This morning on Newshub Nation, joining us by seance, Don Brash and Winston Peters
Diary of the last 26 hours
7.01am
Here at the last bus stop on the planet we huddle, waiting for the light of day. A very happy solstice to everyone.
An especially happy solstice to you if you should live in Aro Valley. The sun can be such a fleeting visitor there. And a very happy solstice to you, if you work in a windowless workplace. I feel for you. I should miss it, and the Vitamin D, greatly if I had to work out of sight of daylight.
There’s always a song says it best.
Where the sun comes up about ten in the mornin'
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you'll fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinkin'
And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away
7.04am
We need to move on to Winston Peters, but here’s one further poignant morning reflection. This is one of the saddest things I’ve seen. And I’ve read Charlotte's Web and everything.
Cheers for it, @kloppenmum and @BlueShiftNZ
7.25am
Back to the stage comes Winston Peters, and he’s all WokeCyclistsCancelCultureYaddaYaddaYadda and how are we feeling about this, 21 years into the 21st century, Aotearoa?
Let's say, come the 2023 election, he’s still here, still doggedly leading his party towards the future looking back wistfully to 1963. He will be 78.
You might ask, isn't that a bit old? Maybe yes; maybe absolutely not.
Walter Nash was that very same age when he fought and lost the 1960 election and did he throw in the towel then? No Siree Bob he did not.
He kept plugging on as leader of the opposition for two more years before he stood down, and even then he went on being an MP all the way to 1968, still out there with the young folk doing the Vietnam War protesting and what have you, no worries.
How would you fancy that Aotearoa? Another ten years of Winston saying when did they start calling my country Aotearoa etc etc etc?
Dare to dream Aotearoa, and Winston! Strom Thurmond was still in the US Senate when he turned 100. That would be another 24 years yet of Winston, and who dares gainsay it? He still has the fire in the eyes, still has the full head of hair.
As a joke yesterday I posted a note saying Submitted a speech draft to Winston but he was not having it, no sir and attached the lyrics to My Way.
And now the end is near and so I face the final curtain etc.
I was positing an actual farewell, a signing off in the spirit of John McCain concession of 2008 that could have been a way to go. I mean, it could have been.
We fought a good fight, we advocated for confused and contradictory positions on a wide range of matters, we made little sense, we imagined a golden yesterday that never was, but all good things must come to an end. Be brave, fellow muddle-headed contrarians, rest easy now etc.
Evidently he had other ideas, at least for now; maybe for always. If you exist to lament and howl at the moon and chase cars down your street, perhaps there is never a day to end, not until sweet baby Jesus comes to cradle you in his loving arms and carry you up to heaven.
And maybe not even then, given the endless fatal media attraction, those drunk moths to a flickering flame.
This morning on Newshub Nation, joining us by seance, Don Brash and Winston Peters. What do they make of former PM Swarbrick’s memoir on her forty years as Prime Minister?
But meanwhile there was disappointment for the gathered microphones as the man of the hour disappeared, leaving behind only the Cheshire Cat smile.
So they settled for the next best thing: vox pops from the 150-strong gathering of NZ First AGM faithful. Tell us your thoughts hope and dreams, they asked them. One leaned in to the mic to pronounce on the carnage of the last election by quoting Sports Philosopher King Steve Hansen:
Flush it down the dunny and walk on
I'm no prude. Or rather, I didn't think I was but now I’m not so sure. I heard that and thought, man, that's pretty crass, flush it down the dunny and walk on.
But if that's how we're going to talk on the radio now, I would respectfully submit a more incisive perspective, a better line, a better use of this somewhat artless vernacular.
I suggest:
I wouldn’t go in there for ten minutes if I were you
9.45am
Guy in the Seaside Village Locals Facebook group shares a problem:
I went to Bunnings Placemakers and Mitre 10 looking for some treated 6x2 to finish off the deck joists. The timber racks were all empty and the staff were not able to tell me when they will be replenished nor take orders. Mitre 10 will sell to account holders only so if there is anyone with an account that I can use or knows who might have a secret supply it will be much appreciated.
Really off my DIY game this year, haven't been near a timber rack for months. My builder neighbour told me it was more dire last year, that he's finding supplies a bit better now; just a long wait.
I’m interested to know: how bad it is where you are, timber-buying readers?
10.45am
Once more the Incel-Adjacent Coven of Taxpayers, Media Astroturfers and Ayn Rand Onanists finds a way to slide into our news, this time for making shit memes. This is not to be confused with all the other times they have found a way to slide into our news by making shit memes.
The headline reads Taxpayers Union takes down 'They Are Us' online post after complaint from Toyota and that's all you really need to read, unless you also want to hear some specious self-justification from The One Known as Jordan and really life’s too short for specious self-justification from The One Known as Jordan.
All you really need to know is that he maintains they were just being edgy.
Take it away, Mother of Meeps
11.36am
Transformation, god it's the worst. Paris is horrible already but once they’ve done this to it, you simply could not pay me enough to get me there.
Fuck that noise. I want to stay right here in NEW ZEALAND crawling bumper to bumper in a traffic sandwich with double cab utes and SUVs listening to Hosking on the radio or a podcast from Heather.
12.48pm
Pearl goes digging
Hello MTAF reader and old mate Cindy Baxter!
Cindy - when she is not fighting the good fight against all despoilers of our planet, large, small, insidious and evil - likes to go for long walks on the beach at Piha with her beloved dog Pearl.
She takes her camera with her and very often the pictures she takes are pure magic, especially when Pearl starts digging.
I asked if she'd like to share a few for the newsletter. She said you're most welcome. So here is Cindy’s pride and joy Pearl just loving the hell out of that west coast sand and possibly seeking Tua Tua or maybe making a start on a trip to Coffs Harbour.
Beautiful dog, beautiful beach, beautiful pictures. You can see much more at Cindy’s Insta page @cindybaxt
Cheers Cindy.
4.20pm
Amazing to read how much value Paris can get for €30bn - 200km of track!! We’re spending €2.5bn for 3.5km.
The carbon-burning industries are the most heavily protected and heavily subsidised in the modern world. They need to pay us back, and they owe us a whole planet.