New Zealand Listener Issue 20, 2025

NEW ZEALAND LISTENER Te Kaiwhakarongo Aotearoa Editor Kirsty Cameron Chief Subeditor Geoff Cumming Managing Editor Ruth Brown Art Director Derek Ward Books Editor Mark Broatch Entertainment & Arts Editor Russell Baillie  Digital Editor Dionne Christian  Content Producer Louise Barnes  Subeditors Richard Betts, Bevan Rapson  Assistant Art Director Shane Kelly  Senior Designer Richard Kingsford Editorial contact listener@aremedia.co.nz Contributors this issue: Chris Adam, Andrew Anthony, Richard Betts, Steve Braunias, Donna Chisholm, Jane Clifton, Michael Cooper, Greg Dixon, Anthony Ellison, Anna Else, Peter Griffin, Charlotte Grimshaw, Andrew Gunn, Michele Hewitson, David Hill, Danyl McLauchlan, Phil Parker, Karl Puschmann, Graham Reid, Sue Reidy, Cathrin Schaer, Alex Scott, Craig Sisterson, Chris Slane, Steve Thomas, Sarah Watt, Marc Wilson, Andrew Paul Wood Chief Executive Officer Jane Huxley  General Manager Stuart Dick  Editorial Director Sarah Henry  Head…

The arts are the canary in the coal mine. They breathe their last as the carbon monoxide of tribute shows, social media, home entertainment and government intervention fill the tunnel. The “humanities,” as they are more broadly known, are ritually despatched on the altar of commerce by the priests and priestesses of neoliberalism and Business as Usual. The recently announced Amplify, a draft cultural strategy for the arts in Aotearoa to 2030 from the Ministry for Culture & Heritage Manatū Taonga, reduces artforms to an international selling point with an emphasis on soft power and influence in overseas markets. Here come the business buskers, the buglers and bellowing barrow boys to the market. The draft strategy appears to have little interest in the distribution of our own performing artists to…

Thank you, Danyl McLauchlan, for your article on sex and gender (“Thy name is woman?”, May 17). I am a retired counsellor and was a social worker before that. During that time, I was privileged to counsel a significant number of clients from the LGBTQ+ community. I would love to hear a reporter asking the following question of those who emphatically declare that women are women and men are men depending on the genitalia they were born with. What about those born with confusing or both sets of genitalia? What would Winston Peters’ response be, I wonder? Many years ago, I asked this question of a priest. To my horror he said they should stay with the gender allocated by the doctor. Is it really that hard to let people…

For our Limerick Competition, we asked you to write a limerick about the outcome of the Canadian election. FINALISTS: Canada, Canada, let me come in. Not by the maple and oil on our chin. Then I’ll tariff and huff till you’ve had enough. We’ll never give in, Mark Carney will win!  ‒ Tom Nicholson, Auckland A bullying chump from next door decided to start a trade war. Alarmed by his tactics, the neighbours reacted, voting Carney to settle the score.  ‒ Marie Curran, Dunedin Canadians faced a daily burst: Your state will be the 51st in a union with a loony-bin, which odds in Ottawa reversed.  ‒ Tony Clemow, Te Kamo Poilievre sure missed the boat and misjudged the Canadian vote, tarred with Trump’s brush his support turned to mush…

“Turns out you can have it all. So long as you’re prepared to be a c*** to the women who birth your kids, school your offspring and wipe the arse of your elderly parents while you stand on their shoulders to earn your six-figure, taxpayer-funded pay packet.” “Brooke van Velden has saved the taxpayer billions, she’s saved the Budget for the government and she has made pay equity workable for New Zealand women, men and everyone who wants a fair go in this country.”  “Nothing says ‘America First’ like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar. It’s not just bribery, it’s premium foreign influence with extra legroom.”  “Hey, it’s a jet from Qatar, we can trust them. They’re not suspect like Canada, or working to undermine us like all…

1. Canadian trampers in Fiordland were the most recent to claim to have seen which animal in the wild? ❑ Panther ❑ Moose ❑ Yeti ❑ Moa 2. A litre of water weighs how much? ❑ 0.5kg ❑ 0.75kg ❑ 1kg ❑ 1.25kg 3. The King and I and Westworld film star Yul Brynner was born in Russia. ❑ True ❑ False 4. The Australian white ibis, or “bin chicken” now commonly seen in cities, was introduced to Australia. ❑ True ❑ False 5. The word panjandrum, meaning a person of great authority or influence, comes from which language? ❑ Hindi ❑ Latin ❑ Swahili ❑ It’s invented 6. Lemurs are native to where? ❑ Malaysia ❑ Tunisia ❑ Namibia ❑ Madagascar 7. Ringo Starr is The Beatles drummer’s real…