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OPINION: The Hound notes that in all the media hoo-ha over outgoing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her replacement by a Richie Cunningham from Happy Days look-alike, news that another quitter was back went under the radar.
At the same time, when Ardern was tearfully throwin in the towel, National leader Chris Luxon announced that Todd Muller would be the party's new agriculture spokesman.
Muller was previously the Nats' ag spokesman before he knifed former leader Simon Bridges in 2020 and then quit 51 days later - earning him the rather cutting nickname 'Puddle' because he completely melted when the pressure came on.
Farmers will be keen to see what Muller 2.0 does in regards to issues like methane taxation.
Let's hope he is up to the job this time and has enough backbone and steel to steer the ship in the right direction!
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.
OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."
OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.
OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.
OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
The Royal A&P Show of New Zealand, hosted by the Canterbury A&P Association, is back next month, bigger and better after the uncertainty of last year.
Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.
Relationships are key to opening new trading opportunities and dealing with some of the rules that countries impose that impede the free flow of trade.
Dawn Meats chief executive Niall Browne says their joint venture with Alliance Group will create “a dynamic industry competitor”.
Tributes have flowed following the death of former Prime Minister and political and business leader, Jim Bolger. He was 90.
OPINION: Media luvvies at Stuff, the Spinoff and the Granny Herald are spending more time than ever navel-gazing about why…
OPINION: Why does it take Treasury so long to turn around its figures on how the economy is tracking?
