Bias Blowback
OPINION: It's no surprise to this old mutt that some politicians are done playing nice with the low rent media pack that hounds them looking for a 'gotcha' moment.
OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been a soft interview with ZB's Mike Hosking, Luxon unnecessarily "made a meal of it", to paraphrase Hosking.
It was farcical and all too common from the PM.
The Hound wonders if new terminology will enter the NZ lexicon: 'Doing a Luxon - (v) meaning to waffle on, talk gibberish, churning out buzz words and corporate speak in volumes equal to what the average cow emits after a big feed'.
Luxon's inability to speak off the cuff in language the average person connects with is a problem for his minders.
Is he not taking advice?
One commentator suggested it would be easier to teach a dog to play golf than teach Luxon to speak the language of the people.
The man who organised a 57,000 signature petition to ban the export of live animals by sea from NZ says he's delighted that the Government has abandoned plans to reinstate the trade.
Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Will Foley says McCains plans to close its Hastings vegetable processing factory is a "tough pill to swallow" for the Hawke's Bay region.
New Zealand's largest medicinal cannabis operation is looking for contract growers to help meet surging international demand.
The proposed retrenchment of Heinz Wattied's manufacturing presenced in New Zealand will be a blow to the wallets of more than 200 Canterbury vegetable growers.
The cost of running a New Zealand farm is now 27% higher than it was before Covid, putting sustained pressure on profitability acrfoss the sector, according to new ANZ research.
An Ōpunake farmer with a poor effluent system has been fined $35,000 with a discount on the penalty discarded after he charged at a Taranaki Regional Council officer inspecting the ‘systematic problems’ on his farm.

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