Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch

It doesn't take long before someone else comes up with something though, so the theme this week is Other People's Ideas.

Firstly I'm going to shamelessly steal an idea from my old employer – Stuff.

The problem with working for Stuff is that you are never quite sure people understand what you just said. It sounds like you are trying to avoid telling them what you do for a living.

By way of some background, Stuff the website was originally founded and owned by a company called Independent Newspapers Ltd, largely controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

INL bought many of the privately owned independent daily papers around the country, before it was sold to Australian media company Fairfax for $1.2 billion. A couple of years ago, the company decided it loved the name Stuff so much, it would call the whole NZ arm of the company Stuff. Then it was sold (for $1) to its CEO. So, basically Stuff is a website that's been around for 20 years and a whole collection of newspapers, some of which have been around for more than 150 years.

And this week, it apologised. (No, not to its shareholders).

Upon reflection

It announced in a series of self-probing, articles, that during those 150 years it had, on reflection, been discriminatory towards Maori in its news coverage at times.

It has apologised for this which has been well received by some Maori but baffled and disturbed others, who only went online to do the morning quiz.

Now, I was told in no uncertain terms when I started as a junior reporter, that I was never to apologise. Only the editor was allowed to apologise, because apologising is effectively admitting that you are wrong and that makes the lawyer's job harder, if it turns out you are right.

So, while it is very important to correct errors, there is a way of going about it.

However, I am an editor now, so this got me thinking - ‘What can I apologise for?' Sure, I'm only one person, and I've only been around 48 years, but as luck would have it, I have heaps of things I can apologise for.

Thermonuclear war

And it was Jacinda who gave me the
idea with the calamitous news this
week that New Zealand is in a state of ‘climate emergency'.

This is being touted as a sort of nuclear-free moment all over again, which is actually probably pushing it a bit.

The fear factor associated with 1000 thermonuclear warheads turning the planet into a radioactive fireball is a little more intense than a gradual warming of the planet. And the jury is still out on which of those events will happen first.

However, they are separate issues and there's not much I can do about a nuclear war, so I have taken a fresh look at what I am doing personally to help the planet.

Time to apologise

And I did this while sitting in my old, gas guzzling V6 on Thursday morning.

Sitting on the seat beside me was 200 grams of sliced beef in a single use plastic bag from the deli and a mixed salad inside a plastic bag filled with some kind of gas.

You could literally feel the planet warming up. Even those four slices of beef represent five farts from a gaseous Angus.

So, I apologise for my cheap car and beef salad. I will make my own lunch and use a reusable container next time and chicken.

Do chickens fart?

George Orwell for Mayor

Last week I asked for suggestions on what attributes the new Tauranga City Council mayor should have and got an overwhelming response from one person.

Chris sent me a photo of one of his steers and a short explanation which is really very good so here it is.

'One of our steers decided to get into the calf feed bucket – permanently. He may not be bright but we are thinking of nominating him for our local council.

'The dynamics of my small herd is similar to the dynamics of council. This, in turn, is all a bit similar to George Orwell's political satire ‘Animal Farm' which (even though allegorical of totalitarianism) still has many parallels with the behaviour of this last council; and especially in relation to political, racial, and social issues; and those opposed to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.”

The rules of engagement

•
Replacement of the elected governance structure with a committee (of pigs).

•
The committee changing the rules to suit themselves. ‘All animals are equal' amended to include: ‘… but some are more equal than others'.

•
The tendency to become like the previous system they campaigned against and displaced.

•
The quieter biggest steer is actually the boss and will be the first to go to the works! (old Major?).

•
The dumb one with the bucket on his head is devious, noisy and a bit spiteful, and would like to be the boss (Napoleon / Squealer?).

•
The others are all hangers on learning from their elders, and with their own pecking order and alliances.

• And so on….

daniel@thesun.co.nz