Back on the road
It probably was too good to last. The blessed peace on the roads that I wrote about here began eroding even before we left Level 4 of the Covid-19 restrictions – and on day one of Level 3, with the tradies…
Recent Posts
Parliamentary Privilege, and the summonsing of Crown legal advice
The Epidemic Response has apparently resolved to call on the Director-General of Health, Commissioner of Police and Solicitor-General to provide it copies of relevant material, including legal advice prepared for the government. It is not clear whether summonses have been…
The company of strangers
I didn't really debate whether I was going to fly last week. My mother was in Wellington Hospital after a traumatic health event, I am the only surviving direct family member and she needed me there. If Air New Zealand…
7 Minutes with Miss Fisher
Like everyone, the film and television industry is facing unprecedented impacts from the pandemic, with hundreds of productions suspended and thousands of workers unemployed. But I wonder if, for some of the big names, it’s a sneaky holiday, a time…
ICYMI: Links and things I've been doing
Like most people, I've been staying at home, doing a bit in the garden, cooking a lot and managing occasional bouts of anxiety. I've also written more here than I have done for a while. At a time when every…
The last – and best – parts of the cannabis bill have arrived
Regular readers will know that I've been hanging out for the "market allocation" parts of the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be the subject of a referendum this year. ¶ While most media outlets ran inane stories last…
The immortals
During the plague, I’ve been amusing myself by watching a show about immortality. In the world of Ad Vitam, a French series on Netflix, Covid-19 wouldn’t exist; disease apparently doesn’t and death hardly at all. ¶ The reason for this is…
Has Iran found an effective Covid-19 treatment?
For obvious reasons, there has been a lot of attention paid to work going into developing vaccines that could prevent Covid-19 infection, and drugs that could treat it. In particular, there has been some excitement about new animal trial data…
How do we all move past our differences, get together and save the world?
The closing panel in The Listening Lounge at February's Splore festival was a fairly ambitious one, I wasn't sure whether it was going to work and I knew I was going to depend on my panelists – a psychologist, a brilliant…
Bubble of One
When you spend a lot of time on your own, as I do, you tend to notice things more, perhaps earlier. ¶ I think it was maybe early February when I started to feel quite concerned about a new virus from…
A draft submission on the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill
There are a few days left to put in a submission on the Electoral (Registration of Sentences Prisoners) Amendment Bill. ¶ The bill would allow prisoners serving sentence of imprisonment under three years to vote, essentially restoring the status quo ante…
Spencer Stoner: going with the flow of slow TV
The beauty of slow TV, says Spencer Stoner, is that it’s different things to different people – a travelogue, an immersive experience, an awesome screensaver. After the success of last year’s Go South, Stoner has spent a month at sea filming…
Lockdown? Day? Whatever the fuck day it is …
I live in Stockport, just outside Manchester. It's 10 minutes by train away, but I’m not sure if the trains are running – and in any case I’ve not actually been in my office in Central Manchester since February 20. ¶ That…
Towards new human spaces
Good Friday in lockdown was a time to be alive and on a bicycle. Without even the supermarkets as an excusefor anyone to get in the car and drive somewhere, the roads were gloriously clear. Clear enough to carve big…
Music is coming home
The practice and business of music has been one of the sectors most gravely impacted by the virus sweeping the world. The emphatic nature of our government's response, necessary as it was, has slammed the industry and the people who…
Locked down in Jersey City
I am a Kiwi living in Jersey City, New Jersey. Jersey City is the second-largest city in the state and is located directly across the Hudson River from downtown Manhattan. Locals call it New York’s sixth borough. More than 350,000…
Splore Listening Lounge 2020: the road to a "yes" vote
As far as anyone can say, New Zeaand still has a general election scheduled for September 19 this year. The election will be accompanied by two referenda, one of which will ask voters: ¶ Do you support the proposed Cannabis Legalisation…
Michael Baker and the Big House
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man…
Waiver, the singular Crown and the conduct of Crown legal business
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it…
Well spaced out
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is…
Poll Pot and the partisans
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some…
Les Gray: the man who told the truth
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand. ¶ When Paul Shannon interviewed…
MUSIC: Lockdown Grooves
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in…
Together Alone
We're about to do something unprecedented as a nation. We hope that by taking this extraordinary action before a single life in New Zealand has been lost to the deadly novel virus we will save tens of thousands of lives.…
Pandemic Preparedness and the New Zealand general election
New Zealand is planning to hold a general election on Saturday 19 September 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve had several queries about how New Zealand’s electoral laws would cope with this event. There’s obviously a long way to go…