A day off?

Labour Day is a public holiday but it is not a day off for everyone.

Cows still have to be milked, the milk picked up and processed; calves must be fed; some farmers will be doing lambing beats; some will be mustering and drafting stock for tomorrow’s sale or kills, truck drivers will be picking up and dropping the animals off and works staff will be taking care of them; poultry must be fed and eggs  collected; vegetables will be picked  and transported; vets will be on call. . .

But it’s not only primary producers and those who service them who will be at work.

Hospital staff must be on duty; hospitality businesses will be busier than usual on a Monday providing services to holiday makers; fuel stations will be too; public transport will be operating; in cities and tourists towns shops will be open; . . .

Any employee working today will be paid time and a half and get a day off in lieu and some businesses, particularly cafes and restaurants will impose a surcharge because of that.

But most won’t be thinking about that and for many today is a welcome holiday, the last national public one until Christmas – though like Calvin, many will have their own definition of what qualifies for a holiday:

agreed! #CalvinandHobbes pic.twitter.com/GuyHJstRBI

— Calvin and Hobbes Fan Account (@Calvinn_Hobbes) October 22, 2023

 

Word of the day

Canonical-  according to or ordered by canon law; ; of, relating to, or forming a canon; included in the list of sacred books officially accepted as genuine; conforming to a general rule or acceptable procedure; orthodox.

Milne muses

“It was a twisting road so we could not see what was around the next corner. At each turn the road became steeper and stonier. Where was it taking us? What should we do? Then through the trees we could see a small patch of sunlight, a small grassy glade.” ~C.R.Milne #Hope pic.twitter.com/81neej1w5e

— A.A.Milne (@A_AMilne) September 11, 2023

Beautifying the blogosphere

Morning 👋 sunrise over the stone on Glastonbury Tor. pic.twitter.com/GCVx70nXgW

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) September 29, 2023

Maya muses

"We are here to #love each other. That is why you are alive. That is what #life is for." #MayaAngelou pic.twitter.com/O3hVkLnTb1

— Maya Angelou (@DrMayaAngelou) September 17, 2023

Sunday soapbox

Sunday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. – Melody Beattie

Word of the day

Betwittered – overcome with pleasing excitement; overcome with eager but nervous excitement.

Smith says

Wokeness is the belief that you can fight censorship with good censorship, racism with good racism, and ultimately, fascism with good fascism.

— Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith) October 1, 2023

Mitchell & Webb – waiter

How blue is Port Waikato?

Nominations for the Port Waikato electorate closed yesterday and Labour chose not to stand.

Given the election result, the party simply can’t afford to waste its money and people power on an election it wouldn’t win.

Neither Act nor the Green Party are standing a candidate either.

Those contesting the by-election are:

Candidate Name	Party
BAYLY, Andrew	National Party
BRIGHT, Scotty	DemocracyNZ
COSTELLO, Casey	New Zealand First Party
DICKSON, Gordon John	Independent
NGARO, Alf Metuakore	NewZeal
OVENS, Jill Annette	Women’s Rights Party
RIPPON, Anna Joy	Animal Justice Party
SUDHAMALLA, Vijay	Vision New Zealand
TURNER, Kim	New Zealand Loyal

Port Waikato is regarded as a safe National seat and the party’s candidate and sitting list MP Andrew Bayley is regarded as a shoe-in.

National attracted 16,885 party votes in the election.

Labour got 6,162.

That makes the electorate look very blue.

By-elections usually attract a lower vote than general ones and given the final results of this month’s haven’t been determined interest in the electorate contest isn’t likely to be high.

Even if voters on the left without a red or green candidate to support voted for New Zealand First, as many did in the upset 2015 Northland by-election which Winston Peters won, Port Waikato should stay blue.

Saturday soapbox

Sunday’s soapbox is yours to use as you will – within the bounds of decency and absence of defamation. You’re welcome to look back or forward, discuss issues of the moment, to pontificate, ponder or point us to something of interest, to educate, elucidate or entertain, amuse, bemuse or simply muse, but not abuse.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. – Helen Keller

Word of the day

Queaning– associating with women of immodest character.

Sowell says

Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is the biggest question for this generation.

— Thomas Sowell Wisdom (@TheThomasSowell) September 30, 2023

Too complicated

After a WW2 hero bequeathed the farm in the 60s, Te Awamutu College is selling their school dairy farm as "changing legislation with regard to farming, it was becoming too hard" and running the farm was becoming complicated vs the returns available. 😢https://t.co/fmfUoWUzqP

— Federated Farmers (@FedFarmers) October 19, 2023

The school won’t be alone in finding that adhering to far too many impractical rules and regulations that have been imposed on farming make it too hard.

The new government gives hope that common sense will prevail and hurdles that are hampering food and fibre production will be repealed.

You can read the story here.

 

What matters more

Stuff has looked at the gender breakdown of the new parliament.

Parliament should be broadly representative of the country but does it really matter that there are more men than women?

If it’s important to analyse the sex of MPs, why not look at other factors, especially those which will have a very real bearing on the contribution they will make including background and abilities?

And wouldn’t it be interesting to know how many get more pay as an MP than they did in their previous occupations and which have taken a pay cut, or is that something that might interest the public but not be considered in the public interest?

A good week

It’s been a good week.

The election delivered what will become a National-led government with Christopher Luxon as Prime Minister.

The All Blacks beat Ireland to advance to the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.

And we woke on Wednesday  to news that the GlobalDDairyTrade index had risen for the fourth week in a row.

Fonterra announced an increase in its forecast farmgate payout last week.

The welcome trend of increases in the GDT gives hope it will be nearer the top of the range – $8.

That’s still below breakeven for many but if the upward trend continues the forecast, and final, payout could be enough to bring most back into profit.

Now, is it too much to hope the All Blacks will beat the Pumas tomorrow morning and advance to the finals?

 

Word of the day

Nubivagant – wandering in the clouds; moving through the air.

Sowell says

The idea of "social justice" cannot be refuted because it has no specific meaning. Fighting it would be like trying to punch the fog. No wonder "social justice" has been such a political success for more than a century — and counting.

— Thomas Sowell Wisdom (@TheThomasSowell) September 30, 2023

 

What an endorsement!

The incoming govt could hardly have asked for a better endorsement than this line. pic.twitter.com/VHNUfvZSzi

— Michael Reddell (@MHReddell) October 18, 2023

Could National’s promise to be tough on crime get a better endorsement than this?:

A prominent Mongrel Mob president claims National’s gang policies are devastating, a breach of their human rights, and will create a “psychological war”.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald, Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom leader Sonny Fatupaito said after reading up on the proposals, he believes they will cause chaos. . . 

National’s police spokesman Mark Mitchell said they would not be “threatened or intimidated” by gang members.

“If you choose to remain in gangs, peddling drugs and misery in our communities, life will be a lot more difficult under a National-led Government.

”There is a simple solution though. Leave the gangs at once. National will work with and support any gang members, especially those with families, who wish to leave and rejoin society.” . . 

The steep increase in gang numbers and crime and growing fears about safety were big factors in Labour’s election loss.

National and Act both have policies to be much tougher on crime than the outgoing government and a crackdown on gangs’ illegal activities will be part of that.

Right to remain silent

Some in the media are upset that incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his caucus are not talking publicly about coalition negotiations.

It’s the media’s role to ask questions and inform the public of the answers but that doesn’t mean everyone questioned has to give answers to every question on every topic.

Coalition negotiations are complex. They require a great deal of diplomacy and trust. Talking to the media about what’s being said would not help at all and could jeopardise discussions.

The right to remain silent applies to people accused of crimes, while coalition negotiations are proceeding it can also apply to politicians.

Once decisions are finalised the negotiating parties will be publicising decisions and talking to the media.

Until then, there’s nothing to be gained, and the potential for trust to be lost, if the MPs involved go public.