Swiping cards has security under Fair Go spotlight
We recently stayed in a Wellington hotel where security was so great you couldn’t get to your room. One guest complained his deluxe suite was the lift.
Swipe cards failed to work, needed regular reactivating and only allowed you to get to your level. So, if members of your family were on another floor, you couldn’t reach them. And if they travelled up the lift with you to your room, you had to give them refugee status because they couldn’t get back.
The hotel was close to Parliament, so was ideal to hide MPS who wanted to evade the media. And there are plenty of them.
‘‘I’m willing to hold a press conference, but only in my hotel room.’’
‘‘We can’t get to you.’’ ‘‘That’s your problem.’’
The accommodation was better than the hotel under spotlight in
Fair Go (TV One, Mondays). A mother and daughter were robbed when they travelled to Auckland to attend a concert. While they slept, thieves accessed their apartment and stole wallets, cards and cash.
They then spent the money on something expensive. They went to a petrol station. Very soon, the Government’s going to rename our three islands leaded, unleaded and diesel.
The thieves were able to enter because they slept there the night before and their swipe card was still functioning. That’s scary. The mother and daughter weren’t able to get compensation until Fair Go intervened. Then they received half the amount.
At times like this, Fair Go provides a valuable service. The boss panics, calls risk management and payment is made. Fair Go makes the point that all rooms should contain an internal lock or a chain. Good suggestion. It would’ve prevented the crims entering the room and stealing possessions.
In the meantime, Auckland police are still seeking the shadowy figures caught on the hotel’s CCTV cameras. Don’t give up Fair Go.
Give us an updated report on Monday.
I have this scenario in my mind. ‘‘Minister, it’s Fair Go on the phone.’’
‘‘Call OPEC, reduce petrol prices and I’ll get back to them.’’
I was disappointed with Shop
Well For Less (TV One, Tuesdays). It was true to its title, but not much else. The Banks family overspent and maxed out their credit cards. Mum loved catalogues and was an impulsive buyer, dad owned nine laptops and tablets and filled the garage with knick-knacks. He had this knack of buying knicks. So Steph and Alex, the hosts of
Shop Well For Less, swept in. But instead of teaching Flo and John to budget or adopt a different lifestyle, they showed them lists of cheaper brands to buy. Meekly, the family agreed to everything except the two-ply toilet paper. That was wiped off the list.
In six months’ time, I can see Steph and Alex revisiting the family, only to find Flo ordering her fashion wardrobe from a cheaper catalogue and John cramming the garage with a North Korean laptop that has less capacity, but a longer memory of Kim Jong-un. It probably plays the national anthem every time you turn it on.
Sorry Shop Well For Less, you miss the point and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Congratulations to The AM
Show (TV3 Monday to Friday) on inviting Gemma Mccaw to join the team in Mark Richardson’s absence. We’ve seen her outrunning Richie and throwing him the shampoo in a TV commercial. Now, she’s been thrown the sporting segment. I’m sure she’ll garner praise.
I wonder if porridge, mixed grill, broad beans and apple crumble will ever appear on My Kitchen Rules
NZ (TV2, Sundays). If they do, they’ll be disguised by pretentious words that escaped from a Michelin recipe book.
I’m glad My Kitchen Rules NZ has returned. It has the right formula of Kiwi food, overcompetitive couples, hijacked markings, bitchy comments, dishes that would stupefy Nadia Lim and Pete and Manu sitting benignly at the top table.
The first couple to cook for the contestants were lovebirds Sindy and Roger. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They served ceviche with crispy tortillas, grilled ostrich, and rooibos with creme caramel crunchie. I think it was raw fish, bird, and tea bags with dessert.
The programme was thoroughly enjoyable. It wasn’t frantic like
Masterchef and allowed the chefs to cook their specialty and the contestants to meet, discuss and dismember each other.
The dessert was ‘‘an epic fail’’, said Jess, a contestant from Dunedin, who has set herself up to succeed and ignore the body count on her way to winning.
At the other extreme, Pat and Wilz, from O¯ potiki, were kind and generous. If they were a dish, they’d win.