Word of the day

Grob – to search by feeling, as with the hand in a dark place.

Beautifying the blogosphere

pic.twitter.com/wd9fBFkS7V

— MOON (@DailyMoonX) July 29, 2025

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day Dr Lillian Cooper, born OTD 1861 in Chatham, the first woman doctor in Queensland and second in Australia. She joined Dr. Elsie Inglis’s Scottish Women’s Hospitals all-female medical unit and operated in a barn near the frontline in the gruelling conditions of… pic.twitter.com/Ci7quI9jVF

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) August 11, 2025

Subjective views

The pasture is lush and stocked with happily grazing animals which I think is a picturesque pastoral scene. Some would agree, others would say it depends on the type of stock and location of the paddock.

For some sheep are fine but cattle, especially dairy cows, are not. Others accept dairying in traditional places like Waikato and Taranaki but question and even condemn it in other areas, particularly those reliant on irrigation.

Some have a poetic view of the past when sheep farming was the norm in the South Island and dairying predominated in the North. But those of us who remember the land before irrigation made dairying possible, and profitable, down here have a more prosaic view.

Thirty years ago the lower Waitaki Valley struggled to carry 10,000 sheep now thanks to irrigation more than 30,000 dairy cows graze there. The Waiareka Valley has had a similar transformation, on a smaller scale. With dairying has come an influx of staff so properties which previously struggled to support a family without at least one off-farm income now support several.

Economic and social benefits have spread through wider North Otago. Vet practices and other businesses which support or supply dairy farms are flourishing; pre-school and school rolls are up; sports clubs and community organisations have more members; and for the first time since the ag-sag of the 1980s farmers’ adult children are returning to farms and farm support.

But those who criticise dairy conversions are not thinking of the economic and social benefits. They are concerned about the environmental impact although those fears are not always based on facts. A regional council survey of the Kakanui River some years ago found water was cleaner downstream from dairy farms than upstream. That was because it was a dry year and sheep paddocks had no cover so when it rained the droppings washed into the river whereas irrigation had provided grass growth which reduced and filtered runoff from dairy pastures. A later investigation found a colony of seagulls was to blame for poor water quality.

Of course, some environmental concerns are valid and we must all take the responsibility to safeguard our clean, green image seriously. That is why North Otago Irrigation Company requires everyone taking water from its scheme to have an environmental farm plan. This is a first for New Zealand and ensures shareholders use water efficiently, prevent run off and safeguard waterways.

Fonterra is also being proactive with initiatives to address environmental challenges. The company is working with suppliers to help them make improvements and will impose sanctions on those who consistently fail to meet consent conditions for effluent management.

But not all criticism of conversion to dairying is on environmental grounds, some is about aesthetics. I have never heard anything but praise for the Israelis who turn desert into productive land, but not everyone appreciates the skill and effort which go in to a similar increase in productivity here because they prefer their landscapes to be “natural”.

Exactly what that means after generations of human impact is a moot point so while we can set objective standards for soil and water quality, visual standards will always be subjective. One person’s lush pasture could be another’s blot on the landscape, and the reverse is also true.

© Ele Ludemann

In a past life I wrote weekly columns for the ODT, this is one of them.

Word of the day

Hethensith – a departure or desccease.

Woman of the day

Think of a board game in which you move a token around a square board buying streets, utilities and railways, and charging rent. Each time you go past the starting point, you collect money but if you “Go to Jail”, you must pay a fine or throw a double dice to get out. What is it… pic.twitter.com/mniWaum8dl

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) August 10, 2025

Women excluded 4 years on

Four years on from the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan the UN reports on the total exclusion of women:

Four years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, waves of directives have stripped Afghan women and girls of their rights and dignity. These restrictions are not temporary; not one has been reversed. The Taliban is closer than ever to achieving its vision of a society that completely erases women from public life. The most severe women’s rights crisis in the world is at risk of becoming normalized. 

There is nothing normal about the way women in Afghanistan have their lives restricted, their health compromised and their freedom so severely restricted.

Girls are banned from school after the age of about 13. Women are barred from most jobs, from political life and, in many parts of the country, can’t walk on the streets unaccompanied by men. Most women can’t even make decisions within their own households.

Bans on women studying medicine in universities, and on women being treated by male doctors in some parts of the country – as well as foreign aid cuts – mean that more women are not getting the medical care they need.

This should not be happening in the 21st century.

The results are devastating. Women are living shorter, less healthy lives. Maternal mortality risks and child marriage rates are rising and violence against women is growing unchecked.

The state of women’s rights in Afghanistan has made it the country with the second-widest gender gap in the world (second only to Yemen). Overlapping humanitarian crises and poverty are making life even harder for everyone, especially women and girls.

Despite everything, hope endures. Afghan women and girls continue to show strength, resilience and courage. They believe that equality is possible. But they should not have to face these challenges alone while they fight to build a better Afghanistan for everyone.

The world must act now – not just to meet urgent needs, but to support Afghan women to build a generation’s future with equal rights for all women and girls. Silence is not an option. Solidarity is not optional.

 

It has been 1466 days since our girls have been deprived of school.
It has been 966 days since our girls have been expelled from universities and educational centers.
Please support Afghan girls with online Education and secret school , as that is the only hope for them 🙏🏼🌿 pic.twitter.com/m0x4qm9Igo

— WDI.Afghanistan (@WDIAfghanistan) August 15, 2025

The world ostracised South Africa in protest against apartheid it must stand up against this barbaric treatment of women.

The systematic erasure of Afghan women by the Taliban is a crime against humanity: the world must react before it is too late🙏 pic.twitter.com/0OyrWsVhRJ

— WDI.Afghanistan (@WDIAfghanistan) August 15, 2025

If the Taliban succeed in Afghanistan the erasure of women’s freedoms won’t stop there.

 

Word of the day

Pseudologist – an inventor of elaborate lies; a person who habitually tells lies, especially elaborately fabricated or exaggerated stories; a liar; a pseudologue.

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day suffragette Evelina Haverfield, born OTD in Scotland, spoke at a Yeovil Town Hall meeting in 1909 that was mobbed by jeering men who threw “coal, apples and rotten eggs” at women. The Western Gazette noted “The skilful way Suffragettes dodged the missiles showed… pic.twitter.com/Hy4Snrj5vc

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) August 9, 2025

Family failures

The number of children leaving school with no qualifications is the highest in a decade:

Sixteen percent of last year’s school-leavers had no qualifications, the highest figure in a decade.

It equates to about 10,600 teenagers, and is 0.4 of a percentage point worse than the previous year and about six percentage points higher than the 10-11 percent recorded in the years prior to the start of the pandemic.

The percentage of school leavers with no NCEA certificate has been rising since 2020, a trend teachers blamed on the after-effects of Covid-19 lockdowns combined with high employment prompting more young people to leave school earlier than they otherwise would. . . 

Failure to gain any qualification will have many causes and among them are family failures.

It’s not only schools and teachers to blame when children get to high school with poor literacy and numeracy.

A child’s home environment is crucial for their development and too many children start school without the pre-learning skills they need; too many have very poor vocabularies; and too many lack social skills including toilet training.

They have been failed by their families as pre-schoolers and that failure continues at school.

Their problems would have been evident after a very few years at primary school. Responsible, and able, parents would have known that and done something about it, but not all parents are responsible and able.

Socioeconomic barriers had a big impact – 28 percent of leavers from schools facing the most barriers had no NCEA certificate compared with 4 percent of leavers from schools facing the fewest barriers.  . . 

This indicates that at least some of the family failures are intergenerational and complex. Many families face poverty, lack of access to resources, mental health issues, and their own struggles with literacy and numeracy.

Children grow up with parents who may not be literate or numerate and aren’t willing, or able, to help their children with their education. They leave school with no qualifications, are unable to get  well paid work, or any work at all. They have children and are unable, or unwilling to help them . . . and so the cycle of failure goes on.

Failing children is failing the future and the failure for many starts with their families.

There is no easy solution to that but more specialised staffing at schools for children who need extra help would compensate for some of what is lacking in their homes.

It’s not up to schools to teach parents, but addressing family failures necessitates helping them so they can help themselves and their children too.

Word of the day

Falsedict – an untrue deliverance or utterance.

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day Josephine Bedford, born in 1861 in Chatham, was a born organiser who joined Dr. Elsie Inglis’s Scottish Women’s Hospitals all-female medical unit, managing an ambulance team in the gruelling conditions of northern Greece near the frontline during WW1.

Her life… pic.twitter.com/VKbLCZrNXn

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) August 8, 2025

Taxing talk

Could Labour be stupid enough to include family homes in a Capital Gains Tax?

Labour’s refusal to rule out taxing the family home is a frightening prospect for ordinary Kiwis, says National MP Chris Bishop.

“As Kiwis continue to deal with the cost-of-living consequences of Labour’s high tax, high spend record, it defies belief that its leader can’t rule out piling more costs on Kiwis with a tax on their family home. . . 

A comprehensive CGT would be a better policy in terms of effectiveness and simplicity than one which excludes family homes.

But any CGT would be unpopular and including the family home in one would be political poison.

It would also show the party hasn’t learned from the mistakes it made in government.

“Labour crashed the economy, has opposed every measure to get it growing, and has no economic plan except imposing higher taxes on homes, businesses, and savings. Kiwis deserve to know why and how Labour would do this.”

That Labour  is starting its policy development with taxing talk is a clear sign it will be offering more of what hasn’t worked in the past and would be even worse in the future with the Greens and Te Pāti Māori as partners.

 

Word of the day

Zemblanity – the inexorability of unwanted discoveries; the act or faculty of making unhappy, unlucky, or expected discoveries by design or by chance.

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day champion rally driver and driving instructor Rosemary Smith born OTD 1937 in Dublin couldn’t read a map and never took a driving test but she could drive like a demon. She competed in some of the world’s toughest events
and reversed over the Khyber Pass. Well,… pic.twitter.com/07tbo9EpU1

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) August 7, 2025

Guinness goes well with lamb

Alliance Group have been offered a deal that will give the company a much better future :

Continuing with business as usual would not allow the Alliance Group Co-operative to repay around $200 million of debt, says chair Mark Wynne.

The Alliance board has unanimously agreed to ask shareholders to consider selling 65% of the co-operative to the Irish family-owned meat processor Dawn Meats, for $250m. .

Alliance is the only meat cooperative in New Zealand and some shareholders will have an emotional attachment to that but they should vote with their heads not their hearts.

While acknowledging some shareholders will be unhappy at losing ownership of the co-operative, Wynne said this has to be considered in light of attracting a willing partner, the state of the sector and the state of Alliance’s finances.

“At the end of the day Alliance probably has a very limited possibility of repaying the roughly $200m in debt.

“Everyone will have a view but the one non-negotiable sitting right in front of us is that we have to pay that debt back.”  . . .

Selling 65% of the company for $250m values Alliance at $502m.

Wynne said the cash injection will repay debt, which fluctuates between $188m and $200m, provide $22m for capital expenditure and allow a $40m cash dividend for shareholders allocated according to stock supplied. . . 

There’s more upside to this deal than paying back debt.

Demand for sheep meat is high and growing. Dawn Meats is an Irish company, The peaks and lows of its seasons are the opposite of Allliance’s which  will enable much better continuity of  supply.

The partnership with Dawn will open up better markets in Europe which will reduce our reliance on China.

I’ve never drunk Guinness but I’m told it goes well with lamb. The deal between Irish and New Zealand companies has advantages for both, and their shareholders,  too.

(In the interests of transparency I need to let you know my farmer is a major shareholder in Alliance).

 

Word of the day

Wone – a building or structure for human residence; a house, dwelling, an abode; to live, reside, or dwell.

Woman of the day

Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River and connects Brooklyn and Manhattan. It took 14 years to build, from 1869 to 1883. Who acted as chief engineer from 1870, carrying out the day-to-day supervision and overall project management? Woman of the Day Emily Roebling, born in 1843 in… pic.twitter.com/Qolpaoc31l

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) August 6, 2025

Short memories

A lot of people who responded to the latest Taxpayer Union Curia poll must have very short memories.

They must have forgotten that after the 2017 election, and  in spite of then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s high rating, National was either more popular or only slightly less popular than Labour in poll after poll.

It was only after Covid struck and National MPs lost their discipline and got panicked into unsuccessful leadership changes that the party’s support dropped.

When it was obvious National didn’t deserve to win in 2020 many who might have voted for that party or Act voted for Labour as a lesser evil than a Labour, Green, Te Pāti Māori coalition.

Labour has admitted it wasn’t ready to govern in 2017 and it showed it still wasn’t ready to govern well after the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, National had a successful leadership change. Christopher Luxon restored caucus discipline and focus and ensured MPs were ready to govern after the 2023 election.

A new government usually gets a honeymoon. The coalition didn’t.

This was partly due to too many in the media who were unhappy with the result who allowed their bias to show in what and how they reported. Some are still doing that.

It was also due to the mess created by Labour taking longer and being harder to clean up, leaving too many people still not feeling better off.

Recovery has started most notably in the south largely due to farming and tourism, but the economic rebound and benefits it brings hasn’t yet spread far enough.

Disgruntlement with the government because of that is understandable.

Growing support for Labour, and its leader is not.

At least not for anyone whose memory isn’t short enough to have forgotten how bad the last government was and the major part that Chris Hipkins played in its many mistakes.

It won’t be trusted to govern alone again and if it was so bad by itself, how much worse would it be in partnership with the radical left and racist Greens and TPM?

Dare we hope that those who have forgotten who is responsible for the country’s high debt, the steep increase in spending with little or no improvements in services and infrastructure and their many other mistakes will have their memories jolted before next year’s election?

Word of the day

Conjobble – to discuss something, especially in a casual and possibly gossipy way, often over food or drinks; to settle by discussion; deceive playfully with words.