Players and Plonkers: sickbed edition

Is it that time again already? The end of another week? Then it's time to hand out the bouquets and the brickbats.

I've been in quarantine for the last two days (not swine flu, just a cold, but you can't be too careful) so I'll keep it brief.

Players of the week: The head honchos at BNZ for giving all their staff a day off so they can do charity work. Smooth move! Not only does it give a boost to our sadly deprived non-profit organizations, who are always after more volunteers, but it makes them look really good at a time when fingers are being pointed over the Government's failure to investigate high interest rates.

Plonkers of the week: Nick Smith and his team for the flurry of ACC changes (definite and proposed) announced this week. First they announced free physiotherapy treatment for accident victims would be discontinued as of November this year. Okay, on the face of it, ACC looks like it's saving big bucks. But without proper physio and rehab, isn't it likely we're about to have a whole lot more chronically ill people draining the system? And of course it means people who've been injured through no fault of their own get to cough up to get themselves back on their feet.

And then they proposed making drivers of older cars pay more in ACC levies than those who have newer, safer cars. Great - so first-time car owners, people on low incomes and others who can't afford a late-model vehicle get stung extra - does that seem fair? Do they think people own crappy cars because they like living dangerously?

Lastly, this week I'm awarding the Pick your battles award: to Maia Rongonui, the Christchurch teen convicted last year for the attempted rape of an Australian tourist. He was jailed for four years by a judge who was hesitant to give such a young man any jail time at all, and this week had his appeal heard in court. Instead of having his sentence reduced as he'd hoped, the Appeal Board noted he'd racked up 16 previous convictions - and increased his term to six years in prison.

Moral of the story: don't appeal your sentence when you got off lightly in the first place.

Submit your suggestions for players and plonkers in the comments!