TV3 News

Thursday, 17 May 2001, 8:56 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

Silver Fern – Whitianga Canal Green Light – Runaway Plane – John Prescott Sucker Punch – Tony Blair Gets Stick – 13 Year Old Teacher Shooter – Dairy Farm Fever – Rooster Shot

SILVER FERN: Tourism shakeup. Tourism Board to go. Silver fern is to be used to attract tourists. Idea of changing flag to silver fern does not greatly enthuse Minister, but. Returned servicemen are unkeen on the plan too. The 10 year plan expects to create 100,000 jobs.

WHITIANGA CANAL GREEN LIGHT: All the parties in Parliament have agreed on action to allow a Whitianga waterway luxury real estate project to go ahead. Everyone is struggling to find someone to blame. Nick Smith is blaming the Minister. Jim Anderton says Nick Smith did nothing too.

RUNAWAY PLANE: Auckland today had a runaway plane. The plane was seriously damaged by the time it stopped it’s solo flight after taxiing and taking off with it’s pilot running behind.

JOHN PRESCOTT SUCKER PUNCH: Deputy PM John Prescott in England punches protestor after he chucks an egg at him. Mr Prescott sucker punches the protestor, with a jab from his inside pocket caught beautifully on camera. The protestor then jumps on Prescott in retaliation. Prescott is unlikely to be charged over the incident say police. The protestor is being spoken to by police.

TONY BLAIR GETS STICK: Tony Blair was greeted by a woman at a hospital complaining about the facilities for her husband. She is very forceful and articulate. Blair is embarrassed and asks her if she wants to come and see him. Blair says he is doing his best. She remains unsatisfied but.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

13 YEAR OLD TEACHER SHOOTER CONVICTED: The jury in Florida has found a 13 year old guilty of murder for killing his teacher with a single shot to the head. The killing was caught on camera in a school hall.

DAIRY FARM FEVER: Flue like symptoms of leptosporosis are being warned against. Rodents are carriers of the disease which is passed in animal urine. Dairy Farm fever travels widely beyond the farm gate say doctors.

ROOSTER SHOT: A Kapiti coast kindy is recovering after their rooster was shot by a council worker. Little kid says he is sad. Neighbours say the Rooster was awful for months. The Rooster crowed all night longs. The Kapiti Mayor says the rooster made kids happy, but unfortunately made adults unhappy.

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

Contact Alastair Thompson

Top Scoops Headlines

COMMENT

Gordon Campbell: On The Coalition’s Awful, Not Good, Very Bad Poll Results

Luxon has been doing his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not all of its MPs will be coming back alive.

Ian Powell: Policy Vacuum Enables For-profit Corporate General Practice Ownership By Stealth

In 2014 nearly 40% of GP respondents were practice owners. By 2022 it had declined to 31%. The number of GPs working in GP-owned practice has also fallen from 73% in 2015 to 64% in 2022.

Gordon Campbell: On Iran Killing Its Rappers, And Searching For The Invisible Dr. Reti

Health Minister Dr. Shane Reti has been only a ghostly presence of the government’s front bench, in a case of the incredible shrinking Minister. Meanwhile, leaked documents reveal planned funding cuts of over $100M to public hospitals that are already sinking.

Peter Dunne: MPs Unusually Quiet On Pay Rise

This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the economy on the brink of recession, massive cutbacks in public expenditure, public sector redundancies and rising unemployment.

Ian Powell: Cuba And New Zealand: A Relationship Worthy Of Strengthening

Ian Powell discusses building on the constructive relationship between Cuba and New Zealand in the context of the Unites States economic warfare (embargo) against Cuba and the recent UN Rapporteurs findings.

Gordon Campbell: On bird flu, AUKUS entry fees and Cindy Lee

Bird flu – often deadly to humans - is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. And, Aukus members are all being pressured by the USA to devote at least 2% of their GDP to Defence ...

Join Scoop Pro

Submit News

Become a Member

Community Scoop

More RSS News Alerts

Wellington Scoop