New Zealand Listener Issue 51 2021

We live in a hyperbolic world. “This smoothie is the worst!” “I’m literally starving!” “My parents will kill me!” Words have lost much of their impact. But we still want to be understood. So, what do you do when you feel genuinely aggrieved? When something triggers a deep sense of injustice or maltreatment? How do you let people know you are serious? One easy way is to refer to Adolf Hitler, Nazism and the horrors of the Holocaust. Most of us have heard or read it. In online arguments, “worse than Hitler” gets tossed about like confetti (this even has a name: reductio ad Hitlerum). Sometimes it’s a throwaway line such as: “That doorman was a total Nazi.” Politicians do it all the time. Depending on who you ask, everyone from Donald Trump…

WINNING CAPTION Brian Phillips, Governors Bay FINALISTS Guard 1: “I’m sure I left my face around here somewhere.” – Clive Humphreys, Waiheke IslandGuard 1: “I’ve got a terrible headache. ” Guard 2: “You’re lucky. I think I’ve got nits.” – Kate Highfi eld, HastingsGuard 1: “In memory of the cuddly black bears who gave their lives to keep our heads dry and toasty warm. We will remember you.” – Katherine Clark, AucklandGuard 1: “I’ve got two snack bars stashed in mine. What’s in yours?” – David Field, RotoruaGuard 1: “I bowed to Her Majesty and now I can’t get my head upright again.” Guard 2: “Me, too.” – Vic Evans, NelsonGuard 1: “I’ve just washed mine and can’t do a thing with it.” – Warren Shaw, MartonGuard 1: “Don’t make eye contact, it’s…

It is disappointing Gary Taylor did not take time to understand Groundswell’s concerns (Upfront, December 11). Groundswell is not against regulation or the need to care for the environment. We are calling for the environmental momentum to continue and for everyone to join the journey. We believe many of the Government’s one-size-fits-all environmental regulations are unworkable and actually worse for the environment. We define unworkable as regulations that are impractical or impossible to comply with, that do not cater for regional differences, that unfairly remove local decision-making or that fail to achieve the intended positive outcomes. Under the indigenous biodiversity, freshwater, climate change and high-country pieces of legislation, for example, the more landowners have done to care for the environment, the more they are penalised. Many of the farmers in Groundswell have…

“Fashion is one of the greatest vehicles to merge music, art, architecture, design, typography – it’s a wide enough canvas, or a big enough sandbox, to touch all the different things that I’m into.” – Groundbreaking designer Virgil Abloh“It is not an exaggeration to say that health services will be overwhelmed when Covid-19 arrives in our region. Ngāti Porou people will be at the worst end of that struggle; some of us will become seriously ill and some of us may die.”– Te Runanganui o Ngāti Porou chair Selwyn Parata“Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place.” – Josh Billings“I’m romantic. I fall in love every day. Not with people but with situations.” – Amy Winehouse“Spotify — the only tech company to…

1. Which of these is not a name for a kind of wind? ❑ Sirocco ❑ Tiguan ❑ Mistral ❑ Chinook 2. True or false? It’s still possible to send a traditional hand delivered telegram to many countries around the world. ❑ True ❑ False 3. Which TV sitcom featured central characters Mary, Tommy, Harry, Dick and Sally? ❑ Parks and Recreation ❑ 3rd Rock from the Sun ❑ All in the Family ❑ The Mary Tyler Moore Show 4. Besides croquet, which other sport also uses a mallet? 5. The designer Vivienne Westwood was a pioneering figure in which fashion subculture? ❑ Glam rock ❑ Mod ❑ Bohemian ❑ Punk 6. Which New Zealand enterprise used the slogan “Come Home to the feeling”? in the late 80s and early 90s? ❑ Three/TV3 ❑ KiwiRail ❑ Sky ❑ Air New Zealand 7. Which of these people was a lead singer for the band Big…

And so, after 16 years and 16 days, our leader has left us. Wrapped in a warm coat and with a broad smile, Angela Merkel drove off into the freezing Berlin night in early December, following a brief ceremony featuring 74 soldiers carrying flaming torches and a military band playing old German pop songs and one hymn. In a speech televised live, the long-time German Chancellor thanked the country “with all her heart”, and in typical German bureaucratic style, she was given a huge certificate in a thin frame to prove she had been honoured by the military. You know, just in case anybody asks for proof. And now Europe’s largest economy has a new government. It will be a coalition that features, in order of popularity, the Social Democrats, the Greens…