New Zealand Listener Issue 48 2020

It is best, ordinarily, that retired politicians and ex-officials stay out of debates over their successors’ actions. However, with the median house price soaring nearly 20% in the past year, former Finance Minister Sir Michael Cullen has made headline-grabbing suggestions about tackling the runaway property prices. So, too, has former Reserve Bank board chairman Arthur Grimes who, like Cullen, says the market-heating side effects of current monetary policy are economically disastrous for New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed dissatisfaction with the billowing house-price bubble, but is disinclined to review her Government’s decision last term to prioritise the maintenance of employment in the Reserve Bank’s monetary obligations. The bank, endeavouring to stave off the coronavirus pandemic’s depressive effects, has, in effect, been issuing cheap, new money to the trading banks…

As a psychotherapist, I have struggled to understand the grasp Donald Trump has on the affections of his constituency (“Trumped!”, November 21). Paul Thomas aptly quoted Italian columnist Beppe Severgnini on the attemped comeback by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi: “Italians have an affinity for Berlusconi because he is a walking absolution for our sins – and we have been living in the valley of complicity for a long time.” Here’s a different take on Trump’s enormous popularity: he personifies the shadow side of the American psyche. Men admire him for having the balls to say and do what they’d secretly like to do, exemplified by his “grab ’em by the pussy” remark in relation to women. And women secretly admire such a show of dominant masculinity. Voting for him is a safe way…

Dave Orit, Blenheim FINALISTS Ardern: “Oh, no, I’m going to miss my call from Vogue because of all this din about poverty and inequality!” – Jane Barker, Auckland Ardern: “So that was a capital pains tax you wanted, right?” – Hans Zindel, Palmerston North Jacinda Ardern: “Hard to hear – you’re too far to the right!” – Jane Dillon, Māpua Ardern: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” – Janice Sutton, Orewa, Auckland Ardern: “James Shaw? Which news organisation are you from?” – Simone Standfield, Christchurch Ardern: “Poverty? Oh, you mean povidy!” – Richard Marks, Tauranga Voting opens for New Zealand Earring of the Year. – Hilary Miller, Auckland Caption Competition {listenercaption@aremedia.co.nz} TO ENTER Send your captions for the photo above to listenercaption@aremedia.co.nz, with “Caption Competition No 386” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries can…

“Congrats to Joe Biden for winning the presidency for the fourth time this week.” – Umair Haque“This is the most drawn-out transition since Caitlin Jenner.” – US comic Bill Maher“Trump refusing to concede reminds me of the movie The Sixth Sense – the main character doesn’t know he’s dead.” – Bill Maher“We do not take an oath to a king or a queen, to a tyrant or a dictator.” – General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff“In the United States, there’s a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries, in Catholic countries, a successful person is a sinner.” – Umberto Eco“My wife and I weren’t prepared for the depth of injustice shown towards Prince Charles in The…

1. Which TV show opened with the words: “There are two kinds of folks who sit around and think about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers”? ❑ Castle ❑ Murder, She Wrote ❑ Jonathan Creek❑ Midsomer Murders 2. Which of these is the name of both a type of cocktail glass and the drink often served in it? ❑ Hurricane ❑ Manhattan ❑ Cosmopolitan ❑ Daiquiri 3. On which of these occasions were ancient Roman citizens most likely to wear togas? ❑ Fighting in battle ❑ Formal events ❑ Manual labour ❑ Relaxing at home 4. Malagasy is the national language of which country? ❑ Malawi ❑ Malaysia ❑ Maldives ❑ Madagascar 5. True or false? Moose are excellent swimmers and will dive underwater for food. ❑ True ❑ False 6. Which of these is not a game…

At 50 years old, Christian Porter still has the lithe frame and chiselled features that saw him listed as a finalist in Cleo magazine’s most-eligible-bachelor-of-the-year contest two decades ago. A third-generation MP from a Liberal Party family, with a stellar arts and law academic record in Western Australia and Britain, Porter is the gilded son of an Australian Olympic high-jump silver medallist. He is also Australia’s first law officer – the Attorney-General in Scott Morrison’s Government. Until mid-November, he was also a likely future prime minister. But perhaps no more, after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship investigative television programme, Four Corners, painted him as an enthusiastic womaniser and a misogynist, who had been photographed in a crowded Canberra bar snuggling up to a younger woman. The bar incident came before the father…