The changing face of a world

We visited Dublin back in 1995 and as soon as we were ensconced in our B&B I accessed a telephone directory to book in at a cabaret where an Irish comedian I had admired from afar was performing. Booking made, I then perused the phone book and discovered that pretty well all the surnames had a familiar ring. It was like looking through a 1940s Wairarapa directory. No foreign names, but almost exclusively Irish and Anglo-Saxon nomenclatures. I was surprised. Do they not encourage outsiders to settle in Ireland - or if they do come, are they perhaps denied a telephone?

I don’t know what the Dublin telephone book looks like today, but I gather the London directory will have no such exclusions. I came to this conclusion a few weeks ago when the good people of London elected a Muslim mayor. Sadiq Khan assumed office earlier this month. The contrast from the previous incumbent, who was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, was startling.

How did this happen? I needed to do some research (thanks Google).

I found the government’s push to increase immigration has altered London’s population. The national census which looked at change over a decade has revealed that London’s racial and religious mix has changed dramatically.

Statistics from last year’s census showed that only 45 per cent of London’s 8.2 million population class themselves as white Britons. That compares with a figure of 58 percent when the last census was compiled in 2001. The next largest ethnic group is Asian, including both those who have arrived from abroad and those who were born in the country. They now account for 18 per cent of the capital’s population with a total of 1.5 million residents.

Black Londoners, of whom there are 1.1 million, represent another 13 per cent of the population. They include Africans, black Britons and those from the Caribbean. The capital’s 405,000 mixed race residents make up another 5 per cent of the population. Arabs represent 1.3 per cent while “other” ethnic groups make up 2 per cent.

Another 13 per cent of Londoners are “white other” - such as Europeans - meaning that the capital still has an overall majority of white residents despite white Britons becoming a minority.

Regarding country of birth, today’s figures show that three million Londoners were born abroad.

All of this may sound racist, but the changing face of London is history in the making; with an outcome we may find dismaying. Imagine if Beijing or Tokyo suddenly found that their native populations were being overtaken by outsiders. China and Japan are Asian countries and are no doubt determined to stay that way. Similarly, if an African country’s capital city found that it suddenly had a black African minority then it would probably consider it had been colonised and cry “foul”.

Molly Malone was said to have walked Dublin’s “fair” city wheeling a wheelbarrow full of cockles and mussels that were so fresh they were still alive. A modern counterpart walking the streets of London today would probably need to offer up an alternative slogan and different fare.

And I’m not sure just how long we will continue to refer to Britain as “the home country.”

“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.” - Dave Barry

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Good things from small beginnings

I’m no apologist and probably never shall be of Andrew Little’s, but I did feel uncharacteristically sorry for him a couple of weeks ago when, just as he was starting to make traction against the government’s handling of the Panama Papers, a newsreader at TV3 decided to quit her job and subsequently featured in the headlines for days.

Mrs Barry’s surprise decision caused unforeseen outcomes and even the unexpected resignation of TV 3’s CEO Mark Weldon

There are some Wairarapa connections in all of this and even one or two subtle ironies.

In 1992 Paul Henry set up a fledgling radio station called Today FM on a shoe-string budget in the old Masonic Hall in Carterton’s Holloway Street. He used second-hand gear and some second-hand staff including his old boss from Radio Wairarapa, veteran broadcaster Johnny Shearer, plus a Masterton butcher, who shall remain nameless, who was his talkback host from 9 to 10 each morning.

He also employed a newsreader named Georgina Beyer. I was only there for an hour a day so I’m not entirely sure just how competent Ms Beyer was at her job, but after a few months, Paul terminated her employment. I don’t know if there was any acrimony in the process; Donald Trump would simply have said, “You’re fired!”

(The irony bit starts here because seven years later, in 1999, Paul was the National Party candidate for Wairarapa and was up against the self-same Ms Beyer. She won the contest comfortably.)

Going back to when Georgina Beyer’s contract was terminated, Mr Henry replaced her with a savvy young lady fresh out of journalism school named Hilary Pankhurst. From my casual observation Ms Pankhurst was a consummate professional from day one.

The little station operated successfully for a year when Paul was made an offer for the business he couldn’t refuse from a South Island consortium and subsequently moved on to higher grounds and greener pastures.

Today FM went on to become Hitz 89 FM and then More FM, the name it trades under today.

Ms Pankhurst eventually moved to Auckland where she married Mike Barry the son of All Black Kevin Barry who played his early rugby for Wairarapa-Bush.

Paul’s following career included manager of National Radio under CEO Sharon Crosby, then a move to Auckland where he worked for Radio Pacific and Radio Live eventually hosting the breakfast show on TV One and was publically voted “Broadcaster of the Year.” However after making comments deemed by some to be unacceptable, TV One did a “Donald Trump” on Paul who then had a short stint on Australian TV where they obviously didn’t quite get his unique brand of humour.

He is now back hosting the hugely successful Paul Henry on TV 3 alongside his old colleague, Hilary Barry.

There was criticism that Ms Barry’s resignation was given such prominence, after all, some commentators reported, “She is just a newsreader.” But I think that’s understating her talent. She has that inexplicable attribute known as the x-factor and is the perfect foil for Henry’s exuberance and oft-times outrageous utterances.

They are a nationally recognised “dream team” that had its genesis in the heart of the Wairarapa.

“Do you realise if it weren’t for Edison we’d be watching television by candlelight?” - Al Boliska

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A feathered history of our land

I used to have a pet magpie. I must have been about nine or ten years of age when I was playing with friends in a paddock across the road from the Lansdowne golf course and we were attacked by a magpie protecting her young in the nest. She swooped down on us and inflicted superficial wounds to our faces and hands. My callous response was to steal one of her chicks and take it home and feed it warm milk from an eye dropper and some of Long’s Meatmarket’s best beef mince.

The bird thrived and became a much loved member of the family.

After her sex was determined, and with a total lack of original thinking, we called her Maggie. (We once had a cat named Ben, but after it had kittens we changed its name to Ben Hur.)

Maggie would sit on my shoulder as I rode around town on my bike and would nibble my ear affectionately. I was a sort of a modern day Long John Silver, but without a wooden leg it was really only the bird and the Long that fitted the comparison.

DOC and the regional councils consider magpies to be pests. This is mainly because of their propensity to attack people (which of course, I can verify), but there is also strong evidence that they also destroy native birds. Wherever the magpies have been eradicated, the native species return and thrive. Rooks are also described as pest animals; their unacceptable behaviour mainly revolves around destroying crops.

It got me to thinking that perhaps the settlers who colonised Aotearoa from the early 1800’s were a bit like the magpies (an all-white version) and the rooks. They came to this country and almost caused the total eradication of the natives. Despite the fact they often tended to nibble the ears of some of the more nubile of the Maori maidens by 1900 there were only 40,000 of the indigenees left in New Zealand.

The human version of the magpies and rooks had swooped on their lands and destroyed their crops.

Inevitably the descendants of the colonists started to realise the errors of their ancestors ways and agreed to negotiate with the original inhabitants to see how that could put some of the wrongs to rights. The Maoris have rebuilt their stocks to around 600,000 people, although as a result of ear nibbling many are now tainted with the blood of the European interlopers.

Recently the government announced that the Kahungunu people of the Wairarapa and Tararua were to be given $93 million in cash, the return of 23,000 hectares of land and significant cultural redress in settlement of the tribe’s historic grievances.

Then in a surprise move the Masterton District councillor’s agreed to appoint two unelected Maori representatives to sit around their table. Many saw this as a step too far, perhaps thinking that Ben Couch, Georgina Beyer, Jim Rimene and Edwin and Owen Perry had all achieved representation via the ballot box.

But the council is unrepentant.

I must say I did feel a tad guilty about stealing a baby magpie from its mothers nest.

But time wounds all heels.

“We are all still prisoners of our colonial history.” - Bob Hawke 

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Weak sentencing not the answer

There was once a school of thought that considered the death penalty should be reintroduced in New Zealand, not for murderers, but for drug dealers. It was further considered that people caught accessing drugs ought not to have a conviction entered against their names, and rather than being incarcerated, be sent to rehabilitation facilities.

A number of societies agree with this death sentence methodology as the ringleaders of Australia’s “Bali 9” would attest. Well, actually no they can’t, they were put to death by a firing squad. Some Muslim countries tend to be a bit harsh on their criminal element; women caught in adultery risk getting stoned to death and thieves are inclined to get their hands amputated.

Some years ago Labour MP and associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton, while agreeing with the notion of a strong penalty for drug dealers, thought execution was a bit harsh and instead introduced legislation allowing for a life sentence to apply.

As far as I am aware no judge has ever imposed this penalty.

Last week I noticed a young Masterton man was convicted of “supplying and offering supply” of methamphetamine. When apprehended, the police found a Taser gun in his possession, plus nearly five thousand dollars in cash. There may have been extenuating circumstances that were not reported, but the judge sentenced the offender to a mere sixteen months in jail.

He was taken back to Rimutaka prison and immediately released because of the time served on remand. I am not a member of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, but I’m starting to empathise with Garth McVicar’s concerns.

The police admitted recently that they are inclined not to follow up on burglary complaints citing that they have more serious crimes to attend to and yet the proceeds of burglaries will in many cases be being used to feed drug addiction.

The police also reported that methamphetamine production and sales have increased dramatically over the last twelve months.

Also last week we saw graphic images of a car full of thieves ramrodding a Z petrol station in Auckland, narrowly missing the lone attendant. The gang stole cigarettes and cash out of the till. There is a thriving black market for cigarettes and it is likely they were taken for on-selling to accommodate a drug habit rather than placate a nicotine addiction.

This was the seventh Z service station to be targeted this year. (Z responded by buying up all the Caltex service stations; they must have a death wish.)

You do have to feel some sympathy for drug users. They will have been coerced in a weak moment by the despicable dealers to try the substance and then find themselves desperately desiring more.

When someone uses meth, the drug enters the brain and releases huge amounts of dopamine, causing an extreme “high” or euphoria. Chronic use however will cause functional and structural changes in the brain which may be irreversible. The ongoing cost to our health system will surely rival obesity and diabetes.

Like Mr Anderton, I’m a bit squeamish about introducing the death penalty for drug dealers, but I’d happily go along with a life sentence with a minimum parole period of (say) 99 years.

“To pass a law and not have it enforced is to authorise the very thing you want to prohibit.” - Cardinal Richelieu

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