New Zealand Listener Issue 33, 2022

This time next year, cars and trucks in this country will run partly on plant-derived fuels, commonly known as biofuels. From April 1, 2023, domestic fuel suppliers will be legally required to add a percentage of biofuel to petrol and diesel. This might sound like great news – that the government is doing something tangible to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. Sadly not. The sustainable biofuels mandate, however well intentioned, will worsen climate impacts and further increase food and fuel costs. New Zealand simply doesn’t have enough sustainable biofuel sources (food waste, wood, tallow) to make the quantities needed each year to satisfy the mandate. Pine forest slash digestion is a mirage; it’s new technology with no plants operating anywhere. We would have to import biofuels from global…

WINNING CAPTION Bob Richardson, Christchurch FINALISTS Ian Foster: “Apart from our defence and our attack, I thought we played really well.” – Bill Grant, Napier Roger Tuivasa-Sheck: “Big one coming, mate, so you’d better think outside the ’Boks now.” – Dean Donoghue, Papamoa Beach Tuivasa-Sheck: “Told ya.” – Ann Nichols, Levin Tuivasa-Sheck: “So, Fossie, what are you, coach or bus?” Foster: “Bloody Kirwan!” – Conal Atkins, Nelson Tuivasa-Sheck: “Shall we run for it?” – Trish Bishop, Hamilton Tuivasa-Sheck: “Hey, boss, I could put in a word at the Warriors. They’d die for your record!” – Robbie Blair, Snells Beach Caption Competition {listenercaption@aremedia.co.nz} TO ENTER Send your captions for the photo at right to listenercaption@aremedia.co.nz, with “Caption Competition No 473” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries can be posted to “Caption Competition No 473”, NZ Listener, PO Box 52122, Kingsland, Auckland 1352.…

Much column space has been given to the ousting of Green Party co-leader James Shaw (Listener, August 6), but very little has been written about the concerns of the naysayers, or the extent of their concerns. (I hasten to add I am not a member of any political party, but I do share those concerns.) The major political parties regard Shaw – and the Greens – as patsies; potential election deal-makers to be kept onside by throwing them a few bones of appeasement. In return, the Greens agree not to make too much noise about their concerns. It’s a strategy summarised decades ago by US president Lyndon Johnson: “It’s better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.” The Labour/Greens Cooperation Agreement states: “When speaking within…

“We have been forced to fight for our own health care when we got let down by the government. Shame on the government for letting us down again.”– Erik Bottcher, a New York councillor whose district includes neighbourhoods hit hard by monkeypox“You never realise how long a minute actually is until you’re exercising.”– Seen on Twitter“Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.”– Emily Brontë“Reality is easy. It’s deception that’s the hard work.”– Lauryn Hill“Resilient people aren’t the people that keep going, they’re the ones that know their boundaries and stay within them.”– Ashley Bloomfield“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”– George Orwell“An idea isn’t responsible for the people who believe in it.”– Don Marquis“I just wanted a normal life. There was a big part of…

1. Which film includes the quote: “Absolutely not! I’m a businessman. I love money, I love power, I love capitalism. I do not now and never will love children.” ❑ Annie❑ Wall Street❑ The Social Network❑ Jerry Maguire 2. Which Australian Prime Minister went for a swim in the ocean and vanished without a trace in 1967? ❑ Robert Menzies❑ John Curtin❑ Harold Holt❑ Malcolm Fraser 3. In 1902, the American engineer Willis H Carrier built the first modern … what? ❑ Helicopter❑ Air conditioner❑ Computer❑ Space rocket 4. Which of these birds is not a member of the ratite group? ❑ Bittern❑ Cassowary❑ Emu❑ Kiwi 5. What is the correct name for the limbs of an octopus? ❑ Arms❑ Tentacles❑ Fronds❑ Tendrils 6. Which New Zealand volcano produced the Oruanui supereruption? ❑ Mt Ruapehu❑ Rangitoto Island❑ Mt Taranaki❑ Taupō volcano 7.…

A couple of months ago, we met some friends at a winery in Antietam, Maryland, site of one of the last and certainly bloodiest battles of our Civil War. Driving its rolling hills, I was reminded why I don’t ever visit any of the Civil and Revolutionary War battlefields that dot this area: because thinking about war is depressing, and since there are more than enough present armed conflicts to fully bum me out, I see no need to dip into the past for a sadness booster. A few weeks later, I found myself in a discussion about the future of our ever-so-deeply divided nation, and two genuinely disturbing possibilities were raised: cleaving the United States into two countries along the fault line of political identity, an idea dismissed for being…