Posts by Hilary Stace
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Guangzhou was the first Chinese city I visited on a memorable trip in April/May 1976. It was usually called Canton then by New Zealanders and many of the local NZ Chinese had family links to the region. I remember heat and humidity as I had never experienced before, also crowds and noise, and locals approaching us to practice their English. We had to enter China from Hong Kong by walking across the border.
Chou En Lai (not sure about modern spelling) had recently died and we were unaware of the political upheavals happening which erupted into riots in Tien an Mien square when we got to Beijing (at the same time as Muldoon). All tourists were rushed out to a huge fireworks display at a stadium outside the city so they wouldn’t notice. (I have probably mentioned this before). Anyhow our trip was all due to the wonderful work of the New Zealand China Society and the enthusiasm of Nancy and George Goddard, and I was sad to read that Nancy died recently. http://nzchinasociety.org.nz/11280/farewell-to-nancy-goddard-1923-2012/
They were the pioneers of today’s NZ-China relationships. -
Sexism, racism, homophobia or ableism are rarely funny – and attempts at humour on such topics are usually offensive and cringemaking. Unless it is done very cleverly from an insider perspective. There was a (surprisingly) good example of musical comedy on NZ’s Got Talent with the Korean student who played the piano and sang her Ching Chong song. (And she will be a comedian to watch).
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We need some successors to Lorae Parry's and Pinky Agnew's Helen and Jenny too. Imagine what you could do with some of those National Party women.
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Herald reports that police will have an investigation.
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Favourite local tree in bloom
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Don't knock the 18 year old in Whangarei because
1. You might need them one day
2. It could be your own son one day -
OnPoint: Re: Education, in reply to Che Tibby,
Or cut the benefit if they don't enrol their kids in the local library and take out at least three books a week. We could also address equity issues and require the same for superannuitants. And those who live far from a local library will just have to get there somehow - not our problem. (You can tell I do policy research)
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OnPoint: Because Statistical Rigour, in reply to Kumara Republic,
At the recent Autism NZ conference, Tony Attwood mentioned that he now reckons that 100% of kids on the autism spectrum experience bullying. Having to deal with National Standards against that background must be even harder.
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Capture: BOTY Potty., in reply to Islander,
He was not being dogmatic - just correcting the impression from some of the vox pops earlier that the number of endangered was under a handful.
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Capture: BOTY Potty., in reply to Islander,
I think he was talking about all NZ species - not just birds.
