New Zealand Listener Issue 26, 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: Louise Barnes, Richard Betts, Jennifer Bowden, Steve Braunias, Helena Wiśniewska Brow, Russell Brown, Jane Clifton, Michael Cooper, Greg Dixon, Anthony Ellison, Brigid Feehan, Mark Fryer, Peter Griffin, Ross Hanan, Michele Hewitson, David Hill, Parry Jones, Jonathan Kronstadt, Danyl McLauchlan, Doug Mountfort, Graham Reid, Alex Scott, Josie Shapiro, Sarah Watt, Marc Wilson Chief Executive Officer Jane Huxley General Manager Stuart Dick Editorial Director Sarah Henry Head of Digital Melissa Walsh Senior Digital…

Essential services such as health and education have come under increasing scrutiny as a result of underfunding. Critical to the government’s ability to adequately fund these services is the tax take, and this is dependent on our ability to create wealth. The ratio of the tax take to GDP for New Zealand is 34% (near the OECD average). The key question is therefore: how do we raise our GDP so the government can afford essential services? For most countries there appears to be a direct causal link between commitment to research and development and GDP. For example, according to the journal Issues in Science and Technology, Singapore, which has a similar population to New Zealand, stepped up its investment in R&D from 1995 and had doubled ours by 2005 (2.4%…

“No sandwich generation” (June 21), reminded me of Napoleon Bonaparte’s quote that an army marches on its stomach. Given the significant numbers of working poor for whom food insecurity is a daily threat, is it any wonder our productivity levels are falling and are now woefully behind other OECD countries with which we compare ourselves? Educational underachievement is equally implicated by hunger. The negative implications for society from these issues are regularly canvassed, without necessarily being heeded by the powerful. I claim no fluency with the dismal science, but perhaps our government, could do worse than ponder this link, if not from a standpoint of compassion (several ministers appear to have had an empathy bypass), at least from an economic one. Margaret O’Connor (Nelson) Congratulations to Colleen Brown and the…

For our new Limerick Competition, we asked you to write a limerick on the rift between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. FINALISTS: The bromance has come to an end Trump and Elon each ditched their “best friend” The man with deep pockets Went back to his rockets This schism is too deep to mend. ‒ Julie Woolner, Wellington The friendship with Donald and Musk Was music for Kanye to busk But one got too bossy The other got tossy And all that is left is a husk. ‒ Fiona Knight, Wellington Alas, poor Elon: I knew him well But then who was I to tell He’d play his Trump card To knock me down hard. I’ll rocket him off into Hell! ‒ Anny Chen, Paraparaumu There once was a rich…

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” – President Trump summarises the conflict between Israel and Iran “Those who are calling on the government to do more don’t know what the government is doing.” – Foreign Minister Winston Peters, on moves to evacuate Kiwis from Iran and Israel “You and I have a different view about climate. I happen to think that it’s largely moral hysteria … That is why I’m a proud supporter of the extractive fossil fuels industry.” – Resources Minister Shane Jones to Green MP Steve Abel “In many ways, the campaign launched and fronted by the Deputy Prime Minister is lame, even laughable. At the same time, it is an…

1. Who starred with Dustin Hoffman in the 1976 Watergate thriller All The President’s Men? ❑ Paul Newman ❑ Robert Redford ❑ Robert De Niro ❑ Anthony Hopkins 2. Which author said doing research for her novels was like studying for an A-level? ❑ Jilly Cooper ❑ JK Rowling ❑ Ali Smith ❑ Sally Rooney 3. Which country is informally known as the Hexagon? ❑ Spain ❑ France ❑ Germany ❑ Australia 4. A PET scan stands for positron WHAT tomography? ❑ Emission ❑ Electron ❑ Engineering ❑ Erratic 5. Humans have never landed a spacecraft on the moon of another planet. ❑ True ❑ False 6. Vasovagal syncope is otherwise known as what? ❑ Fainting ❑ Yawning ❑ Drooling ❑ Blinking 7. Which famous dancer began life as Margaret…