Still more random shots

It’s again the busiest work-week of the month for me, and I haven’t had time for normal blog posts. Things will be back to normal soon. In the meantime, here are a few things that caught my eye.

Let’s call the whole thing off

Last month I posted “Wanna Buy a Vowel” about how people got upset over TV advertising in TXT style—without vowels. The title was adapted from “Wheel of Fortune”, the New Zealand version of which, as luck would have it, was in the news this week.

It turns out that the programme, which ended recently, had as one of the words on the final day “orthopedic”. One slight problem: The normal New Zealand spelling is “orthopaedic” (with “ae”), but—and this is typical in New Zealand—both American and British spellings “are acceptable”. You have to wonder how anyone ever got a puzzle right—never mind that, how’s an immigrant supposed to adapt?

Grumpy Aussie flyboy

The chief executive of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, Bruce Buchanan, has been whining that their rivals at Air New Zealand have been guilty of “sabotage” for supposedly spreading rumours. Right…

I wonder if, just maybe, their trouble might have maybe be due to the scores of disgruntled customers who complained about everything from late or cancelled flights to rude and unhelpful staff. Unhappy customers don’t pop up due to “dirty tricks,” Bruce. Get your airline running properly and your bad press will disappear. It’s really that simple.

Update 10 July 2009: Buchanan has been in New Zealand on a sort of mea culpa tour: Seems they're finally accepting that they fucked up their launch. TVNZ's One News reported that only 20% of the airlines flights in the beginning were on time, and now 20% are still delayed or cancelled. Jetstar now promises to do better, and promises $50 to customers if they don't. Is that cash or a voucher? Under the circumstances, I know what I'd choose. But, hey: They can sort their problems out if they want to—and if they focus on their customers. Personally, I think I'll wait until I consider trying them.

A U-turn on UN indigenous rights declaration?

The government is apparently getting ready to endorse a UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people. The resolution was adopted by the UN last September with 143 votes in favour, four against and 11 abstentions. The four opponents were the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Australia changed government and is changing policy to support it.

Prime Minister John Key described the declaration as “an aspirational, non-binding declaration. From this Government's point of view we take the rights of indigenous people seriously and we are working hard to advance those." Since it’s non-binding, New Zealand’s logical position is to support the declaration.

Resolutions like this by themselves don’t fix anything, and all nations will have to deal with indigenous issues more seriously. The irony is that New Zealand and Canada in particular are arguably much farther along that road than many of the nations that voted yes.