New Zealand Listener Issue 38, 2022

It’s hard to think of a government statistic that has a more direct impact on the lives of everyday New Zealanders than the consumers price index (CPI). With official inflation at 7.3%, consumers, wage and salary earners, superannuitants, businesses and homebuyers need to know the direction of inflation and interest rates so they can manage their expenditure and plan ahead. And, of course, it’s one of the key influences on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s monetary policy decisions. As RBNZ governor Adrian Orr put it recently, “inflation is no one’s friend and causes economic cost”. To fight inflation, the bank has hiked its official cash rate, which sets market interest rates, from 0.25% to 3.0% in just 10 months. Most economists believe price rises have peaked. But they also predict the RBNZ will…

WINNING CAPTION Joe Baker, Dunedin FINALISTS Adrian Orr: “We’re trying a hands-off approach this time round.” – Brian Gore, Tauranga Orr: “Now! My new composition: 5th Refrain from Speculation in B Sharp Major 6th.” – Ann Love, Nelson Orr: “To hell with official cash rates. Is Ian Foster in the room?” – Dean Donoghue, Papamoa Beach Orr: “Let’s do the time warp again!” – Rochelle Dunlop, Wellington Orr: “We won’t panic until inflation or sea levels reach this high, whichever comes first.” – Mike Hamblyn, Dunedin Orr: “How do I balance the books? Well, I put some on this hand and the others over here.” – Richard Cole, Waipu 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 478” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries can be posted to “Caption Competition…

I am writing in light of the Sam Uffindell affair (Politics, August 27). For a while during the 1950s, I also attended King’s College. One day when I was a fourth-former, I was summoned to the art studio. There, a group of my cohorts were gathered to “discipline” a third former who was regarded as “bumptious”. I had not had enough contact with him to know exactly what he had done to cause offence. I’m not sure if I knew at the time that he was partially deaf. Maybe he did not always answer when spoken to. Anyway, a cane was passed around, and by the time it came to my turn each of the group had caned him once. I dropped it and left the room. There was no way I was going…

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t me writing all the things from last week’s to-do list on this week’s to-do list.”– Seen on Twitter“Never lend your car to anyone whom you have given birth to.”– Erma Bombeck“Film-making is a chance to live many lifetimes.”– Robert Altman“The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.”– Robert Frost“Leonardo DiCaprio is actually dating all the under-25s he possibly can to spread the word about climate change to those who will be the most impacted.”– Seen on Twitter“Society honours its living conformists and its dead troublemakers.”– Mignon McLaughlin“There’s very little work where the work and the reward are simultaneous, and comedy is that.”– Judd Apatow“If you…

1. Which was invented first: parachutes or aeroplanes? ❑ Aeroplanes❑ Parachutes 2. Which book begins: “The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home.”? ❑ The Wind in the Willows❑ Winnie-the-Pooh❑ The Tale of Peter Rabbit❑ Animal Farm 3. True or false? Kelp is a kind of plant. ❑ True❑ False 4. The American TV sitcom Three’s Company was based on an earlier British sitcom with what title? ❑ George and Mildred❑ Rising Damp❑ Man About the House❑ The Good Life 5. Before broadband internet was available, it was common to hear dial-up modems making distinctive sounds when they connected. What is the term for those sounds? ❑ Salutations❑ Trilling❑ Mingling❑ Handshaking 6. Which country has the most speakers of Spanish as their first language? ❑ Mexico❑ Argentina❑ Spain❑ Venezuela 7. Which of these 80s films included…

Australia’s former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke was a mesmerising mix of bar-room charm, looks and brains, who did not hide his womanising, carousing past. The “Silver Bodgie” was an original. Born in a tiny, remote town, he went on to study at the University of Oxford, breaking the world-record time for sculling a yard of ale while there, and later heading Australia’s union movement. He ceased drinking and became prime minister, serving from 1983-1991. Anthony Albanese, elected four months ago, has neither the Silver Bodgie’s flamboyance nor his flaws. But of the former Labor leader’s successors, he is the most insistent that Hawke and his government are his role models. Those aspirations were on display this month when Albanese summoned tycoons, trade unionists, academics, carers and constructors to a summit at the…