Wednesday, 20 October 2021 15:30

Flag it!

Written by  The Hound
Flag it!

OPINION: Agriculture and Trade Minister Damien O'Connor tried to keep his latest overseas jaunt secret squirrel.

He took off to the US and Europe earlier this month in a desperate bid to try in breathe some life into the proposed, but faltering, free trade deals with both the UK and the EU.

However, instead of the usual month-or-so notice of his planned trip, O'Connor was planning to sneak out of NZ before letting anyone know.

Unfortunately, his covert plans were busted by a US diplomat who posted news of the trip on social media, which led O'Connor and his lackeys to hastily announce the trip.

In fact, it was so secret it appears that even those he was meeting with seemed to not know where he is from - with one photo showing O'Connor meeting with his French counterpart Franck Riester in Paris, posing next to an Australian flag.

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

Formula goes sour

OPINION: Media reports say global recalls tied to cereulide toxin contamination in milk-based nutrition brands could inflict combined financial losses…
back to top

Featured

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

dairynewscover
ruralnewscover
winegrowercover

Visit archives

The Hound

Bulldust!

OPINION: Here w go: the election date is set for November 7 and the politicians are out of the gate…

No good news?

OPINION: ECan data was released a few days ago showing Canterbury farmers have made “giant strides on environmental performance”.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter