New Zealand Listener Issue 48, 2022

In 2018, a working team of 24 specialists identified 117 global conservation and biodiversity issues, with 15 identified as key. Why conservation on this scale in New Zealand, you may ask. One good reason is that this country has one of the most extensive registers of threatened and endangered species. Although conservation globally is an issue, the stance different countries opt to take is individual. Several people have noted the “ambitious” plan for a pest-free New Zealand by 2050. Three radically different perspectives have been proposed: a high level of consideration for nature; the need for restoration in cities; and the growth of landscape restoration, with a suggestion New Zealand becomes one national park. Since the late 1980s, new rodent and vertebrate pesticide development and use have fallen. Yet, some claim this…

WINNING CAPTION Jennifer Spencer, Tauranga FINALISTS Caption: Glenn Phillips bursts into song to celebrate a match-saving century. – Hans Zindel, Palmerston North Caption: Glenn Phillips sings aria from the opera Bat Man. – Margaret Cannon, Palmerston North Phillips: “Figaro, Figaro, Fiiiiigaaaro.” – Sara Keen, Geraldine Caption: Glenn Phillips and the Whambat are big hits at the Sydney Opera Ground. – Alan Belcher, Christchurch Phillips: “Wish I’d worn that personal protection as the coach recommended.” – Murray Brown, Hamilton East Phillips: “I am man, hear me roar …” – Chris Goodyer, Christchurch 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 488” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries can be posted to “Caption Competition No 488”, NZ Listener, PO Box 52122, Kingsland, Auckland 1352. Entries must be received by noon, Tuesday, November…

The subheading on Ruth Nichol’s excellent piece (“Death wish list”, November 12) on the first year of assisted dying referred to “frustration over the law’s tight confines”. Here’s mine. My friend with motor neurone disease is just another year closer to a dreadful death. She is not eligible for assisted dying, because MND is not considered “terminal”. Her disease is characterised by progressive loss of muscle power that causes a relentlessly increasing paralysis. The ability to move limbs is lost first, which means the person gradually loses the ability to feed themselves, to sit up straight, much less to walk to the toilet. They lose the ability to swallow, so the only option becomes artificial feeding through a tube. Muscle paralysis eventually advances to the point where they lose the ability to…

“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.”– Bob Hope“Kids should come with a ‘skip intro’ button for their stories.”– seen on Twitter“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”– Aristotle“The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them.”– Benjamin Jowett“Time moves in one direction, memory in another.”– William Gibson“In 2010, nobody knew who the Black Ferns were. We were told, ‘You will never be paid’ and ‘Women’s rugby doesn’t matter’. Then, here we are 12 years later with a sold-out Eden Park.”– Ruby Tui“All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.”– James Russell Lowell“You…

1. In which bodily organ would you find an atrium? □ Lung□ Heart□ Liver□ Kidney 2. What percentage of the universe do scientists estimate is observable matter as opposed to dark matter and dark energy? □ 5%□ 10%□ 15%□ 20% 3. Who played the title role in the 2013 hijack thriller Captain Phillips? □ Harrison Ford□ Denzel Washington□ Tim Allen□ Tom Hanks 4. Which book was named the best work of fiction or poetry in the 2007 Montana NZ Book Awards? □ Lloyd Jones’ Mister Pip□ Maurice Gee’s Blindsight□ Janet Frame’s The Goose Bath□ Patricia Grace’s Tu 5. Kanye West was once married to which one of the Kardashian family? □ Kim Kardashian□ Khloé Kardashian□ Kourtney Kardashian□ Kendall Jenner 6. What type of galaxy is our own Milky Way? □ Spiral with arms from a central disc□ Spiral with a central…

Forget about throwing tomato soup at art or gluing yourself to the street. This month, Germany marked the first death caused by extremist climate-change protesters. At least, that’s what some German politicians were saying in early November after protesters apparently prevented an emergency vehicle from getting to an accident. A 44-year-old cyclist, who had been run over by a cement truck, later died. “These are not just teenage pranks,” the deputy chief of the Free Democrats scolded on Twitter; his party is currently part of Germany’s coalition government. “They are attacks on critical infrastructure, and now with tragic consequences. It is to be hoped that the justice system slowly starts to understand this, too.” Elsewhere, other conservative lawmakers were calling for prison sentences, likening the climate-change protesters to terrorists and vigilantes. But just as…