by Kerry Bolton

While the Fairfax media has published a great deal of utter nonsense to portray supporters of Dr David Scott in his efforts to clear his name of a false accusation as malicious, even (gasp) dangerous, the narcissistically pseudonymous ‘Adele’ has made allegations both to Fairfax and to the District Courts with bizarre affidavits that are nothing short of outrageous lies and which the former has gleefully repeated.

In June I was charged with breach of name suppression, and for whatever reason have been made responsible for the actions of Newstalk ZB in broadcasting ‘Adele’s’ actual name. Leaving this aside, the blatantly  inflammatory articles by Virginia Fallon of Fairfax have had a little impact.

We should look at the recent antics of one of her ‘supporters’. On 15 December at 1:30 p.m. I was waiting near the main entrance of Coastlands, opposite Countdown, when someone with a Scottish accent, of middle age and average build and height, approached me and asked whether I was the individual pictured in the Dominion Post.

I said I was. He claimed to ‘know’ (sic) David Scott. He told me that Scott should ‘drop the matter’, by which I assumed he meant his appeal. I said, ‘he can’t’ (by which I meant, why should an innocent and honourable person accept false accusations?). He then asked me to tell him ‘Adele’s’ actual name. At this point my wife had walked past a few meters away, so I abruptly excused myself and caught up with her. I have a good idea who this person is and believe he is a man who compulsively re-posts news items about Scott on social media with a disparaging comment, that provide opportunity for ‘Adele’s’ half a dozen or so supporters to add malicious quips.

Under the Crimes Act 1961, Part 4, 66 (1) ‘Every one is a party to and guilty of an offence who (d) incites, counsels, or procures any person to commit the offence’. 

But from experience I know that Kapiti police have a biased view and would not care less.

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Because of their extremely biased and inaccurate nature we have filed formal complaints with the Media Council about the articles composed by Virginia Fallon, although the responsibility for their being published is that of her editor. This complaints process will take a while. But as a general public service in the meantime, here are four paragraphs from the second complaint pointing out inaccuracies that may be useful for some readers.  –Eds

• A Restraining Order application is a civil matter between the applicant and the respondent, it is not a criminal charge;
• ‘Adele’s lawyer obviously did not tell ‘Adele’ that criminal matters take precedence over civil litigation and that by including a conviction that is being appealed in her application, it would automatically result in her application being postponed until after that had been determined;
• ‘Adele’s lawyer omitted to tell her that a judge will decline the inclusion of several other parties on a Restraining Order: those parties have to make their own applications;
• It is perfectly legitimate for someone being accused of something to investigate the ulterior motivation and background of the accuser by contacting, directly or indirectly, those who know the accuser;

by Carol Sawyer

This is primarily a very USEFUL book. When I started reading it, within a short space of time I realized it is a perfect information and “ammo providing” book for the intelligent teenager who is opposed to 1080 poison, (usually because he or she has enlightened parents to start with), but finds the reasons for that opposition difficult to articulate at times.

I have noticed, time and again, posts from parents opposed to 1080 poison complaining that their children are being inDOCtrinated, and also that if they write an opposing view to the government-led mantra (“1080 poison is the best tool in the toolbox”) their marks can suffer – not always, but often enough to be a worry, even a deterrent.

Hopefully, of course, the book will end up in all school libraries, and with luck will inform many.

I don’t mean to say this book is only for teenagers. It is not, and I have gleaned much new information from it for myself as well. However, the authors, Jim Hilton and Roger Childs, have teaching backgrounds.

Jim Hilton (BSc Hons Zoology) is a NZ trained former High School science and biology teacher, and government research scientist.

Roger Childs (BA Hons Geography, Dip Ed, Dip Tch) is a former Head of Social Sciences at Kapiti College and The Correspondence School. Among other things he has authored and co-authored several Social Studies, Geography, and History textbooks.

The book has a concise, almost bullet-point, style that makes it a marvellous reference book, but there is nothing stuffy about it. It is very readable. It is also prolifically illustrated, has a helpful glossary, and an excellent “further reading” list.

The book explains how New Zealand broke away from Gondwana, how the country’s biodiversity unfolded, and then describes the huge changes brought about by the waves of settlers — firstly Polynesian and then European. Then it covers the introduction of new wildlife and plants, the misunderstood role of browsers, the value of possums, the predator-free movement, the disaster that is mass poisoning, the importance of predators, and the lessons to be learnt from all of this for the future.

If I had a teenager right now this would be NUMBER ONE on my list of Christmas presents. They are not going to get this information in the classroom.

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New Zealand’s Changing Biodiversity: Nature Under Pressure — 95 pages in 27 x 18 cm format, illustrated throughout, softcover. Available from Tross Publishing, trosspublishing.co.nz for $25, which includes postage.
The book is also available locally at Paper Plus and Whitcoulls for $25.

…of the Waikanae River.

Extensive fields of lavender are one of the things Provence in France is associated with.

The reference to miles and not kilometres indicates that this is pre-1974.  The site is now The Grand Carpark / Te Papa Motokā.

A rare native bird of prey, the New Zealand falcon, is thriving in one of the country’s most modified landscapes – the ubiquitous pine plantation.

Radio NZ story and audio file

Here is an extract from a letter a Whale Oil blog reader wrote to the Stuff editor:

Yesterday Stuff published an article on Climate Change. 

I could not believe my eyes when I read this!!! – that any journalist would be so one sided as to only print one side of an argument that is not settled.   What happened to free speech?  What happened to questioning?  If you do not understand why this argument is not settled, then you obviously did not read the IPCC report in detail and do not understand the scientific method and scientific approach. My husband attempted to draw relevant facts from the IPCC report which he quoted in response to your columnist, but this was conveniently ignored and not published in the comments.  So, you not only censor your journalistic approach, but you also censor your responses – this is a new low in journalism.

Journalism in NZ used to stand for questioning and scepticism of everything, no matter what your political persuasion was.  Journalism used to stand for printing both sides of an argument whether you agreed with it or not because as a journalist you were not afraid to print all views, you knew your readers had the intelligence to make up their own minds. end quote.

The letter was reasonable and civil and it came from a considered and well-researched view. Many people with a background in science are rightly concerned at the way in which the media sensationalises the whole issue, often causing alarm and panic. No one actually knows what is going to happen in the future and anyone who did would make a very large fortune. No media outlet should be inciting panic like this.

Well, guess what! After the editor, Patrick Crewdson replied with a response which basically said: ‘Stuff off!’, our reader now finds that their profile and all their comments on Stuff have been deleted.

Full article

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We have commented before about the global warming / rising sea levels hoax.  Yes, there is climate change, but there has been for thousands of years: arguing that it is suddenly now caused by solely human activity is highly contentious and disputed.

A few nights ago TV One News decided to go further than Al Gore, who we mentioned in our 23 November post was claiming the sea levels are going to rise 20 feet — they claimed it might be 70 feet!  Wow.

TV One News is one thing, no-one expects any more than sensationalism from them, but Stuff, that’s another.  This is an organisation that owns most of the country’s newspapers and its website is the most searched news in NZ, according to Google anyway.

So does this substantial organisation not have a responsibility to be open, fair and balanced?  Clearly, it doesn’t think so: “We don’t care about distortion, misrepresentation, inaccuracies and omission of important facts! We decide what your beliefs are going to be!”

Since our last visit to Foxton in August 2017, this building has been opened and along with the Dutch molen (windmill) from 2003, provides a central focus for visitors and locals.

The main street has also received some landscaping with flower beds. It’s a wide street and there is plenty of room for them.

A street entrance structure that was typically seen outside churches a century ago and a big Norfolk pine tree which could also be 100 years or so old.