Look’s like Hubbard’s cupboard is bare

Old Mr Hubbard went to the cupboard
To find his investor’s cash
When he got there, the cupboard was bare
And the poor old duffer found he’d blown their stash!
I feel sorry for Allan Hubbard. It is clear, following last week’s statutory manger’s report, that he is just a poor, old duffer who is well past his prime, but he is no crook.
However, what I am sick and tired of is the irrational and tiresome whinging by his self-proposed supporters and their nonsensical campaign to “Save Allan Hubbard”.
They are actually doing the poor old bloke more harm than good and fast burning up any public sympathy that maybe left for the Timaru businessman
Despite a rather damning and concerning report late last week by statutory managers Grant Thornton, which had shown how complex and major issues there are around prospects of returns to investors involving Hubbard’s management of seven charitable trusts, as well as companies Aorangi Securities and Hubbard Management Funds.
Yet, Hubbard delusionary supporters have written to Prime Minister John Key claiming "the only evidence the Government has produced remains speculation and rumour, with no evidence whatsoever to support the reports so far produced".
Really? How about the following for evidence, then?
Last week’s report said investors in Hubbard's Aorangi Securities, already stressed because of the frozen funds, are unlikely to see any significant return of capital until next year.
Meanwhile, about 300 investors in Hubbard Management Funds (HMF) have been told the company overstated its value by at least 25 per cent on March 31, reporting non-existent investments and cash balances. HMF assets were worth only $61 million at the end of March, not $82 million as stated.
It appears Hubbard's widespread investments in the dairy sector are unravelling as lenders are unable to pay, leaving an estimated 50 per cent shortfall in interest payments. According to Grant Thornton, of Aorangi's loans to dairy farms only 17 loans out of 51 will meet their September 30 deadline interest payment obligations - a shortfall of $1 million, or 50 per cent of what is due to Aorangi investors.
That seems pretty strong evidence to me, but it is clear the Hubbard supporters are irrational and will never listen to reason.
I too was a strong supporter and admirer of Allan Hubbard. Especially the way he has conducted his affairs in comparison to other finance company shysters.
However, the evidence is now clear that Allan Hubbard, while not a fraudster, is just as culpable in destroying the wealth of many New Zealanders just like the Hotchins, Watsons and Bryers’ of the finance world. And, just like them, he has done it via combination of both bad luck and bad management.
I wish it was a different story, but it is not. It is time his supporters woke up and smelled the coffee – the emperor has no clothes and the cupboard is bare!

A few more random thoughts…

Now that Tiger Wood's divorce has been finalised, will his golf improve as he gets back in to his routine?

Or should that be rooting?

Will Chris Carter now accuse the electoral commission of gay bashing because it is planning a by-election in his Te Atatu seat?

Do you know what to call a gay man from a low, social demographic?

A hobosexual!

How come if both the Labor and Liberal s are claiming victory in the recent Australian election, then neither party can form a government?

If Winston Peters crossed the ditch to advise the independents on how to negotiate a minor party deal; wouldn’t this vastly improve the corruption stakes of both NZ and Australian politics?

Is there any truth to the rumour that David Bain took up a paper run in Feilding before the recent spate of murders in the town?

With all the in-fighting in ACT Party continues is Heather trying to hide from Rodney?

Will the upcoming local body elections this year even attract a 50% voter turnout?

Looking forward to seeing all those billboards, flyers, advertisements and door knocking from wanna-be mayors and councillors for the next two months?

What ever happened to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

I guess the media get bored of the story and are chasing ambulances elsewhere!

Will it ever stop raining?

Are you over winter yet?

Just imagine how cold and miserable it would have been without global warning?

Other should pay for me – by George!

What is it with lefties and their huge sense of entitlement mentality?
I thought it was supposed to those horrid and nasty Tories – who (according to those on the left) are all reportedly born with silver spoons in their mouths – that are predisposed to expecting others to pay for their lavish and wanton lifestyles.
Yet, more often than not, it turns out to be the supposed friends of the workers and the little people, confirmed life-long socialists and the supposed people’s representatives who can’t shove their noses into the trough of hard-earned taxpayers funds deep enough to keep them in the lifestyle they have become accustomed to!
First we had recently exiled Labour MP – and self-appointed gay icon – Chris Carter and his partner living a wonderful, jet-set lifestyle care of the taxpayer and crying foul and pulling the gay-bashing card when rightly questioned about it.
Now we have another former Labour MP and transsexual (what is it with Labour and clichéd minority representatives; no wonder the party polling is going through the floor!) Georgina Beyer's pulling out of the race for mayor of Masterton claiming she is broke.
According to Georgie-girl/boy (Confused? So is she/he), the recent death of a Taiwanese friend - who was supposed to fund her mayoral campaign – was the final nail. And instead of campaigning, she is now left juggling what limited finances she has left to cover the next few weeks of her rent and is even thinking of joining the dole queue.
After stopping work in June as a salesperson at Michael Hill Jeweller, Beyer says she is struggling to pay her rent and bills and could not raise the $10,000 she needs to campaign in the mayoral race for Masterton.
"That's left me with no income and having expended all my reserves for living expenses, I'm left with nothing," she told the Wairarapa Times-Age. "I have a couple of weeks left to pay the rent. I'm really, really struggling."
Well boo-hoo. Welcome to the real world darling! That is what every poor sap in this country has to deal with each week up and down New Zealand.
Isn’t it amazing that the people who claim to understand and/or represent the less well off in society (i.e Labour MPs) don’t have one iota of a clue about what peoples lives are really like!
Meanwhile, it seems Beyer – the world's first transsexual mayor and MP and like all good lefties – has a track record of entitleitus and expecting others to pay for her way in the world. After all, before entering politics she was once a prostitute!
For example, after she quit Parliament in February 2007 - halfway through the parliamentary term - Beyer whinged to all and sundry about not getting any political appointments. It was like the world owed her a living and it was the taxpayers' responsibility to keep her in clover for the rest of her days.
Meantime, as a former MP, Beyer continues to benefit from an ex-member superannuation scheme and other perks – such as subsidised travel. Yet despite all of this and being an MP from 1999 to 2007 – that's eight years and earning around $130,000 a year – Beyer is now claiming poverty. And three years later with no job and no savings, and with no planned work she is heading for the dole queue.
What a loser! Parliament, the country and the little people she purportedly represented are far better off with her no longer in politics of any shape!

I’ve been wondering...

- If TV3 political reporter Patrick Gower is the perfect example of someone having a face for radio?

- If it is fair to say that Gower even makes Bill Ralston look telegenic?

- Why are the Australians so afraid of New Zealand apples?

- Do they think they are coloured all black and play rugby or something?

- Perhaps the Wallabies were worried about catching fireblight and that is why they failed to tackle the All Blacks during the tri-nations?

- If Robbie Deans is starting to regret his move across the ditch yet?

- If Chris Carter will blame “man flu” for his two-month absence from parliament?

- And will his "husband" back up his claims?

- With female politicians like Helen Clark and Julia Gillard becoming more prominent in this part of the world; perhaps the wearing of the burqua is not such a bad idea!

- If even Phil Goff actually believes that he can win the next election?

- Why does local body politics attract such boring, colourless no-bodies to stand for election?

- If any young person - pakeha or not - would really want to have Hone Harawira as a father-in-law anyway?

Off with her head!

I have to admit that I’ve never been much of a fan of the British royal family.
Blame my Irish roots, but I rate the Windsor’s as nothing much more than a bunch of spoilt, inbred, toffs. In spite of all their wealth and privilege, they have proven to be one of the most dysfunctional families on the planet.
And to add to their woes, despite cutting her loose from the “firm” many years ago; the royals are still burdened today with the on-going embarrassment and antics of one red-headed train wreck known as Fergie! Even with my personal disdain for the royals, I do not believe they have deserved to have been cursed with their former daughter-in-law.
From day one – I never got what Prince Andrew saw in Sarah Ferguson. At best she was just a dumpy, plain, ginga with a very dodgy old man. While I seemed to have been one of the few who thought Princess Di was over-rated and nothing more than a ditzy, neurotic, headline chaser. But compared to the red dragon; the late Princess of Wales was a dream.
Ever since Fergie was given the Spanish archer (el-bow) by Andy, she has lurched from one disaster to another – hence the train wreck analogy I used earlier. She has never been far from the headlines – and these have not often been positive.
Be it been caught on tape sucking the toes of a Texan banker, to only a couple of months ago trying to sell access to her ex-husband to a trashy tabloid reporter in exchange for money.
So how come the former Duchess of York was caught on tape by the News of the World, offering to “open doors” for a “businessman” to her ex husband Prince Andrew, in exchange for nearly $750,000.
Why? It is simple, really. Because Fergie needs the money!
Apparently, her divorce settlement with Prince Andrew saw her “only” get around $20,000 in living expenses a year. But it also put a roof over her head…a very nice roof in the form of the Royal Lodge, Andrew’s 30-room house in Windsor Great Park that used to belong to the Queen Mother. And she has had her own streams of income, her nearly $3 million a year contract as an ambassador for Weight Watchers which she held for 11 years until 2007. She received nearly $3 million for her memoir, “My Story” and she is still able to command speaking fees in the range of $65,000.
Her financial problems are mainly due to spending habits. Her New York company Hartmoor, which she created to deal with her various ventures—folded with debts of $936,000 last October. She faces legal proceedings in London for unpaid bills amounting to almost $288,000. She reportedly owns five cell phones, has spent $70,000 on dresses in one fell swoop and will only fly first class. Her entourage reportedly numbers 12 people, including a personal stylist and a butler. A friend told the London Daily Mail that Fergie lives “like an Arab princess. She still travels with an entourage, still spends money like water.”
“It costs a lot of money to be the Duchess, money Sarah doesn’t have,” explained gossip columnist and royal watcher Rob Shuter of AOL’s Naughty But Nice column.
And that about sums it all up. Fergie seems to forget she is no longer a royal and has access to the public tit. I doubt she has never thought about cutting her cloth to fit.
As someone once commented: One Red Dog is not just a restaurant chain - eh Fergie!
Meanwhile, I am sure Prince Andrew - and the rest of the royals - wish they could deal with Fergie like some of their earlier predecessors. I recall Henry VII dealing with a number of recalcitrant ex-wives in a far more efficient and ruthless manner. I never heard reports about Anne Bolen trying to hawk off access to Henry to various courtiers for 30-pieces of silver. Mind you; that is pretty hard to do without your head on your shoulders and you don’t spend a lot of money either!

The bitch gets the sack!

Soon to be former Labour MP Chris Carter has proven just what a bitch he really is.
To paraphrase gay icon - and someone who can be a bit of a prima Dona himself - Elton John it is not so much "The bitch is back", but more "The bitch gets the sack"!
Carter has been mincing around parliament like a spoilt child all year – blaming everyone and anyone, but himself – over his troubles for overspending on credit cards and unfettered travel all over the world care of the hard-pressed taxpayer.
Carter’s huge sense of entitlement has been so grand that any genuine questions about his over-the-top spending resulted in claims by MP of gay-bashing and unfairness.
Finally, Carter’s petulant and poor behaviour even got the better of the hapless Phil Goff - a month or so back - when he gave the errant MP a slap over the wrist with a wet bus ticket and demoted him a couple of slots. But instead of taking his medicine like a man and rebuilding his stocks within the party, the petty MP repaid his leader’s soft stance by writing an anonymous letter to the media undermining Goff's leadership.
However, all the bumbling MP’s, ham-fisted – and spectacularly unsuccessful – attempt to oust Goff has also shown him to be more loop than fruit in this case! All that Carter has demonstrated – as someone who has always been so overtly proud of his gayness – is why former National MP, and current Auckland super city mayoral contender, John Banks so rightly dubbed him “Christine” back in the day.
Carter's bitchy and gutless single-page, anonymous letter - delivered to selected reporters - claiming that union-based MPs would challenge Goff over his "relaxed" stance on government plans to allow workers to cash in their fourth week of holiday was a bit like watching a petulant toddler acting out at a parent.
So – a bit like himself – Carter’s political career has morphed into one, big, giant poof! And it could not have happened to a nicer (and I use the term lightly) bloke!
Ironically, all Carter has done is sure up Goff’s train wreck of a leadership and condemn Labour to another term in opposition.
Carter has proven to be a nasty, vindictive, pompous prat, but at least he has saved the country from another Labour government! Give that man (questionable, I know) a DB!