1230 - Tertiary Funding - David Do, NZUSA co-president

At 1230 we'll hear from (above). As you've just heard in the news, Tertiary Education minister Stephen Joyce has come out guns blazing - outlining a raft of changes he wants to see universities and polytechnics make. He's got 3 goals - better completion rates, having qualifications that are more meaningful and making sure student support money is not wasted. Sounds alright - how's that going to happen then? There'll be no more funding for the sector in the coming budget, so... Joyce wants 5-10% of tertiary funding linked to student performance and dropout rates. He wants to reduce the number of qualifications on offer in New Zealand and axe courses with too many failures. AND, he wants student loans to be tied to student performance too. So, time to pull up your socks all you money grubbing students who're just a weeping sore of entitlement? Sorry, spent too long on NBR this morning. David can see the merit in Mr Joyce's goals, but worries they don't augur well for students in the long run.

1250 - Wellywood Facey Group - Anthony Lander

At ten to one, we head to the capital, where angry residents are expressing their outrage over plans to erect a silly mock-HOLLYWOOD sign on the mirimar hills in the most potent form of protest this side of the year 2000 - they've formed a facebook group. The group 'Hey, let's not have a Wellywood sign in Wellington' now has more than 4,000 members - and they're angry as hell. Comments on the wall include: WTF? Is this a joke? Where's the integrity, Wellington? Can the NZ film industry not have pride in its uniqueness without this sort of wank? and Glad I live in Auckland. I'll be asking the group's founder Anthony Lander if web-based anger is their only recourse.

1320 - Counterclockwise

One twenty means it's time for counterclockwise - brought to you by the good folks at scoop. Today, scoop editor Selwyn Manning takes a look at the work of a masters student who's analysed a number of recent murder cases in New Zealand, and come to the conclusion that the punishment handed out to the men who killed Manukau liquor store owner Navtej Singh (one guilty of murder, five only guilty of aggravated robbery) was completely out of proportion. Sounds very interesting.

1340 - Creationists hack Darwin, Melissa Day Living Waters NZ

Then a curly one at 1340. I'll be speaking with (above) - they're a Christian church dedicated to evangelism - aka harping on about how awesome and right your religion is. Yesterday they were out in force on campuses around the country going all Kirk Cameron and handing out revised copies of Darwin's masterpiece "On the origin of species" - the scientific cornerstone of the study of evolution. The copies Melissa and her mates were handing out had a foreword written by the church founder Ray Comfort outlining the case for - you guessed it - intelligent design. They were hard at work because the poster-boy for creationism smack-downs, evolution biggie-ups and general questioning of ALL religion Richard Dawkins is speaking in Wellington tonight as part of their Arts festival. He's been challenged to a live debate by Ray Comfort many times, but has politely declined, saying it'd be like arguing with a flat-earther. O yes he did. Anyway, I'm not here to argue the finer points of evolution with Melissa (I suspect she won't be convinced), but to ask why they feel the need to piggy-back Darwin's work to sell their message.

ENDS

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