A winter of discontent for the arts continues
Further to your news coverage (ODT 10.8.24) it is a great shame that Grant Robertson’s tautoko for the music of Martin Phillipps did not translate into any greater putea for the arts during his time as Minister of Finance and during Martin’s lifetime. Nothing personal Grant.
The then prime minister, herself made much of her penchant for creating electronic dance music and yet time in government, albeit pandemic distracted, did not allow a thousand flowers to bloom. The arts sector is experiencing a winter of discontent, minimally funded through Lotto proceeds.
The special funding allocated by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage as crisis funding during the pandemic has run out and expectations of lasting developments unsustainable.
Shayne Carter, a contemporary of the musical renaissance, that flowered in Dunedin and Christchurch in the early 1980s, has recently made one of the strongest public statements yet in support of the arts and creativity.
The last politician to make any significant contribution to the sector was Helen Clark, in her time as PM and minister for the arts. A major statement from the arts portfolio then and since, nothing of any substance from government.
Where is the progressive, liberal, culturally consistent financial support from government, towards what most countries regard as essential? Artists, organisations and their mahi.
Blocked ears
Hopefully all ODT readers have read the front-page article "Minister’s letter irks councillors" (13.8.24). Otago regional councillor Kelliher stated "the letter was totally justified" and "Ms Simmonds was trying to open the blocked ears of seven councillors and help them realise that a new government was elected, which has more concern for ratepayers than they and the former minister David Parker have". Thank you ODT and Cr Gary Kelliher for providing the names of those seven councillors with the blocked ears. This information will assist me at the next election.
It has been obvious for some time that the ORC chairwoman and some councillors have been pushing ahead of central government timelines with decisions which would be expensive and damaging for farmers, the economy and urban ratepayers. Sufficient time must be allowed to ensure that more knowledgable councillors, and those who would (or could be) be adversely affected, are listened to and accurate final costings are available.
Decisions made now will be lasting and it is vital that the right ones are made now.
That’s why I voted
I remind councillors Kelliher and Laws that their fellow "seven" councillors have been elected during a democratic process on to the ORC by me and many others, precisely for the environmental views they hold. Your behaviour and reactions are bullying and pathetic.
How would we feel?
I write to support Lou Scott for an excellent letter in the ODT (10.8.24) under the apposite headline, "Ignorance not bliss when it is of history". To elaborate on the last two sentences: how would we feel if the Japanese had overrun our country in the last war and we were forced to speak Japanese, have our European culture suppressed, and witness our children being smacked for speaking English?
Olympics showcase of excellent women athletes
It was noticeable that the list of Kiwis who were awarded Olympic medals in Paris was dominated by women (ODT 13.8.24). During the Olympics the ODT's sports pages gave more column space to women's sports than usual, but overall continued to give more coverage to male-dominated sports.
Will future sports reporting better reflect the achievements of the female half of the population? I suspect that once the Paralympics are over the ODT will revert to its male-focused sports content.
[Otago Daily Times sports editor Hayden Meikle replies: Our coverage of women's sport is unrivalled. That is no idle brag — the Sport New Zealand study into gender balance in the media has put the ODT on top of all newspapers for female sports coverage for four straight years. We cover many teams in female codes that are completely ignored by other publications.
We are one of the few newspapers in New Zealand with a fulltime female sports reporter. We have a dedicated column looking at women's sport. The reader is welcome to email me directly (hayden.meikle@odt.co.nz) with suggestions for which female athletes and teams we should be covering more.]
Solar storms, harmonics and power networks
There are two yet-to-be-revealed factors to be considered when discussing Transpower and local distribution networks.
One is solar storms, identified by recent auroras in our skies. These induce high currents on transmission and distribution conductors and can burn out transformers.
The second is power harmonics caused by the growing non-linear pulse-based electronic loads used in industry and domestic electrical installations. These loads are increasing with the proliferation of electronic controlled motors. Windmills and photo voltaic panels use electronics to condition DC output to AC, adding to the problem.
These are very technical issues not easily explained and proven through high level complex mathematic modelling. These topics are not easy to influence decision-makers to plan expend finances to research.
Whatever the solution, the costs are going to add to both Transpower and local network line charges. If nothing is done New Zealand could face very large area outages. Both issues, if not addressed, risk massive transformer failures.
The transformers involved normally have a two-year order delay which could be made worse because of demand as these issues increase. There are approximately five factories in the world that manufacture the larger transformers.
Another looming risk is the stability of the power grid. For a stable generated voltage and frequency, the International Energy Agency has recommended that less inertia variable wind mills and solar should be limited to 50% of the network capacity. In layman’s words, a network needs the “grunt” of high inertia rotating hydro and thermal plant to remain stable. This can be achieved with nuclear in other countries.
[Abridged — length. Editor]
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