I can’t quite remember being so anxious to head off since I started my apprenticeship. Mrs Kiwi is thrilled too, clearly keen to see the back of me, can’t blame her. Since she commandeered my interwebby HQ in the name of ‘working from home’ the howling from me has engendered zero sympathy from her but has captured the considerable attention of several neighbourhood canines.
I have, though, been able to spend more time than usual amongst the BFD comments and I found a pearl on yesterday’s General Debate from commenter ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ with a link supplied by ‘Jane’ – a Sydney Morning Herald piece:
“Meanwhile, job losses continued to mount with iconic tourism attractions shuttering, alongside some of the country’s best-loved magazine titles. The only shops open are supermarkets, for which there are often Soviet-style queues. Petrol stations are also open, but in New Zealand’s police state, roadblocks mean few litres are required.” […] “Even at the slightly more relaxed level three lockdown – which will start on Tuesday – hairdressers will still be closed as will normal shopping. Businesses can open, but transactions must be contactless, this means online ordering and pick up or deliveries. The cash will be a lifeline for some small businesses, but for many it will be too little, too late.”
All true. But here’s the kick: it’s written by Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass along with colleague and Senior Political Reporter Thomas Coughlan, It’s been run in the SMH-associated papers in Aus’, but not a single word of it has been made it across the Tasman to be reproduced by the similarly associated Stuff stable here. Amazing, eh?
Questions beg. Do Stuff‘s new owners (Australia’s Nine Corp) think we are too weakened by our recent ‘police state’ lockdown to handle a tiny bit of criticism of our “Dear Leader” Jacinda Ardern, or is the absence of the piece confirmation of the rumour that union heavies control what’s allowed to appear in Stuff‘s reportage here?
Are Malpass and Coughlan showing they can write with more objectivity for a wider international audience, or are they touting themselves as serious reporters to prospective new employers as the Stuff donation tin runs inevitably down? How very curious.
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