Is Valentine’s Day just a big bunch of trouble?
The News Review:
- Is Valentine’s Day just a big bunch of trouble?
- Minn. seeks to overhaul business tax
- Will rugby fans forgive and forget?
- WA surfer wins Oakley Surfing Life Biggest Wave Awards
- ireland.com / Today / Sport / Rugby / Six Nations Tournament
Is Valentine’s Day just a big bunch of trouble?
Telegraph.co.uk – Feb 13, 2008
This is a surprise, given our fondness for them. According to the Flowers and Plants Association, the UK, along with Germany, is the top importer of cut flowers in the world. Only 10 per cent of these are home-grown: the majority – 58 per cent – come from Holland, where many are treated with fertilisers and pesticides and “forced” to flower out of season in massive heated greenhouses. Our other main supplier is Kenya, which has a 14 per cent market share. For this impoverished East African country, it is big business: most of the 10,000 tons of roses we will buy for Valentine’s Day will come from there. Should we worry about these plants racking up “food miles” and CO2 emissions? The International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, says not. “Recent research,” he points out, “shows that flowers flown from Africa can use less energy than those produced in Europe, because they are not grown in heated greenhouses… This is about social justice and making it easier for African people to make a decent living.
Minn. seeks to overhaul business tax
Forbes – Feb 13, 2008
(AP) – Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty changed the venue for his State of the State speech Wednesday but delivered a familiar message promoting tax restraint, education accountability and home-grown energy. seeks to overhaul business tax – Forbes… Trading the Capitol for the St. Cloud Civic Center, Pawlenty reflected on hardships of the previous year, ran through a batch of previously outlined proposals and announced he would create a special commission to recommend tax changes he hopes would yield a healthier business climate. He also used the 30-minute address to drive home his opposition to tax increases that have surfaced early in the Legislature’s 2008 session. Reaching into his suit coat, he pulled out a red pen he said he’ll use to strike down bills seeking to raise taxes, a tool he’s dubbed the ‘taxpayer protection pen. ‘ ‘Minnesota’s hardworking families are already squeezed enough,’ he told a less-than-full audience in the 500-seat hall. ‘They’re paying more for gas, food and health care. The last thing they need is government rummaging around in their pockets looking for more.
Will rugby fans forgive and forget?
Stuff.co.nz – Feb 13, 2008
The rehabilitation of centre Richard Kahui will also be watched closely, especially by Henry and Co. In the capital, the Hurricanes will doubtless showcase their famed Jekyll and Hyde complex, captivating one minute, infuriating the next, while in the deep south the Highlanders have already been installed as early candidates for the wooden spoon with their first round opponents in Brisbane, Queensland. An admirable policy of fostering and promoting home grown talent has been put out to pasture with no one franchise relying so heavily on the draft and the acquisition of second-tier imports. The Highlanders will be willing up front, no doubt, but with a backline featuring blow-ins from Northland, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu and Counties-Manukau the old House of Pain monicker could ring true at Carisbrook, particularly for the residents.
WA surfer wins Oakley Surfing Life Biggest Wave Awards
NEWS.com.au – Feb 13, 2008
Cater’s reaction? “A sigh of relief really mate,” he says. “Now I can pay the taxman all the money I’ve owed him for the past few years. ”The award will open doors for him in the growing global big-wave competition field, he says. Alongside this award, big-surf competitions are now held in South Africa, Hawaii and California… We got three waves on the head and that was it for the ski. ”The fact that they were 6km from land at the time barely raises Cater’s eyebrow – which is a little clue as to the sort of person who takes on surf in this range. Since being inaugurated five years ago, the Oakley Surfing Life Big Wave Awards have revealed a side of surfing long hidden behind the glittering world pro tour arena – a group of surfers who’ve used their home-grown skills and experience to push the sport’s natural limits, often without much publicity or attention outside their peers and slightly horrified onlookers. “We’re all pretty rough and ready I suppose but we’re doing this because we love it,” he says. “In a way this award might change some things for me but it won’t change why I go surfing. ”As for Wooly, who towed him into the award-winner: “He owns a surf shop and he’s one of my sponsors, so he won’t be seeing the colour of my money!” Cater laughs.
ireland.com / Today / Sport / Rugby / Six Nations Tournament
Irish Times – Feb 13, 2008
It is hard to quibble with either of those selections, although the relevance of the Celtic League is perhaps put in perspective, given the current leaders now only have David Humphreys on the bench. Allowing for Neil McMillan last season, and Roger Wilson and Neil Best this season with Andy Ward in the back row, and to an extent Paddy Wallace, perhaps it is also a commentary on the relative dearth of home-grown players coming through Ulster’s ranks amid a surfeit of recent Southern Hemisphere imports. One of the greats of Ulster, Irish and Lions rugby, Willie John McBride, will see his all-time record for an Irish second-row of 63 caps equalled by Malcolm O’Kelly on Saturday. As the modest O’Kelly would be the first to admit, he has raced to the tally in under seven seasons, whereas McBride accumulated his haul over 14 seasons. But if Willie John was the standard-bearer for Irish locks in the amateur era, then O’Kelly is in the pro era. The only injury concern, Peter Stringer, who damaged a hand against England, has been passed fit.