Diplomatic Incident
OPINION: Your old mate hears an international incident is threatening to blow up the long-standing Anzac alliance as Kiwis and Aussies argue over who wants new Australian resident and former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
OPINION: The Hound's reckons something has seriously gone wrong with the 'luck of the Irish' with news that Trevor Mallard is retiring from Parliament and will become New Zealand's Ambassador in Ireland.
He reckons Jacinda Ardern's move to duck shove Mallard out of his current role as Speaker of the House and retire him off to the Emerald Isle is an insult to all - especially the Irish.
Meanwhile, your old mate wonders when Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor - who would have been a far better fit as Irish Ambassador - will be put out to pasture.
He's been an MP since 1993 and will have been in Parliament for 30 years by next election.
Surely the clock is ticking for his time in politics to be over?
Mind you, the voters of the West Coast may do the job themselves and save Ardern the bother of that 'awkward' conversation with O'Connor!
While the District Field Days brought with it a welcome dose of sunshine, it also attracted a significant cohort of sitting members from the Beehive – as one might expect in an election year.
Irish Minister of State of Agriculture, Noel Grealish was in New Zealand recently for an official visit.
While not all sibling rivalries come to blows, one headline event at the recent New Zealand Rural Games held in Palmerston North certainly did, when reigning World Champion Jack Jordan was denied the opportunity of defending his world title in Europe later this year, after being beaten by his big brother’s superior axle blows, at the Stihl Timbersports Nationals.
AgriZeroNZ has invested $5.1 million in Australian company Rumin8 to accelerate development of its methane-reducing products for cattle and bring them to New Zealand.
Farmers want more direct, accurate information about both fuel and fertiliser supply.
A bull on a freight plane sounds like the start of a joke, but for Ian Bryant, it is a fond memory of days gone by.

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