Sam Uffindell’s defenders keep reminding us that he was only 16 at the time of the King’s College incident, and haven’t we all done things in our teens that, as adults, we look back on with shame and embarrassment? True. Let's be honest. Haven’t we all at one time or another, joined a gang and beaten a smaller, younger kid black and blue with wooden clubs? In that respect, Uffindell’s defenders on the streets of Tauranga risk sounding a bit like the psychiatrist Kargol played by Graham Chapman on Monty Python:

Kargol: How many of us can honestly say that at one time or another, he hasn't set fire to some great public building? I know I have.

Kargol: I mean, after all, there's something of the mouse in all of us. I mean, how many of us can honestly say that at one time or another he hasn't felt sexually attracted to mice? I know I have.

Some of the media commentary has also noted how the Uffindell saga has taken the shine off National’s good poll results and distracted us all from the unveiling of an important welfare policy at the recent National Patty conference. OK… So let's put the spotlight back on that welfare policy. It envisaged the hiring of private sector “job coaches” to shepherd unemployed 18-24 year olds into work, offer them bonus incentives if they stayed employed for a year, and impose penalties on them for non-compliance.

I know, I know… There seems to be dancing in the street whenever the brains trust down at National HQ manages to come up with an actual policy. However, as pointed out here, the job coaching policy was pretty underwhelming:

Wondering how the Nats can have a 2-day conf and the primary policy that comes out of it affects only 13,000 NZers… many of whom are on benefit due to sickness or disability anyway.

More to the point, this mooted approach is neither new, nor (on the evidence) likely to succeed. Basically, what Christopher Luxon unveiled as the centrepiece of his conference speech to the party faithful was almost identical to a programme trialled by the previous National government, and found to be seriously deficient. Here’s what Treasury said about the very similar “Youth Service: Not In Employment, Education or Training” [YS: NEET] programme back in 2017:

YS/NEET…is a government programme designed to encourage and assist disadvantaged 16-17 year olds to stay in education or training and improve their qualification attainment. Community organisations are contracted to undertake needs assessments and provide mentoring and support for these youth. [My emphasis : these are the “job coaches” Luxon was talking about.]The impacts of the programme are estimated by comparing the outcomes of participants with those of a matched comparison group of similar youth who did not participate.

Right. And here’s how that exercise turned out:

We find that YS: NEET raises the educational retention of participants in the first year, by up to 9 percentage points at peak. The proportion who complete a level 2 qualification is slightly raised, by around 2 percentage points.

Sounds good. But then came the Treasury kicker:

The programme appears to raise rather than lower participants' subsequent benefit receipt rates, and there is no improvement in their likelihood of being employed.

So, to repeat: …This was a remarkably similar programme to Luxon’s allegedly new big idea. Yet on its test run in 2017, the programme was found to actually increase the likelihood of a subsequent lapse back into benefit dependency, and led to no improvement in the likelihood that these disadvantaged young people would find jobs after their time on the programme had ended. Yet this is National’s “new” big idea for ending welfare dependency among young people?

Maybe Christopher Luxon should be asked to explain why his shiny new version of the NEETS/YS model that failed before under National, would be any more likely to succeed the next time around.

The diplomacy of arms sales

Remember US President Joe Biden’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia? Biden was the guest of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the guy who ordered the murder of the US citizen and journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The Biden visit to Riyadh came hot on the heels of his trip to Israel, where Biden had been the guest of an Israeli regime whose military had ordered the murder of the US citizen and journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. But all’s well that ends well for the US arms industry, at least.

In the wake of Biden’s visit, the US has sold a bunch of stuff:

The US announced… it had approved the potential sale of additional Patriot missiles and related equipment to Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at as much as $3.05 billion, just weeks after an awkward meeting between President Joe Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman…..Biden departed Saudi Arabia last month without a firm commitment for an increase in oil production that could ease pain at the gasoline pump…The alliance led by Saudi Arabia was more likely to keep output steady in September than agree on an increase.

Better luck for the US arms dealers though, with unloading the weaponry:

Saudi Arabia asked to buy 300 Patriot guidance-enhanced missiles, known as GEM-T, made by Raytheon Technologies Corp. Also included in the package are tools, test equipment, spare parts and logistics support for the tactical ballistic missiles…. The US also announced the potential sale to the United Arab Emirates of additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system missiles, THAAD fire control and communication stations, and related equipment for an estimated cost of $2.25 billion. Lockheed Martin Corp. is the main contractor for THAAD.

Those Saudis. How come they have enemies, when they have so many powerful friends willing to keep them safe at home and free to conduct their aggressive adventures abroad in the likes of Yemen, without fear of reprisal… Lest we forget, those friends in the past have included Air New Zealand, back when this forgetful guy was CEO of the airline.

Lamont Dozier, RIP

Lamont Dozier died this week at the age of 81. He was one third of the famed Holland/Dozier/Holland song-writing and production trio who were central figures in creating Motown’s golden era. Only Lennon/McCartney ever matched H/D/H’s output and incredible strike rate of hits and classic recordings.

The Supremes had been known jokingly around the Motown offices as the “no hit Supremes” until Lamont Dozier cajoled Diana Ross into recording their arrangement of one of their songs that she hated - “Where Did Our Love Go” - and they later wrote, arranged and produced ten other Supremes number one hits. Similarly, the “Heat Wave” hit they wrote and produced for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas not only gave the group its first top ten hit but -arguably – “Heat Wave” is an origin point for Northern soul, disco, and EDM. H/D/H were always eclectic geniuses. Eddie Holland once acknowledged the lyrics for the Vandellas brilliant early track “Come And Get These Memories” had been partly inspired by Loretta Lynn. At times, their arrangements utilised some of the martial elements from the Four Seasons early hits as well, suitably funked up.

So many other high points: “Road Runner” by Junior Walker. “ How Sweet It Is” by Marvin Gaye, “Baby, I Need Your Loving” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love” and a raft of other classic tracks by the Four Tops, “This Old Heart of Mine” by the Isleys. …The vocal by Levi Stubbs and the intricate arrangement that H/D/H constructed for the Four Tops “Reach Out I’ll Be There” culminated in one of the artistic high points of the classic Motown era. Even after H/D/H split with Motown over a royalties dispute, they had hits on their own Invictus label like Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold” and “Give Me Just a Little More Time’ by Chairmen of the Board, a group whose leader – General Johnson - was something of a Levi Stubbs soundalike.

To the extent that there was a division of labour, legend has it that Dozier mainly focussed on the riffs, hooks and rhythmic elements and Brian Holland on the melodies and vocal harmonies while Eddie Holland wrote lyrics and helped Brian arrange the vocals. On the Vandellas “Nowhere to Run” Eddie’s obsessive lyric is a perfect fit for the propulsive arrangement.

On the video for “ Nowhere To Run” below, an entire automobile is constructed by the workers on a Motor City production line while the group performs the lyrics in between, and around them. Detroit’s two greatest industries, working in unison. Many of Motown’s most successful vocalists were pop singers but as widely noted, Reeves could also when required, be an old school gospel belter :

More than once, Marvin Gaye claimed that H/D/H were making him sing too high in his range. Reportedly though, Gaye said the same thing to Norman Whitfield with respect to his mega-hit version of “ I Heard It Through the Grapevine” so…. What’d he know. On the early Motown hit “Can I Get a Witness” H/D/H took Gaye back to the church. The backing vocalists include the Supremes, with Florence Ballard particularly prominent:

After the bitter split with Motown, Dozier also had a moderately successful career as a soloist. This pop soul track from 1974 has a springy tune and arrangement, and a quietly despairing lyric that links the singer’s personal feelings of discontent to the decay of American values occurring under Richard Nixon. Dozer lived long enough to see worse, under Trump:

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