Well I’m in levin whats wrong with the horowhenua?? me I think I will restart watching Babylon 5 or maybe Dr Who, from the beginning hmm decisions decisions.
I know you said “no aggro” but can I use this thread to say that as a dedicated Hurricanes fan I hope that Mark Hammett gets on the first plane back to Canterbury as soon as possible, the man is useless.
Secondly…all real sports fans will be cheering for India in the cricket world cup final, I doubt I could handle seeing that cheat Murali hold up the world cup.
I’m backing Sri Lanka bruv – just to piss you off.
No, actually because I think they have the superior bowling lineup with the 3 M’s (Murali – assuming he is fit enough to play, Malinga, and Mendis), and because India have designed the tournament schedule to favour themselves and deserve to get their comeuppance.
And whatever you think of Murali’s bowling action when he delivers the doosra, under the current Laws of Cricket it is legal.
How about the fact that the rules of the game were changed to allow this cheat to continue playing, how about the fact that numerous umpires are on record as saying that the ICC just do not want to hear any accusations about the mans bowling action.
Even allowing for the 15 degree Murali rule he is still a chucker, still a cheat and still a blight on the game.
Yes, they lost. But the really good news is Murali might be coming to Wellington to play for them in the next two seasons! You’ll be able to tell him what you think to his face!!!
Have to agree with you entirely, Bruv. Murali should have been banned before he even got to play international cricket and his ‘record’ counts for nothing as far as I’m concerned. He can’t be the best bowler in the world if he doesn’t bowl the ball. Simple, really.
Mind you, it’s obviously a bit rich for you to be bleating about cheating, when you’re so complicit in match fixing yourself.
Ah, Renaissance ales- make life worth that bit more living. Tried their new twopenny ale tonight, and then a half of Sorenson’s 8-wired. My beer of choice is Renaissance Scotch Ale, but, sob, tonight the tap had run dry. A real Slim Dusty moment. “But there’s nothing so lonesome , or make a man pale, when the barman says sadly, “The pub’s got no Ale.”
I played with a country fiddle player once who ate all his food like that man in black in the video- everything deep fried in two inches of fat. He could play though.
Did a version of “Orange Blossom Special,” humunguously fast at the end, where he played with the bow between his teeth moving the fiddle instead on the bow, with the fiddle behind his back, behind his head, under his knee, with socks on and finally with a metal coat hanger. Impeccably. He played so fast that I had to halve the tempo on the upright bass just to keep up.
Sometimes we just don’t know how good people are until they’ve gone. Had good taste in whisky too. Think I’ll have one now to remember Leo. Slainte to you too Rosy!
And on all things Scottish and the gone good – the best Scottish band that never made it big (IMO)…damn that Scottish melancholy/nostalgia combination – there must be a word for it???
Working this weekend as usual, but I get an extra hour before work this morning đ
Thanks for the Big Country link. i had a vinyl LP of there’s back then. As I recall it was about the same time as U2 started to make it big, and it sometimes got referred to as Celtic Rock.
Big Country got a lot of mentions for making their guitars sound like traditional fiddles & bagpipes. I guess it’s the melancholy of oppressed hard working people, and nostalgia for better times, all held together by a sense of community & soldiarity.
Understand completely DoS. Sad that I am, I once timed a trip to the UK to see BC the day I arrived… Being stuck in NZ I knew it would be the only chance I’d get. I appreciate The Skids but prefer folk-infused rock myself. Sacrilege to some but I also appreciated the U2/Green Day version of The Skids ‘the saints are coming’. I saw it as a tribute to The Skids as well as a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGhTWE98DU&feature=related
I thought the mistake Green Day made was that it sounded too like the original. The chance to make it their own version was not taken. It became more of a homage really..
My daughter had great fun at school though saying pffft the original was better and her fellow classmates going what do you mean?
On the subject of other good stuff. Saw a good concert on Wednesday night at which the story got told about a Scottish friend who got the nickname “The Exorcist.” And why was he called the Exorcist? Because when he’d left after a good night’s visiting, there were no spirits left in the house.
No weekend social out here. Just weekend chores fixing up our now crooked little house (and sitting in the garden). Big houses around us have suffered or come down or been demolished while our timber number proved itself as one tough dancer at quake time.
Snap! (‘as it were’). Our 70m2 cottage did the same – shook itself like a dog and then just looked like nothing had happened (except for a few things on the floor). Not bad for living about 800m from the four avenues.
This has probably been mentioned before, but if you want something to do over the weekend you could do worse than check out Gap Filler.
Well the mighty Gunners are at home to Ryan Nelsen and Blackburn Rovers and I hope that I’m watching this match Sunday morning after Man Utd have been beaten by Winston Reids West Ham (I know Winnie probably won’t do much more than warm the bench).
For sale, one red carpet and trophy cabinet. Good condition, not used in recent years. Enquiries to A Wenger, Emirates Stadium, London.
Early one morning Arsene Wenger was roused from sleep by a telephone call. “Wenger”, Arsene sleepily muttered into the receiver as he answered it. “This is the London Fire Chief”, came the reply from the telephone, “I am calling you, Mr Wenger, to report that the Emirates Stadium is on fire”. Instantly awake, “The cups man, save the cups” bellowed Wenger. In a soothing tone the Fire Chief replied “Calm down Mr Wenger, the fire hasn’t reached the kitchen yet”.
Hi BB, it depends a bit on where you are. I’m in Christchurch and most things grow a bit slowly over winter and they need shelter from the frosts. You could try this website for a few tips, but it comes down to trial and error usually.
The best advice anyone ever gave “Tend your garden” (Voltaire, I think).
I’m also going to tend my garden this weekend.
Ehhh, first comment after a few years of lurking.
This type of thread seems a lot safer than all of the other ones.
I have in the garden: leeks, spring onions, lentils, beetroot, celery, and the usual herbs and lettuce and spinach etc.
WHAT AM I DOING?
MUST SLEEP I HAVE TO GO TO WORK IN AN HOUR
OH NO.
Watch out for over-cooked poached eggs tomorrow, Wellington.
Lucerne or Black eyed peas also known as cow peas are good for nitrogen fixing. Come to think of it any edible beans will do the same with the added advantage of ending up with food. Just chuck a couple of hands over the bit you want to leave empty and the next year dig the lot in and you will have a bumper crop of whatever you plant next. Mustard greens are good to and are great in stir fries. For land not used for a long time you can grow wattle (Great nitrogen fixer) and if you coppice them you will have firewood on a regular base for many years.
Depends on where you are big bruv. I’m in Thames Valley and get a few frosts, but nothing serious. If you are in Auckland, or near the coast, then maybe frosts won’t be too much of a problem.
I’ve planted leeks, carrots, beetroot, celery, broccoli, onions, cabbages and cauliflower. I was meant to get brussel sprouts too, but accidentally bought extra broccoli. Today I’m planting red onions, radishes, cucumbers, mizuna (which is a type of lettuce, I hope) and butter beans.
My guess is the main virtue of planting a garden for winter is that it keeps your attention on the garden, so it’s not so much effort to get it going again for summer. You could plant a crop that fixes nitrogen, over winter, and mulch it back into the garden in August, that way you don’t need to worry about harvesting it, and meanwhile it will improve your soil.
The Warehouse had/has frost cloth for about 50c per metre. I need to build something so I can roll it out in the evening and wind it back onto its reel in the morning. Maybe an old electric fence tape reel can be modified – on Sunday.
Best of luck with your garden, BB.
It is a magnificent day here today so there is no excuse for not being in the garden.
I am not a huge fan of winter veggies (apart from Brussel Sprouts which I love) so I might just plant some of them, some onions, radishes and do the rest in mustard.
yeah brussel sprouts are great, I must get some in the ground.
I’ve had very poor feedback about the radishes, the rest of the household is not impressed.
A Â friend and I co-operate in a community garden plot of about 120 square metres. We with spouses sat down tonight and ate chicken with own grown potatoes, kumera, tomatoes, corn, rocket (with roasted seeds), garlic, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes with basil- a feast, and so much better to have grown it ourselves. Had to get in the parsnips and carrots, but next year that’s what we’ll grow and less beans and garlic and spuds ‘cos of that damn psyllid.
And home brew, made with own grown hops. Â
Planted today lettuce, curly kale and mizuna and harvested as well. Down at the plot a Fijian Indian woman told me of  delicious curry made with curly kale. Islanders grow taro there, Maori grow kumera, Muslims grow hot peppers and green tomatoes, ex-South Canterbury farmers grow pumpkins bigger than wheel barrows, Greenies grow in companion planting fashion and ex-acoholics stay dry by growing beans and yams and corn. We swap food and ideas, yarns and help each other. Some neighbour dug half my plot by hand because I am recovering from cancer operations. It is a functioning and vibrant community, full of heart and love. Life can be like that, as can at least one thread on the Standard!
Mac 1,
Sorry to hear about your cancer operations and hope you are recovering al right.
I have a question. You talk about the psyllid. I had not heard about it before and did a quick google. I live near Raglan (Hamilton) and just had a disappointing potato harvest. Any chance of this horrid little bug having spread to the West coast of the North Island?
Travellerev, healing very well, thanks. That’s why my remark to big bruv about gardening being good therapy. And also enforced inaction gives time to blog, read and contemplate. Gotta be some positives đ
The psyllid I understand came in at Auckland and has travelled (sorry) south. We are in the top of the South Island and this is our second season.
The damage to potatoes shows as a yellow, very stunted, deformed growth and the potatoes themselves can show an uneven black circle inside when you slice through, called zebra markings, caused by a bacterium introduced by the psyllid when it feeds. The spud itself develops an off taste. At an early stage you can detect the psyllid on the underleaves, either its eggs or the critter itself. Google has all this info. The psyllid also preys on tomatoes, eggplant and tree tomatoes.Â
I would expect it to be in your district. Saying that, though, the community garden plot has it but 500 metres away my home garden is so far free. I intend to monitor heavily, use preparations like neem oil and try and encourage predators like lacewings. I found the early planting of spuds also helped as it takes time for psyllid populations to build up. Destroy all matter where the psyllid might over-winter.
Mizuna is a Japanese plant used for the young leaves in the salad mixtures you buy in the Supermarket. It is a member of the mustard family and also great for stir fries. It has a bit of a bite to it so eat them young for the best taste
Some good advice around here, big bruv. I would also look at lupins with the mustard for nitrogen fixing to be dug in with Spring. I find broad beans work well over winter and plant garlic at mid-winter. Otherwise winter greens, curly kale is good and I buy mixed asian greens for salad/stir fry use. Brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots also.
It all depends on where you are, of course. Good advice also about using cloches, cloth, glass and plastic coverings. I use favoured sites around the property for growing things outside the normal growing season, especially expensive veg like eggplants, peppers (but not winter). You can even buy mushrooms to plant. More exotic plants like rocket, mizuma, daikon can be grown, too.
And plants your spuds very early in Spring if there is danger of that bloody awful potato/tomato psyllid about your area. Best of luck. Gardening is good therapy, too.
Yeah, I should probably get around to hoeing over all the weeds and planting carrots, and getting some cauliflower and broccoli sorted. Might see if Bunnings has any broad bean’s for sale too. But otherwise, I’ve got harvest the patty-pans and figure out how best to preserve the seeds for spring and find out how many damn pumpkins we have, and bring one of the chilli plant’s inside.
And coriander does surprisingly well in the winter down in Christchurch, I’ve got a small forest of it a present that’ll be harvested for seed come next summer, but I need to find a slow bolt variety for harvesting leaves and sort out how I’m going to do basil.
Also used some quake freed fencing cinder blocks to build a dry-wall constructed planter box that just needs to be filled with soil and come the end of the frosts will be filled with capsicums
Talking of watching stuff. I have been watching my electric jug for some time. You see when I switch it on it mumbles for a few seconds. Then it sulks in silence for maybe 15 seconds more. Then it stirs into life and rumbles away till it has boiled.
Why does it sulk?
Yes Mac1. I must admit that I felt a little voyerish especially when, I’m ashamed to admit it, but ummm I took ahh the lid off and looked deep inside. Don’t tell my wife though. đ
The boiling sound is made by gaseous bubbles collapsing in the water, changing instaneously from a low density gas to a high density liquid. The rate at which this happens depends on several factors.
One is how much air is dissolved in the water. Fresh unboiled water will have a fair amount of air dissolved in it.. so when it is first heated a lot of this will come out fairly quickly.
The second main factor is the temperature of the water. Cold water will recondense the gas bubbles very quickly, more or less as soon as they rise away from the heating element. But as the water heats the bubbles will last longer and longer, until when it’s close to boiling point the bubbles make it all the way to the surface and make relatively little noise.
Then there is likely the impact of convection currents as well.
Combine these various factors together and it largely explains what’s going on here.
Meh, I slept in till 12, after knocking off before 9pm. And providing my motivation levels are high enough I’ll thrash my legs on the Port Hills tomorrow as to prepare for either Mt Richardson or Mt Brown next weekend! Finally I’ll be able to escape Christchurch!
Couldn’t make it to freshers, since thanks to depression symptoms even a minor cold knocks my stamina levels down to craptastic, can’t bike/walk for crap, levels :/
One dowel rod (cut to length)
Length of non-slip grip material
One length of good-quality cord
Small length of chain
One carabina
10 kg plate
One power drill
One wife willing to construct a wrist roller for me: Priceless đ
Supporting the Hurricanes is like supporting the Labour Party. (Sorry r0b, is that too political?)
Any how’s – finally back from my softball club prize giving – won “Most Improved” – as the coach said, I couldn’t have got any worse – now – do I stay up and get on with Sunday as hampered as I am, or do I head off for a snooze and wait til MsBLiP starts vacuuming determinedly and accusingly around the bedroom . . . oh, decisions decisions.
Nah that’ll do. It’s a fine line, but I think it is fun to have this politics free zone on the blog. I’ve been amazed at the response. Quite uplifting, in an odd kind of way.
It’s a wonderful idea – a breath of fresh air and a real piece of azure blue sky in what can become a rather frustrating, grey, politically bloggy landscape. I think I have been most affected by the gardening comments. Great friendly supportive atmosphere -loved them.Thanks,
It’s a 40 Gigapixel photo of an 868 year old monastery library in Prague, the largest indoor photo ever (actually 2947 photos stitched together into a panorama.)
Pure and total warfare only on oxalis. Spraying may kill it locally but only to the extent that the roots die….those bits that survive will just keep invading. If you can dig out the bulk of the roots (you will never get all of them) then spray / weed what comes back through that may work but its an ongoing battle. I have a better cure, I get my chickens to clear the area, mulch like crazy and allow the chickens in on weeding expeditions.
Right….so without chickens I am stuffed? đ
The stuff is a nightmare, I spent last Sunday digging the garden and thought I had got rid of all the Oxalis, last night I checked on the garden and the freaking stuff was starting to peak through the soil again in some areas.
I guess I will just have to spray and dig it again this weekend.
Big bruv, total war on oxalis. I conned my kids as littlies into digging for ‘treasure’- oxalis bulbs. Wife and I were digging spuds last week-end- her on the spade, me on my knees, as ever- when she reminded me of “digging for treasure.”
I tried pigs to do the job on oxalis, with follow-up from the chooks in the 80’s. Didn’t work- planted an orchard instead, which outgrew the oxalis! The pigs ate the oxalis greens and the big corms, but left the little hard corms alone and just spread them around to regrow.
Big bruv, try the chooks, or even better, bantams since they don’t seem to dig up plants when they scratch like chooks do. Confine them in a small cage-run over a section of garden and let them go for it, since it sounds like you have spread it by digging. The chook droppings go pink from the oxalis.
Armchair Critic is right about leaf chopping but you have keep doing it.I did the same with california thistle when working as a gardener.
After years chopping california thistle out by hand, and setting goats on to it, to no avail, I resorted to Tordon. Â They hated it, but I’ve heard they will come back next year anyway. Â True?
AC, never used Tordon. These thistles were in the rose bed and were obvious and free of other growth, so easier to deal to with a weekly sub-surface hoeing.
Did use boiling water on various weeds, like oxalis, but my wife reminds me that we stopped because it just seemed like we were watering them. Perhaps the detergent helped. It seemed to knock the aphids which didn’t like getting soapy. Did the dishes by hand in a basin and then gave the roses a good soaking with the soapy residue.
I am really concerned though about tomato/potato psyllids because they knocked my main crop spuds and my son-in-law’s tomatoes to hell.
AFAIK its a battle of attrition. Â You need to make it as difficult for the bulbs to do their thing as you can.
Spray them with roundup (or whatever) as soon as they appear, and again when they reappear. Â If you don’t like sprays, chop the leaves off. Â No leaves means no way for energy to be stored in the bulb.
Once they take a bit of a holiday, or appear to be discouraged, put a layer of mulch or topsoil or whatever. Â This means the bulb needs to use more energy to get leaves at the surface and thereby replenish itself.
Whatever you do, don’t disturb the soil where the bulbs are – this just encourages them to grow again.
It should be gone in about two years. Â Option b is to remove the contaminated topsoil and replace with new stuff.
If you want a serious spray, try TAG2. Â It kills everything and stops it regrowing for six months to a year. Â I only use it on my metal driveway, it’s very effective.
Yeah, nothing grows for months after TAG2 – no summer garden if you use it.
If you want to treat the oxalis as a long term project (and, as a disclaimer, I’ve not tried this on oxalis) you could try pouring boiling water on the leaves. Â After my three or four cups of perc coffee in the morning I run a full load of water through the percolator to clean the machine, add dish washing liquid and pour the hot water on to weeds in the lawn or garden. Â The hot water/detergent combination seems to strip the protective layer off the foliage and kill the plant, without damaging the soil.
The cold coffee and grounds go on the garden, or lawn.
A serious question…
Is dog pee any good for killing it off?
At the moment we have seven dogs (the number always varies) if their pee kills the stuff off I might open the gate to the garden and let them do their business on there for a few days.
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Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Ministerâs Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. Thatâs a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldnât have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkinsâ newly appointed Chief of ...
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! Youâre now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
Buzz from the Beehive  New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Hereâs hoping they have brought translators with them â or ...
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
Nick Matzke writes –Â Â Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealandâs then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the governmentâs coffers for $3 million for âprovidersâ to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nashâs time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
There was a time when a political partyâs publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply â the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
Thomas Cranmer writes Like it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify. The culture wars are often viewed as an exclusively American phenomenon, but the reality is that they are becoming increasingly prominent in countries around the world, ...
Hereâs an analogy for the Stuart Nash saga. If people are to be forgiven for their sins,Catholic dogma requires two factors to be present. There has to be a sincere act of confession about what has been done, but also a sincere act of contrition, which signals a painful ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a âFencibleâ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Partyâs new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures youâve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
Weâre boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
âCabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,â says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
The Green Party is celebrating the signing of a historic United Nations Ocean Treaty, and calls on the new Oceans and Fisheries Minister to urgently step up protection for Aotearoaâs oceans. ...
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. âThe Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealandâs economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,â ...
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. âNationalâs education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,â Education ...
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. âSeniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to MÄori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with MÄori businesses, for the estimated ...
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. TÄnÄ koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studiosâ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Goreâs James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. âOur vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. âOver 1,200 young kiwis told ...
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justiceâs appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealandâs first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. âThis appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealandâs wider coronial system.â Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. âThe Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko NgÄpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao MÄori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo MÄori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is NgÄpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Governmentâs investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Governmentâs priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien OâConnor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kÄtoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in TÄmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi RaupĆ received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. âItâs an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the countryâs second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Forceâs Base at Ohakea today. âWith two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Governmentâs historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last monthâs deadly earthquakes in TĂŒrkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. âThe 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. Â âSince becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. âThis is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. âGinny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,â Chris Hipkins said. âGinny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in TÄmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of Äkonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and TaupĆ, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. âIn a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whÄnau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. âDemand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,â Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen Äkonga MÄori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (MÄori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. Â The recipients include doctoral, mastersâ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, AttorneyâGeneral David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite todayâs GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. âThe economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). âThe Government is upgrading New Zealandâs transport system to make it safer, more ...
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealandâs close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and TairÄwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Governmentâs long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision. The phone call took place in 2021 when he was not the Police Minister. ...
The Governmentâs sharp focus on trade continues with Aotearoa New Zealand set to host Trade Ministers and delegations from 10 Asia Pacific economies at a meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission members in July, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien OâConnor announced today. âNew Zealand ...
$25 million boost to support more businesses with clean-up in cyclone affected regions, taking total business support to more than $50 million Demand for grants has been strong, with estimates showing applications will exceed the initial $25 million business support package Grants of up to a maximum of $40,000 per ...
The New Zealand First leader took to the altar of an East Auckland church today to set out his 2023 election agenda. It was, as Stewart Sowman-Lund found out, pretty much what youâd expect. Winston Peters rolled into Howick today with a state of the nation speech that, he claimed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University Shutterstock Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLifeâs online portal. Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters - eyeing a political comeback - has used a scene-setting speech in Auckland warning against a "conceited, conniving, cultural cabal". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology The Sheep Song.Tim Standing/Daylight Breaks/Adelaide Festival Few Adelaideans remember a time before the Adelaide Festival. Formed in 1960 as a civic enterprise and financed against loss by prominent Adelaide businessmen, the ...
Analysis - The Greens lay down a challenge as the minor parties approach an election in which both National and Labour are going to need coalition partners to form a government, writes Peter Wilson. ...
By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fijiâs Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023. He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 ...
High Court Justice David Gendall regretfully allows anti-trans activist to enter New Zealand, but warns the expression of her views may be harmful to our vulnerable rainbow community. Jonathan Milne does his best to be civil.Opinion: Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull calls herself Posie Parker. And that's what I'm going to call her. Because she is ...
Itâs about time somebody made a wacky TV show about how bonkers spelling is. Enter comedian Guy Montgomery and his Guy Mont Spelling Bee. The three years since Covid-19 began have been pretty rocky, but one of the best things to come out of the chaos was Guy Montgomeryâs Guy ...
Te RĆpĆ« MÄtai Hinengaro o Aotearoa, The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) stands beside LGBTQIA+ and TakatÄpui communities rallying against anti-trans rhetoric in light of the impending visit of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker). We are ...
Earlier this month, everybodyâs favourite Monster of the Week series Married at First Sight Australia toppled 1News to become the highest rating television show for New Zealand viewers aged 25-54. The controversial reality series garnered an average audience of 137,000, or 6.7% audience share from March 5 until March 11. ...
Itâs the most wonderful time of the year for feijoa lovers â hereâs how to make the most of it.Fragrant and sweet, with a delicate jelly centre surrounded by gritty, tangy flesh, all encased in a green sour skin. My parentsâ feijoa tree has just dropped its first fruit, ...
A new poem by poet and novelist Maggie Rainey-Smith. Bang a Drum Weâve hit Gentle Annie passed the pub at Okaramio and on the left, at Wakapuaka thereâs Sunnybank where parents left their children An oddly named orphanage manned (ha) by Nuns childless women in black habits, scapula, cowls and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Buntting, Director, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato Getty Images Less than a fortnight after teachers staged a national strike, education was back in the headlines with the National Partyâs release of its curriculum policy â ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Booksâ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Â Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)Number one in both ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision of the High Court to reject the application to overrule the decision of the Minister of Immigration to allow Kellie-Jay entry into New Zealand. This was the only right result for a nation that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research Associate at RMIT and Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University Baidu’s ERNIE Bot was launched to considerable disappointment.Ng Han Guan / AP On March 16, Baidu unveiled Chinaâs latest rival to OpenAIâs ChatGPT â ERNIE Bot (short for âEnhanced ...
By Meri Radinibaravi in Suva Former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has told The Fiji Times to ask the Republic of Fiji Military Forces about claims that his bodyguards were allowed to take guns on to Fiji Link flights without proper authorisation. âI understand that thereâs some enquiries going on regarding that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University Installation view of Troy Emeryâs work Mountain climber 2022 on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March â 20 August ...
Nationalâs education policy reinforces an old-fashioned and hierarchical curriculum that does lasting harm to many students, writes educational specialist Dr Sarah Aiono. Announcing the National Partyâs new education policy this week, leader Christopher Luxon cited a recent NCEA pilot in which two-thirds of students were unable to meet the minimum ...
Attempts by rainbow groups to stop an anti-trans campaigner entering the country have failed. The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application from Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT KĆara and Auckland Pride, aimed at the immigration minister for allowing Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into New Zealand. As part of the application, the ...
The High Court is this morning considering an interim order that would prevent an anti-trans campaigner from making it into New Zealand. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull is expected to arrive on our shores today ahead of two planned rallies in Auckland and Wellington over the weekend. After immigration officials deemed her safe ...
I was disappointed to see yesterday afternoonâs announcement that Auckland has chosen to leave Local Government NZ (LGNZ). Hamiltonâs membership of LGNZ is one of collaboration and sharing. Being a member gives us important views from other ...
Itâs the most talked about local opera production in years â but does it live up to the chatter?The lowdownYouâve probably heard of the âunruly touristsâ, the British family who created a media firestorm as they toured around the country leaving trash and turmoil in their wake. Youâve ...
As reported by Newsroomâs Marc Daalder this morning, correspondence released under the Official Information Act shows advice about puberty blockers was removed from the Ministry of Health website âin the hopes it creates fewer queriesâ from anti-trans campaigners. The line that was removed from the site said puberty blockers âare ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup:Â NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nuclear submarines The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The ...
Secondary teachers will strike again next week after an agreement on improved pay and working conditions was not reached. The strike will take place on Wednesday, less than two weeks after thousands of educators took to the streets across the country. âPPTA Te Wehengarua members have shown they are serious ...
Te KÄhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is encouraging organisations and individuals to share their views on human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand for the governmentâs upcoming report to the United Nations. The report informs a process ...
Secondary and area school teachers around the country have voted overwhelmingly in favour of more industrial action, including a one day national strike next Wednesday, in support of their collective agreement negotiations. âPPTA Te Wehengarua members ...
At a time when our need for collective action is stronger than ever, Auckland Council has opted out to save each of its residents just 25c a year, writes former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins.I grew up in rural Southland, in the shadows of the Cut The Cable movement. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Jakoboski, Oceanographic Data Scientist, Moana Project’s Te Tiro Moana Team Lead, MetService â Te Ratonga Tirorangi Moana project, CC BY-ND The worldâs oceans are buffering us from the worst climate impacts by taking up more than 90% of the ...
Morning Report - RNZ and Newsroom's political editors consider National's education pitch, and the political responses to lobbying revelations and Posie Parker. ...
The Free Speech Union will be an intervener this morning as the High Court considers whether Immigration New Zealand's decision to allow Posie Parker (Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull) entry into New Zealand was legal, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free ...
For over a decade, Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club has come under fire for denying entry to people wearing religious headwear. Despite the Human Rights Commission getting involved, it seems the rule remains unchanged.One of the definitions given by the Oxford dictionary for the word cosmopolitan is: âincluding people from many ...
Chris Hipkinsâ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the governmentâs climate change response. In this weekâs episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this monthâs Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and ...
The head of Local Government NZ, the group representing councils across the country, has hit back at claims made by Auckland mayor Wayne Brown. It was his casting vote that saw Auckland Council leave the representative group yesterday evening, with councillors divided on whether or not it was the right ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Al-Tamini Tapu, Geoscientist, The University of Queensland Warrumbungle national park.colinslack/Shutterstock Our new study published in Nature Geoscience on an ancient chain of Australian volcanoes is helping to change our understanding of âhotspotâ volcanism. You may be surprised to learn eastern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Thereâs been a lot of recent shouting about Australiaâs national security policy. It began with the Nine newspapersâ âRed Alertâ extravaganza, spread over multiple articles. Featuring a graphic of warplanes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Goldlust, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University Shutterstock Earlier this month, regulators flagged electricity price rises in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Like many people, youâre probably wondering how you can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week â six ten-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days ...
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The capitalâs transport overhaul will have spent $130 million on consultant fees by the end of next year, Stuff reports. Letâs Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) expects to spend $60 million on outside experts in the coming year, after already spending $38.5m in the past three years and $35m this year. Greater ...
Chris Hipkinsâ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the governmentâs climate change response. Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this monthâs Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and how she feels cabinet have destroyed confidence in ...
Christopher Luxon says the policy is whatâs needed to address serious issues with reading, writing and maths in primary schools. Others arenât so sure, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.Back ...
Although Auckland Councilâs big cleanup following this yearâs extreme weather events continues, âthings are getting more difficult at this pointâ. Five weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle, some 7,000 Aucklanders remain impacted by the aftermath of the floods, slips and heavy winds that battered the region in January and February. Auckland Councilâs ...
A traffic bypass stole 20,000 potential daily visitors from its main streets and local businesses. Three years on, how are the Waikato townâs 9,000 residents coping?The tourism centre is closed â âpermanentlyâ, says the sign. The cafe next door, once called River Haven, now with two missing letters making ...
After a 19-year-old was killed while riding his bike on a dangerous stretch of Auckland road, the tragedy became a rallying call to make the city safer for cyclists. Tommy de Silva looks at whatâs been achieved in the 12 months since. On March 5, 2022, 19-year-old Levi James was ...
PFAS in cosmetics enter the environment through the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breatheOpinion: New Zealandâs Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has proposed a ban on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetics as part of its update to the Cosmetic ...
The now defunct ministry is the kind of agency needed to fix our current infrastructure disaster - not Civil Defence and independent sub-contracting and consulting firms. ...
Jorja Miller has quickly become one of the key players in the successful Black Ferns Sevens in her first season on the world series circuit, and it's a unique combination of sports that's helped her reach the top, Merryn Anderson discovers. Jorja Millerâs life has always been a balancing act between her ...
Can you really call a mass-produced lolly dipped in chocolate "handmade"? The Detail finds out why it's important that products are what they say on the tin.The Potter Brothers saga In 2020, Courtnay Adele - who went on to be a contestant in The Great Kiwi Bake Off - posted a video ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra At the end of the emotional news conference in which he unveiled the wording for the Voice referendum, Anthony Albanese touched on a central reason why a âyesâ result is vital. Australia would be ...
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Education union NZEI's president says National's new education policy is "like asking the All Blacks to have their goalposts painted a different colour of white and thinking you've made a change". ...
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The latest child poverty stats show there was no statistically significant improvement in the year to June 2022. But Child Poverty Reduction Minister Jan Tinetti says even one child living in poverty is "too many". ...
The Auckland mayorâs casting vote to take the Super City out of Local Government NZ shows a lack of team play, says Tory Whanau, while LGNZâs president insists it will cost everyone, including Auckland ratepayers. The Auckland Council withdrawal from Local Government NZ, a national association of local, regional and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra An emotional Anthony Albanese, flanked by members of the referendum working group, has released the final proposed wording of the question to be put to Australians to incorporate an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the ...
A group of rainbow and human rights organisations has filed for judicial review in the High Court, following the lack of intervention by the immigration minister, Michael Wood, over the decision to allow Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, an anti-trans-rights activist, to enter the country. Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT KĆaro, and Auckland Pride ...
A coalition of rainbow community groups are taking Immigration Minister Michael Wood to court over a decision to allow a controversial anti-transgender activist into the country. ...
Today human rights organisations Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT KĆaro, and Auckland Pride filed for judicial review in the High Court. Our case follows the Immigration Minister's decision to allow Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, a known anti-transgender ...
The great southern joke that New Zealand does indeed end at the Bombay Hills, but that it starts at Bluff, takes on a new hue now with Auckland Council breaking away from the sector organisation Local Government NZ Auckland Council has suddenly pulled its own version of Brexit. At the ...
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Off to vist friends in Palmerston North this weekend and give the bike a rest for a change!
Palmerston North? Commiserations mate! đ
Well I’m in levin whats wrong with the horowhenua?? me I think I will restart watching Babylon 5 or maybe Dr Who, from the beginning hmm decisions decisions.
B5 nice one. Dr Who as well. Good taste buddy. Me, I prefer toasters getting frakked on BSG đ
Yes, but Palmerston North ain’t in the Horowhenua đ
Well it’s as close as spitting distance lol And I settled on B5 as i have just finished converting it all to Xvid for my laptop
Push bike? As in you cycle?
Yep. Fresh air, fantastic Hawke’s Bay scenery and a competitive streak. Great fun.
I know you said “no aggro” but can I use this thread to say that as a dedicated Hurricanes fan I hope that Mark Hammett gets on the first plane back to Canterbury as soon as possible, the man is useless.
Secondly…all real sports fans will be cheering for India in the cricket world cup final, I doubt I could handle seeing that cheat Murali hold up the world cup.
I’m backing Sri Lanka bruv – just to piss you off.
No, actually because I think they have the superior bowling lineup with the 3 M’s (Murali – assuming he is fit enough to play, Malinga, and Mendis), and because India have designed the tournament schedule to favour themselves and deserve to get their comeuppance.
And whatever you think of Murali’s bowling action when he delivers the doosra, under the current Laws of Cricket it is legal.
As I said Toad…..”all real sports fans” đ
Once again I prove Toad wrong, and to make India’s victory all the more enjoyable the cheating sod Murali did not get a wicket.
Did you make a prediction of some sort? ‘Cos it doesn’t really count unless you communicate it.
Oi Felix,
You still doing the market?
If you’re going to accuse a sports-person of cheating you’d better have some evidence. Do you?
Yes I do..
How about the fact that the rules of the game were changed to allow this cheat to continue playing, how about the fact that numerous umpires are on record as saying that the ICC just do not want to hear any accusations about the mans bowling action.
Even allowing for the 15 degree Murali rule he is still a chucker, still a cheat and still a blight on the game.
Yes, they lost. But the really good news is Murali might be coming to Wellington to play for them in the next two seasons! You’ll be able to tell him what you think to his face!!!
Have to agree with you entirely, Bruv. Murali should have been banned before he even got to play international cricket and his ‘record’ counts for nothing as far as I’m concerned. He can’t be the best bowler in the world if he doesn’t bowl the ball. Simple, really.
Mind you, it’s obviously a bit rich for you to be bleating about cheating, when you’re so complicit in match fixing yourself.
Why don’t you put you money where you mouth is . . . oh, right. As you were.
Tried Renaissance brewery’s double India pale ale today. O is for owsum.
Ah, Renaissance ales- make life worth that bit more living. Tried their new twopenny ale tonight, and then a half of Sorenson’s 8-wired. My beer of choice is Renaissance Scotch Ale, but, sob, tonight the tap had run dry. A real Slim Dusty moment. “But there’s nothing so lonesome , or make a man pale, when the barman says sadly, “The pub’s got no Ale.”
(JFTR the vid was made just before Team America came out )
I played with a country fiddle player once who ate all his food like that man in black in the video- everything deep fried in two inches of fat. He could play though.
Did a version of “Orange Blossom Special,” humunguously fast at the end, where he played with the bow between his teeth moving the fiddle instead on the bow, with the fiddle behind his back, behind his head, under his knee, with socks on and finally with a metal coat hanger. Impeccably. He played so fast that I had to halve the tempo on the upright bass just to keep up.
Sometimes we just don’t know how good people are until they’ve gone. Had good taste in whisky too. Think I’ll have one now to remember Leo. Slainte to you too Rosy!
Capcha ‘compositions” Dang, there it goes again.
And on all things Scottish and the gone good – the best Scottish band that never made it big (IMO)…damn that Scottish melancholy/nostalgia combination – there must be a word for it???
Working this weekend as usual, but I get an extra hour before work this morning đ
Thanks for the Big Country link. i had a vinyl LP of there’s back then. As I recall it was about the same time as U2 started to make it big, and it sometimes got referred to as Celtic Rock.
Big Country got a lot of mentions for making their guitars sound like traditional fiddles & bagpipes. I guess it’s the melancholy of oppressed hard working people, and nostalgia for better times, all held together by a sense of community & soldiarity.
I’ll cheers you with a Scottish scotch ale in Scotland this weekend Slainte đ
Blah! Have a decent beer.
I preferred the earlier Skids. Still my favorite punk band.
Days In Europa, Scared To Dance and The Absolute Game sit still in my record collection replete with “you shall not pay more than” stickers.
Working For The Yankee Dollar
Albert Tatlock!
Stuck way over here in NZ didn’t ever get the chance to see em – but since you asked:
Wish I was there
Â
Â
Â
Â
Understand completely DoS. Sad that I am, I once timed a trip to the UK to see BC the day I arrived… Being stuck in NZ I knew it would be the only chance I’d get. I appreciate The Skids but prefer folk-infused rock myself. Sacrilege to some but I also appreciated the U2/Green Day version of The Skids ‘the saints are coming’. I saw it as a tribute to The Skids as well as a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGhTWE98DU&feature=related
I thought the mistake Green Day made was that it sounded too like the original. The chance to make it their own version was not taken. It became more of a homage really..
My daughter had great fun at school though saying pffft the original was better and her fellow classmates going what do you mean?
This party blows. I’m off to the pub.
Yes that’s how I feel about [no politics please! – r0b] as well.
Right – now felix is gone we can bring out the good stuff!
On the subject of other good stuff. Saw a good concert on Wednesday night at which the story got told about a Scottish friend who got the nickname “The Exorcist.” And why was he called the Exorcist? Because when he’d left after a good night’s visiting, there were no spirits left in the house.
Heh – I’ll steal that line some time…
Hey!! I always sensed that was going on r0b!
No weekend social out here. Just weekend chores fixing up our now crooked little house (and sitting in the garden). Big houses around us have suffered or come down or been demolished while our timber number proved itself as one tough dancer at quake time.
Go the little old wooden cottage!
Snap! (‘as it were’). Our 70m2 cottage did the same – shook itself like a dog and then just looked like nothing had happened (except for a few things on the floor). Not bad for living about 800m from the four avenues.
This has probably been mentioned before, but if you want something to do over the weekend you could do worse than check out Gap Filler.
Arnt Timber cottages great? nice little flexible buildings, but I wonder if you will get a lot of squeaky floors from sprung nails?
Well the mighty Gunners are at home to Ryan Nelsen and Blackburn Rovers and I hope that I’m watching this match Sunday morning after Man Utd have been beaten by Winston Reids West Ham (I know Winnie probably won’t do much more than warm the bench).
For sale, one red carpet and trophy cabinet. Good condition, not used in recent years. Enquiries to A Wenger, Emirates Stadium, London.
Early one morning Arsene Wenger was roused from sleep by a telephone call. “Wenger”, Arsene sleepily muttered into the receiver as he answered it. “This is the London Fire Chief”, came the reply from the telephone, “I am calling you, Mr Wenger, to report that the Emirates Stadium is on fire”. Instantly awake, “The cups man, save the cups” bellowed Wenger. In a soothing tone the Fire Chief replied “Calm down Mr Wenger, the fire hasn’t reached the kitchen yet”.
Muzik for geeks
http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/s/rzsHejpkw9q/
Get down! And when you’re done with that – more geeky muzik awaits:
Lynn take note!
I’ve always been partial to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYW50F42ss8
Oh, you want a geek off
I see you and raise you:
http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/artist/Matheatre/songs/
I call: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJvAL-iiLnQ
And raise you Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc
All right, game on!
For some reason this video doesn’t load for me from youtube, but if I view it embedded on another site it works fine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm1yvSiVs9U
Embedded: http://www.cstonedesign.com/videos-the-bloodmobile-they-might-be-%5BTm1yvSiVs9U%5D.cfm
captcah: excesss, yes, 3 esses
And a bit more mainstream…
Why? I refuse to watch the videos. They will be puppies and kittens like the strange graphic in the post? Urgghh..
Plze some honest backbiting….. Off to OpenMike.
Puppies and kittens was so last week. You should read on the front end to see the new graphic.
Plus, you really should check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owboALviA8U
Heh! That is better – war by other means. Stop the Howitzers and substitute a soccer ball
Prefer the hot toddies
Well for sure. The iBand thing is just geekdom that I thought would appeal to iPad fans like Lynn…
It was *grin*. I was justin a bah humbug and code mood this weekend.
Gardening. Gotta get the last of the winter veggies in before it gets too cold.
What are you planting Critic?
I had my first crack at a garden this summer, I found it a hell of a lot of fun but have no idea what I should be planting for winter crops.
Does it harm the soil if you just leave it empty for the winter or is it better to plant some type of crop?
Hi BB, it depends a bit on where you are. I’m in Christchurch and most things grow a bit slowly over winter and they need shelter from the frosts. You could try this website for a few tips, but it comes down to trial and error usually.
The best advice anyone ever gave “Tend your garden” (Voltaire, I think).
Good heavens, something I have in common with bruv, first year gardening.
We first planted late autumn last year. Leeks and spinach did well over winter. Some folks say mustard greens to fix nitrogen.
Interested in advice from real gardeners!
I’m also going to tend my garden this weekend.
Ehhh, first comment after a few years of lurking.
This type of thread seems a lot safer than all of the other ones.
I have in the garden: leeks, spring onions, lentils, beetroot, celery, and the usual herbs and lettuce and spinach etc.
WHAT AM I DOING?
MUST SLEEP I HAVE TO GO TO WORK IN AN HOUR
OH NO.
Watch out for over-cooked poached eggs tomorrow, Wellington.
Welcome! Glad we’ve made a space where you can be happy commenting. Hope your eggs didn’t get too munted…
Lucerne or Black eyed peas also known as cow peas are good for nitrogen fixing. Come to think of it any edible beans will do the same with the added advantage of ending up with food. Just chuck a couple of hands over the bit you want to leave empty and the next year dig the lot in and you will have a bumper crop of whatever you plant next. Mustard greens are good to and are great in stir fries. For land not used for a long time you can grow wattle (Great nitrogen fixer) and if you coppice them you will have firewood on a regular base for many years.
Depends on where you are big bruv. I’m in Thames Valley and get a few frosts, but nothing serious. If you are in Auckland, or near the coast, then maybe frosts won’t be too much of a problem.
I’ve planted leeks, carrots, beetroot, celery, broccoli, onions, cabbages and cauliflower. I was meant to get brussel sprouts too, but accidentally bought extra broccoli. Today I’m planting red onions, radishes, cucumbers, mizuna (which is a type of lettuce, I hope) and butter beans.
My guess is the main virtue of planting a garden for winter is that it keeps your attention on the garden, so it’s not so much effort to get it going again for summer. You could plant a crop that fixes nitrogen, over winter, and mulch it back into the garden in August, that way you don’t need to worry about harvesting it, and meanwhile it will improve your soil.
The Warehouse had/has frost cloth for about 50c per metre. I need to build something so I can roll it out in the evening and wind it back onto its reel in the morning. Maybe an old electric fence tape reel can be modified – on Sunday.
Best of luck with your garden, BB.
Interesting. Hope you can comment here some time when you know how well that worked…
Critic, thanks for the advice and the kind words.
It is a magnificent day here today so there is no excuse for not being in the garden.
I am not a huge fan of winter veggies (apart from Brussel Sprouts which I love) so I might just plant some of them, some onions, radishes and do the rest in mustard.
yeah brussel sprouts are great, I must get some in the ground.
I’ve had very poor feedback about the radishes, the rest of the household is not impressed.
A Â friend and I co-operate in a community garden plot of about 120 square metres. We with spouses sat down tonight and ate chicken with own grown potatoes, kumera, tomatoes, corn, rocket (with roasted seeds), garlic, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes with basil- a feast, and so much better to have grown it ourselves. Had to get in the parsnips and carrots, but next year that’s what we’ll grow and less beans and garlic and spuds ‘cos of that damn psyllid.
And home brew, made with own grown hops. Â
Planted today lettuce, curly kale and mizuna and harvested as well. Down at the plot a Fijian Indian woman told me of  delicious curry made with curly kale. Islanders grow taro there, Maori grow kumera, Muslims grow hot peppers and green tomatoes, ex-South Canterbury farmers grow pumpkins bigger than wheel barrows, Greenies grow in companion planting fashion and ex-acoholics stay dry by growing beans and yams and corn. We swap food and ideas, yarns and help each other. Some neighbour dug half my plot by hand because I am recovering from cancer operations. It is a functioning and vibrant community, full of heart and love. Life can be like that, as can at least one thread on the Standard!
Mac 1,
Sorry to hear about your cancer operations and hope you are recovering al right.
I have a question. You talk about the psyllid. I had not heard about it before and did a quick google. I live near Raglan (Hamilton) and just had a disappointing potato harvest. Any chance of this horrid little bug having spread to the West coast of the North Island?
Travellerev, healing very well, thanks. That’s why my remark to big bruv about gardening being good therapy. And also enforced inaction gives time to blog, read and contemplate. Gotta be some positives đ
The psyllid I understand came in at Auckland and has travelled (sorry) south. We are in the top of the South Island and this is our second season.
The damage to potatoes shows as a yellow, very stunted, deformed growth and the potatoes themselves can show an uneven black circle inside when you slice through, called zebra markings, caused by a bacterium introduced by the psyllid when it feeds. The spud itself develops an off taste. At an early stage you can detect the psyllid on the underleaves, either its eggs or the critter itself. Google has all this info. The psyllid also preys on tomatoes, eggplant and tree tomatoes.Â
I would expect it to be in your district. Saying that, though, the community garden plot has it but 500 metres away my home garden is so far free. I intend to monitor heavily, use preparations like neem oil and try and encourage predators like lacewings. I found the early planting of spuds also helped as it takes time for psyllid populations to build up. Destroy all matter where the psyllid might over-winter.
Mizuna is a Japanese plant used for the young leaves in the salad mixtures you buy in the Supermarket. It is a member of the mustard family and also great for stir fries. It has a bit of a bite to it so eat them young for the best taste
Thanks Ev
Cheers AC.
(Wow, love the new comment interface)
Some good advice around here, big bruv. I would also look at lupins with the mustard for nitrogen fixing to be dug in with Spring. I find broad beans work well over winter and plant garlic at mid-winter. Otherwise winter greens, curly kale is good and I buy mixed asian greens for salad/stir fry use. Brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots also.
It all depends on where you are, of course. Good advice also about using cloches, cloth, glass and plastic coverings. I use favoured sites around the property for growing things outside the normal growing season, especially expensive veg like eggplants, peppers (but not winter). You can even buy mushrooms to plant. More exotic plants like rocket, mizuma, daikon can be grown, too.
And plants your spuds very early in Spring if there is danger of that bloody awful potato/tomato psyllid about your area. Best of luck. Gardening is good therapy, too.
Yeah, I should probably get around to hoeing over all the weeds and planting carrots, and getting some cauliflower and broccoli sorted. Might see if Bunnings has any broad bean’s for sale too. But otherwise, I’ve got harvest the patty-pans and figure out how best to preserve the seeds for spring and find out how many damn pumpkins we have, and bring one of the chilli plant’s inside.
And coriander does surprisingly well in the winter down in Christchurch, I’ve got a small forest of it a present that’ll be harvested for seed come next summer, but I need to find a slow bolt variety for harvesting leaves and sort out how I’m going to do basil.
Also used some quake freed fencing cinder blocks to build a dry-wall constructed planter box that just needs to be filled with soil and come the end of the frosts will be filled with capsicums
As a friend once said to me about something else.. “It would be perfect, but there are humans involved.”
Plan to blast my QOTSA collection – No One Knows being my favourite as it rocks out hard and has the delightful turn the tables video:
…plus the lead singer is 6’5″ and does wonders for my will to stay alive.
How about The Fall and William S Burroughs. I can’t get this song out of my head.
Dude the first three albums of theres are wicked. MEXICOLA
Any decent gigs in Wellington tonight?
Talking of watching stuff. I have been watching my electric jug for some time. You see when I switch it on it mumbles for a few seconds. Then it sulks in silence for maybe 15 seconds more. Then it stirs into life and rumbles away till it has boiled.
Why does it sulk?
Ok, dammit you know, that’s always puzzled me too.
Anyone?
Jugs are shy. Would you want someone watching while you do your business, getting all hot and bothered, making noises, letting off a little steam?
I’ll never look at a cup of tea the same way again…
Stay with felix’s spirits.
Yes Mac1. I must admit that I felt a little voyerish especially when, I’m ashamed to admit it, but ummm I took ahh the lid off and looked deep inside. Don’t tell my wife though. đ
Induction coils take forever to heat up đ
The boiling sound is made by gaseous bubbles collapsing in the water, changing instaneously from a low density gas to a high density liquid. The rate at which this happens depends on several factors.
One is how much air is dissolved in the water. Fresh unboiled water will have a fair amount of air dissolved in it.. so when it is first heated a lot of this will come out fairly quickly.
The second main factor is the temperature of the water. Cold water will recondense the gas bubbles very quickly, more or less as soon as they rise away from the heating element. But as the water heats the bubbles will last longer and longer, until when it’s close to boiling point the bubbles make it all the way to the surface and make relatively little noise.
Then there is likely the impact of convection currents as well.
Combine these various factors together and it largely explains what’s going on here.
ah yes.. and don’t forget the lunar effect too. Bubbles don’t just magically form by themselves you know.
captcha: collections
Obviously, this thread was needed. But I am very worried about all of you – even you big bruv.
There is another world out there – it’s got sun, and trees and deckchairs…or if you’re in Rotorua, apparently, just the trees and deckchairs.
Meh, I slept in till 12, after knocking off before 9pm. And providing my motivation levels are high enough I’ll thrash my legs on the Port Hills tomorrow as to prepare for either Mt Richardson or Mt Brown next weekend! Finally I’ll be able to escape Christchurch!
Couldn’t make it to freshers, since thanks to depression symptoms even a minor cold knocks my stamina levels down to craptastic, can’t bike/walk for crap, levels :/
One dowel rod (cut to length)
Length of non-slip grip material
One length of good-quality cord
Small length of chain
One carabina
10 kg plate
One power drill
One wife willing to construct a wrist roller for me: Priceless đ
Yeah there’s a reason she wants you to keep your wrists in shape.
In that case I’m sure you’ve got at least one huge forearm then đ
đ
Supporting the Hurricanes is like supporting the Labour Party. (Sorry r0b, is that too political?)
Any how’s – finally back from my softball club prize giving – won “Most Improved” – as the coach said, I couldn’t have got any worse – now – do I stay up and get on with Sunday as hampered as I am, or do I head off for a snooze and wait til MsBLiP starts vacuuming determinedly and accusingly around the bedroom . . . oh, decisions decisions.
Nah that’ll do. It’s a fine line, but I think it is fun to have this politics free zone on the blog. I’ve been amazed at the response. Quite uplifting, in an odd kind of way.
rOb
It’s a wonderful idea – a breath of fresh air and a real piece of azure blue sky in what can become a rather frustrating, grey, politically bloggy landscape. I think I have been most affected by the gardening comments. Great friendly supportive atmosphere -loved them.Thanks,
Here’s some porno for bookworms.
It’s a 40 Gigapixel photo of an 868 year old monastery library in Prague, the largest indoor photo ever (actually 2947 photos stitched together into a panorama.)
http://www.360cities.net/gigapixel/strahov-library.html
That is wonderful! I could peer at it all day.
Anybody know the best way of getting rid of Oxalis from a garden?
I have tried a couple of sprays but the stuff just keeps coming back.
Pure and total warfare only on oxalis. Spraying may kill it locally but only to the extent that the roots die….those bits that survive will just keep invading. If you can dig out the bulk of the roots (you will never get all of them) then spray / weed what comes back through that may work but its an ongoing battle. I have a better cure, I get my chickens to clear the area, mulch like crazy and allow the chickens in on weeding expeditions.
Right….so without chickens I am stuffed? đ
The stuff is a nightmare, I spent last Sunday digging the garden and thought I had got rid of all the Oxalis, last night I checked on the garden and the freaking stuff was starting to peak through the soil again in some areas.
I guess I will just have to spray and dig it again this weekend.
You poor bastard. Bored is right. It’s land war in asia territory.
If you’ve got any of the right aged kids about the place, draft them into it. That’s how my parents killed it back in the day.
Big bruv, total war on oxalis. I conned my kids as littlies into digging for ‘treasure’- oxalis bulbs. Wife and I were digging spuds last week-end- her on the spade, me on my knees, as ever- when she reminded me of “digging for treasure.”
I tried pigs to do the job on oxalis, with follow-up from the chooks in the 80’s. Didn’t work- planted an orchard instead, which outgrew the oxalis! The pigs ate the oxalis greens and the big corms, but left the little hard corms alone and just spread them around to regrow.
Big bruv, try the chooks, or even better, bantams since they don’t seem to dig up plants when they scratch like chooks do. Confine them in a small cage-run over a section of garden and let them go for it, since it sounds like you have spread it by digging. The chook droppings go pink from the oxalis.
Armchair Critic is right about leaf chopping but you have keep doing it.I did the same with california thistle when working as a gardener.
I often just leave it. Nice little purplypink flowers. A mini-jungle of them makes for a discussion point for visitors too.
After years chopping california thistle out by hand, and setting goats on to it, to no avail, I resorted to Tordon. Â They hated it, but I’ve heard they will come back next year anyway. Â True?
AC, never used Tordon. These thistles were in the rose bed and were obvious and free of other growth, so easier to deal to with a weekly sub-surface hoeing.
Did use boiling water on various weeds, like oxalis, but my wife reminds me that we stopped because it just seemed like we were watering them. Perhaps the detergent helped. It seemed to knock the aphids which didn’t like getting soapy. Did the dishes by hand in a basin and then gave the roses a good soaking with the soapy residue.
I am really concerned though about tomato/potato psyllids because they knocked my main crop spuds and my son-in-law’s tomatoes to hell.
AFAIK its a battle of attrition. Â You need to make it as difficult for the bulbs to do their thing as you can.
Spray them with roundup (or whatever) as soon as they appear, and again when they reappear. Â If you don’t like sprays, chop the leaves off. Â No leaves means no way for energy to be stored in the bulb.
Once they take a bit of a holiday, or appear to be discouraged, put a layer of mulch or topsoil or whatever. Â This means the bulb needs to use more energy to get leaves at the surface and thereby replenish itself.
Whatever you do, don’t disturb the soil where the bulbs are – this just encourages them to grow again.
It should be gone in about two years. Â Option b is to remove the contaminated topsoil and replace with new stuff.
If you want a serious spray, try TAG2. Â It kills everything and stops it regrowing for six months to a year. Â I only use it on my metal driveway, it’s very effective.
If I used TAG2 then I would have to forget about next summers garden?
I like the idea about chopping the leaves off, thanks for that Critic.
Yeah, nothing grows for months after TAG2 – no summer garden if you use it.
If you want to treat the oxalis as a long term project (and, as a disclaimer, I’ve not tried this on oxalis) you could try pouring boiling water on the leaves. Â After my three or four cups of perc coffee in the morning I run a full load of water through the percolator to clean the machine, add dish washing liquid and pour the hot water on to weeds in the lawn or garden. Â The hot water/detergent combination seems to strip the protective layer off the foliage and kill the plant, without damaging the soil.
The cold coffee and grounds go on the garden, or lawn.
Bored,
Wow, only on Weekend Social can we discuss warfare and killing…
A serious question…
Is dog pee any good for killing it off?
At the moment we have seven dogs (the number always varies) if their pee kills the stuff off I might open the gate to the garden and let them do their business on there for a few days.
Last week’s weekend social is active again!
This week’s is due to be posted at 4pm.  Should it be earlier?  When is the right time to  schedule weekend social?
Midday?