New Zealand Listener Issue 49, 2025

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 Senior Designer Richard Kingsford Editorial contact listener@aremedia.co.nz Contributors this issue: Steve Braunias, Colleen Brown, Russell Brown, Sarah Catherall, Jane Clifton, Michael Cooper, Greg Dixon, Anthony Ellison, Brigid Feehan, Sue Fitchett, Max Harris, David Harvey, Michele Hewitson, Marcus Hobson, Mac Jackson, Danyl McLauchlan, Veronika Meduna, Shona Munro, Nicky Pellegrino, Graham Reid, Sue Reidy, Cathrin Schaer, Alex Scott, Chris Slane, Aaron Smale, Sarah Watt, Marc Wilson Chief Executive Officer Jane Huxley General Manager Stuart Dick Editorial Director Sarah Henry  Head of Digital Melissa Walsh  Senior Digital Content Producer Katie Delany  Sales Director Claire Chisholm …

The headlines around the Independent Police Conduct Authority findings on the police response to complaints against Jevon McSkimming have triggered a familiar cycle: finger-pointing, political theatre, sweeping statements about “the police”. But if we want to prevent the next crisis, we need a deeper conversation about something far more complex: how police leadership is developed, rewarded and practised inside a command-and-control system. This isn’t a simple story of bad actors; it’s a story about the system in which leaders are shaped. When former assistant commissioner Clint Rickards, and others, were accused of sex crimes in a scandal in 2007, I was leading training and development for Wellington District Police. Wanting to support staff, I raised the issue with frontline officers, expecting worry about reputation and public judgment. Instead, I got…

I was appalled to read Andrea Graves’s Science column (November 29) on farrowing crates for sows. It’s a discussion that’s been in the arena for a few years now and I think most people (probably with the exception of NZ Pork) were pleased to hear that farrowing crates were to be phased out this month, but now that’s been overturned. I believe that even if you’re not involved in the pork industry you would know that these crates are cruel and go against all natural instincts for the sow to ready herself for the birth of her piglets. I strongly believe this decision, like many others this coalition government has passed, is dollar driven. Why else would you ignore the advice from the National Animal Welfare Committee (Nawac), an independent…

1. The very first video to appear on YouTube was filmed where? ❑ Video shop ❑ Zoo ❑ Mall ❑ Street 2. The traditional name for a group of cheetahs is what? ❑ Chitty ❑ Clamour ❑ Charge ❑ Coalition 3. The 90s US teen comedy film Clueless is based on which book? ❑ Wuthering Heights ❑ Jane Eyre ❑ Middlemarch ❑Emma 4. Who said, “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman”? ❑ Angela Merkel ❑ Gloria Steinem ❑ Ruth Bader Ginsburg ❑ Margaret Thatcher 5. Where would you encounter gyrification? ❑ Athletics ❑ Brain ❑ Sailing ❑ Geology 6. Which word is the most recent? ❑ Ditzy ❑ Doozy ❑ Nifty ❑ Spiffy 7. Reindeer eyes change colour in winter.…

“Eternity’s a terrible thought. I mean, where’s it all going to end?” – From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard, who died on November 29 aged 88 “I’ve been doing this work for 25 years and I’ve never seen such fear.”– Matt DeMateo, director of a family support organisation, on the impact of an ICE blitz on immigrant communities in Chicago “No person being paid for by either taxpayers or ratepayers should earn more than the mayors of our biggest cities!” – Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown “No matter how the wind shifts, our course will hold.” – Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po – the Māori Queen – launching the $100 million Kotahitanga Fund to invest in Māori initiatives “I’m angry, I’m disgusted, it’s just…

National Party insiders begin by acknowledging the Prime Minister’s flaws. He is not a great communicator. The public has not warmed to him. He has little interest in many issues that our political leaders traditionally concern themselves with. But, they insist, he is a genuinely good manager. Unlike the Key and Ardern governments – in which the leader’s popularity was paramount and senior staffers micromanaged everything – Christopher Luxon backs his senior ministers to make the changes they believe in. But he also has a complicated governing arrangement and an ongoing recession. The result has been a messy second year marked by significant policy wins that have been eclipsed by economic gloom, political failures and a disturbing contempt for democracy, good governance and good lawmaking. HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD…