Tuesday, 16 November 2021 12:00

Body on the line!

Written by  The Hound
Body on the line!

OPINION: Your old mate has heard about rugby players putting their bodies on the line for their country, but not bureaucrats.

However, word has it that one of NZ's key trade negotiators in the recent FTA with the UK caught Covid-19 during a trade trip last month.

Vangelis Vitalis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's deputy secretary for trade and economic issues, accompanied Damien O'Connor on his trip to the United States and EU in October.

In a statement, MFAT confirmed that Vitalis had tested positive for Covid-19 while in Europe, it added that he was double-vaccinated, had experienced only milk symptoms to date and was recovering well.

Talk about taking one for the team!

I'm sure farmers around NZ will join the Hound in wishing Vitalis a speedy recovery and thank him for his efforts in helping secure better access for NZ primary products around the world.

More like this

Wrong focus

Wrong focus

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.

Burn the village

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."

Purist problem

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.

Drill baby, drill!

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.

Popular Reads

back to top

Featured

Trev Integrates with LIC MINDA

Trev Integrates with LIC MINDA

Farm software outfit Trev has released new integrations with LIC, giving farmers a more connected view of animal performance across the season and turning routine data capture into actionable farm intelligence.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

dairynewscover
ruralnewscover
winegrowercover

Visit archives

The Hound

Silly Season

OPINION: Election years are usually regarded as the silly season, but a mate of the Hound reckons 2026 is shaping…

Two-Faced System

OPINION: If farmers poured just a few litres of some pollutant into a stream, the Green Party and the wider…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter