A sad consequence of MH17

Football supporters in New Zealand will acknowledge two of the victims of the MH17 tragedy this week; Football Australia reports:

The tragic deaths of Newcastle United fans John Alder and Liam Sweeney in the MH17 air disaster will be marked at the club’s games against Sydney FC in Dunedin on Tuesday and Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on July 26.
Wellington Phoenix General Manager David Dome said the club’s thoughts were with the supporters’ families and everyone connected with the English Premier League club, players, fans, staff and owners as well as the families of everyone on the crashed aircraft.

There are all sorts of awful stories about victims of the terrorist attack on MH17. But this one struck us as especially poignant. That's because John Alder was not your average football supporter; read on:

“It is terrible that this should happen when John and Liam were setting out on an exciting adventure to support the club they loved,” Dome said.
“I believe John has only missed one Newcastle United game since 1973 and he was coming all this way to keep that remarkable record intact.”
Dome said both teams would wear black armbands at Newcastle’s games in New Zealand, and that the club was looking at other ways for those at the games to pay their respects.

To have seen every match that your side has played, bar one, over a period of 41 years is dedication on an incredible level. But his dedication to Newcastle United has cost him and his friend their lives.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all those who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy. But when Newcastle United plays its matches in New Zealand this week, we'll have a special prayer for John Alder and Liam Sweeney and their grieving families and friends. Arohanui John and Liam.

It's official; all polls now have Labour in the 20's

Up until the end of June, there was a glimmer of hope for David Cunliffe and the Labour Party. One poll still had Labour polling in to 30's; the Herald DigiPoll (30.5%).

Sadly (if you're a Labour MP or supporter) the new Herald DigiPoll is out today, and it has fallen into step with all the other polls; the Herald reports:

Labour's support has slumped to its worst rating for 15 years in the latest DigiPoll survey, putting critical pressure on leader David Cunliffe.
Its 26.5 per cent support is a slide of four points since June.
With just two months to the election, Labour could slip into the disastrous territory held by National in 2002, when it polled 20.93 per cent in the face of the highly popular Labour Government.
On this poll of decided voters National would be able to govern alone comfortably and gain another 10 MPs.
National has jumped 4.5 points to 54.9 per cent. A Stuff/Ipsos poll earlier this week also put support for National at 54.8 per cent.
Prime Minister John Key is more popular than he has ever been, scoring preferred prime minister on 73.3 per cent, compared with Cunliffe on 10.5 per cent and New Zealand First's Winston Peters on 5.5 per cent.

This is another dreadful poll result for Labour and its leader David Cunliffe. Parliament resumes on Tuesday for its final two-week sitting before the General Election, and Labour's support is crumbling. The education policies announced at the party's congress a fortnight ago appear to have been rejected by voters. Either that, or the phone is off the hook, and nothing that Labour promises is going to connect with voters.

Here's how the Parliament would look under DigiPoll's numbers:

We understand there's a 3News poll out tonight as well. If that also shows Labour in the 20's, that will make four of the five main polls telling the same story in a matter of four days, with only the One News-Colmar Brunton poll remaining to complete the July cycle.

And we'll leave the last word on this poll to veteran leftie activist Chris Trotter. Asked for comment by the Herald, he has told the truth:

Political commentator Chris Trotter said the poll indicated Labour was "more or less bereft of hope".
"Labour is in an extremely parlous position, and the situation is deteriorating."

There's only one question left to be asked; how low can Labour go?
 

Where to now for the America's Cup?

The America's Cup has sailed through some turbulent waters in its long history. But it has just run into another significant storm; Stuff reports:

Oracle boss Sir Russell Coutts has confirmed Team Australia intends to withdraw from the America's Cup.
The syndicate was the Challenger of Record under the flag of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, Australia.
''We are very disappointed to be receiving this news,'' Coutts said.
There has been speculation of uneasiness about the direction the regatta was taking, though Team Australia was involved in the protocol process as the Challenger of Record alongside holders Oracle.
"We were excited to have Australia as a challenger and we were also looking forward to the prospect of holding America's Cup World Series events in Australia," Coutts said.
Team New Zealand said the challenger's withdrawal was another demonstration of how tough the game was.
When announcing their intention to withdraw, the Hamilton Island Yacht Club said money was an issue.
"The Challenge was initiated with a view to negotiating a format for the 35th America's Cup that was affordable and put the emphasis back on sailing skills.
"Ultimately our estimate of the costs of competing were well beyond our initial expectation and our ability to make the formula of our investment and other commercial support add up." 

Losing the Challenger of Record is a significant blow to the event. But the people running Oracle have only themselves to blame. They have played ducks and drakes over the rules and over the location of the next event. 

Team Australia has clearly had enough of the dictates from Oracle, and the escalating cost to compete on what will be anything but a level playing field. The Hamilton Island Yacht Club folk have walked away, and who can blame them?

What would really stick it up Oracle now would be for Emirates Team New Zealand and the Team Australia people to get their heads together to promote an alternative competition, based on the rules of the last event in San Francisco. Larry Ellison might just end up with the Auld Mug, but with no one who wants to play his silly games.

Doesn't Team New Zealand still hold the Louis Vuitton Cup? Perhaps a phone call to Bruno Trouble, so long associated with the Louis Vuitton Cup might be in order. You can just imagine it:

Bonjour Bruno; Dalts here... 

"Labour's moved away from me, I've never moved away from Labour."

The words in the title line for this post are in quotation marks because they are indeed a quote. They're a quote from former Labour MP and Minister Dover Samuels who will not be giving his party vote to Labour this year; the Herald reports:

Former Labour minister Dover Samuels says he won't be voting for the party at the election.
He cited the party's opposition to the Puhoi to Wellsford extension and Leader David Cunliffe's "prima donna grandstanding" over the issue of sexual violence.
The former Maori Affairs Minister who now serves on the Northland Regional Council confirmed the Herald this morning he did not intend giving his party vote to Labour.
"Labour's moved away from me, I've never moved away from Labour. I'm as staunch of the principles of Labour as I ever was, since the days of Mickey Savage."
He indicated he would be voting for NZ First.
"Winston Peters has been somebody that certainly has been an advocate of the regions and I'm a regional councillor and I find that spokespersons for the Labour Party have really turned their backs on some of the initiatives that the Northland Council have been advocating."

He pointed to Labour's plan to indefinitely postpone the Puhoi to Wellsford extension which it derides as "the holiday highway".
" I don't know where they got that from but the Puhoi road is integral to Northland's economic future."

The Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance is a no-brainer. The events of the last ten days have shown how vulnerable road access to Northland is. And the section of road between Puhoi and Wellsford is one of the worst sections of State Highway One in the North Island. A major upgrade is years overdue.

Labour and the Greens do themselves no favours with their "holiday highway" bleats, an obvious reference to John Key owning a beach house at Omaha. But for the people anywhere north of Puhoi, the road is their lifeline to New Zealand; especially those who are in the business of getting their products to customers.

Dover Samuels is going to give his Te Tai Tokerau electorate vote to Labour's Kelvin Davis, who also supports the Puhoi to Wellsford RONS. So he should, especially if Labour has been sending out coded messages that voters should ensure MegaMana should be a part of the 51st Parliament. But instead of wasting his party vote on Winston First, we reckon Dover Samuels should give it to National; the only one of the major parties that already has a plan and a timeframe to build Puhoi to Wellsford. This will create jobs in the construction phase, and along with other roading initiatives announced a few weeks ago, greatly improve Northland's roading network.

And Dover Samuels, who told Mark Sainsbury on RadioLive yesterday that he has talked to David Cunliffe about his decision had some sensible advice for the Labour Party:

UPDATED: Malaysian Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine

UPDATES: Murray McCully has advised that at least one New Zealand passport holder was aboard flight MH17. There are other passengers with New Zealand connections. And reports suggest 27 Australians were amongst the passengers.

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Stuff's front-page banner says it all:

Stuff's lead story reports:

A Malaysia Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in near Donetsk, killing 295 people, with Ukraine officials claiming it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile launched by pro-Russian separatists.
The disaster comes only four months after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished on a flight between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on March 8 with 239 people aboard, including New Zealanders Paul Weeks, 38, and Ximin Wang, 50.
A New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said it was working with officials in Malaysia and embassies overseas to check if any Kiwis were on the flight over the Ukraine.
Ukrainian armed forces were not involved in the plane being brought down, the Ukranian presidential press service said.
Interfax quoted it as saying that President Petro Poroshenko did not exclude that the plane had been shot down.
"This is the third event in the last few days following An-26 and SU-25 planes being brought down. We do not exclude that this plane was also shot down and we stress that the armed forces of Ukraine did not carry out any action to destroy targets in the air," the press service said.
Poroshenko described the incident an act of "terrorism".
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet).
He also said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).

If this civilian aircraft has indeed been shot down by pro-Russian Ukraine separatists it is an unspeakably atrocity and an act of terrorism. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in this disastrous situation. We will bring you updates as they come to hand.

UPDATE: NYCAviation.com reports:

The most sincere form of flattery

"Weird Al" Yankovich has been parodying hit songs for many years. Some work, and some don't.

But we love what he's done to Lorde's Royals; check this out:

The latter part of the song is especially pertinent, with all the conspiracy theories doing the rounds at the moment out of the Kim Dotcom camp. Perhaps Weird Al could make a hat for the Large German Gentleman to wear as he plays out his bizarre fantasies about conspiracies which apparently go all the way to the Oval Office.

But anyway Lorde shouldn't be too unhappy. They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery!

The good news is happening here too

We've just got back from a quick trip to the supermarket. But the front page of this morning's Wanganui Chronicle caught our eye so much that we actually bought a copy!

The banner headline that took our attention read like this; Jobs surge thanks to building boom. And the story that accompanied it reads like this:

Job listings in Wanganui are up more than 25 per cent, with growth in the building sector, agriculture, healthcare and transport leading the way.
The TradeMe employment survey for the past three months saw Wanganui vacancies jump 27 per cent to 223, compared with the same period last year. The survey said the trades and healthcare were driving a large part of the region's growth.
Graeme Musson, branch manager at Allied Workforce Labour in Wanganui, said the development of several large buildings and retail centres had helped fuel the jobs' boost.
"There's a lot of positivity in Wanganui at the moment. I've haven't seen this number of cranes along the skyline in a long time."
One building under construction is the Victoria retail centre, including Farmers, which will boast seven specialty shops in the front. A retail development in Bulls has seen a new BP service station open with a Four Square due soon.

"The money's always been there but the confidence has always lacked," Mr Musson said.
"These are buildings being built by owners who live out of town and are investing here."
While the developments ensured a higher number of construction jobs, the retail sector would also benefit from more opportunities once the centres were up and running, he said.

This is fantastic news for the city of Wanganui and for the wider region. The Farmers development between Victoria Avenue and St Hill Street will turn an area that has been a wasteland and an eyesore for several years into a vibrant shopping precinct.

Further up Victoria Avenue the AA has just moved in to brand new premises, and a block further up there's a major development being built for Briscoes and Rebel Sports. And we heard whispers yesterday of a significant development in one of Wanganui's largest export businesses which is also going to have positive spin-offs for the company's suppliers and contractors.

As we have mentioned before, friends own a business which supplies to the building trade. This year has been their busiest ever, by some margin. Residential construction is also booming, as well as the commercial side of the industry.

After a number of years of lagging behind our Manawatu and Taranaki neighbours, the Wanganui region and the city itself deserve good news. The best news they could get on September 20th is to have a National-led government returned to office, and Chester Borrows elected for a fourth term as MP for Whanganui.

More good news on jobs

There's more good news on the jobs front this morning; the Dom-Post reports:

The number of jobs advertised online is growing across most industry groups and occupations, government figures show.
The latest Jobs Online report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said skilled vacancies rose by 2.5 per cent in June, while all vacancies increased by 1.7 per cent compared with the month before.
Over the past year, skilled vacancies advertised online increased by 16.5 per cent, while all vacancies increased by 17.2 per cent, MBIE said.
The biggest increases in skilled vacancies in June were in the construction and engineering industries, up 7.4 per cent, and the hospitality and tourism sector, up 1.4 per cent.
Over the year to June, vacancies in these industries have increased by 40.2 per cent and 27.6 per cent respectively.
The only industry to show a decrease in advertised jobs in June was the healthcare and medical sector, with vacancies down 0.4 per cent compared with the month before.
Skilled vacancies increased across all occupation groups in June, with the strongest increase shown for managers, up 2.4 per cent, and professionals, up 2.3 per cent.
The report showed the number of skilled vacancies increased in all regions in June as well over the year.
The biggest monthly regional increase was in the Auckland region, up 2.9 per cent, followed by the South Island (excluding Canterbury), which was up 1.8 per cent.
Over the year, the biggest increase was in the South Island (excluding Canterbury), up 26.1 per cent, followed by Auckland and Canterbury, which were up by 17.5 per cent and 14.6 per cent respectively. 

These are impressive figures, and confirm the finding of the Household Labour Force Survey for the March quarter which showed the Labour Force Participation Rate at its highest ever level.

The next HLFS is due out in early August, and there is likely to be a further fall in unemployment. That is further evidence that the economy is growing, employers are hiring, and that Bill English's conservative financial stewardship has steered New Zealand in the right direction. It's little wonder then that around two thirds of those surveyed in the two most recent polls are optimistic about New Zealand's future.

It's not OK; even if you're blue

We blogged in May about National Party List MP Claudette Hauiti making an unacceptable cock-up. Unfortunately, she's in the news again for another lapse of judgment as the Herald reports:

National Party MP Claudette Hauiti has given up her parliamentary charge card after she used it to pay for a personal trip to Australia.
"I went to Australia. It was travel only and way outside Parliamentary Service guidelines," she told Fairfax Media.
She said the trip over Christmas last year and other questionable spending, including refreshments for a hui on a marae, had cost about $200, which she has since repaid.
"Of course it's absolutely no excuse for not knowing the Speaker's rulings. It is my responsibility and I didn't do it."
Parliamentary Service refused to provide a total of unauthorised spending, or comment on the matter.
"A new release of parliamentary information protocol has just been presented for debate in the House, and it would appear that this information is covered under it.

The Service cannot make any comment. Any requests for information should be made to the member," a spokeswoman said.

That's two strikes for Claudette Hauiti. We don't care that she is a National Party MP; she has let herself fall into the trap of questionable use of taxpayer funds, and that is, in our book, a big no-no.

Ms Hauiti was ranked at #63 on the National Party list in 2011, but entered Parliament with the resignation of Aaron "Don't you know who I am" Gilmore. We don't know if the 2014 National Party list has yet been set in stone, but Ms Hauiti his quite possibly cost herself any chance of promotion.

MP's of all stripes need to remember it's not their money they're spending. It comes from those of us who pay taxes, and we deserve better.

Holiday Highway, Holiday Highway, Holiday Highway, Great Idea!

Is the no policy that Labour will not flip-flop over? It would seem not.

And the latest flip-flop is over the Puhoi to Wellsford upgrade to State Highway One north of Auckland; that piece of road known by opposition parties as the Holiday Highway. Here's a potted summary of Labour's opposition:

• 2011 - Phil Goff wants it scrapped
• 2012 - Phil Twyford calls for the Government to "take a hard look" at the road, because it doesn't stack up.
• 2013 - Labour continues to oppose the road, and Holiday Highway bashing continues unabated

Since before the 2011 election Labour's opposition to Puhoi to Wellsford has been constant. What you see above is only a small sample of "anti" stories.

But now, led by renegade List MP Kelvin Davis, Labour has done a back-flip, prompting this presser from Gerry Brownlee:

Gerry Brownlee

15 July, 2014

Labour’s panicked U-turn on the road from Puhoi to Wellsford

Backed into a corner and on the wrong side of public opinion, Labour is making up major policy on the hoof with its announcement it now supports the Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance, Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee says.
“The brave but sensible stance of Northland list MP Kelvin Davis to stand up to the Labour leadership and state the obvious – that most people in the north support the Puhoi to Wellsford upgrade of State Highway 1 – has led to an immediate U-turn by his party today with the statement by Labour Transport Spokesman Phil Twyford that Labour would no longer cancel the road, but postpone its construction,” Mr Brownlee says.
“This is a spectacular U-turn for Labour, and as with all such maneuverers there is significant risk, and the potential for unintended consequences.
“For Labour it now raises the huge question of where the money is coming from for its commitment to immediately begin building Auckland’s City Rail Link.
“National is committed to co-funding construction of the rail link on a schedule that will see it delivered ahead of when Auckland City’s own research says it’s required.
“Labour was going to fund construction of the link from next year with money the Government has committed to building the Puhoi to Wellsford highway.
“Now it has to tell the people of Northland how long they’ll have to wait for their much-need highway upgrade, and where the $1.38 billion will come from to build it.
“That’s assuming Labour is still committed to beginning construction of the City Rail Link next year.
“Or does Mr Twyford have as big a surprise for Aucklanders today as he just delivered to the people of Northland this morning?
“Labour’s policy processes are woefully inadequate and clearly reliant on knee-jerk reactions,” Mr Brownlee says.

 

Gerry Brownlee is right; this is knee-jerk politics from Labour and especially from Phil Twyford. Alfred Ngaro will be looking forward to Mr Twyford telling the good folk of Te Atatu they won't be getting better train services any time soon.

 

Whilst we welcome this particular u-turn by Labour, it is a u-turn nonetheless. But with Labour v2014, that's par for the course. Why would we expect anything else?

Reviewing the Hammer era

The Mark "Hammer" Hammett era at the Hurricanes is over. The 'Canes failed by a single competition point to make the play-offs this year, giving Hammett the perfect record that no coach would want; four years, and four times missing the post-season.

Toby Robson from the Dom-Post takes a look at the Hammer Era. Under the headline Hammer failed to nail it at Hurricanes Robson opines:

Mark Hammett slipped at the start line and never fully recovered.
A pity because the man known as Hammer showed himself to be a good bloke, a hard worker who genuinely cared for his players and his team.
His coaching ability during his four years in charge was less certain.
Hammett will probably become a very good head coach if he isn't one already, but Hurricanes fans shouldn't have had to watch him perform his apprenticeship.
He will likely acknowledge in hindsight that he wasn't quite ready to leap from Crusaders assistant to Hurricanes head honcho in 2011.
A more experienced head coach may have handled the departures of then captain Andrew Hore and 100-game Hurricane Ma'a Nonu with a little more tact.
Hammett's principles and intentions might have been admirable, but the execution of such a big change was poor from all involved and it hung over his efforts for the next three years.
Fairly or not, those early events will be the historical reference point for a period that saw the Hurricanes finish ninth, eighth, 11th and seventh with a winning percentage of just 46 per cent.
The appointment of veteran coaches Chris Boyd and John Plumtree as Hammett's successors suggest lessons  have been learned.

Mark Hammett clearly felt under pressure to "sort out" perceived discipline issues in the Hurricanes in his first season. To a degree, that was one of his biggest successes, as the team was far more disciplined in the three seasons that followed. But the Hurricanes were simply not consistent enough, even if on their best days they were unbeatable.

Robson does have some kind things to say about Hammett though; read on:

Results aside, Hammett deserves credit for having the guts to take a punt and shift north to Wellington from Christchurch.
He had the fortitude to make some tough calls at a franchise that had slipped into bad habits.
Technically, his players have praised his abilities there is healthy buzz around the Newtown training base where hard work has never been hard to find.
But consistency of performance has not matched the talk or the talent.
Selections often frustrated and confused. Last season it was the promotion of Tusi Pisi ahead of Beauden Barrett at first five-eighth against the Blues, a year earlier the resting of key players during a home loss to the lowly Cheetahs.
This year it was the early season preference of the work-man-like Adam Hill over Faifili Levave and Ardie Savea at loose forward, the non-selection of Andre Taylor at fullback, then the use of Cardiff Vaega at second five-eighth against the Brumbies when Alapati Leiua was the obvious midfield choice.
Leiua's move to the midfield was a major success, but probably a season too late.
Late season injuries to Victor Vito, Levave, Taylor, Leiua and Conrad Smith hurt the Hurricanes as they lost to the Chiefs to come up one bonus point short of their first playoff berth since 2009. 

Mark Hammett's tenure as Hurricanes head coach may not have produced the on-field results that he, his players and the franchise's management wanted. But he leaves the Hurricanes in good hear, with a core of young players such as Julian and Ardie Savea, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Dane Coles, Blade Thompson and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen. They will form the nucleus of Chris Boyd's first Hurricanes squad in 2015.

Hammett brought change to the Hurricanes, especially in the franchise's culture. For that, at least, he should be thanked. But professional sport is all about results on the field, and by any measure, Hammett's tenure has been a failure. We live in hope that Chris Boyd and John Plumtree can achieve success on the field, and that the Hurricanes may in fact break their Super Rugby duck in our lifetime, but we won't hold our breath. 

Nor however will we stop supporting them; after all, we've supported the New Zealand cricket team for more than 50 years!

MegaMana steals more Green policy

Yesterday the clean rivers policy Laila Harre had written for the Greens became Internet Party policy. And today, Ms Harre is sounding like Gareth Hughes; the Herald reports:

The Internet Party wants a moratorium on what it calls "risky energy and mining industry practices" such as fracking, dumping of oil wastes and deep-sea and undersea extraction.
In its final environment policy released today the internet Party also sought to restore the "absolute right" of New Zealanders to protest at sea against deep-sea oil exploration.
"National has been pushing New Zealand towards a greater dependence on the extractive industries at a time when climate change and land and water protection demand the opposite," said internet Party leader Laila Harre.
"We will place moratoria on the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells, and deep-sea drilling. The direct safety risks of these industries have not been adequately investigated or managed.
"Their impact on climate change would also have to be countered before any resumption of these activities would be considered. In the case of deep sea drilling we do not see any likelihood that benefits to New Zealand will be shown to outweigh the risks."

The cost of an accident to New Zealand's marine and coastal environment would be simply too high, she said.

We wonder if Ms Harre has ever discussed these policies with her paymaster, the Large German Gentleman. After all, all those computers that Herr Dotcom has must have consumed a good slice of mineral resources in their construction.

And just think of Dotcom's transport habits. He's definitely more fond of helicopters and Hummers than he is of hybrids, so how is mimicking Green Party policy on fracking, even if it was drafted by Laila Harre consistent with Dotcom's fossil fuel excesses?

Quite why MegaMana is targetting Green voters with its policies is anyone's bet. The Green vote is not a huge slice of the market, and two into one doesn't go, so someone is going to be disappointed.

It's little wonder that Danyl from the Dim-Post described Ms Harre's provocative actions as "Political biohazard watch". We don't think it's going to be long before Gareth Hughes is going to be calling for a moratorium on MegaMana!

World Cup Final Tweets of the Day - 14 July 2014

The 2014 FIFA World Cup is over. Germany are the victors, to the relief of millions of Brazilians. And Argentina claims another unwanted runner-up position.

Twitter traffic was high during and after this morning's match. Here's just a small selection of reaction:

The Germans can claim the title of World Champions until the 2018 tournament in Russia. The Russian organisers will have a hard job emulating Brazil, but then who would want Brazil's World Cup debt right now?

A golden day for rowing

The New Zealand men's lightweight four. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand rowers quite literally had a golden day in Lucerne yesterday; the Herald reports:

New Zealand's successful lightweight men's four are expecting the competition to close right up as the world championships draw near.
The quartet of James Hunter, Peter Taylor, James Lassche and Curtis Rapley won their second World Cup final of the year in Lucerne last night, part of a bumper night for the New Zealand elite rowing group.
Six golds were won from 11 A finals, others to grab wins including both single scullers, Mahe Drysdale and Emma Twigg, the unbeatable men's pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, lightweight single sculler Julia Edward and the women's double of Zoe Stevenson and Fiona Bourke.
New Zealand has won the World Cup crown after finishing the three regattas with 141 points, 15 clear of Britain with Australia third on 125.
At the team's last World Cup showing in Aiguebelette, France last month they claimed six medals - five gold and one bronze, preceded by five medals at the opening cup regatta in Sydney in March.

We watched Eric Murray and Hamish Bond race to yet another victory last night; has there been a more dominant New Zealand sporting team at international level? Mahe Drysdale is a machine, Emma Twigg has emerged as a superb sculler, and the other winning crews all performed very well.

For New Zealand to have won its first overall World Cup is a feather in the cap for the sport. Here's hoping this success can be carried into the upcoming World Championships in Amsterdam next month, and to the 2016 Olympics where our rowers could bring the country further delight.

EDIT: Germany are the World Champions

Germany wins its fourth FIFA World Cup. A superbly taken goal in extra time from Mario Goetze has given the Germans a 1-nil win over Argentina at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janiero.

Reaction follows soon...

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Bragging rights in the world of football go on the line in just over an hour. The 2014 FIFA World Cup reaches its crescendo as Germany and Argentina do battle in Rio de Janiero. The Herald previews the match:

The 2014 World Cup has delivered beyond all expectations but now only one question remains.
Will we finally, after almost 30 years, see a classic final?
There hasn't been a truly memorable final game of a World Cup since probably 1986 at the Azteca Stadium, when Argentina trumped West Germany 3-2.
On that day the South Americans led 2-0 with less than 20 minutes to play, before Franz Beckenbauer side's drew level with a typical fightback. With the match heading towards extra time, Diego Maradona, who had been shut down for most of the game, produced a perfect slide rule pass to release Jorge Burrucharga. His precise finish gave Argentina their second World Cup title.
Since then most of the finals have been disappointments, or underwhelming at the least.
The final of Italia 1990 was possibly the worst. Argentina, racked by suspension and injuries, barely tried to play and West Germany weren't much more enterprising, with a late penalty proving the difference.
The 1994 decider was meant to be a cracker - Brazil taking on Italy, Romario against Roberto Baggio - but it was a huge anticlimax, with neither team managing to fashion a goal before Brazil won on penalties.
Four years later France enjoyed a deserved 3-0 win over Brazil but most of the drama came before the game, with the confusion over Ronaldo's fitness and physical state. The match itself didn't reach any great heights.
The 2002 decider was one sided, with an average German side benefiting from a string of upsets on their side of the draw to reach the final and they were duly outclassed by Brazil.
The final of the 2006 edition had drama - especially with Zinedine Zidane's sending off - but was otherwise a stale, dour affair, as often happens when Italy are involved. And last time in South Africa could have been a great match, but the Dutch coaches decided to disregard the talent they had at their disposal and sent their players out to foul, kick and spoil which completely ruined the spectacle.
This tournament deserves a riveting final game. It has had everything else; a stack of memorable matches, tons of drama and plenty of goals. There has been more games go to extra time than in any other tournament and some unforgettable upsets, with an underlying emphasis on attacking football. The fans have come to the party and the Brazilian people have been wonderful hosts.
Of course nothing is guaranteed . Finals are cagey affairs because there is so much at stake - the biggest prize in team sport on the planet. Tomorrow Germany wants to end a 24 year drought while Argentina is desperate to repeat the success of 1986 - which would be even sweeter on Brazilian soil.

As Michael Burgess notes, the high-stakes nature of tournament finals often negates the brilliance of the combatants. Given the standard of football that has been played in Brazil to date, it would be a pity if neither side had the opportunity to unleash its talent.

After their incredible semi-final victory over Brazil, it is hard to go past the Germans. They have had an extra day's rest, and whilst their win was completed in 90 minutes Argentina needed 120 minutes and a penalty shootout to shake off the Netherlands. 

Unfortunately, another commitment means we will miss the first hour of the match. We'll catch the business end of the game however, and will doubtless have some thoughts on it when the dust has settled and the trophy has been decided.