Sir Pinetree

Colin Meads has decided to accept a knighthood, but he doesn’t want to be called Sir.

I think of my great friends and guys who I have played under like Sir Wilson Whineray and Sir Brian Lochore.”
  
“But they were perfect gentlemen while I was a bit rougher,” he said.

That reminds me of this quote:  

Linesman to Referee: “You’d better count the players. I think Meads might have eaten one.”

From Good As Gold, Being A New Zealander, selected by John Daley, published by Godwit 2002.

Why is the sidebar playing games?

The sidebar has disappeared from the Homepaddock homepage but reappears when I click on a post.

Should I take this personally, or are other people with WordPress blogs finding their sidebar is playing hide and seek?

And does anyone know how I can get it back on the homepage?

Tuesday’s answers

Monday’s questions were:

1. Who wrote A Fence Around the Cuckoo?

2. Which are the five largest electorates, by area, in New Zealand?

3. Who said: ” Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once”?

4. What was the name of the ship which carried the first shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand to Britian?

5. Who chairs Meat & Wool NZ?

Tuesday’s answers are after the break:

Rankin & Pilbrow new family commissioners

Christine Rankin, former Social Welfare head, and Bruce Pilbrow, CEO of Parents Inc  have been appointed to the Families Commission.

Their appointments may well result in a change of direction and tone but doesn’t change my view that it would be better to disestablish the commission and direct the funding to organisations like Plunket which work directly with families.

Is it black humour or is it offensive?

This ad for Stihl chainsaws is up before the Advertising Standards Authority.

Do you reckon it’s black humour or just offensive?

I think it’s both and whether the humour cancels out the offence is very much a matter of opinion.

There’s a poll on whether or not it’s offensive here.

Hat Tip: NBR

Knickers for Africa

The Southern Steel netball team and Invercargill department store H&J Smith have launched a campaign to send knickers to Africa to help protect young girls from abuse.

H & J Smith marketing officer Rebecca Sheppard said in Africa having underwear was a status symbol.

“The sad reality is you’re less likely to be abused or raped if you’re wearing underwear,” Ms Sheppard said.

“A lot of families only have one pair of underwear to share between them.”

Ms Sheppard said H & J Smith embraced the nationwide campaign when approached by the HOTmilk underwear brand to be involved and, when conducting her own research into the issue, found the statistics shocking.

If a pair of knickers is all it takes to protect African girls, a small donation could make a very big difference.

When feminist meets socialist who wins?

Last Sunday, May 3, was the 30th anniversary of the election of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister.

Fairfacts Media marked the anniversary with a series of posts starting with a video of her entering number 10 Dowling Street   and finishing with The Lady’s Not For Spurning.

Inquiring Mind remembered the Iron Lady 30 years on  and had several quotes of the day about her including this one from Lord Howe of Aberavon.

I don’t remember seeing any other posts and I’m sure I haven’t seen any from women bloggers. There may have been some I’ve missed and it could just mean that bloggers have lives and, like me, chose to blog on other things last week.

But  it did remind me that feminists who celebrate women’s achievements often ignore those of right wing women.

That leads me to ask,  are all feminists left wing and do they want women in power, or do they want people who share their views?

All else being equal I might back a woman before I’d back a man. But if other things weren’t equal,  I’d support the best people and in politics that’s people with similar centre right views to me rather than women with a different political outlook.

I would be concerned if there were no women at all in parliament, but I’d rather have people there doing the right things than women doing the wrong things.

That’s why I consider myself a peopleist rather than a feminist.

Women should have equal rights and opportunities because they’re people not because they’re women and what gets done is more important to me than the gender – or come to that race or any other measure of diversity – of who does it.

Anika Moa – Dreams in My Head

It’s day twelve in the tune a day for NZ Music Month challenge.

Anika Moa singing Dreams in My Head.