I thought I would be cheeky and group-source some ideas for a trip round West Coast/ Malborough. Must visit towns, places etc. Neither of us are enthusiastic walkers. An hour each way at the most (he said a little shamefully).
We are headed to the Wild Foods Festival In Hokitika then go have a look at Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers. Then we have a week or so to meander to Nelson. (I want to check out a few cideries and find any craft beer breweries).
not exactly what you are asking, but on the Coast slow down and spend more time in fewer places. If you find the really cool place to stay, then stay an extra night rather than trying to pack it all in. I've lived and worked in remote tourism places and it's the people that are moving more slowly and really getting a place that makes the connections special.
Too true weka. I have made that boo-boo once or twice before, cramming a lot into a small amount of time and you just feel like yr constantly leaving and driving.
From the suggestions that follow below, we are going to miss a few things. Good excuse to return though.
The Greymouth to Westport road is well worth an hour of your time, for the stunning coastal views and scenery alone, not to mention the drive itself. Stop at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki, about halfway between the two, for a 20 minute easy walk to the blowhole and back.
The seal colony in Tauranga bay can be got at from two directions. The cape foulwind lighthouse end trek is the longest and more difficult of the two, so look at doing the shorter easier walk.
If you do travel down/up the West coast I would recommend filling the car before you leave Westport/Greymouth & to check where the petrol stations are. As there are none from memory out of Westport and the first is just north of Greymouth.
Also the local galleries at Hokitika and Greymouth are worth spending time viewing local artists works and perhaps helping them out by purchasing 1 or 2.
We've enjoyed a few trips around The South in our Bus…and your " Neither of us are enthusiastic walkers. An hour each way at the most (he said a little shamefully)." caught my attention.
Had my man not broken his neck some fifty years ago he would have been an enthusiastic walker. In order to give him a wee taste of what others take for granted we have taken the Bus into the hinterlands and dragged the wheelchair as far as my strength will allow.
Standouts include "doing" both ends of the Heaphy Track. A river stopped us from the Kohaihai end…and sandflies just about airlifted us back to the Bus. You might as well check out the Oparara Arches on the way. The drive through the valley, (and a visit to the famous Bainham Store) and a drive across the very dodgy looking bridge knocked off the other end. And while you're in the vicinity a visit to Farewell Spit, Port Puponga and a diversion down the west coast through the Little Whanganui Harbour and on down to Paterau would be on our 'must do' list.
Walking the entire length of the Mole at Aramoana (after literally squeezing the wheelchair through the narrow gate) was fun…but seal shit does pong a bit and gets stuck in the tyre treads. Back in the day they built a wharf and railtrack to load ballast from the quarry a little way back towards Port Chalmers.
If you're taking a car, rather than a camper vehicle, do buy/beg/borrow a little tent and some very basic camping gear. DOC camps are all over the place, and though basic have what you need for a civilised overnight stay. Biggest mistake is rushing….as Weka says…slow down.
Good ideas above. For Marlborough, big selection of craft beers at Dodson's in Blenheim including the Renaissance Brewery beers next door; also enjoy his German style food
Visit the Omaka Aviation Museum for a great display of war planes. Take a ride on a steam train and visit the Marlborough Museum and displays at the Brayshaw Heritage Park.
The Sounds- worth a day from Havelock on the mail boat.
Walk for an hour round the Grovetown lagoon and count the swans and see other aquatic birds there or at the Wairau lagoon where you can also see forty kilometres of Māori dug canals and be on/near the site of Aotearoa's first Polynesian settlement.
Stop and see the Pou Whenua at the new bridge at the northern entrance to Blenheim and read the history of the area which is truer and more accurate than, shall we say, Michael Bassett's version of pre- and early European times.
Take a train trip to Kaikoura. Some of the best scenery in the world where mountains and sea are in close proximity- see whales and seal colonies. Craft beer brewery in Kaikoura.
Travel to Kaikoura from the West Coast via the Lewis pass, Hanmer with its hot springs and then via the Inland road to Kaikoura, then north to Blenheim. Nelson is then only 100 km away and return from there to Blenheim and Picton via Tophouse and the trip down the Wairau Valley.
Been here fifty years, and there's still stuff to see and do…..
Obviously, its retail and hospitality that will have the greatest impact in terms of unemployment. But still, I cant help but think we are going backwards in the evolution of equality for women.
Not only are they still earning less, they are also first to be "let go" as there is still the dinosaur belief that men are the bread winners.
So far I haven't seen anyone of the younger generation standing up to be counted on that issue. It was in times past the achievement of "boomers" and their mothers to make progress and it took decades to make inroads only to see this now eroded in a very fast pace.
when we stand up to say something about this 'inbalance' we are shut down with 'identity politics'.
We don't even mention that women have a higher unemployment rate, nor that on average we earn less, and in the current rejoicing about wages going up, we don't mention the fact that we have lost so many jobs on the bottom that the average goes up while nothing has actually changed, other then a lot of people – err women – have lost their low paid, part time, casual, temporary min wage jobs.
so as long as we can shut down discussions about parts of the population with calls of 'identity politics' it will not change.
Dude, So i guess you too don't want to talk about the fact that female unemployment is 1% higher then the national average (and that was 3 month ago at the seasonal peak of employment) and no one cares to comment on that fact. Nor the fact that women earn less while they work, and those that lost jobs may not even get any benefit at all cause they have a partner or family to pick up the slack, leaving said women totally at the mercy – yes mercy – of whom ever houses, feeds and clothes them and maybe even provides her with petty cash. And those women that are lucky to get a benefit need to bend themselves into a 12 pleat yeast bread in order to get them. And the fact that earning less will take care of us being poorer in old age, less likely to afford a mortgage, get decent health care and and and.
At the end of the day, let me put it plainly, it sucks.
If we only would! It sometimes feels like the 50's never stopped. The real bastard in all that is that, in todays climate you need 2 earners to live somewhat secure as a family and we wont even talk about singe women and the elderly who most likely have worked more than their fair share but have to continue because it would be bread and water under the bridge otherwise.
It will be the male population that will bring about the hunger games for the women and children with their demands being first to be met. Reality will soon enough bite.
Definitely been some improvements since the 50's – DPB means you can more easily leave violent and abusive relationships (though the imposition of state requirements by national and left in by labour has just transferred some of the abuse from the husband to the public/state), benefits got split in half so it didn't all go to the husband and it is no longer legal to rape or beat your wife.
But yeah lots of things that went forward have slipped backwards in recent years.
if i am not mistaken the Domestic Purpose Benefit was removed and now there is the Sole Parent benefit. And it is nothing more then a starvation / begging benefit.
if we want to know why women don't leave, the answer next to fear and no where to go is money. They generally have non, and before they get any of that sweet government largesse they really need to be in the deepest whole to be found.
lol Hosking will be pissed – clearly the government has decided they don't need the ZB audience for successful comms, and a slap in the face for ZB management who clearly haven’t managed Hosking well enough.
More generally, an interesting move – perhaps a harbinger that social media is regarded as more useful?
I think its a silly move. The only way to counter Hosking and his one sided commentary is to get on his show and give it to him. Like Jacinda generally did.
Now he gets to preach with no one from the 9th floor countering his bullshit.
Hosking has the biggest commercial breakfast audience in the country. The Prime Minister needs to be talking directly to that audience.
Except that she will be fronting his show as special issues or developments arise. It simply won't be a regular spot anymore and I think we'll find its going to be more or the less the same across all the broadcasting outlets.
Sounds sensible to me because she's got more important things to do in these days of uncertainty.
I shall give you a double thumbs up for your sentiments there Anne.
Hosking is a wasted space anyway. Since stating she will not appear on his show regularly now, Hosking has gone on a rant, accusing the PM of not wanting to be held to account. Pathetic and petulant on his part.
RNZ has by far the biggest morning audience. Hosking over-stepped the mark on numerous occasions last year with bullying and patronising questioning that amounted to misogyny.
I would guess that Prime Minsters department has raised the issue of his unacceptable behaviour with his employers and either they can't control Hosking (likely) or they couldn't come to an agreement on how these interviews were proceed in a civilised manner.
Either way, this decision would be driven by Hosking's behaviour rather than the PM's robustness to debate him.
breakfast radio very much like breakfast tv. most of the audience are only catching snippets as they do there morning routines. therefore to keep audience attention(for the advertisers,the really important part of the equation) the talking heads have to resort to shock jock tactics. while newdorkzb might be the biggest comical radio show, that is still a small percentage of the team of five million. no doubt, the p.m. department has done the sums, and pandering to sad old white whingers isnt a biggie. codgers like hoskings are on a downward spiral from nightly prime time tv to breakfast audio wallpaper to? midnight to dawn with mike lol.even granny seems to have given him the push. advertisers dont want to be associated with sour grippers, dont hear much talk of disintering banks, plunket etc.
The Prime Minister needs to be talking directly to that audience.
Hooray, the PM has realised that there's little point dignifying Hosking's "partisan hackery" with a response. An excellent decision, imho, and the shock jock's reaction confirms this – why have anything to do with such an oily tick, and a lightweight pimple-brain to boot.
The PM fronts press conferences and answers tough questions in the House, as no doubt she will tomorrow at 2 pm.
Judith Collins disparaged the PM today in a tweet- "all those tough questions". Judith Collins knows how to ask tough questions in the House, after all. "Does the PM stand by all her statements….?"
Oh, it's bias from the Speaker now being alleged, plus a good dose of mysogyny?
Questions in the House, general debates, written questions, press interviews, post Cabinet briefings, being out and about in the street and meeting constituents and the public, facebook discussions, public meetings with the local Chambers of Commerce.
Oh yeah, she's hiding alright. That meme has as much credibilty as media criticism causes earthquakes. Pffft, indeed.
no, wasting time and effort on a monday morning, only helps legitimize hoskings as someone important. much better to ignore him and talk directly to us.
I also wonder what effect this regular spot had on his behaviour. If it gave him a weekly reminder to tone it down and pretend to be a serious interviewer, left largely to his own devices I wonder if he go all John Banks and accidentally end his own career anytime soon.
That is the problem "Talk directly to us" So who determines the topics and who challenges the PM/govt as to what their actions are ? Or are you happy for the govt to control any and all messaging ? e.g. Sunday last night on the state of the fish stocks within the Hauraki Gulf – Minister declined opportunity to speak.
We are allowing our leaders IMO to hide and let the problems go away. Another example was our Fin Min pass on the housing problem to the reserve bank. Min Roberston you have been in this position for 3.5 years and had 9 years in opposition to formulate responses, and we belatedly get this !!!!
To many out there on the left – Just be wary what we accept today one day will pass to National.
dont think that any morning radio host has uncovered anything and made it stick . they might have ruffled a couple of feathers, but mostly its a wasted five minutes. to actually do anything worthwhile the interview needs to be 20 minutes plus, like morning report etc. hoskings morning phonecall is a soundbite, worth more to the shows advertisers than the gov(any gov).
I am sure about a year ago the owners of businesses benefited from Mike Hoskins insistence that council and govt agencies were feeding the PM and others fause info about the road works on Hobson street and that there was no remediation awarded to those business inconvienced by the continual works that limited foot traffic. From memory it was found that what the PM was being told regrading all businesses be communicated was not the case. Just 1 case of where the small people benefited from these morning phone calls.
"But, when pressed again on the issue yesterday, Twyford was unable to provide much detail as to what that meant.He told Newstalk yesterday that his advice from CRL was that it had been talking to affected businesses about the issue.
When asked how many, he said a "handful" bit was not able to answer with any more specificity as he didn't know."
I think once Mike Hoskins brought this to the attention of our PM eventually the matter progresses after as few weeks of having the PM having this brought to her attention.
Just 1 case of where the small people benefited from these morning phone calls.
If there was just one case over the course of a year, then either the "small people" (?) need a better shock jock than Hosking, or the legends of 'Teflon Jacinda' are true.
Ardern quickly dispelled any establishment fears that she was about to storm the citadels of capitalist power. For Ardern, ‘transformation’ merely means tinkering with the policy settings of neoliberalism, not overturning it. While this might still upset hard right wingers like Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, it has caused few ripples elsewhere.
Has Mike started whining about being 'cancelled' yet? As the holder of an extraordinarily powerful platform that is undeserved in the first place because it is not underpinned by any record of journalistic achievement, insight, investigation or even by mere rationality – it will he highly amusing if he does wheel out the "c" word.
The Prime Minister kept away from Sean Plunkett as well and he wheedled about it endlessly, delighting his wheedle audience but impressing those who voted for Labour and The Greens (if any were listening) not one whit! Peter Williams went full-wheedle when Grant Robertson said, "Sayonara" and probably won't stop until he too is retired from his position on Magic Radio (not a recommended listen).
It's the same old pattern of behaviour. The PM will have known/been advised that the gains from snubbing Hosking would be greater than any harm done. In my opinion.
I see Kate H has an opinion piece in the Herald which isn't paywalled, Headline "Why Jacinda and Meghan are the same" or some such nonsense. Didn't read as wouldn't want to give her a click.
Maybe Mike feels affronted that Meghan snubbed him and went with Oprah instead!!!s
How dare these women exercise some choice and control! Fancy snubbing Mike!
I was commenting last night as we watched the documentary regarding the health of the fishing stocks within the Auckland harbour and that how ministers do not front or make comment anymore. Not since Holmes and to a lesser extent Cambell did we have government ministers fronting, and the comment was passed that perhaps programmers should make time available to The Greens, Act and National to embarrass not fronting ministers to front and not hide (In the current govts case, the PM's cult of personality)
So who is to determine what "Instead, Ardern says she and and other ministers will now appear on the country's top-performing commercial radio show "as and when issues arise". covers or is warranted ?? FFS we really don't want to challenge any government to change do we 🤢
Will this government do anything to arrest the path that we are currently travelling down ??? We are left with such soft reporting as.
It's not the most pressing issue to face the world, but I love the way everyone is passing judgement on the Sussex's interview with Oprah Winfrey that nobody has yet seen.
Well let's face it – Harry and Megan's biggest sin is to expose the imperial fantasyland of pomp and pageantry inhabited by the UK ruling elites for the wizened fairyland of tat and tinsel it really is.
A small booklet was left in my letterbox called "National Sunday Law" and written by an American, A. Jan Marcussen. It's the most grotesque load of garbage I've ever seen. It revolves around a theory that “The Papacy” is really Satan and we are all going to die terrible deaths etc. etc. etc….
Its dangerous stuff and no doubt the kind of people who revel in such conspiracies are feeling enabled by recent developments in the US.
I'd be interested to know if the book is being spread elsewhere in NZ.
That's interesting Janice. I live in Auckland. Looks like it is being distributed widely. There are many gullible people out in the community and we have seen how much trouble and confusion they can cause. Indeed the ChCh massacre is a prime example of what can happen when stuff like that is allowed to spread far and wide.
I know it would be fraught with problems, but I think broader based legislation preventing the distribution of such damaging hate material – be it religious or whatever – is overdue.
Let me just stop you there Anne, but who are you claiming should not be able to distribute such material. Especially as most did not receieve it as a pamphlet from the Tamaki's (or their Church) but read it on RNZ. Should we prevent RNZ from writing about this incident?
Silencing/banning/deplatforming simply won't work. These tactics merely cast an aura of mystique … encouraging folk to actually go looking for such material. Oh the thrill!
(And I'm not entirely sure it is entirely PC these days to refer to folk as "raving lunatics". Akin to using 'retard' methinks.)
I got it in Wellington; I read enough to see that there was no obvious NZ organisation inviting people to enquire . . . then straight to recycling collection.
Yes Nickthenz there is a difference between Tvnz and RNZ and their worth to thinking people. Vive la difference. Long may it continue but beware says Tom Frewen about the dullards in politics who don't know the value of anything the country has but only what their salary and perks can buy.
On the state we are in with Radionz – Tom has written 1-5 series about this. Here is #5 which will lead you to others.
Got one in Queenstown RD too, which would have helped the RD contractor’s cashflow. So can presume most letterboxes in the country got one delivered (if the postie was conscientious) as well.
The world is probably pretty safe though, I found it the almost completely unreadable, so I doubt many would take much notice. Granted reading time waa less than time taken to walk directly to the recycling bin with the rest of the junk mail delivered that day.
Unbelievable. Brian Tamaki says the cause of the earthquakes and tsunami warnings was criticism of his fleeing Auckland.
Equally valid would be the assertion that the Bishop caused the earthquakes etc by fleeing Auckland……..
As for Marcussen's polemic, it arrived in Blenheim, too. It says that 36 million copies have been printed. That's big money.
Amused by the assertion of this Seventh Day Adventist minister that "Vicarius Filii Dei" adds up to 666, and that therefore the sign of the Beast applies to the Pope, I read that the name of the founder of his church, one Ellen Gould White, also adds up to 666.
That's as far as I want to go down that rabbit hole.
Tamaki's promoted himself to "Apostle", now? And seems to be claiming apostolic infallibility? It took hundreds of years for Catholicism to get to that level.
He'll be god by 2030, cult mass suicide a few years after that.
Frank Macskasy has put together a damn good, and rather convincing, citizen journalist style piece. He sent an OIA to the Ministry of Health and constructs his article around their reply and many other sources. Did you know about the Heartland Hotel Air NZ used in proximity to the airport, and certain cool stores linked to other COVID cases?
Yes I read that. Appears to confirm that AirNZ would rather run lax covid protocols than increase the number of people employed at relatively small cost so that quarantine can be correctly observed. After all it's so much more important that the bottom line is good and those executive bonuses keep flowing when the costs of covid in the hundreds of millions fall on the rest of the community.
It's frankly unbelievably selfish and at this point the majority shareholder could perhaps look at sacking the board and all the executive management.
NZ Taxpayers have contributed many millions over the years to the airline, including a $900 mill COVID loan, and Govt. still have 52% ownership–hopefully that means they should understand if they are read a “safety card” involving MIQs.
Maybe what would be good is to request all possible AirNZ executives to give thought to assisting the country by giving to the blood bank which is often in need. They are well paid and should be healthy and well fed and this is a thing that money can't buy, but goodwill provides. Put something back where the people need it I think. It would be a good look if the execs could give an example of caring to our needy nation.
Looks like the Americans proxy rabid dog israel is getting set to start WW3 with their anti Iranian threats about Irans non existant nukes. This is pure hypocrisy by a loose cannon nuclear weapon State.
Heart sinks once again about our poor standards of dealing with polluting waste. Our disdainful attitudes to the quality of management of our resources are irresponsible beyond understanding.
[Auckland University biotechnology researcher, Dr Emily] Frost, who studies plastic pollution, has herself picked up the clips from beaches in Wellington and the Firth of Thames.
Most cow stomachs are rendered to make fertiliser or animal feed. Because a small amount of plastic contamination is allowed in these byproducts, some of the clips get ground up with the offal in the rendering process, Frost says. The rest should be caught in freezing works' effluent traps. "But some are obviously getting through," she says.
A champion NZr for the environment! Perhaps every traveller can do a bit of picking up and have a bag ready for it like carrying a doggy bag?
Since early 2019, [Des] Watson’s been circumnavigating the country’s coastline, picking up rubbish to highlight the level of plastic pollution in our seas.
After collecting a small haul of oesophagus clips from Hawke’s Bay beaches last month, he rang the regional council’s pollution hotline. When he didn’t get any satisfactory answers, he rang the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
“MPI said they would investigate,” he says.
MPI did, but decided it’s a matter for regional councils to deal with.
A good snappy slogan for that answer from MPI – Bulldust and buck passing!
Your book in your own words: The Hollow Bones is based on the bizarre, true story of Ernst Schäfer, a little-known zoologist and explorer, who was chosen by Heinrich Himmler to lead an expedition of young German scientists into Tibet in 1938. Although their official aim was to explore the local flora and fauna, charting hitherto unmapped terrain, the secret reason behind their SS-funded mission was to find the true origins of the Nordic Aryan race, in a bid to claim more territory for the Reich.
The story brings together the perils of pseudoscience, cultural fascism, humankind’s relationship with nature and our obsession with the categorisation of all sentient beings. It explores the small missteps taken that lead to a slippery slope of perilous moral decline. At the heart of the book is the romance between Schäfer and his loyal childhood sweetheart, Herta, who becomes dangerously entangled in her lover’s obsession with furthering his own career. She is the true voice of compassion and beauty, a constant and uncomfortable reminder to Schäfer of the Faustian bargain he has struck.
What were you reading when you wrote it? I read widely while researching the novel. I was particularly taken by Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See and the way it examines the internal terrain of human beings caught up in the vagaries of war, exploring the moral choices they make.
She was cancelled, by an absolute majority, despite fronting the public with Ardern who answered her 'tough questions'. That same majority had access to Hosking's 'reckons', Hannah Tamaki's nuttiness, J-L Ross's stupidity, and Billy Te Kahika's sermons from a rabbit hole.
National's Judith Collins needs to be careful that the wind doesn't change and set her face permanently in a sour, aggrieved appearance. That old parents response to grizzly children actually applies to the whole Gnashional Party.
Now Judith is suggesting a report on the performance under the Covid19. Why? Anything that hasn't gone right should be tabled for discussion, but we don't want paralysis by analysis. This is a changing forward-moving situation, and unfortunately National is in reverse. Pity that their gears are stuck so they can't show relevance in these demanding times. And ACT their mouthpiece, flaps all the time yet isn't as useful as an airsock – don't take notice of it when landing on any policy!
Anyone see what Collins' eyebrows were doing when she said that?
“I think what you’re seeing is the absolute arrogance of this Government,” Collins told Magic Talk on Monday, echoing Hosking who said the Prime Minister was “running for the hills“.
I have as much respect for ‘shock jock Hosking‘ and Judith ‘Eyebrows‘ Collins has they have shown for PM Ardern. C’mon Hosking, you brought this on yourself – man up.
Yeah, nah. Collins is not cancelled. I see her face and reckons almost as much as I see Meghan Markle’s and she, at least, has a story to sell tell, I’ve been told (by the media). However, I’ve stopped almost completely paying any attention to National MPs and their Leader. Polemics with a parsnip are more entertaining and informative. Is National not overdue for another dead cat bounce on the table? Oh, the report is due tomorrow. Let’s leak it!
'Research firm Venture Insights points out that in south-east Australia’s 2019-20 bushfires, about 88% of the telecommunications outages were caused by loss of power outages and only 1% were due to direct fire damage, which implies that better power backups could significantly reduce outages.1'
After more than 1000 mobile towers and other facilities were disabled as a result of bushfires last summer, the Commonwealth Government announced a $37.1m funding package to strengthen telco resilience, including $10m for the Mobile Blackspot Program and battery backup solutions.
Repairs to damaged power lines can take time, especially if many poles must be replaced. So, battery backup solutions are important for maintaining communications in times of disaster.
The key to a successful backup battery solution is an Uninterruptible Power supply (UPS), which is an on-demand, instant switch battery back-up.
New Zealand trailer boat builders are experiencing their best times ever, but it does come at a cost for consumers. Order a boat today from a dealer, and you are probably going to be waiting 12 months or, in some cases, 18 months more before you get it.
We are all aware that boat sales, like cars, houses, and swimming pools, have gone ballistic, and when you walk into a boatyard these days, it's hard to find a new boat on display. Plus, if it is, then it's almost guaranteed that it is already sold and await fitout. I talked to several manufacturers last week about their current build situation, and almost everyone had the same answer…maxed out till next year.
Engine, electronics, and marine equipment suppliers are also reporting delays in obtaining stock, which certainly impacts the boat builders. Air freighting parts to enable a boat to be finished adds cost, and somewhere along the chain, that has to be added into the charges.
I read somewhere that it was estimated that somewhere around $NZ18 billion had stayed in the country due to Covid-19 and closed borders. I am not sure that was correct, but I know how much I have not spent on overseas trips. I can't say saved, as my wife did find ways of spending it, such as a new bed, bathroom and travels around the country."
Oh my God, if you want an example of a bitter piece of writing from a bewildered boomer reduced to waving his fist at clouds as he struggles with being sidelined for the first time in his life then I can give you Barry Soper…
Agree. I find it ironic that the iconic commentator Soper commits an obvious English error in the very paragraph where he snidely snipes at her degree in communications.
"Having worked with the past 10 prime ministers, Jacinda Ardern would be the most removed from the media than any of them." No, Barry Soper – Jacinda Ardern has not worked with the past ten PMs.
Soper was trying to say that he himself had done so, but incompetently ignored the rule that following a participial clause should be the subject of that clause. He should have written, "Having worked with the past 10 prime ministers, I would place JA as…"
Poor quality language as well as biased analysis.
A similar error –
“As a Leftie, Soper is wrong”
“As a Leftie. I think Soper is wrong.”
Soper is not a Leftie, so the first example is very poor use of language, like Soper’s.
The second example is correct.
soper hasnt "worked with the last ten P.M.s'" running around, after a poli, and interviewing your keyboard isnt working with a P.M. Im sure if you asked those ten P.M.s about their working relationship with soper, they would all say, :who?: way to talk yourself up. must be contract renewal time.
Since we're being critical of one whose career is writing, how's this paragraph of Soper's for making one sentence out of two?
"She's commanded the Covid pulpit to such an extent that the virus has become her security blanket, without it she'd be forced to face the reality that her Government has been moribund."
Two main clauses joined by a comma. Tsk tsk.
What of course is worse is the claim that this government would be moribund without Covid-19.
What a stupid statement. This government would be far down the track of social reform without having had to deal with a disease that has killed half a million Americans.
To what country in the world can Soper point that has managed to keep its citizens safe, its economy running and carry out meaningful social reform.
For God's sake, keeping the pandemic controlled and lives saved is a huge social achievement.
What does the US Preamble say? "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
And the first is? Life.
How do 500,000 Americans enjoy liberty and the pursuit of happiness in their Covid graves, without life?
Soper says 'moribund' . The word comes from the Latin for death and means dying or expiring, at the point of death.
Soper is hyper-exaggerating, and has joined others of the media fraternity, journalists, political commentators and party spin merchants in a new attack orchestrated by last year's defeated pundits upon the PM.
Surprise, surprise. It has to happen, but let's recognise it when it occurs.
"She's commanded the Covid pulpit to such an extent that the virus has become her security blanket, without it she'd be forced to face the reality that her Government has been moribund."
Ahhh… but dunnit sound awful good. Real clever hyperbole – Covid pulpit, securityblanket, moribund. So impressive. 🙄
Btw, he hasn't joined other of the media fraternity… he was one of the founders some 25 -30 years ago.
I missed the egregious run-on sentence because I was so outrageously aggrieved by the misrelated participial clause.
I think what he meant to write was: ",without which' instead of what he did write.
Can't even proof-read his own rubbish before he sends it in, and, obviously, the Herald can no longer afford to hire good proof-readers. (Unless the humble proof-readers dare not question the linguistic excellence of the most elevated Barry Soper..)
Yes, obviously, the hyper-exaggerated emotive terms are what counts for approval, and good language no longer counts.
Soper seems pissed off that Ardern hasn't established some sort of 'old boys club' way of working, cosying up to the likes of him, "Jacinda Ardern would be the most removed from the media than any of them. (The 10 previous Prime Ministers.)
"All of her predecessors got to know the parliamentary media by inviting them to their ninth floor Beehive office, at least a couple of times a year. It puts a human face on the public performer."
How unsettling, things are being done differently.
The boys, Hosking and Soper are throwing little NZME tanties.
'The Prime Minister's press conferences usually begin with a sermon – it took eight minutes for her to get to the fact that she was moving the country down an alert level last Friday. When it comes to Question Time in Parliament her forearm stiffens and her hand flicks to those she'll take a question from. Some of us are left barking from the sidelines."
It must be terrible to be his age and be pissed off because you're not teacher's pet. At least he got part of it petulant.
Given that a lot of the MSM used to feel like the Nat party PR machine – I can understand why the "best buddies " schtick isn't quite where Labour is at. So why does that surprise our Barry?
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
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"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
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Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
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As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
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The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
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When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
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I thought I would be cheeky and group-source some ideas for a trip round West Coast/ Malborough. Must visit towns, places etc. Neither of us are enthusiastic walkers. An hour each way at the most (he said a little shamefully).
We are headed to the Wild Foods Festival In Hokitika then go have a look at Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers. Then we have a week or so to meander to Nelson. (I want to check out a few cideries and find any craft beer breweries).
Thanks, in advance for any input.
not exactly what you are asking, but on the Coast slow down and spend more time in fewer places. If you find the really cool place to stay, then stay an extra night rather than trying to pack it all in. I've lived and worked in remote tourism places and it's the people that are moving more slowly and really getting a place that makes the connections special.
+1
Too true weka. I have made that boo-boo once or twice before, cramming a lot into a small amount of time and you just feel like yr constantly leaving and driving.
From the suggestions that follow below, we are going to miss a few things. Good excuse to return though.
The Greymouth to Westport road is well worth an hour of your time, for the stunning coastal views and scenery alone, not to mention the drive itself. Stop at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki, about halfway between the two, for a 20 minute easy walk to the blowhole and back.
Pancake rocks
The Great Coast Road
The seal colony in Tauranga bay can be got at from two directions. The cape foulwind lighthouse end trek is the longest and more difficult of the two, so look at doing the shorter easier walk.
Cape Foulwind seal colony
Could try:
https://www.aa.co.nz/travel/must-dos-this-summer/cross-the-buller-river-on-new-zealands-longest-swing-bridge/
About Cometline and Supaman Ride https://bullergorge.co.nz/
https://blackballhilton.co.nz/
Hokitika – https://treetopsnz.com/
Blenheim – Omaka Aerodrome Planes https://www.omaka.org.nz/
Hanmer Springs has lovely walks and horse riding too I think
The swingbridge and supaman look thrilling but not too much for me.
A Jamboree or two ago, at Blenheim I got to go to Omaka. It was great, highly recommended.
Second the Blackball Hilton and when you are in Blackball don't forget to try some Blackball salami
https://www.blackballsalami.co.nz/contact.php
Forgot to mention the West Coast Brewery in Westport.
They do tours (link on the website) but I believe it's by advance booking rather than walk ins.
Not boutique but Monteith’s are in Greymouth and do tours
https://www.thebrewery.co.nz
And Reefton Distilling are in, guess? Reefton
https://www.reeftondistillingco.com
Punakaiki is on our list as is Cape Foulwind. The West Coast Brewery is a new addition to the itinerary.
Thanks Al1en.
This place used to be a great cafe across the bay from the seal colony – looks like you can stay there now: https://www.bayhouse.co.nz/
Pancake rocks are worth a visit, specially now with lower visitor numbers.
I prefer the Pororari River Track just north of it though.
If you do travel down/up the West coast I would recommend filling the car before you leave Westport/Greymouth & to check where the petrol stations are. As there are none from memory out of Westport and the first is just north of Greymouth.
Also the local galleries at Hokitika and Greymouth are worth spending time viewing local artists works and perhaps helping them out by purchasing 1 or 2.
You will be amazed at how much land is being converted to hops around Tapawera and now starting in Murchison.
Townshend Brewery and taproom located in grounds of Toad Hall cafe in Motueka. Best beer outside the UK imo. Cafe is pretty good too.
Hop Federation brewery and tasting room just outside Motueka at Riwaka.
Free House Nelson – awesome beers on tap in an old church.
Eddyline Brewery and Pizzeria between Richmond and Nelson.
We always go to Eddyline for a beer and pizza after a walk / run. Recommended.
The hop harvest has come up once or twice. I'm keen to check the hops out.
We are familiar with The Free House from previous cider festivals.
Thanks for the heads-up of Hop Federation and Eddyline.
We've enjoyed a few trips around The South in our Bus…and your " Neither of us are enthusiastic walkers. An hour each way at the most (he said a little shamefully)." caught my attention.
Had my man not broken his neck some fifty years ago he would have been an enthusiastic walker. In order to give him a wee taste of what others take for granted we have taken the Bus into the hinterlands and dragged the wheelchair as far as my strength will allow.
Standouts include "doing" both ends of the Heaphy Track. A river stopped us from the Kohaihai end…and sandflies just about airlifted us back to the Bus. You might as well check out the Oparara Arches on the way. The drive through the valley, (and a visit to the famous Bainham Store) and a drive across the very dodgy looking bridge knocked off the other end. And while you're in the vicinity a visit to Farewell Spit, Port Puponga and a diversion down the west coast through the Little Whanganui Harbour and on down to Paterau would be on our 'must do' list.
Walking the entire length of the Mole at Aramoana (after literally squeezing the wheelchair through the narrow gate) was fun…but seal shit does pong a bit and gets stuck in the tyre treads. Back in the day they built a wharf and railtrack to load ballast from the quarry a little way back towards Port Chalmers.
If you're taking a car, rather than a camper vehicle, do buy/beg/borrow a little tent and some very basic camping gear. DOC camps are all over the place, and though basic have what you need for a civilised overnight stay. Biggest mistake is rushing….as Weka says…slow down.
Enjoy.
Good ideas above. For Marlborough, big selection of craft beers at Dodson's in Blenheim including the Renaissance Brewery beers next door; also enjoy his German style food
Visit the Omaka Aviation Museum for a great display of war planes. Take a ride on a steam train and visit the Marlborough Museum and displays at the Brayshaw Heritage Park.
The Sounds- worth a day from Havelock on the mail boat.
Walk for an hour round the Grovetown lagoon and count the swans and see other aquatic birds there or at the Wairau lagoon where you can also see forty kilometres of Māori dug canals and be on/near the site of Aotearoa's first Polynesian settlement.
Stop and see the Pou Whenua at the new bridge at the northern entrance to Blenheim and read the history of the area which is truer and more accurate than, shall we say, Michael Bassett's version of pre- and early European times.
Take a train trip to Kaikoura. Some of the best scenery in the world where mountains and sea are in close proximity- see whales and seal colonies. Craft beer brewery in Kaikoura.
Travel to Kaikoura from the West Coast via the Lewis pass, Hanmer with its hot springs and then via the Inland road to Kaikoura, then north to Blenheim. Nelson is then only 100 km away and return from there to Blenheim and Picton via Tophouse and the trip down the Wairau Valley.
Been here fifty years, and there's still stuff to see and do…..
Thanks Mac, Rosemary and Stuart, plenty to choose from.
Looks like more wage slavery for me as this trip has used up all my annual leave…
The Last Resort in Karamea is worth a visit.
Obviously, its retail and hospitality that will have the greatest impact in terms of unemployment. But still, I cant help but think we are going backwards in the evolution of equality for women.
Not only are they still earning less, they are also first to be "let go" as there is still the dinosaur belief that men are the bread winners.
So far I haven't seen anyone of the younger generation standing up to be counted on that issue. It was in times past the achievement of "boomers" and their mothers to make progress and it took decades to make inroads only to see this now eroded in a very fast pace.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300244506/were-all-in-this-together-but-women-taking-the-burden
when we stand up to say something about this 'inbalance' we are shut down with 'identity politics'.
We don't even mention that women have a higher unemployment rate, nor that on average we earn less, and in the current rejoicing about wages going up, we don't mention the fact that we have lost so many jobs on the bottom that the average goes up while nothing has actually changed, other then a lot of people – err women – have lost their low paid, part time, casual, temporary min wage jobs.
so as long as we can shut down discussions about parts of the population with calls of 'identity politics' it will not change.
Wouldn't that be the same identity politics that shuts women down for wanting to be women and treated with equality?
Dude, So i guess you too don't want to talk about the fact that female unemployment is 1% higher then the national average (and that was 3 month ago at the seasonal peak of employment) and no one cares to comment on that fact. Nor the fact that women earn less while they work, and those that lost jobs may not even get any benefit at all cause they have a partner or family to pick up the slack, leaving said women totally at the mercy – yes mercy – of whom ever houses, feeds and clothes them and maybe even provides her with petty cash. And those women that are lucky to get a benefit need to bend themselves into a 12 pleat yeast bread in order to get them. And the fact that earning less will take care of us being poorer in old age, less likely to afford a mortgage, get decent health care and and and.
At the end of the day, let me put it plainly, it sucks.
If we only would! It sometimes feels like the 50's never stopped. The real bastard in all that is that, in todays climate you need 2 earners to live somewhat secure as a family and we wont even talk about singe women and the elderly who most likely have worked more than their fair share but have to continue because it would be bread and water under the bridge otherwise.
It will be the male population that will bring about the hunger games for the women and children with their demands being first to be met. Reality will soon enough bite.
Definitely been some improvements since the 50's – DPB means you can more easily leave violent and abusive relationships (though the imposition of state requirements by national and left in by labour has just transferred some of the abuse from the husband to the public/state), benefits got split in half so it didn't all go to the husband and it is no longer legal to rape or beat your wife.
But yeah lots of things that went forward have slipped backwards in recent years.
if i am not mistaken the Domestic Purpose Benefit was removed and now there is the Sole Parent benefit. And it is nothing more then a starvation / begging benefit.
see here https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/benefit-rates/benefit-rates-april-2020.html#null
if we want to know why women don't leave, the answer next to fear and no where to go is money. They generally have non, and before they get any of that sweet government largesse they really need to be in the deepest whole to be found.
have a feeling Mike will be stewing. Hell has no fury like a narcissist/rich man scorned
lol Hosking will be pissed – clearly the government has decided they don't need the ZB audience for successful comms, and a slap in the face for ZB management who clearly haven’t managed Hosking well enough.
More generally, an interesting move – perhaps a harbinger that social media is regarded as more useful?
I think its a silly move. The only way to counter Hosking and his one sided commentary is to get on his show and give it to him. Like Jacinda generally did.
Now he gets to preach with no one from the 9th floor countering his bullshit.
Hosking has the biggest commercial breakfast audience in the country. The Prime Minister needs to be talking directly to that audience.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/commercial-radio-ratings-newstalk-zb-and-zm-hit-highest-ever-audiences/2IX4YG6YO4L24HSC4UP2PAAKCQ/
Except that she will be fronting his show as special issues or developments arise. It simply won't be a regular spot anymore and I think we'll find its going to be more or the less the same across all the broadcasting outlets.
Sounds sensible to me because she's got more important things to do in these days of uncertainty.
I shall give you a double thumbs up for your sentiments there Anne.
Hosking is a wasted space anyway. Since stating she will not appear on his show regularly now, Hosking has gone on a rant, accusing the PM of not wanting to be held to account. Pathetic and petulant on his part.
Well done Jacinda. A poke in the eye for Hosking!
"she will be fronting his show".
Just how will that work do you think? Will she simply demand the time or will she have to plead with him to be allowed on?
Husk's producers will beg for it in order to keep up the pretense that he's a news personality rather than a shock jock.
It is a silly move.
I tuned in to that part of the show to hear the PM give her views in what was one of the very few unscripted regular appearances the PM gives.
DNFTT.
RNZ has by far the biggest morning audience. Hosking over-stepped the mark on numerous occasions last year with bullying and patronising questioning that amounted to misogyny.
I would guess that Prime Minsters department has raised the issue of his unacceptable behaviour with his employers and either they can't control Hosking (likely) or they couldn't come to an agreement on how these interviews were proceed in a civilised manner.
Either way, this decision would be driven by Hosking's behaviour rather than the PM's robustness to debate him.
Hosking has the biggest commercial breakfast audience in the country.
Christ, that's a sad and depressing statistic. There truly is no hope for us.
breakfast radio very much like breakfast tv. most of the audience are only catching snippets as they do there morning routines. therefore to keep audience attention(for the advertisers,the really important part of the equation) the talking heads have to resort to shock jock tactics. while newdorkzb might be the biggest comical radio show, that is still a small percentage of the team of five million. no doubt, the p.m. department has done the sums, and pandering to sad old white whingers isnt a biggie. codgers like hoskings are on a downward spiral from nightly prime time tv to breakfast audio wallpaper to? midnight to dawn with mike lol.even granny seems to have given him the push. advertisers dont want to be associated with sour grippers, dont hear much talk of disintering banks, plunket etc.
Hooray, the PM has realised that there's little point dignifying Hosking's "partisan hackery" with a response. An excellent decision, imho, and the shock jock's reaction confirms this – why have anything to do with such an oily tick, and a lightweight pimple-brain to boot.
The PM fronts press conferences and answers tough questions in the House, as no doubt she will tomorrow at 2 pm.
Judith Collins disparaged the PM today in a tweet- "all those tough questions". Judith Collins knows how to ask tough questions in the House, after all. "Does the PM stand by all her statements….?"
Don't forget, in the house she has Mallard to protect her.
pfft.
Nice excuse for the opposition's crap performance, I guess
Oh, it's bias from the Speaker now being alleged, plus a good dose of mysogyny?
Questions in the House, general debates, written questions, press interviews, post Cabinet briefings, being out and about in the street and meeting constituents and the public, facebook discussions, public meetings with the local Chambers of Commerce.
Oh yeah, she's hiding alright. That meme has as much credibilty as media criticism causes earthquakes. Pffft, indeed.
I have to say, Ardern does do a lot less overseas travelling than her predecessors. Why fly when you can Zoom?
I agree, I think it is silly of her to cancel. She needs to be better prepared and actually answer questions and 'give it to him' as you say.
no, wasting time and effort on a monday morning, only helps legitimize hoskings as someone important. much better to ignore him and talk directly to us.
I also wonder what effect this regular spot had on his behaviour. If it gave him a weekly reminder to tone it down and pretend to be a serious interviewer, left largely to his own devices I wonder if he go all John Banks and accidentally end his own career anytime soon.
That is the problem "Talk directly to us" So who determines the topics and who challenges the PM/govt as to what their actions are ? Or are you happy for the govt to control any and all messaging ? e.g. Sunday last night on the state of the fish stocks within the Hauraki Gulf – Minister declined opportunity to speak.
We are allowing our leaders IMO to hide and let the problems go away. Another example was our Fin Min pass on the housing problem to the reserve bank. Min Roberston you have been in this position for 3.5 years and had 9 years in opposition to formulate responses, and we belatedly get this !!!!
To many out there on the left – Just be wary what we accept today one day will pass to National.
dont think that any morning radio host has uncovered anything and made it stick . they might have ruffled a couple of feathers, but mostly its a wasted five minutes. to actually do anything worthwhile the interview needs to be 20 minutes plus, like morning report etc. hoskings morning phonecall is a soundbite, worth more to the shows advertisers than the gov(any gov).
I am sure about a year ago the owners of businesses benefited from Mike Hoskins insistence that council and govt agencies were feeding the PM and others fause info about the road works on Hobson street and that there was no remediation awarded to those business inconvienced by the continual works that limited foot traffic. From memory it was found that what the PM was being told regrading all businesses be communicated was not the case. Just 1 case of where the small people benefited from these morning phone calls.
"But, when pressed again on the issue yesterday, Twyford was unable to provide much detail as to what that meant.He told Newstalk yesterday that his advice from CRL was that it had been talking to affected businesses about the issue.
When asked how many, he said a "handful" bit was not able to answer with any more specificity as he didn't know."
I think once Mike Hoskins brought this to the attention of our PM eventually the matter progresses after as few weeks of having the PM having this brought to her attention.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/delayed-city-rail-link-taking-enormous-toll-on-businesses-impacted-by-its-construction/F5H27YDGNZW7AXFDRW7TZ4X56I/
If there was just one case over the course of a year, then either the "small people" (?) need a better shock jock than Hosking, or the legends of 'Teflon Jacinda' are true.
It's not like Ardern has just invented the concept of not continuing previously-frequent interview slots.
John Key with Morning Report, and Helen Clark with John Campbell post-corngate come to mind.
Has Mike started whining about being 'cancelled' yet? As the holder of an extraordinarily powerful platform that is undeserved in the first place because it is not underpinned by any record of journalistic achievement, insight, investigation or even by mere rationality – it will he highly amusing if he does wheel out the "c" word.
The Prime Minister kept away from Sean Plunkett as well and he wheedled about it endlessly, delighting his wheedle audience but impressing those who voted for Labour and The Greens (if any were listening) not one whit! Peter Williams went full-wheedle when Grant Robertson said, "Sayonara" and probably won't stop until he too is retired from his position on Magic Radio (not a recommended listen).
It's the same old pattern of behaviour. The PM will have known/been advised that the gains from snubbing Hosking would be greater than any harm done. In my opinion.
I see Kate H has an opinion piece in the Herald which isn't paywalled, Headline "Why Jacinda and Meghan are the same" or some such nonsense. Didn't read as wouldn't want to give her a click.
Maybe Mike feels affronted that Meghan snubbed him and went with Oprah instead!!!s
How dare these women exercise some choice and control! Fancy snubbing Mike!
Oh dear, what a shame, never mind!
I was commenting last night as we watched the documentary regarding the health of the fishing stocks within the Auckland harbour and that how ministers do not front or make comment anymore. Not since Holmes and to a lesser extent Cambell did we have government ministers fronting, and the comment was passed that perhaps programmers should make time available to The Greens, Act and National to embarrass not fronting ministers to front and not hide (In the current govts case, the PM's cult of personality)
So who is to determine what "Instead, Ardern says she and and other ministers will now appear on the country's top-performing commercial radio show "as and when issues arise". covers or is warranted ?? FFS we really don't want to challenge any government to change do we 🤢
Will this government do anything to arrest the path that we are currently travelling down ??? We are left with such soft reporting as.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/irish-schoolgirls-letter-from-new-zealand-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern/5I7OFM6BXTXI2DUSO7DFXAUEH4/
It's not the most pressing issue to face the world, but I love the way everyone is passing judgement on the Sussex's interview with Oprah Winfrey that nobody has yet seen.
No one has even seen….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_j35t3GCsk&ab_channel=JoshPieters%26ArchieManners
Lols.
Personally looking forward to the US west coast MSM steamrolling the British MSM – with the US backing its adopted own to the hilt.
This is going to be Independence Day redux.
Well let's face it – Harry and Megan's biggest sin is to expose the imperial fantasyland of pomp and pageantry inhabited by the UK ruling elites for the wizened fairyland of tat and tinsel it really is.
Picked up on this:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/brian-tamaki-suggests-criticism-his-lockdown-flee-caused-earthquakes-tsunami-warnings
And talking of raving lunatics:
A small booklet was left in my letterbox called "National Sunday Law" and written by an American, A. Jan Marcussen. It's the most grotesque load of garbage I've ever seen. It revolves around a theory that “The Papacy” is really Satan and we are all going to die terrible deaths etc. etc. etc….
Its dangerous stuff and no doubt the kind of people who revel in such conspiracies are feeling enabled by recent developments in the US.
I'd be interested to know if the book is being spread elsewhere in NZ.
I got one in Waiuku. It went straight in the recycling as I realised that there must be conservative religious money behind it.
That's interesting Janice. I live in Auckland. Looks like it is being distributed widely. There are many gullible people out in the community and we have seen how much trouble and confusion they can cause. Indeed the ChCh massacre is a prime example of what can happen when stuff like that is allowed to spread far and wide.
I know it would be fraught with problems, but I think broader based legislation preventing the distribution of such damaging hate material – be it religious or whatever – is overdue.
Let me just stop you there Anne, but who are you claiming should not be able to distribute such material. Especially as most did not receieve it as a pamphlet from the Tamaki's (or their Church) but read it on RNZ. Should we prevent RNZ from writing about this incident?
Sorry, meant TVNZ not RNZ.
Don’t think you correctly read my comment @ 5.
….but I think broader based legislation preventing the distribution of such damaging hate material – be it religious or whatever – is overdue.
I guess you're going to sit in judgement as to what constitutes 'damaging hate material'? You'd start with the Book itself, right?
https://www.gotquestions.org/Lots-daughters.html
The bigger threat is that twerp Hoskings enjoying such popularity.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-03-2021/#comment-1782246
Silencing/banning/deplatforming simply won't work. These tactics merely cast an aura of mystique … encouraging folk to actually go looking for such material. Oh the thrill!
(And I'm not entirely sure it is entirely PC these days to refer to folk as "raving lunatics". Akin to using 'retard' methinks.)
Riverton too.
It was distributed in Wellington as well a couple of weeks ago.
I got it in Wellington; I read enough to see that there was no obvious NZ organisation inviting people to enquire . . . then straight to recycling collection.
Yes Nickthenz there is a difference between Tvnz and RNZ and their worth to thinking people. Vive la difference. Long may it continue but beware says Tom Frewen about the dullards in politics who don't know the value of anything the country has but only what their salary and perks can buy.
On the state we are in with Radionz – Tom has written 1-5 series about this. Here is #5 which will lead you to others.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2103/S00022/concert-bungle-the-sequel-part-5.htm
Got one in Queenstown RD too, which would have helped the RD contractor’s cashflow. So can presume most letterboxes in the country got one delivered (if the postie was conscientious) as well.
The world is probably pretty safe though, I found it the almost completely unreadable, so I doubt many would take much notice. Granted reading time waa less than time taken to walk directly to the recycling bin with the rest of the junk mail delivered that day.
Judging by the above posts that is a lot of copies distributed over a wide area. It can't have been cheap so who on earth actually funded it?
Unbelievable. Brian Tamaki says the cause of the earthquakes and tsunami warnings was criticism of his fleeing Auckland.
Equally valid would be the assertion that the Bishop caused the earthquakes etc by fleeing Auckland……..
As for Marcussen's polemic, it arrived in Blenheim, too. It says that 36 million copies have been printed. That's big money.
Amused by the assertion of this Seventh Day Adventist minister that "Vicarius Filii Dei" adds up to 666, and that therefore the sign of the Beast applies to the Pope, I read that the name of the founder of his church, one Ellen Gould White, also adds up to 666.
That's as far as I want to go down that rabbit hole.
Tamaki's promoted himself to "Apostle", now? And seems to be claiming apostolic infallibility? It took hundreds of years for Catholicism to get to that level.
He'll be god by 2030, cult mass suicide a few years after that.
I always thought there was a resemblance.
Yep.
I'm not even joking. The dude is claiming to be one step (on water) away from Jesus, and once you're god then the only way to go is down.
Yes, I got it too. I thought it was from Brash and the Brethren. Haven’t looked at it yet.
lol they're in bed again?
I think it might be a friendship with benefits.
Air NZ link to recent COVID outbreaks?
Frank Macskasy has put together a damn good, and rather convincing, citizen journalist style piece. He sent an OIA to the Ministry of Health and constructs his article around their reply and many other sources. Did you know about the Heartland Hotel Air NZ used in proximity to the airport, and certain cool stores linked to other COVID cases?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/03/08/does-oia-evidence-confirm-possible-air-nz-link-to-recent-covid-outbreaks/
Yes I read that. Appears to confirm that AirNZ would rather run lax covid protocols than increase the number of people employed at relatively small cost so that quarantine can be correctly observed. After all it's so much more important that the bottom line is good and those executive bonuses keep flowing when the costs of covid in the hundreds of millions fall on the rest of the community.
It's frankly unbelievably selfish and at this point the majority shareholder could perhaps look at sacking the board and all the executive management.
NZ Taxpayers have contributed many millions over the years to the airline, including a $900 mill COVID loan, and Govt. still have 52% ownership–hopefully that means they should understand if they are read a “safety card” involving MIQs.
Maybe what would be good is to request all possible AirNZ executives to give thought to assisting the country by giving to the blood bank which is often in need. They are well paid and should be healthy and well fed and this is a thing that money can't buy, but goodwill provides. Put something back where the people need it I think. It would be a good look if the execs could give an example of caring to our needy nation.
why was this isolation facility secret? Heartland Hotel? And do we have other secret isolation facilities?
Looks like the Americans proxy rabid dog israel is getting set to start WW3 with their anti Iranian threats about Irans non existant nukes. This is pure hypocrisy by a loose cannon nuclear weapon State.
Heart sinks once again about our poor standards of dealing with polluting waste. Our disdainful attitudes to the quality of management of our resources are irresponsible beyond understanding.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/437878/plastic-clips-from-freezing-works-washing-up-on-beaches
[Auckland University biotechnology researcher, Dr Emily] Frost, who studies plastic pollution, has herself picked up the clips from beaches in Wellington and the Firth of Thames.
Most cow stomachs are rendered to make fertiliser or animal feed. Because a small amount of plastic contamination is allowed in these byproducts, some of the clips get ground up with the offal in the rendering process, Frost says.
The rest should be caught in freezing works' effluent traps.
"But some are obviously getting through," she says.
A champion NZr for the environment! Perhaps every traveller can do a bit of picking up and have a bag ready for it like carrying a doggy bag?
Since early 2019, [Des] Watson’s been circumnavigating the country’s coastline, picking up rubbish to highlight the level of plastic pollution in our seas.
After collecting a small haul of oesophagus clips from Hawke’s Bay beaches last month, he rang the regional council’s pollution hotline. When he didn’t get any satisfactory answers, he rang the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
“MPI said they would investigate,” he says.
MPI did, but decided it’s a matter for regional councils to deal with.
A good snappy slogan for that answer from MPI – Bulldust and buck passing!
This book sounds interesting.
Leah Kaminsky
The Hollow Bones
Vintage
Your book in your own words: The Hollow Bones is based on the bizarre, true story of Ernst Schäfer, a little-known zoologist and explorer, who was chosen by Heinrich Himmler to lead an expedition of young German scientists into Tibet in 1938. Although their official aim was to explore the local flora and fauna, charting hitherto unmapped terrain, the secret reason behind their SS-funded mission was to find the true origins of the Nordic Aryan race, in a bid to claim more territory for the Reich.
The story brings together the perils of pseudoscience, cultural fascism, humankind’s relationship with nature and our obsession with the categorisation of all sentient beings. It explores the small missteps taken that lead to a slippery slope of perilous moral decline. At the heart of the book is the romance between Schäfer and his loyal childhood sweetheart, Herta, who becomes dangerously entangled in her lover’s obsession with furthering his own career. She is the true voice of compassion and beauty, a constant and uncomfortable reminder to Schäfer of the Faustian bargain he has struck.
What were you reading when you wrote it? I read widely while researching the novel. I was particularly taken by Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See and the way it examines the internal terrain of human beings caught up in the vagaries of war, exploring the moral choices they make.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/mar/17/carrie-tiffany-ean-higgins-dominic-kelly-and-more-on-what-theyre-reading-in-march
Umm, she was cancelled. On 17 October, 2020.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/03/national-s-judith-in-disbelief-at-jacinda-ardern-dropping-weekly-interview-with-newstalk-zb-s-mike-hosking.html
She limps on, all crooked and pinched.
She was cancelled, by an absolute majority, despite fronting the public with Ardern who answered her 'tough questions'. That same majority had access to Hosking's 'reckons', Hannah Tamaki's nuttiness, J-L Ross's stupidity, and Billy Te Kahika's sermons from a rabbit hole.
National's Judith Collins needs to be careful that the wind doesn't change and set her face permanently in a sour, aggrieved appearance. That old parents response to grizzly children actually applies to the whole Gnashional Party.
Now Judith is suggesting a report on the performance under the Covid19. Why? Anything that hasn't gone right should be tabled for discussion, but we don't want paralysis by analysis. This is a changing forward-moving situation, and unfortunately National is in reverse. Pity that their gears are stuck so they can't show relevance in these demanding times. And ACT their mouthpiece, flaps all the time yet isn't as useful as an airsock – don't take notice of it when landing on any policy!
Priceless from ACT! – “ACT says you can’t deliver better public policy if you don’t show humility, and this Government’s arrogance is getting in the way of solving problems and helping people,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2103/S00040/governments-super-majority-creating-extreme-arrogance.htm
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/437856/covid-19-govt-rejects-nats-push-for-outbreak-inquiry
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-national-leader-judith-collins-wants-inquiry-into-latest-cluster/D4WL7SSIJGAHWVKS7ZF4X6RC4A/
Anyone see what Collins' eyebrows were doing when she said that?
I have as much respect for ‘shock jock Hosking‘ and Judith ‘Eyebrows‘ Collins has they have shown for PM Ardern. C’mon Hosking, you brought this on yourself – man up.
Yeah, nah. Collins is not cancelled. I see her face and reckons almost as much as I see Meghan Markle’s and she, at least, has a story to
selltell, I’ve been told (by the media). However, I’ve stopped almost completely paying any attention to National MPs and their Leader. Polemics with a parsnip are more entertaining and informative. Is National not overdue for another dead cat bounce on the table? Oh, the report is due tomorrow. Let’s leak it!Seems like NZ needs this? Uninterruptible Power supply (UPS) or have we got one already?
https://powertec.co.nz/battery-backup/
'Research firm Venture Insights points out that in south-east Australia’s 2019-20 bushfires, about 88% of the telecommunications outages were caused by loss of power outages and only 1% were due to direct fire damage, which implies that better power backups could significantly reduce outages.1'
After more than 1000 mobile towers and other facilities were disabled as a result of bushfires last summer, the Commonwealth Government announced a $37.1m funding package to strengthen telco resilience, including $10m for the Mobile Blackspot Program and battery backup solutions.
Repairs to damaged power lines can take time, especially if many poles must be replaced. So, battery backup solutions are important for maintaining communications in times of disaster.
The key to a successful backup battery solution is an Uninterruptible Power supply (UPS), which is an on-demand, instant switch battery back-up.
After our discussion about the net affects of covid including tourism and jobs. This from Barry Thompson at
Powerboat Magazine. Home – Power Boat News (powerboatmagazine.co.nz)
"IT'S GOOD AND IT'S BAD
New Zealand trailer boat builders are experiencing their best times ever, but it does come at a cost for consumers. Order a boat today from a dealer, and you are probably going to be waiting 12 months or, in some cases, 18 months more before you get it.
We are all aware that boat sales, like cars, houses, and swimming pools, have gone ballistic, and when you walk into a boatyard these days, it's hard to find a new boat on display. Plus, if it is, then it's almost guaranteed that it is already sold and await fitout. I talked to several manufacturers last week about their current build situation, and almost everyone had the same answer…maxed out till next year.
Engine, electronics, and marine equipment suppliers are also reporting delays in obtaining stock, which certainly impacts the boat builders. Air freighting parts to enable a boat to be finished adds cost, and somewhere along the chain, that has to be added into the charges.
I read somewhere that it was estimated that somewhere around $NZ18 billion had stayed in the country due to Covid-19 and closed borders. I am not sure that was correct, but I know how much I have not spent on overseas trips. I can't say saved, as my wife did find ways of spending it, such as a new bed, bathroom and travels around the country."
Oh my God, if you want an example of a bitter piece of writing from a bewildered boomer reduced to waving his fist at clouds as he struggles with being sidelined for the first time in his life then I can give you Barry Soper…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/barry-soper-jacinda-ardern-is-treading-water-the-master-of-soft-flattering-interviews/4GKJG4UBCLIKKX4POQWHK4EXD4/
Entitled self-righteous prat
didnt realise that soper was still alive.thought he had been pickled and preserved years ago.
I'd really like to see his metrics for how many of hosking's listeners switched their vote to Labour last election despite listening to hosking.
But then key invited the press gallery for drinkies, as well as doing swimming shots for metro, so Ardern is awful.
Agree. I find it ironic that the iconic commentator Soper commits an obvious English error in the very paragraph where he snidely snipes at her degree in communications.
"Having worked with the past 10 prime ministers, Jacinda Ardern would be the most removed from the media than any of them." No, Barry Soper – Jacinda Ardern has not worked with the past ten PMs.
Soper was trying to say that he himself had done so, but incompetently ignored the rule that following a participial clause should be the subject of that clause. He should have written, "Having worked with the past 10 prime ministers, I would place JA as…"
Poor quality language as well as biased analysis.
A similar error –
“As a Leftie, Soper is wrong”
“As a Leftie. I think Soper is wrong.”
Soper is not a Leftie, so the first example is very poor use of language, like Soper’s.
The second example is correct.
soper hasnt "worked with the last ten P.M.s'" running around, after a poli, and interviewing your keyboard isnt working with a P.M. Im sure if you asked those ten P.M.s about their working relationship with soper, they would all say, :who?: way to talk yourself up. must be contract renewal time.
Since we're being critical of one whose career is writing, how's this paragraph of Soper's for making one sentence out of two?
"She's commanded the Covid pulpit to such an extent that the virus has become her security blanket, without it she'd be forced to face the reality that her Government has been moribund."
Two main clauses joined by a comma. Tsk tsk.
What of course is worse is the claim that this government would be moribund without Covid-19.
What a stupid statement. This government would be far down the track of social reform without having had to deal with a disease that has killed half a million Americans.
To what country in the world can Soper point that has managed to keep its citizens safe, its economy running and carry out meaningful social reform.
For God's sake, keeping the pandemic controlled and lives saved is a huge social achievement.
What does the US Preamble say? "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
And the first is? Life.
How do 500,000 Americans enjoy liberty and the pursuit of happiness in their Covid graves, without life?
Soper says 'moribund' . The word comes from the Latin for death and means dying or expiring, at the point of death.
Soper is hyper-exaggerating, and has joined others of the media fraternity, journalists, political commentators and party spin merchants in a new attack orchestrated by last year's defeated pundits upon the PM.
Surprise, surprise. It has to happen, but let's recognise it when it occurs.
There's more than grammar at stake.
Ahhh… but dunnit sound awful good. Real clever hyperbole – Covid pulpit, security blanket, moribund. So impressive. 🙄
Btw, he hasn't joined other of the media fraternity… he was one of the founders some 25 -30 years ago.
Quite right both Mac1 and Anne.
I missed the egregious run-on sentence because I was so outrageously aggrieved by the misrelated participial clause.
I think what he meant to write was: ",without which' instead of what he did write.
Can't even proof-read his own rubbish before he sends it in, and, obviously, the Herald can no longer afford to hire good proof-readers. (Unless the humble proof-readers dare not question the linguistic excellence of the most elevated Barry Soper..)
Yes, obviously, the hyper-exaggerated emotive terms are what counts for approval, and good language no longer counts.
It is more than grammar.
Soper seems pissed off that Ardern hasn't established some sort of 'old boys club' way of working, cosying up to the likes of him, "Jacinda Ardern would be the most removed from the media than any of them. (The 10 previous Prime Ministers.)
"All of her predecessors got to know the parliamentary media by inviting them to their ninth floor Beehive office, at least a couple of times a year. It puts a human face on the public performer."
How unsettling, things are being done differently.
The boys, Hosking and Soper are throwing little NZME tanties.
'The Prime Minister's press conferences usually begin with a sermon – it took eight minutes for her to get to the fact that she was moving the country down an alert level last Friday. When it comes to Question Time in Parliament her forearm stiffens and her hand flicks to those she'll take a question from. Some of us are left barking from the sidelines."
It must be terrible to be his age and be pissed off because you're not teacher's pet. At least he got part of it petulant.
Given that a lot of the MSM used to feel like the Nat party PR machine – I can understand why the "best buddies " schtick isn't quite where Labour is at. So why does that surprise our Barry?
Silly Soper sounds so sad since she smilingly soared staring sternly at star-struck Soper.
The most bitter of alt-right tears.
Remember, Soper is the one who went into bat for the parliamentary harasser.
I hope NZ Farmers are coming together like the Australians are with their practices and learnings so all can move forward together.
https://www.facebook.com/TheMulloonInstitute/