365 days of gratitude

One birthday yesterday, another tomorrow, both celebrated tonight with dinner at Dunedin’s Ironic Cafe.

Delicious food and the company of special people – for both of which I’m grateful.

 

How Do I Love Ewe?

Jim Mora mentioned the anniversary of the first shipment of frozen meat on the Pre-Panel this afternoon and read a snippet from my ewenique rewriting of Elizabeth Barret Bronwing’s poem:

How Do I Love Ewe? (With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

How do I love ewe? Let me count the ways

That lamb tempts the taste buds and any hunger stays.

Of course I love ewe roasted, but still a little rare.

And I love ewe butterflied, from all the bones carved bare.

I love you chopped or diced and threaded onto sticks,

With capsicum and onion to get my vege fix.

I love you minced with salad in a burger bun

And chewing on the chop bones is always lots of fun.

I love ewe tender barbequed, the smokey taste sublime,

And shanks cooked long and slow for flavour that’s divine.

I love ewe marinated, with mint or coriander,

And many other ways my appetite ewe pander.

Though, proud Kiwi that I am, would be hard to find one keener,

My favourite way to cook ewe is how it’s done in Argentina:

 

The sheep for that first shipment came from, and were slaughtered at, Totara Estate in North Otago.

It’s now owned by Heritage NZ and is open to the public.

NZ History tells the story of that first shipment here.

 

Word of the day

Chambering – illicit intercourse; wantoness; impurity.

Rural round-up

Farmer compensation for cattle disease to cost over $100m: Nathan Guy – Gerard Hutching:

Compensation for farmers affected so far by the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis could cost more than $100 million, National’s Primary Industries spokesman Nathan Guy says.

But he said the coalition Cabinet would probably soon decide it had other spending priorities, and farmers would be told to learn to live with the disease.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) announced on Friday a further two South Island dairy farms had been confirmed infected with Mycoplasma, bringing the total to 23. . . 

US vet: Mycoplasma need not cripple dairy profitability:

Mycoplasma bovis infection, now spreading throughout NZ dairying, needn’t be a death sentence for farm profitability, according to American veterinarian Dr Paul Dettloff, visiting here in early March.

Official response to the M. bovis crisis has focused on containment and keeping the contagious bacterial disease from spreading between animals. This infection is widespread in other dairying countries and needn’t reduce dairy profitability here. Dr Dettloff, who works for a large dairy cooperative in the US, indicates he sees farmers who don’t have M. bovis in their cows, despite being surrounded by farms with infected animals. . . 

Rural mum’s infectious enthusiasm part of Fantail’s Nest story – Kate Taylor:

The enthusiasm from Michelle Burden for her Fantail’s Nest business is infectious.

She smiles when she talks about what she does and what the future holds for her business and her family.

Running a small, rural business has its challenges. But they’re worth it.

Burden is one of hundreds of business people, many of them mothers, juggling life and work in a rural area. . .

#sheep365 pic.twitter.com/fP0Vej58OA

— Nova Scotia Shepherd (@ns_sheep) February 9, 2018

Feed demand limits grass harvest :

Southern welfare groups are urging farmers not to be complacent after substantial falls of rain appear to have alleviated some areas of drought in Southland and Otago.

Southland Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Lindsay Wright said pasture response and aquifer recharge have been slower than expected and though the rain has jolted winter crops to start growing again, more is needed.

Farmers should assess whether they have enough feed for winter and if not they need to source extra supplies sooner rather than later. . . 

Farm visits link town and country:

Youngsters in Northland are getting the chance to experience dairy farming thanks to two couples taking part in DairyNZ’s Find a Farmer programme.

Creating a link between urban and rural communities and showcasing farming to the next generation are just two reasons why Terence and Suzanne Brocx and William and Robyn Hori host school visits.

Suzanne feels the connection many city families once had to relatives in the country has largely been lost. The Brocxs and Horis say joining DairyNZ’s Find a Farmer service has been their attempt to re-establish that connection. . .

Ag’s success should be stirring Australia’s future business entrepreneurs – Andrew Marshall:

First he turned smashed avocado into a much-discussed metaphor for the Millennial generation’s poor money saving discipline.

Now he’s challenging what he fears is often our overly casual national attitude to business entrepreneurship and ambition.

Notably, the demographer and social commentator, Bernard Salt, believes agribusiness and agricultural initiative on the global stage are obvious areas for Australia’s business spirit to rise significantly higher. . . 

Thursday’s quiz

You’re invited to pose the questions.

Anyone who stumps everyone will win a virtual bunch of roses.

Compassionate conservatism trumps good intentions

Bernard Hickey writes of Bill English:

. . . He talked of his admiration for his father-in-law’s family ethos and hard work in raising a big family in Wellington, despite the struggles of arriving with little from Samoa in an unfamiliar city. He also talked about a quiet chat he had with a kaumatua on a marae about the problems of Māori youth, and the need for strong communities with their own resources. His point was that he admired the self-reliance and quiet conservatism of family and community life. He saw his role as helping those communities and pulling Government out of the way to let them get on with it. It wasn’t an ugly or dry form of libertarian scorched-earth politics. It was a deeply humane and thoughtful approach where Government was supposed to treat people with empathy and dignity and as individuals, rather than as just another beneficiary locked into welfare for life. His views on helping to lift people out of poverty were a precursor to his championing of the social investment approach, which he was only just starting to roll out through the Government as Labour returned to power in late October.

As he spoke about his in-laws and his wife and the dignity and self-reliance of those conservative Samoan and Māori communities, he stopped for a few moments. The tears rolled down his nose and splashed onto the lecturn. You could hear a pin drop. The audience was with him though. English’s story was utterly authentic and thoughtful and showed a depth of humility and humanity that struck a chord that night. He got a standing ovation when he finished.

Since then I’ve listened to English give countless speeches off the cuff that connect with audiences of all types up and down the land. Some thought he was a dry policy wonk who would struggle on the campaign trail, but I was sure he would connect if he was able to make his case on his feet in debates and in interviews, rather than in scripted speeches. . . 

I have heard Bill speak like this countless times – from the heart, eloquently showing both compassion and intellect.

His essential conservativeness often shines through, particularly on macro-economic issues and in challenging the good intentions of public servants.

“Whatever the fashions, sound economics matter. They might be a bit boring, but if you stick to them that’s what works. People are always trying to find shortcuts and leapfrogs and I’ve seen most of them come to grief,” he said.

He said he had learned that the effects of the public sector on the economy and people’s lives were often under-estimated, and often negatively.

“Good intentions are not enough. They’re not even a start, because there’s been a lot of money wasted and lives wrecked on the basis of good intentions expressed through public services,” he said. . . 

His work and policies showed the importance that more spending isn’t always better.

It’s not what you spend but how that matters, quality rather than quantity.

One of Bill’s legacies is proof that well thought-out policies, based on his compassionate conservatism, backed by effective spending, make a positive difference where good intentions don’t.

 

 

Head and heart

Good leaders have strong heads and warm hearts.

National’s ABC of leadership contenders – Amy Adams, Simon Bridges and Judith Collins all have good heads.

All were lawyers, all have been successful ministers.

I have no doubt they all have warm hearts too, to succeed they must be able to show that in leadership.

Sir John Key and Bill English both did however, there is still a lingering misconception that National has a stronger head and weaker heart.

The challenge for the new leader will be to demonstrate both steel and compassion.

Quote of the day

Any attempt at action is better than inaction. An attempt can go wrong, but inaction inevitably results in failure.  Miep Gies who was born on this day in 1909.

February 15 in history

590 –  Khosrau II was crowned king of Persia.

1564 Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist, was born (d. 1642).

1637 – Ferdinand III became Holy Roman Emperor.

1804 – Serbian revolution started.

1805 – Harmony Society was officially formed.

1812 Charles Lewis Tiffany, American jeweller, was born (d. 1902).

1820 Susan B. Anthony, American suffragist, was born  (d. 1906).

1835 – The first constitutional law in modern Serbia was adopted.

1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, London, admitted its first patient.

1874 Sir Ernest Shackleton, Irish Antarctic explorer, was born  (d. 1922).

1877  Louis Renault, French automobile executive, was born (d. 1944).

1879 American President Rutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.

1882 The first shipment of frozen meat left New Zealand.

1891 AIK was founded at Biblioteksgatan 8 in Stockholm by Isidor Behrens.

1898 – Spanish-American War: The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbour, killing more than 260.

1906 – The British Labour Party was formed.

1909 Miep Gies, Dutch biographer of Anne Frank, was born (d. 2010).

1909 The Flores Theatre fire in Acapulco, 250 died.

1942  The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, British General Arthur Percival surrendered. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. The Sook Ching massacre began.

1944 The assault on Monte Cassino, started.

1944 Mick Avory, British drummer (The Kinks), was born.

1945  – John Helliwell, British musician (Supertramp), was born.

1947 David Brown, American musician (Santana), was born (d. 2000).

1950 – The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China signed a mutual defense treaty.

1951 Jane Seymour, British actress, was born.

1952 – King George VI was buried in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

1959 Ali Campbell, British singer and songwriter (UB40), was born.

1960 Mikey Craig, British musician (Culture Club), was born.

1961 – Sabena Flight 548 crashed in Belgium, killing 73, with the entire United States Figure Skating team, several coaches and family.

1965 – A new red-and-white mapleleaf design was adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1970 – A Dominican DC-9 crashed into the sea during takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.

1971 – Decimalisation of British coinage was completed on Decimal Day.

1972 – Sound recordings were granted U.. federal copyright protection for the first time.

1976 – The 1976 Constitution of Cuba was adopted by the national referendum.

1978 New Zealand beat England in a cricket test for the first time.

1980 Television One and Television Two (formerly South Pacific Television) under the newly formed Television New Zealand went to air for the first time.

1982 The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sank during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 rig workers.

1989 Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan: The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.

1991 The Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, was signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.

2001 First draft of the complete Human Genome is published in Nature.

2003 Protests against the Iraq war occurred in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between 8 million to 30 million people took part, making this the largest peace demonstration in the history of the world.

2005 – YouTube, was launched in the United States.

2012  – 360 people died in a fire at a Honduran prison in the city of Comayagua.

2013 – A meteor exploded over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blows out windows and rocks buildings. This happened unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14.

2014 – Renaud Lavillenie of France broke Sergey Bubka’s world record in pole vault with a mark of 6.16 m.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia