Wednesday, 18 December 2024 10:25

Waste not

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: Judith Collins, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, has upset the more woke members of the science community by announcing a regulation change to narrow the scope of the $83.5 million/year Marsden Fund.

This means that the money will go to science with measurable outcomes, unwinding Grant Robertson's wider scope which included humanities and social sciences.

As Collins says, "Real impact on our economy will come from areas such as physics, chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences".

Examples of the type of research Dr Siouxsie Wiles and her woke mates are upset about losing include: 'Linking the celestial spheres to end-of-life experiences: The research hopes to rekindle the ancient connection to the stars and re-imagine the meaning of death'. Cost: $861,000!

And there (used to be) plenty more where that came from.

More like this

M.I.A.

OPINION: The previous government spent too much during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite warnings from officials, according to a briefing released by the Treasury.

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.

Featured

Farmers Lead Sustainability Push: Woodchip bioreactor cuts nitrate runoff in Manawatu

Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Peasants' revolt

OPINION: Media luvvies at Stuff, the Spinoff and the Granny Herald are spending more time than ever navel-gazing about why…

Why so slow?

OPINION: Why does it take Treasury so long to turn around its figures on how the economy is tracking?

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter