Hard News by Russell Brown

We'll be looking at media coverage of the Budget on Media7 this week: examining the language of Budget delivery, its subsequent interpretation and who really had something useful to say. I'd like you to help me crowdsource that analysis.

So consider yourself invited to report, comment and check the math. How is that Budget app? Is it nice having a Listener liveblog?

The youngest member of the team, Sam Mulgrew, will also be looking at the historical perspective and casting an eye back to the time when the contents of the Budget really were a secret until the speech was read. Your memories may be of service to us on that score.

Off you go then ...

Note: I unaccountably forgot earlier to link to Keith Ng's awesome Budget visualisation.

Here's the thing about economics: it determines the way we live our lives, but most of us are shut out from discussing it -- by language or privilege, or simply because it seems too hard. Thus do assumptions go unchallenged and thus is the debate left to technocrats and their ministers.

The New Zealand Fabian Society  has been looking to remedy that situation for some time now, and has presented some excellent speakers. I got talking to some of their members earlier this year about bringing what they're doing to a wider audience -- by making the debate easier, and more enjoyable, to join.

The consequence of those talks is The Voyage of a Lifetime, which will take place at Auckland's Q Theatre on the afternoon of Sunday, June 10, presented by The Fabians, Public Address and Scoop.

I'll be the MC for the event, Michelle A'Court will warm up the crowd and Miriam Clancy will play her music. As is the case with our Great Blend events, this one will provide plenty of time for socialising and networking.

But most importantly, the speakers: Bernard Hickey, Rod Oram, Selwyn Pellet, Arena Williams, Rick Boven and John Walley. You can read their profiles here.

You're important too. Each of the speakers will provide brief introductions to their talks in guest posts here and you're warmly encouraged to engage with the ideas they present. You may even shape what they have to say on the day.

The significance of the nautical theme to the event will become clearer as the day approaches, but for now, allow me to invite you to secure your free ticket for the event. It'll be fun, promise.

PS: Yes, it is entirely possible that similar events will be held outside Auckland. But let's get this one done first. You'll note that in the RSVP process you have the option of going on a mailing list and saying where you live, so you can be alerted when that time comes.

There was some outrage recently when a feature in the Dominion Post put Paula Bennett, who had just announced the government's intention to fund long-term contraception for beneficiaries, in the same frame as Josef Mengele, the Nazi "doctor" at Auschwitz. But not that much, really.

David Farrar described it as "a grievous judgment of error" [sic] and a letter to the paper demanded an apology, but as far as I'm aware there has been no further action. That's because the feature was an editorial cartoon. This one:

Had the same association been made in a written opinion column, let alone an editorial, there would presumably have been a greater scandal and probably a complaint to the Press Council. But our press culture has always allowed a greater latitude to cartoonists, on the part of their editors and on the part of the public.

This tradition has a bearing as the press begins to fall out of love with John Key's government. No matter what the written opinionists say, the cartoonists will say worse. Take for example, this clever play on the Time breastfeeding cover by the Herald's Rod Emmerson:

[NB: This image is reproduced here for purposes of criticism and review under the fair-dealing provisions of the Copyright Act 1994.]

Auckland illustrator Anna Crichton did, however, find a way to have an image rejected by an editor: make that image a cock'n' balls:

She drew the image of the armoured genitalia to illustrate a story for an Australian publication on the different standards for male and female nudity in films. Her editor's response -- he rejected it and demanded something more modest -- arguably provided a better illustration of the theme than the illustration itself.

Hodgson, Emmerson and Crichton will be joining us on Media7 this week to talk about cartooning and editorial illustration in the current political climate. If you'd like to join us for tomorrow evening's recording, we'll need you to come to the Victoria Street entrance of TVNZ between 5.15 and 5.40pm. As ever, try and drop me an email to say you're coming.

We won't just be talking about their work, or about New Zealand. There's a huge controversy in South Africa at the moment around the cock 'n' balls element of this new painting of President Jacob Zuma:

The matter is now headed to court -- and has, inevitably, spawned its own editorial cartoons:

We'll also look back at some of our own cartoon past -- which largely steered clear of out-and-out political grotesques, until, at least the late 1960s when Robert Muldoon and the scurrilous Cock magazine collided in newsprint. There was Muldoon the Nazi:

And Muldoon the ... well you can make your own mental description:

How would we greet such a characterisation today?

"I think," tweeted Gemma Gracewood from New York, "that the TVNZOnDemand version of the feature-length episode of Shortland Street should be ungeoblocked just for my birthday."

Good point, I thought. Global distribution deals notwithstanding, doesn't the diaspora deserve a break just this one time, on the 20th anniversary of our greatest soap opera? So, with the encouragement of Toby Manhire, I decreed a hashtag -- #freethestreet -- and began the campaign to unblock the episode.

To be perfectly honest, there wasn't a lot of arm-twisting required. As the tweets began to flow, I contacted South Pacific Pictures' CEO John Barnett to explain the idea and ask how-about-it, and he promptly replied to say that it wasn't entirely straightforward -- international broadcasters and licencees would have to be contacted for approval -- but the process was underway.

Huzzah!

So I turned to the pile of old Planet magazines I've been mining for a feature story I'm doing and found the following editorial, from late 1993. Grafting an appreciation of Shortland Street onto a call to arms for the MMP era was a fairly audacious thing to do, but I think it makes sense. (In a clever piece of design, a second editorial, in which I danced on the grave of Peter Shirtcliffe, was interleaved between the lines of this one. We were so goddamn edgy back then.)

So, here is the editorial from Planet No 12, Summer 1993.

--

Remember the reader survey in the last issue of Planet? There was one uniting trend. You watch Shortland Street. All of you. All of us.

The striking thing is that we not only follow the births, deaths and marriages on our favourite soap opera, we manage to feel comfortable about doing so. Somewhere, unseen, is an agenda we can live with.

"Sick of the political correctness in Shortland Street yet?" sniped another magazine this year. Frankly, no -- and neither are the young Pacific Islanders who have mass-media role models for the first time, or the gay citizens who can see themselves sensibly represented on screen.

But watching Shortland Street is hardly a bold political act. Is it a little sad that the closest we we come to common cause is our choice on the channel-changer? Perhaps.

But as a generation, we're not joiners. We rarely march in the streets, and very, very few of us subscribe to political parties. That may have to change.

On 6 November, New Zealanders chose a new electoral system -- MMP. The state of the party vote on election night also was both freakish and sophisticated, but it was less a taste of MMP than the sweet smell of inclusion. Independently, collectively, each voter wrought something interesting.

But nothing will really change unless the class of people active in politics changes too. MPs will be no better unless the parties -- new or old -- are better. It is the members of political parties who will determine who represents us all. The new reality is that we may have to consider becoming joiners.

---

Off the back of that editorial, I joined the Auckland Central branch of the Labour Party the following year -- frankly, someone had to -- and persisted for another half-dozen years until I switched to a job I felt was incompatible with political party membership.

In that time, Shortland Street touched my life in any number of ways. For an entire season, one of our Planet cover posters hung on the wall of the staffroom. A whole group of my peers worked for the show in one capacity or another. And, of course, I watched it.

Do I still watch it now? Well no, I don't. But I am still amazed by the success of this show, what it represented, the people it delivered to higher honours, and the impact it had on New Zealand screen culture. Without Shortland Street? No Outrageous Fortune. And, really, no screen sector as we currently know it.

So I guess I'll have a look tonight. It'd be rude not to.

One week they were demolishing the building behind the Grey Lynn Mitre 10 on Richmond Road -- and the next, it seemed, there was a shiny new Farro store, selling "food from people who cook". I was intrigued.

Shopping for food is, as my home-based journalistic brethren will know, an excellent form of procrastination. I have a special knack for making dinner runs last an hour by turning them into a grand circuit of the various shops that have better and/or cheaper versions of a particular class of item. When I finally get around to acquiring a cargo bike, I'll probably end up writing off entire afternoons like this. I may give up working altogether.

But anyway, Farro ... never been in one, as far as I recall. So I did -- and I was impressed. This place is going to save me some time. Also: cost me some money. Perhaps I'll have to keep working after all.

The first thing I saw was golden kiwifruit, my morning staple on muesli, for $1.99 a kilogram. Bought 480 grams of those. White button mushrooms at $5.99/kg and huge, fresh heads of broccoli at 99 cents, ditto. And 2kg boxes of small, washed Victoria gourmet potatoes for $3.99. This is going to put some pressure on Fruit World, 100 metres away on Richmond Road. People who buy overpriced veges at the Countdown across the road presumably won't notice.

Just by the produce stands -- sweet glory -- Wild Wheat breads, including mercifully unsliced multigrain loaves. I hate driving to Wild Wheat's retail bakery in Mt Eden Road and it's not always convenient to ride that far, so this is great news.

Also among the opening specials, Rempah chilled curry sauces, $2.50 off at $4.99 (Yes, sometimes I use pre-made curry sauces. Bite me.) and marinated butterflied legs of lamb, $10/kg off at $22.95. The meat is mostly pre-packed, with the small butchery counter largely dedicated to marinated and seasoned cuts of meat and poultry, including diced beef madras at $23.99/kg and chicken legs swimming in a yoghurty tandoori marinade. Quite a bit of organic and free-range on offer.

There's a seafood counter, where the fish looks fresh but pricey, and a big deli island with pre-cooked savouries and the usual cured meats and cheeses and luxury chocolates. On special: Freedom Farms pepperoni, $4.99 for 100g. I've never seen that before.

The lovely Clevedon buffalo mozzarella was also on special, and the chiller contained the Clevedon buffalo yoghurt, on which I will occasionally splash out at La Cigale of a weekend. Also: non-Fonterra Green Valley milk, but only the organic line, at $5.99 for two litres.

The basis of the pastas and pulses section, is, like that at Nosh, the lines imported by EuroDell (see below). The selection of fruit cordials (we're a Soda Stream house) is very good, and, pleasingly, includes an actual local product: Rebekah Hay's excellent Hakanoa Handmade ginger syrup. (Her flagship ginger beer is stocked too.)

But there are one or two odd gaps for the kind of store Farro is looking to be. Example: the well-known Kaitaia Fire pepper sauce, but not the excellent dried and cured chillis from the same producer (which you can buy at Harvest Wholefoods a kilometre away).

Wine and beer are currently on the shelves, but not for sale until the store's licence comes through.

Anyway, I'm impressed. And best of all, it's right on one of my rides: up Chinaman's Hill, down across Grey Lynn Park, through the reserve on Hakanoa, across Sackville and through the right-of-way to Westmoreland Street West and I'm right there at Farro.

But that's hardly the lot. Here's a list of where I get mine. If you are still alive and conscious after reading this list, you are invited to share your food stops; good, bad or indifferent:

Westmere Butchery

Yeah, me and everyone else in the inner western 'burbs, I know. The sausages are of particular note, especially the mozzarella-and-tomato-filled bandieras (sort of posh cheeze sizzlers, and to die for) and the chicken, walnut and cranberry ones, which I use outside barbecue season in casseroles and curries. See also: frozen export whole eye fillets and excellent beef, pork and chicken mince. It's not always clear whether the chicken is free-range, but the single-sourced organic lamb is nice. The staff are always up for a laugh. I like going to this place a lot.

West Lynn Organic Meats

Nearly 100% organic. I used to shop there a lot when we lived on Richmond Road, but the location and pricing at Westmere won me over. Still a fine shop, but not cheap.

The Mad Butcher

You just can't beat the Mad Butcher's meat? Yes you bloody well can -- it's extremely average and, in some cases, more expensive than Westmere's. But when I'm at The Point Chev Strip Mall Formerly Known As The Goldmine Centre, I always pop in to see what distressed inventory has washed up there. Best score in recent times: one-litre Tetrapaks of really nice Italian passata for $1.99.

Green Bay Fruit & Vege

Two doors down from the Mad Butcher. Has the full range of Green Valley milk, markedly cheaper than Farro has it, which is what gets me in the door. Decent, fairly standard fruiterer range and an entire aisle of slow-moving Chinese products that nobody buys. I really like the Chinese matron who runs the place. She's cool.

Fruit World

Spitting distance from Farro and across Richmond Road from Grey Lynn Countdown. Excellent range and some very good pricing for pretty much all fresh produce in season. Bigger-than-average stand of dry pulses, nuts and spices. They have a line on nice, fresh rocket that no one else seems to, and a rack of prohibitively-priced Sabato lines. Newly added: a standing freezer full of dumplings.

Harvest Wholefoods

Caters for the rich hippies of Grey Lynn, and is generally -- but not always -- expensive. Good fresh-cut herbs and unavailable-elsewhere lines like those Kaitaia Fire chillis. Best place in town for organic wines and beers. Nice staff. Warning: standing behind customers who present several dozen small paper bags of stuff for weighing at the checkout may make you homicidal.

Mamata

Grey Lynn's own bakery used to be notorious for baking breads that could be used as a weapon, although the wholemeal croissants (and no, I am not joking) used to be delicious. Under the current management, they serve coffee for a varied and colourful GL crowd and sell delicious pies and bagels. My favourite bagels are the chocolate chip ones and the onion ones -- both only made on Saturdays.

Grey Lynn Farmers Market

I guess I'd go there on Sundays if I lived next door, but the original philosophy of offering food grown locally (ie: in back yards) never really took off. That does happen sometimes in season, and it's special when it does, but it's mostly just standard market operations.

La Cigale French Market

The trip to Parnell on a Saturday or Sunday mornings is worthwhile for a handful of products. The Mamaku spray-free blueberries are filled with awesome, and the nice lady who makes the muesli and salad dressings really knows what she's doing. The freshly-baked pita breads are also delicious. The fruit and veges are hit and miss, but the big basil plants make a good pot of pesto and if you smile nice the cheery shouty man will let you take some fresh tarragon for free. The smallgoods stall was better when the family running it hadn't yet learned Parnell pricing.

Avondale Market

Offering very, very cheap vegetables on Sunday mornings at Avondale racecourse since forever. Almost every stall has roughly the same range each week and you need to check the quality before you buy, but there's nowhere cheaper for seasonal produce. I would probably buy stuff from the tofu stall but I don't know what most of it is and I'm scared by it.

Euro Dell

The people who import and sell to Nosh and Farro. Euro Dell's little store by the Lincoln Road off-ramp on the Northerwestern motorway is hard to get in and out of owing to some major roadworks ("for the foreseeable future," the sign on the door says) but it's worth the trip. Mutti tomato products are simply the best, and the smallgoods are authentic and well-priced.

Sea Mart Mt Albert

Separately managed from the other Sea Mart branches, and thus survived the collapse of the rest of the chain. As well-priced as fresh fish gets these days -- and the fish is actually fresh.

Countdown Point Chevalier and Grey Lynn

The former was once reputed to be the worst supermarket in Auckland, but is now just a small Countdown, and the latter is a large Countdown with local competition. They sell what supermarkets sell.

Moore Wilson, Wellington

Yes, I live in Auckland and I have a Moore Wilson card. On our last visit, Moore Wilson Fresh was its usual self, but it's still the wholesale side I like. The OG of foodie marts.

Farmers' Sustainable Meat Co., Whakatane

When we arrived for the recent Media7 interview with Bryan Gould, my cameraman and I parked across the road from the venue -- and found this place in front of us. "All meats free-range and sustainably farmed," says the leaflet. When we went back after the interview, two big, aged (and almost on the turn) t-bone steaks called me across the room. Five. Dollars. Each. Back home on the Chev that night, I cooked them and they were amazeballs. The barrel-cured eye bacon I bought was also very good. And I was impressed by the way the young guy at the checkout was able to talk about the way the meats had been prepared and the philosophy behind that preparation. Quite a special place, I reckon.

Righto. Your turn ...