Happy birthday Willie Nelson – 77 today.
Leave a Comment »	| music	| Tagged: Always on my Mind, Willie Nelson	| Permalink
One of North Otago’s talented women, restauranter Fleur Sullivan, was captured in a sylised portrait by another, Donna Demente.
The painting was joint runner up in the biennial Adam Portraiture Award.
Leave a Comment »	| Art	| Tagged: Adam Portraiture Award, Donna Demente, Fleur Sullivan	| Permalink
Gender job difficulties work both ways
Trans Tasman reports the Ministry of Women’s Affairs is seeking tenders for:
a project to explore and develop options enabling it to produce a toolkit to encourage women into traditionally male-dominated trades and trades training. The Ministry aims to improve women’s employment opportunities and choices, including their educational choices, job choices and ongoing training. In 2006, only 1% of all plumbers, electricians, carpenters, builders, fitter and welders, fitter and turners, and motor mechanics were women. Previous work established that the main barrier to women entering trades was women were not exposed to this option and so they didn’t consider it.
The Ministry may not consider it its business that men’s representation in traditionally female jobs is probably no better.
One unexpected consequence of more dairying in our area has been a greater number of women involved in farming and farm support.
Many share milkers are partnerships between couples and it’s no longer unusual to have women vets, farm advisors and fertiliser reps.
But it is still not common to find men in what have traditionally been seens as women’s jobs.
Gender discrimination won’t end until society stops regarding particular jobs as men’s or women’s and that will require greater numbers of men in what might have been regarded as women’s jobs as well as more women in what used to be regarded as men’s jobs.
That in turn requires a change of view so that occupations aren’t seen as men’s or women’s but as people’s.
2 Comments	| Farming, rural, women	| Tagged: dairying, Ministry of Women's Affairs, Trans-Tasman	| Permalink
The phrase It could be worse is not necessarily much comfort when you’re dealing with a challenge.
However, while Queenstown people are working hard to protect propery from rising lake levels it could be much worse.
This is what the centre of the town looked like in 1999:
Donald Mills would have been 95 today.
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Duke Ellington would have been 111 today.
Leave a Comment »	| music	| Tagged: Duke Ellington, It Don't Mean A Thing	| Permalink
Thursday’s reminder about Tuesday’s poem
A couple of days late – this Tuesday’s poem was Coverage by Tim Jones.
Leave a Comment »	| poetry	| Tagged: Coverage, Tim Jones, Tuesday's Poem	| Permalink
. . . how difficult it is to check shirt pockets for pens before you take them off so they don’t go into the washing machine?
8 Comments	| domestic, Just wondering	| Permalink
Why National? Young Country asked Justice Minister Simon Power.
. . . I have a fundamental belief that governments should leave people alone, and that the role of the state should be relatively small, and that the state should not be in you life more than it needs to be.
New Zealanders have this natural aversion to being told what to do by governments, both local and central, and I’m pretty much in that camp.
He was also asked to give one piece of advice to a young rural person.
. . . “Don’t underestimate the impact they can have on the way governments and economies operate if they are going to step up and say their piece.”
My experience with listening to what farmers have to say, whether it is at the saleyards, pub or wherever, they tend to be understated but very, very smart. Their instincts are almost 100% right on where the country should be heading.
The other thing to remember is what good advocates farmers are. So when they come to talk about an issue with me, they have very compelling cases to make due to being well-structured and having thoroughly thought through the process.
Young Country was launched last year.
It was a brave move, given the recession, but it seems to have hit the spot and not just with its target audience of younger country people. Lots of us not so young ones find it good reading too.
(And no, I don’t have shares in the company or work for the magazine, I’m just an appreciative subscriber).
4 Comments	| Farming, media, politics, rural	| Tagged: Simon Power, Young Country	| Permalink
Why fags and not booze?
The Law Commission’s suggestion of a steep increase in the price of alcohol got no traction but parliament went into extraordinary urgency to increase the tax on tobacco.
It is possible to use alcohol in a way which does no harm to the user or others.
You can’t do that with tobacco.
The immediate increase in tax on cigarettes and loose tobacco had almost unanimous support in parliament – just four Act MPs voted against the measure.
Tobacco is price sensitive. An increase in price always leads to a decrease in use.
It impacts particularly on young people and makes it less likely they’ll start smoking.
1 Comment	| health, politics, tax	| Tagged: ciagarettes, tobacco	| Permalink
Hunter Downs irrigation scheme gets consent
Meridian Energy has gained resource consent for the Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme.
The Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme is a community irrigation proposal developed by the South Canterbury Irrigation Trust (SCIT) and Meridian.
The scheme would potentially irrigate up to 40,000 hectares of land from the Waitaki River stretching as far north as Otipua. It would provide opportunities for land use diversification, including horticulture, sheep, beef and dairy farming.
The South Canterbury Irrigation Trust was convened by the Mayors of the Timaru, Waimate and Mackenzie District Councils to develop sustainable irrigation solutions for South Canterbury.
The scheme would involve diverting water from the Waitaki River into an irrigation intake near Stonewall at the existing site of the Morvan Glenavy Ikawai irrigation scheme intake, 35km downstream of the Waitaki Dam.
From there the water would be pumped about 140km for delivery to farms using a pumping station, canal and pipe system.
This is similar to North Otago Irrigation Company’s scheme. It pumps water from the Waitaki to a pond then pipes it under pressure to farms. The first stage covering 10,000 hectares is fully subscribed and the company has started selling shares in the second 10,000 hectares.
The arrival of reliable water has transformed our valley and its value, not just to farms but to the district’s economy, has been highlighted by this autumn’s drought.
There are obvious gains in production but that hasn’t come at the cost of the environment. All shareholders are required to have an environmental farm plan which is independently audited every year.
The scheme has also improved water quality in the Waiareka Creek turning what was little more than a series of near stagnant ponds into a flowing stream.
There have also been social benefits. For the first time since the ag-sag of the 80s farmers’ adult children have returned home for work. There were eight houses on our road before the scheme was launched, now there are 13.
Consent for the Hunter Downs scheme is another step towards similar development in South Canterbury with a corresponding increase in economic, environmental and social benefits.
3 Comments	| environment, Farming, rural	| Tagged: Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme, Meridian Energy, South Canterbury Irrigation Trust	| Permalink
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And you thought our MPs can be unruly?
Take a look at the Ukraine parliament:
Leave a Comment »	| politics, smiles	| Tagged: egg fight, Ukraine parliament	| Permalink
Memo to Mr Goff:
You keep saying it’s not fair that higher earners will get more from tax cuts.
You’ve got that wrong.
Tax cuts don’t give anyone anything, they let people keep a wee bit more of the money they earn.
Spot the difference: it’s our money, not yours.
What’s not fair is what Bill English calls your twin pillars of more debt and higher taxes.
What’s not fair is spending more and taking more.
More debt is unfair to future generations, higher taxes are unfair on us now.
5 Comments	| politics, tax	| Tagged: Bill English, Labour, Phil Goff	| Permalink
New Zealand Music Month challenge
New Zealand Music Month starts on Saturday.
Anyone up for a repeat of last year’s challenge – one post a day of or on New Zealand music throughout May?
4 Comments	| diversions, music	| Tagged: NZ Music Month	| Permalink