Hard News by Russell Brown

It is worth knowing that almost all NZers had a weekend like this, unfortunately less Indian food in my case, though the dumplings with soy dip could have used chilli oil but they were close.

Of course some peoples lives changed for the worse, in the case of one MP mostly Kama catching up from a life badly lived but that is life.

So yes, be kind to the people round you, because you only live once and if you pay in, life pays back.

What I took away from this past week is the urgent need for the government to put together an education campaign explaining how the acute mental health services work.

There’s been a large amount of inaccurate information going round some of which sadly has been deliberate.

Ideally it would include a fly on the wall type documentary series as have been made in other areas of health such as Emergency Departments. That however would be impossible due issues of informed consent and privacy.

Most people don’t get to experience the acute services so don’t appreciate the how the mental health act works, the role of the police and the difficulties, dangers and dilemmas often involved with inpatient care and treatment.

The acute services usually only wind coming to the public’s attention when something supposedly goes wrong via news stories from journalists who usually don’t have the resources to do more in-depth analysis.

It’s something the government should address.

It is worth knowing that almost all NZers had a weekend like this

I was especially pleased for my Christchurch friends who enjoyed FESTA. The festival itself sounded great, but it as clear that the big thing was simply having lots of people in the city. The CBD rebuild has delivered lots of new buildings, but not the people who make a city, so that's a big deal.

The Haka Bhangra was awesome. We didn't get that here but it was still great. Even in a suburb where "diversity" means "non-muslim" :) And I totally shouldn't eat all that wheaty goodness but, you know, there's a time and a place for everything.

As a positive contrast to Australia (always, always that contrast and let it only stop when Australia catches up) it's also nice. Diwali here is pretty heavily Hindu-only, not through exclusion so much as a lot of people just don't go along. In other suburbs attendance is much more obviously diverse, though.

As a positive contrast to Australia (always, always that contrast and let it only stop when Australia catches up) it’s also nice. Diwali here is pretty heavily Hindu-only, not through exclusion so much as a lot of people just don’t go along. In other suburbs attendance is much more obviously diverse, though.

In Auckland, the main inner-city event has a relatively short history – it was launched by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and the old Auckland City Council in 2002 – and it's developed as a city festival. So it's very accessible.

I too feel very much bummed by the news of the week. Spent the whole time painting with the family - my eldest really got into it, and I had to strongly resist the temptation to send the kids away for getting in the way. After a while, they stopped being worse than useless and he put in some solid hours. I realized that watching The Block (not my idea!) has piqued his interest generally in the process. And it is fun - for a while.

It also turns out that he can read maps way better than me. Like a lot of what he knows, he learned that from video games.

On our drives, I got your lad to navigate using my map book. At first, he was lost (and had quite an amusing go at me for having such an archaic thing in my car as a map book), but picked it up fast, once I explained the index. I felt like local geography was a pretty important thing to have a mental map of, and laboured the point a lot. Good to hear it's a skill he's developed.

There's so many, many little skills in life that we take for granted as being self explanatory that really aren't. I'm constantly amazed at therapists for my point picking up on quite simple things that my eldest hasn't worked out, and how after they do, he weaves it in to his life. I'm resigned (and I thank you and your lad for helping me with gaining this insight) to the concept that teaching him how to be an adult is just going to be long process with a lot more hand holding than is usual.

and Tze Ming Mok explain what’s wrong better than I could

A nice article, but it is hard to call something excellent when it contains a basic error of fact, viz:

"...Putting aside whether Mr Zhang (MNZM, gonged by Labour)..."

Zhang was "gonged" by National. The timing of the release of the honours list meant it was published under the new government.

If that’s your only quibble with the article then it appears to have achieved what it set out to, but if we’re going there:

Inquiries have revealed the nomination carried the names of current National MP Jian Yang, former National MP Eric Roy and Auckland mayor Phil Goff.

Which is not so much to dispute your point as to unpack it.

Good to hear it’s a skill he’s developed.

His local geography is still poor, but his flash-reading of the map was quite a helpful pointer as to how we fix that.

I’m resigned (and I thank you and your lad for helping me with gaining this insight) to the concept that teaching him how to be an adult is just going to be long process with a lot more hand holding than is usual.

Yeah, I've definitely learned about all the things that we take for granted that actually have to be learned skills for my boys.

An underpass with an over-hongi
- aka The Tunnel of Love...