Shane Jones is biding his time
He's the ultimate deputy but Winston Peters can't lead forever (or can he?)
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend brought to you by Coffee Supreme. There’s been a lot happening this week, like the election, the election and the election. Personally I am really looking forward to regaining some spare braincells in a week’s time and until then, maybe you need to know how to vote in a very literal sense? Or perhaps you want to peruse policy.nz which feels like a calm election oasis in comparison to the hectic perpetually updated news websites? Or maybe you just want to think about something else entirely, like dogs (wait, that’s election related too), or poets taking the bus or NSFW kiwifruit. Entirely understandable.
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Shane Jones is beloved in Northland – can the former minister rise again?
Duncan Greive keeps Shane Jones company on the campaign trail, where the Labour-turned-New Zealand First politician has plenty of fans. “I have a deserved and frankly embarrassing reputation around the office for being attracted to profiling difficult, troublesome men,” Greive told me. “Shane Jones definitely fits in that category. But I found meeting him up north quite instructive – that’s probably been my favourite thing about The Spinoff’s coverage of this campaign, reading our writers’ reporting from the ground the length and breadth of this country. He seemed softer and more reflective there, and the anger which has radiated out of NZ First modulated in a much more nuanced way than I was probably expecting.”
A blend of several excellent Brazils, roasted medium-dark to give a sweet, milk chocolate cup, a smooth silky body and a long finish. Grab a bag.
Why the election is confusing for everyone
I appreciated this succinct piece from Max Rashbrooke about why it seems like politicians are aiming for an ever-narrower base of policy and focusing on personal qualities of leaders rather than values. Why does this election have, to quote Gone by Lunchtime’s Ben Thomas, a “dead behind the eyes” quality? “Given the received wisdom about this government’s failure to deliver, and the fact that post-Covid everything feels a bit broken, it would hardly be surprising if New Zealanders simply wanted someone who could – to paraphrase Wayne Brown – get things fixed,” Rashbrooke writes. “Hence the political obsession with either burnishing personal credentials or undermining them: recall Christopher Luxon’s endless references to his CEO background, or the CTU’s attacks on him as being ‘out of touch’.”
Gone by Lunchtime: Chris Hipkins is relentlessly (covid) positive
Heading for an iceberg? The election’s climate policies
Climate change is inevitable and it’s going to impact all of us. Nadine Anne Hura wrote an extremely comprehensive guide to what parties are and aren’t promising to do about the climate crisis, using the metaphor of the Titanic and the iceberg. Here’s an excerpt: “Stupidity combined with excessive self-confidence makes for chilling repeat viewing. Watching Titanic 25 years after its release, and a hundred more since the ship was swallowed by a calm ocean on a moonless night, it’s hard to imagine that the 1997 film was made for any other purpose than climate allegory. Like the country’s current predicament, it seems to offer chilling lessons about the dire consequences of human error coupled with arrogance and denial. This is why any comparison of climate policies must be reviewed holistically: not as individual items for different classes of passengers, but as a package deal in which all our fates are intertwined.”
South Dunedin is a vision of what conversations about climate adaptation need to look like
Gambling with Long Covid
Freya Sawbridge, a long-term advocate for people with Long Covid has an update from the latest science about the effects of repeated infections — and what that might mean even if you want to forget the pandemic. “Those of us who continue to take Covid precautions are often made to feel wrong and laughable. People gasp and scowl when I pull out a mask for the bus. They believe I’m a doomsayer who’s trapped in the past. But if you know the science, the normalisation of Covid infections is disturbing. Going against the grain is often not a vindicating experience but a lonely and at times desperate place. The science is clear, the effects are profound and the toll of Long Covid and reinfections can’t be ignored.”
Silver Scrolls on Silver Scrolls
The Beths won the APRA Silver Scroll for their song Expert in a Dying Field this week. The Spinoff published the five finalists discussing each other’s songs: here’s what Tiny Ruins’ Hollie Fullbrook said about the song: “Liz Stokes writes impeccable, punchy, heartfelt bangers, and ’Expert’ is a shining example. It takes the listener through tight, tumbling verses, pushing and pulling higher towards pre-chorus and chorus open spaces. ‘I can close the door on us, but the room still exists’ – what a line! I love the structural integrity. I love the buildup of the outro. Long live The Beths.”
Everything else
Media and arts are important – but debates on each this week showed that parties aren’t prioritising policy for either
Is NZ-founded Letterboxd a better social media?
The latest Policies in Two Minutes: Māori me ona tikanga and co-governance
Rogue waves freak me out and now they can freak you out too :)
Loved this about disability and body positivity
Make it easier! Make it popular! (Biking to the airport)
Why we need friendships as much as romantic love
A new documentary shows that Israel Adesanya is still fighting past demons
The latest Hot Seats: deep red Dunedin, right-wing Tāmaki and cyclone-battered East Coast
Tara Ward remembers when the Ferndale Strangler terrorised Shortland Street (and New Zealand)
“What if the robots were very nice when they took over the world” — a very fun story about AI learning the niche negotiation game Diplomacy
Matt Elliot has perfected the art of the book doze (can confirm that “with a book” is the only condition under which I ever successfully take a nap)
Dancing has an intellectual history. And sometimes, everything perfectly slides into place. Beautiful interview with choreographer Sarah Foster-Sproull.
AI is too important to ignore this election
