Open mike 28/09/2019
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
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The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
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The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
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The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
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A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
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The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
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The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
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The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
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With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
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Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
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The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
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All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
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The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
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The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
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The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
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The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
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New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
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Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
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Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
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The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
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After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
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Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
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The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Anyone know what's going on with "An average kiwi" from the sidebar? I vaguely recall they have been there for quite a while, and used to have genuinely leftie commentary, if not particularly insightful or interesting. But a few months back it seems all the old stuff was wiped and a new collection of way OTT climate denier trolling is being put up.
Is my vague recollection about their prior leftiness wrong? Or has Hosking hijacked that blog? Or have they decided to try for something like Ben Uffindell's "The civilian" kinda vibe (and spectacularly failed)?
I see what you mean. Fruit loop city limits.
At the CHCH march yesterday I saw a placard: "MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX"
They walk among us.
We had an old man with a placard telling us we needed to repent and ask for divine intervention. Later he was on the street with a number of teenage schoolboys for about half an hour. When I walked slowly by to catch the word he was being asked about Noah and the Ark I thought.
Tough they probably drive a gas guzzling tank rather than walk.
I think your perception of their "leftness" might have been wrong in the first place. (A hint might even be in the name) I sometimes find friends, colleagues and even family can be full of surprises at times – and its often just a conflict between ego and comfyness versus humility and compassion.
I like the thing you say: "a conflict between ego and comfyness versus humility and compassion."
Yep, well despite my belief that both Helen Clark and Jacinda Adhern may go down in history as two of NZ's best PM's (in the context of the era they operate in), I have a dearly loved family member who thinks she's 'so left', and who is comfy and 'in-tune', that Jacinda cannot be critiQUed in any way. The same held true when H1 and H2 held power.
Whereas there are a number of things the current coalition can be critiqued for. [One has just popped up on RNZ this morning to do with an RSE scheme – where I'm left thinking "Hello! Earth to INZ", and where the pollies were warned. Probably for many of the same reasons there are now deep and meaningful investigations over things like sexual abuse allegations.
(Holding one's breath – like I'm trying to do – can often result in getting death)
While advances are growing keep your breath in short pants.
I agree. Problem is, and frustrations are, that often the least worst option is never going to be progressive, or transformational, or kind.
But – we'll see what rips. In the case of the example I mentioned (one of many), there'll be casualties, and they'll be the least deserving.
OK for you sad political junkies out there like me and who have a cool hour to burn, here are a couple of the best journalists (Michael Tracey, Aaron Maté ) on the current scene in the US, giving a pretty good over view of the upcoming Dem impeachment of Trump,…love it or hate it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jvkcggffs0
Wanna give us a brief too long;didn't watch? Is there anything more than Mate's usual recycled Repug talking points tailored to appeal to Dem-hating convergence moonbats?
Bernie is backing the attempt to impeach Trump.
Even Tulsi is backing the impeachment investigation. That's half her support gone right there.
Mainstream sell outs lol
One of the first things Maté says is that what Trump did was inappropriate… but hey he's probably just a republican posing as a journo 🙄
Wow, I'm impressed. He's in the exalted company of the very few Repugs that can even muster the courage to mutter that kind of mouse squeak of disapproval.
lol he goes on to say he called it "inappropriate" to distinguish it from Russiagate which was based on a "concoction".
@ cfive minutes he's saying they should just pass a motion of censure and that predicating international aid upon whether your opponents face sham investigations is not at all worthy of impeachment.
Did you watch the whole thing? (you're quite the sucker for punishment). Was there anything there that might cause me to learn something that doesn't fit with my allegedly preconceived narrative?
No I did the dirty trick of watching for a couple of minutes after the comment mauī brought up, just to see the context. I don't really like youtube videos. Essays and suchlike can be skim-read over the waffly bits and you can quickly find the crux of the matter. But YT talkfests are just watching people wank, and you can't flip through it to see if there are any good bits.
Yeah, video is such a slow medium for conveying information. 5 or 10 minutes of reading gets you the same info transfer as an hour of video.
But video is great if you just want to get your emotions manipulated without thinking critically about the content. Entertainment, not facts.
@mauī, "but hey he's probably just a republican posing as a journo" WTF, half the people on this seemed site have lost semblance of balance and critical thinking in their hatred of Trump.
Hi Adrian, yes it is a neoliberal left feeding frenzy of the likes we saw with Russiagate, Saddam, Syria, etc. No wonder people are turning to alternative news sites to get some rational news.
As usual it take a non-hysterical writer like Lauria to nail it. I particularly like the first section. (I fear the link is wasted on most of the commentariat however…) https://consortiumnews.com/2019/09/26/what-isnt-mentioned-about-the-trump-ukraine-scandal-the-routine-corruption-of-us-foreign-policy/
Yes good link thanks, I also like the analogy made by Aaron mate' when he pointed out that Nixon wasn't impeached (he resigned before impeachment) for his illegal bombing in Cambodia that ended in one of the most horrific genocides this century, no he was impeached for stepping over the line against the DNC.
And worst of all, of course now the primaries are going to lose their focus on real issues of importance and now be dominated by this bullshit, but I guess a lot of very rich and powerful people will not be at all sad to see that shift of focus happen.
@Andre, Exactly what are Aaron Maté's "usual recycled Repug talking points tailored to appeal to Dem-hating convergence moonbats? " I assume you mean the parts where he pushed back against your nutty Russian conspiracy and won the 2019 Izzy Award “for outstanding achievement in independent media” for his efforts.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/3/headlines/2019_izzy_awards_honor_earth_island_journal_laura_flanders_aaron_mate_dave_lindorff
So Mate doesn't make any points substantial enough to condense into a brief too long;didn't watch?
@Andre, There is hardly much point is taking the time and effort to do that for you or your other entrenched brethren here, you obviously have switched off all critical thinking capacity that you may have once had on this subject.
Now I know you are in so deep you are not aware of this, but I am here to tell you this for your (and some others on this site) own good, you all have for a while now, been acting and sounding exactly like the nutty Republican's and Tea Party fanatics over Trump as they did over Obama…how does that make you feel?, I would hope it might give you pause for thought at the least.
It's time you lot took a long hard look in the mirror.
Still not got any reasons to offer why someone should give up an hour to watch your clip? Not even a teeny-tiny morsel of a hint?
Watch it because you might learn something…even if it doesn't sit nicely with your preconceived narrative…try it some time.
Even if the House votes by a simple majority to Impeach, the Senate isnt obliged to even consider it for the 'trail' part.
Based on Mitch McConnell s style …he will just ignore it
Chump will be dead before any of this bites him directly. Still a poke in the ego. Might also swing some Repug support away.
Yep, Moscow Mitch will likely just Garland the trial.
Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution:
Article 1 Section 3 Clause 6 of the Constitution:
The language to me appears to be quite strong on requiring the Senate to at least go through the process of considering a president's nominee to the Supreme Court, but McTurtle just blew off that obligation.
Whereas the language around the Senate actually holding a trial seems much more optional if they feel like doing it.
"Yep, Moscow Mitch" my point exactly..ref comment 2.1.3.1.1
For those with less than an hour, here's some detail on the Ukrainian twists and turns: https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/27/giuliani-trump-ukraine-005098
this is kinda cool/easy to digest..
an audiobook-reader reads the transcript of the whistleblowers allegation to/for you..
ttps://boingboing.net/2019/09/27/professional-audiobook-narrato.html
I can't believe the lack of focus on what was actually happening around that time
https://www.newcoldwar.org/stratfor-chiefs-most-blatant-coup-in-history-interview-from-dec-2014/
After the coup which even Stratfor's chief, George Friedman , described as the most blatant coup in history, important positions in Ukraine were stuffed with American players
Not only was Joe Biden's son, Hunter, chucked out of the Naval Reserve a month earlier for cocaine use, given a plum job on the Burisma board..
"A family friend of then Secretary of State John Kerry also joined Burisma’s board. U.S. agricultural giant Monsanto got a Ukrainian contract soon after the overthrow. And the first, post-coup Ukrainian finance minister was an American citizen, a former State Department official, who was given Ukrainian citizenship the day before she took up the post."
Read further
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/09/26/the-untold-story-of-the-trump-ukraine-scandal-the-routine-corruption-of-us-foreign-policy/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-family-business-11569271216
Aint collective amnesia grand ?
Yeah I thought about going into the Hunter stuff, but knew that was probably another waste of time…these fanatics will actually defend Hunter Biden (who has zero experience) getting $50,000 p/m from Burisma, while a heavy hitter like Ken Frazier is on the board on the largest energy company in the world, Exxon for $30,000 p/m, including stock awards…
https://www.streetinsider.com/SEC+Filings/Form+DEF+14A+EXXON+MOBIL+CORP+For%3A+May+29/15362664.html#toc686227_6
So deeply and insanely partisan they're ready to turn a blind eye to the facts of Democrat corruption .The whole bloody political mess the US has sunk into is because of this amoral partisanship. Corruption is on all sides, as Jimmy Carter says "It's an oligarchy now"
When I see terms like Repugs, the Orange shit stain etc,moonbats…what does that even mean, except its an ugly insult meant to shut down debate, I really turn off.
Be better or you're just the same as your opponent is what I say
Pretty slanted – claims no evidence of collusion – all those Mueller witnesses who pled guilty did so to benefit a Democrat conspiracy then? Pathetic.
There's good reason to consider impeachment a Pandora's box, bringing everything down into the mud where Trump tends to prosper. If it doesn't swing a few Republican senators the exercise may prove costly.
This outfit is a good source on Russian ops – the so-called 'independent journalist' sites are pretty degraded on the whole.
I thought Cohen and Manafort pled guilty to financial crimes, not working with Russia….
Some of the convictions coming out of the Mueller investigation are now coming unstuck .
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/25/judge-overturns-guilty-verdicts-bijan-rafiekian-1510719
It also looks like Flynn may have been tricked in to making a false confession
The Gulen/Turkey thing and the Trump/Russia thing are different deals, though they share a common factor – Erdogan's coup resulted in a pivot away from the US, and a consequent expansion of the Russian sphere. The destabilization of Saudi may well be directed at similar ends.
Latest Brexit – Forage is keeping on with his giant money-making business deal, using the whole of UK. What a heist!!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49859818
Nigel Farage warns Boris Johnson over 'reheated Brexit deal'
Aljazeera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31teSjuN26o
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been dealt another blow in his push for an early election. The House of Commons speaker says under current rules it will not be possible to go to the polls before October 31 – the day Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union. Parliament has met for the second day since the Supreme Court ruled its suspension as unlawful. Meanwhile, the EU's lead negotiator, Michael Barnier, says the bloc is still waiting for new plans from the United Kingdom. Al Jazeera's Charlie Angela has more from London. –
Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe – Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish – Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera – Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/ #AlJazeeraEnglish #Brexit #UKParliament
This is awesome.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/399812/waka-flotilla-to-be-welcomed-in-bay-of-plenty
A waka flotilla is being welcomed at Cape Runaway, as it arrives in New Zealand for the Tuia 250 celebrations.
The va'a moana Fa'afaite i te Ao Mā'ohi. Photo: Tahiti Voyaging Society
More than $20 million is being spent on events and resources to mark the 250 years since James Cook first landed in New Zealand, but it will also include commemorations of the first Polynesian waka that arrived in New Zealand 800 years ago.
Te Rangi Hiroa ( Vikings of the sunrise )
"For untold centuries after the boundaries of the Pacific had been peopled by man, these islands remained isolated and unoccupied save by land shells, insects, reptiles, and birds. Even the native flora was meagre as regards potential food for man. The coconut palm, the banana, and the breadfruit, now so characteristic of the oceanic flora, awaited human transport. The westerly winds and the constant trades blew over empty seas, for no primitive navigator had yet dared to raise a matting sail to waft him to waiting islands. Years after countless years, the Pleiades rose on the eastern horizon, but no man hailed their coming with dance and song as the sign of the new year. The stars rose and travelled across the sky, but no craft groped its way across unknown waters by their aid. The moon waxed and waned, but its phases went unstudied. Fish spawned, increased, and went their unhampered way through reef channels into silent and unlit lagoons. The Ocean Maid in her tumultuous moods vented her wrath against inanimate rock and reef, for no conqueror had yet appeared to mark her heaving bosom with the wake of the voyaging canoe or to dig into her yielding body with the dripping blade of the deep-sea paddle. Pedestrians had reached the eastern bounds of the Asiatic corridor and could walk no farther. The hanging skies to the east of the Fijis remained unpierced. Beyond the eastern horizon, earth, sea, and sky awaited the coming of a breed of men who not only had an effective form of ocean transport but who had the courage to dare and both the will and the skill to conquer. The uncharted seas awaited the coming of the Polynesian navigators. "
That's an epic!
Thanks for that Poission. Pure poetry (if I may call it so) and visually beautiful.
Wow. They are works of art. I hope they are going to travel to other parts of the country, too.
Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug.
http://nautil.us/blog/dragons-memory–navigating-the-globe-using-only-your-wits
via
https://www.metafilter.com/143656/To-navigate-you-must-be-brave-and-you-must-remember-Mau-Piailug
this, too
https://www.metafilter.com/168131/We-Know-the-Way-The-Art-of-Polynesian-Wayfinding
Brexit –
Forage holding forth about the wonders of going Brexit as he progresses his great money-making scheme using the whole of the UK. What a heist!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49859818
Nigel Farage warns Boris Johnson over 'reheated Brexit deal'
He then criticised Labour's "policy of uncontrolled mass immigration".
The party also unveiled some policy plans, but little detail, including scrapping HS2 and inheritance tax.
The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October.
Aljazeera:
UK parliament rejects second bid for early election
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been dealt another blow in his push for an early election. The House of Commons speaker says under current rules it will not be possible to go to the polls before October 31 – the day Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union. Parliament has met for the second day since the Supreme Court ruled its suspension as unlawful. Meanwhile, the EU's lead negotiator, Michael Barnier, says the bloc is still waiting for new plans from the United Kingdom. Al Jazeera's Charlie Angela has more from London. –
Is it possible for the Republicans to nominate the position of a different candidate for President other than Trump? (They wouldn't of course but could they?)
They're doing their best to hand it to tRump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries#Cancellation_of_state_caucuses_or_primaries
Things are escalating …
Presidential contender Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) called for a formal impeachment inquiry into Brett Kavanaugh on Friday in the wake of a new sexual misconduct claim against the Supreme Court justice.
“I write to urge the House Judiciary Committee to take appropriate action to investigate recent reports about Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and to hold Mr. Kavanaugh accountable for his prior conduct and testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Harris wrote in a letter, dated Sept. 17, to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.).
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kamala-harris-impeachment-inquiry-brett-kavanaugh_n_5d8dfcf0e4b0ac3cdda72110
Sorry if I did something wrong in my piece on Brexit moderator. I did it again with large address codes taken out. Both still in mod. Any hope of releasing when there time?
A warning from the boss?
MOSCOW — Russia has voiced hope that the U.S. administration wouldn't publish private conversations between the two nations' presidents, like it did with Ukraine
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kremlin-says-it-hopes-u-s-would-not-release-trump-n1059446?
Yarp – the squirming is increasing – the scarlett pimple from hell restlessly paces…
bullshit time over
so refreshing.
aint globalised markets great….if money's no object
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/27/number-of-foreigners-buying-uk-golden-visa-rises
Dodgy developer ropes in help from unfortunately-related sources: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/09/24/824481/how-whale-oil-rivals-found-themselves-on-the-same-side
So the racists coup organisers in Venezuela have been found out as being in bed with Colombian narco gangs. Gotta love the blantancy of free market capitalism.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/13/juan-guaido-faces-questions-over-links-to-organised-groups
God bless the Venezuelan VP Delcy Rodríguez for going to the UN and standing up to these evil bastards and their US backers. And for point out the economic terrorism being done to Venezuela.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1048012
My Auntie died this morning at 70 years of age. She suffered severe Paranoid Schizophrenia from the age of 15.
Wherever she is now, I hope she is finally at peace and free from her tormented mind ❤️.
So do I Fireblade.Life for her must have been a torment at times Very sad.
Scientists feel they are getting close to important understandings about schizophrenia. If they can it will be so great to prevent the difficulties that your aunt went through. Too late for her but hope for the future.
Rugby dis-enthusiasts avert your gaze.
Japan establish their reputation as giant killers.
19-12 to Japan against 2nd ranked Ireland.
RIP Jack Lasenby, author of childrens and young adult books. One of his characters was wily packhorse Harry Wakatipu.
Funny nonsense stories from a talking horse living in rural New Zealand, written by master storyteller Jack Lasenby. Harry Wakatipu is a lazy, bad-tempered packhorse and the biggest liar in the history of the Vast Untrodden Ureweras. He's hopeless and needy and greedy and never does his share of the work. He's 'a machine for the ingesting and digesting of condensed milk', according to Biff Piddington.
The Lies of Harry Wakatipu is a collection of fantastic stories – like how the first wasps got into New Zealand, or how the Kaingaroa wild horses got there in the first place or how Freddy Stromboli could walk under a Merino wether without taking off his hat, or how the deer culler's mother stopped the Hopuruahine River. It's true, just ask Harry Wakatipu.
https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/the-lies-of-harry-wakatipu-paperback/12527834
https://nzbooks.org.nz/1994/literature/tall-tales-and-truths-from-an-underrated-writer-judith-holloway/
Yes please.