone external communications manager Paul Brislen in a statement.

How about removing the same $1.50 gouging charge for a paper invoice from your recently acquired subsidary ISlug that has been in effect for about 2 years?

It is still most definitely hated and the reason why ISlug now gets a manual cheque mailed each month from me rather than the previously longstanding credit-card arrangements. Two can play your silly game.