Wrong question in child study – John Roughan
NZ Herald 13 Oct 2012Every time I read a report on poverty in New Zealand I wonder whether I’m living in the same country. Do those who are hammering our social conscience with “child poverty” at the moment know anybody in the statistics they study?The experts are invariably academics who have read a lot of other academic work on the subject but their reports leave me with a sense that all of their work is done at a desk.They believe, and want me to believe, there is a large and growing section of New Zealand society, mostly right here in Auckland, living a wretched and desperately unjust existence out of my sight.Newspapers always try to turn these reports into a story with more impact by looking for real living, breathing examples of the problem. The results are usually disappointing.If the search turns up a truly squalid case there is something in the circumstances that doesn’t evoke unqualified sympathy, so more often the published example is a clean and tidy young family that is having a struggle but is getting there.The latter, I suspect, really is the typical picture of so-called “poverty” in New Zealand and the term is wrong.It is not the way these people would describe themselves. It is insulting them and misleading the rest of us.An Expert Advisory Group assembled by the Children’s Commissioner this year has produced a report that finds (statistically) about 270,000 New Zealand children living below “recognised poverty thresholds”.That is a lot of children – about one in four of all the kids in the country. You would think everyone would see them, even those of us who live comfortably off in different parts of town.Well, I think we do see them. The Expert Advisory Group says half of the 270,000 children it calls poor are cared for by sole-parents. Just about all of us these days, no matter where we live, know sole-parents.The divorce rate has been so high in our generation that I’d wager all of us have or have had at least one family member who has brought up children on the domestic purposes benefit.We are probably full of admiration and respect for them. We haven’t pried, but the benefit and accommodation grants and whatever they earned on the side seemed to be enough to get by.The kids were well fed, their clothes were clean and not ragged. The house was warm, the children had medicine when they needed it. They went to school every day, played sport, had pets, watched too much television.Admittedly, they probably had grandparents and an extended family that made up for some of the extras the benefit wouldn’t reach. They would be taken on family holidays, shouted the cost of school trips, birthdays and Christmas would be generous. Income statistics don’t measure these things.All of these children are poor by academic definition if their home receives less than 60 per cent of the median household’s disposable income after rent or mortgage payments.The median must have risen quite sharply in the past 40 years because women entered the workforce in the 1970s and ever since, the two-income household has been the norm. When that trend is combined with a high divorce rate children of sole parents are doubly worse off.Not all of them will have supportive grandparents and wider families. How many? Where are they? Can Whanau Ora help them? I’ve looked in vain for answers in the experts’ report and some of its working papers.They are more interested in statistical abstractions and blanket solutions such as paying a benefit for young children to all parents, rich or poor, increases in family tax allowances and free meals in low decile schools.John Key, who was raised by a sole parent, dismissed the free lunch this week. He doesn’t believe all those children need one. He would sooner leave it to the schools to decide whether food is really the best use of their decile funds.Maybe the schools will put that question to the parents who supposedly can’t afford to provide a child with breakfast and a packed lunch.A few weeks ago the hungry pupils story sent TV3’s Campbell Live on one of those classic quests to turn a problem into real people.Having found very few packed lunches in a low decile classroom the programme went out and accosted a few of the class at a local dairy on their way to school.Two of them were spending money on chips and coke. One had $20. This may be a problem but it is not obviously one of income.We all know families that get by on existing benefits. If some can do it, why not all? If the experts would face that question they could do the children some good.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/social-issues/news/article.cfm?c_id=87&objectid=10840193
Update on the latest sports — Nationals ace Max Scherzer is set to make his scheduled start against the Mets at Citi Field after leaving his previous outing early because of a hamstring issue. The three-time Cy Young Award winner lasted only one inning last Wednesday against New York due to a hamstring problem that first cropped up July 29 versus Toronto. But he felt good while throwing a bullpen Sunday and will try to keep Washington rolling in the wake of a 16-4 blowout over the Mets in the opener of a four-game series Monday.NBAFour teams vying for last West playoff spot in actionLAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Memphis, Portland, San Antonio and Phoenix are the last four teams standing in the race for the last two play-in-game spots in the NBA’s Western conference. And all four teams are in action today.The margin between the eighth-place Grizzlies and 11th-place Spurs, at the start of the day, was just one game, and all four clubs had two games remaining. It was the first competitive match for Halep since she won the Dubai Championships in February for her 20th career WTA title. Before the Wimbledon champion recovered from a foot injury she sustained in Dubai, the coronavirus pandemic forced a five-month break. No. 2-seeded Petra Martic and No. 3 Elise Mertens also advanced. August 11, 2020 UMass is an independent in football and its decision affects only that sport. Most of UMass’ athletic teams compete in the Atlantic 10. Athletic director Ryan Bamford says the school will try to conduct a football spring season if possible. UMass joins fellow independent UConn, Old Dominion and all the schools in the Mid-American Conference and Mountain West — a total of 27 — in postponing its football season.MLBBlue Jays roam, where Buffalo’s home Associated Press 
Payne has spent the last 10 years at Kentucky, where he has been John Calipari’s associate head coach since 2014. He was part of the staff that won the 2012 national championship and won its first 38 games in 2014-15. The Wildcats reached four Final Fours and won 295 games with Payne working under Calipari. The 53-year-old Payne also spent five seasons as an assistant with Oregon. He will be reunited with former Wildcats Julius Randle and Kevin Knox in New York.TENNIS-PRAGUE OPENHalep advances in PraguePRAGUE, (AP) — Top-seeded Simona Halep had to fight hard to advance to the second round of the Prague Open in a three-set win over unseeded Polona Hercog. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Baseball’s nomads, the Toronto Blue Jays, finally move into their new home at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, when they play the Miami Marlins. It’ll be the first time this year the Blue Jays are the actual host team. Canada’s government wouldn’t let them hold games at Rogers Centre in Toronto, fearful of opponents traveling into the city amid the coronavirus pandemic. Pittsburgh offered to let the Blue Jays play at PNC Park when the Pirates were on the road, but Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf wouldn’t sign off on it. That left the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, which last hosted a regular-season Major League Baseball game in 1915 when the Buffalo Blues finished sixth in the eight-team Federalist League. Elsewhere in the majors:— Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger won’t make his scheduled start against the Cubs after Cleveland learned he joined rotation-mate Zach Plesac in violating COVID-19 protocols by going out after a game Saturday in Chicago. Plesac was forced to travel home separately from the club Sunday, while Clevinger flew home with teammates without disclosing that he had been with Plesac. Cleveland said Clevinger will be quarantined and tested until he registers two negative results in 72 hours. Clevinger and Plesac could be facing additional discipline from the team. Meanwhile, Indians manager Terry Francona will return to the club after missing eight games to rest while dealing with a gastrointestinal condition that has bothered him since spring training in Arizona. Share This StoryFacebookTwitteremailPrintLinkedinRedditVIRUS OUTBREAK-MASSACHUSETTSMassachusetts cancels fall seasonAMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts has become the latest school from the Football Bowl Subdivision, college football’s highest level, to cancel its fall season. If Memphis and Portland both win today, and Phoenix and San Antonio both lose, the race is over and the Grizzlies and Blazers clinch spots.Otherwise, the race goes to Thursday, when it’ll have to be known who the two clubs are that will be headed to the best-of-two play-in series. The ninth-place finisher will have to beat the eighth-place finisher twice to advance.NBA-KNICKS-PAYNEKnicks lure Payne from KentuckyNEW YORK (AP) — Tom Thibodeau has made the first addition to his New York Knicks coaching staff. He hired Kenny Payne as an assistant. 
Downer will watch Bryant’s final game in Philadelphia in person. Lower Merion spokesman Doug Young also said about 400 members of the high school will attend, including former coaches, teammates and teachers. They have seats designated behind the basket parallel to the Lakers’ bench. “I have to imagine Philadelphia will embrace him,” Young said. “He will get his just due that he has always deserved. It’s going to be a pretty emotional moment for all of us.”Yet, Bryant vowed he will not cry in Philadelphia or in other road games amid any positive receptions.“It’s not going to happen on the court,” he said, laughing, following the Lakers’ loss on Sunday to Indiana. “If I said I wasn’t getting a little emotional about it, I’d be lying. It’s a little different internally than when you actually voice it. Now it’s out there. There’s a certain level of finality to it that adds a little more.”What’s in a nameIt turns out Bryant goes beyond going by his first name or “The Black Mamba.” Bryant called himself the NBA’s “triple OG,” standing for original gangster.“I feel like their grandfather,” Bryant said. “LeBron (James) and those other guys are the old guys now, and I’m way older than them. So they’re vets, and I’m like a triple vet.”Hence, Bryant reported Detroit fielded three players in a captain’s meeting three weeks ago so an unnamed young player could shake his hand. Bryant also chastised an unnamed Portland player for telling him last weekend, “We’re going to beat you guys tonight.”“I said: ‘I got one rule. If you weren’t born when I started playing, you can’t talk trash. It’s a simple rule,’ Bryant said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Yes, sir.’ No argument.”Biggest accomplishmentIt turns out Bryant’s most cherished memory had nothing to do with his five NBA championships.“Nothing beats getting drafted,” Bryant said. “Nothing tops that. That’s the beginning of it all.” Bryant has not received a warm reception from Sixers fans ever since the Lakers secured his rights with the 13th pick of the 1996 NBA Draft after trading Vlade Divac to Charlotte. He heard countless boos when the Lakers played the Sixers in the 2001 NBA Finals, partly fueled when Bryant said he wanted to “cut their hearts out.” The boos persisted when Bryant won the 2002 NBA All-Star MVP in Philadelphia.Will Bryant finally face a warm reception?“I don’t know,” Bryant said, laughing. “It’ll always be a mixture of both, I assume. But I love that city no matter what.” Gregg Downer, Bryant’s high school coach at Lower Merion, is not as forgiving. “It got to the point where I stopped going,” Downer said. “I would go to some of the key games. But I just remember after two or three of them, (the backlash) was upsetting me. I though it was probably better that I watch it from home.” PHILADELPHIA >> Even before Kobe Bryant heard the entire question, his eyes lit up in earnestness.What significance does Bryant attach to playing tonight when the Lakers (2-14) visit the Philadelphia 76ers (0-18) on Wells Fargo Center, in what will mark his final NBA game in his hometown?“It means a lot,” Bryant told Los Angeles News Group. “Just going home and playing in front of Philadelphia fans and that relationship that we had and my entire career. I’m really appreciative of everything.”That relationship does not fit the ones most athletes experience with their hometown, however. 
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