Latest news with #Dunedin-born
Otago Daily Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
The right place, time and way for use of four-letter words
Let's look at four-letter words. "Word" is one of them, as indeed are "blob", "slob" and "knob" but I have a couple of others in mind, neither of which I use, save in the context of telling a story. Here are two of the stories. Years ago, in Timaru, there was a Dunedin-born barber called Ernest Firkin who plied his trade for almost 40 years from about 1905. An entertainer and raconteur, he became something of a haircutting legend in his shop near the Excelsior Hotel. He sold the business in 1935 to my grandfather who was not a barber and kept Ernest on as the real heart of the place. Grandad held the shop for only four years and then set up a transport business and the new barber shop owner, Syd Burns, also retained the services of Ernest Firkin. When Grandad talked, always among male-only company, of his days owning a hairdressing/tobacconist shop my young years would be flapping as he described how any Timaruvian whose hair was offensively long was told to, "Go and get a Firkin haircut". "Ah," I thought, "that simply means patronising Mr Firkin when you needed a bit off the top and short back and sides." In later times, having been introduced to crude language at secondary school, I realised that Grandad's tale was a great piece of punning and let out a much-delayed guffaw. It still makes me chuckle. Even more enjoyable was the story from Australian politics. You need to know that Australia's National Party began in the 1920s as the Australian Country Party which became the National Country Party in 1975 until the present name was adopted in 1982. It seems that before 1975, during a time when the Country Party was in power, the Labour Opposition under Gough Whitlam were launching yet another spirited attack on the government and its policies. An incensed government MP Winston Turnbull broke through the clamour by proudly proclaiming, "I'm a Country member!" Whitlam interjected with, "I remember". That superb and subtle play on words was lost on Turnbull and years later Gough Whitlam recalled, "Turnbull could not understand why, for the first time in all the years he had been speaking in the House, there was instant and loud applause from both sides." What I enjoy about those two stories is that the naughty four-letter words have been introduced with great effect without ever using them. A feat of subtlety and wit obviously beyond the ability of today's politicians and rabble-rousers. Of course, during my time in army training and public bar drinking I've heard those words used to saturation point, usually by people who are actually unaware that they are saying them. Harmless, really, in such environments, but in places like Parliament or a mixed-sex gathering they simply mark the speaker as ignorant, oafish and to be avoided. Parliament has long had its naughty four-letter words and MPs are instantly ejected from the House when they use them. "Lied", "liar" and "lies" are absolutely forbidden when applied to another member but the fact that members do not always tell the truth can be indicated with "unfactual", "out of touch with reality" and "economical with the truth" and other euphemisms. Happily, I'm able to avoid the kind of people who descended to using the four-letter word which had the House reeling in shock recently but, less happily, there's another four-letter word which assaults my ears at every turn. I'll even spell it out. L.I.K.E. It seems that no-one under 40 is able to open their mouth without dribbling a flood of "likes". "It was like pretty tough up front," the rugby player tells the media. "They were, like, screwing the scrum half the time and we were, like, struggling a bit." This saturation of speech with "like" offends me more than the odd bit of crudity. Where will it end? Are we yet to witness a man of the cloth sermonising with the wedding feast at Cana as his theme? He will have swotted up his Bible, especially John 2:1-12, and be ready to tell the tale in a way his audience will appreciate. "And so, dear brethren, like, on the third day there was, like, a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus was also, like, invited. Then, like, the wine ran out and the mother of Jesus said to him, like, 'They have no wine.' Jesus was able, like, to change water into wine and it was, like, a miracle." In fact, it was a miracle, like it or not. It will also take a miracle, it seems, to rid us of that constant use of "like" as nothing more than a prop to assist the slow working of dull minds. — Jim Sullivan is a Patearoa writer.
Otago Daily Times
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Runner ‘chuffed' with record
Former Dunedin ultra-distance runner Damian Watson nears the finish line of the Wild Horse 200 in South Wales. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Damian Watson did not just break the previous record for the Wild Horse 200 ultra-distance race across Wales, he absolutely smashed it, then ground it up into dust. The race can take up to five days to complete, but the Dunedin-born and raised runner won it in 51 hours and 51 minutes — about five and a-half hours faster than the previous race record-holder. The 38-year-old's mother Sharon Watson, of Dunedin, said it was held on a gruelling 200-mile (322km) trail, traversing the mountains of South Wales, along Offa's Dyke, traversing the Beacons Way before catching the Heart Of Wales Line on to the Wales Coast Path and finish line at Worm's Head. "It's not like the Coast to Coast in New Zealand. It's a lot longer — 322km straight." She said about 120 competed from across Europe and Watson was the only New Zealander. "He's pretty chuffed with the win. He's really competitive. "He's always been a sports person. He played ice hockey — he was a former Ice Black — and hockey, and then he took to marathon running. "He can be very hard on himself. That's why he was so chuffed. "He recently got third in a big race in the North Island which was a lot less kilometres in it, and he wasn't happy about it. "He had the fitness, but he lost it mentally at the end." Whatever went wrong upstairs, he seems to have fixed, she said. "There was no way anyone was going to catch him. "He basically led from the start and he was about 20km ahead." She said he was "a proud Kiwi" and the family was delighted to see footage of him crossing the finish line, holding a New Zealand flag. It appears there is no rest for the wicked. She said he went back to work the next day as a Trafalgar Tours guide on a bus. He spends the northern hemisphere summers tour guiding and doing marathons where he can, and in the New Zealand summer, he returns to help run his deli at Muriwai Beach with his business partners. Mrs Watson said the former King's High School student was not the easiest child in the family to raise, because he was so "driven". "But we're very proud of him."
Otago Daily Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Trump's film tariffs would be ‘devastating' for local industry
Rob Sarkies. Photo: supplied A Dunedin-born film-maker says it would be "absolutely devastating" to the country's film industry if Donald Trump gets his way. The United States President announced in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday he was authorising the Department of Commerce and the country's trade representative to "immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands". "We want movies made in America, again!" Shares in some US streaming and production companies, including Netflix, fell following the announcement, but the White House later said "no final decisions" on foreign film tariffs had been made. Dunedin-born film-maker Rob Sarkies - director of Scarfies, Out of the Blue and the upcoming drama based on the 2010 tragedy Pike River - said yesterday he was "very concerned" by Mr Trump's comments. "If it came in as it's been proposed, not that the detail is particularly clear, but as I understand it, it would be absolutely devastating for New Zealand and specifically the New Zealand film industry. "We're talking millions and millions of dollars simply wouldn't come here and a large number of people would be out of work. "I think companies like Weta, for example, would probably be forced to relocate to survive." It would "simply be unaffordable" for such companies doing high-end work for big Hollywood productions to get hired unless they relocated aspects of their business to the United States - which he believed was exactly what Mr Trump wanted. The announcement should be taken seriously and he expected the New Zealand film industry and the government in the interim to lobby against such a policy, but believed Hollywood was likely to push back and the announcement could be back-tracked. Areas of Otago recently played host to Hollywood actors and crews filming the seven-episode Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden. While the source material is mainly set in the Salinas Valley, California, it appeared to have been "clearly more cost effective" to use the Otago landscape as a stand-in, Mr Sarkies said. Because film production in Otago was "more sporadic" than in Auckland and Wellington, such a tariff would have relatively less of an effect among regional industries. "The circus won't come to town as often and that will have an effect, but it won't be as devastating as it will be in the major centres."
Otago Daily Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Foreign film tariffs ‘absolutely devastating' for industry
Rob Sarkies. Photo: supplied A Dunedin-born film-maker says it would be ''absolutely devastating'' to the country's film industry if Donald Trump gets his way. The United States President announced in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday he was authorising the Department of Commerce and the country's trade representative to ''immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands''. ''We want movies made in America, again!'' Shares in some US streaming and production companies, including Netflix, fell following the announcement, but the White House later said ''no final decisions'' on foreign film tariffs had been made. Dunedin-born film-maker Rob Sarkies - director of Scarfies, Out of the Blue and the upcoming drama based on the 2010 tragedy Pike River - said yesterday he was ''very concerned'' by Mr Trump's comments. ''If it came in as it's been proposed, not that the detail is particularly clear, but as I understand it, it would be absolutely devastating for New Zealand and specifically the New Zealand film industry. ''We're talking millions and millions of dollars simply wouldn't come here and a large number of people would be out of work. ''I think companies like Weta, for example, would probably be forced to relocate to survive.'' It would ''simply be unaffordable'' for such companies doing high-end work for big Hollywood productions to get hired unless they relocated aspects of their business to the United States - which he believed was exactly what Mr Trump wanted. The announcement should be taken seriously and he expected the New Zealand film industry and the government in the interim to lobby against such a policy, but believed Hollywood was likely to push back and the announcement could be back-tracked. Areas of Otago recently played host to Hollywood actors and crews filming the seven-episode Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden. While the source material is mainly set in the Salinas Valley, California, it appeared to have been ''clearly more cost effective'' to use the Otago landscape as a stand-in, Mr Sarkies said. Because film production in Otago was ''more sporadic'' than in Auckland and Wellington, such a tariff would have relatively less of an effect among regional industries. ''The circus won't come to town as often and that will have an effect, but it won't be as devastating as it will be in the major centres.''
Otago Daily Times
30-04-2025
- Otago Daily Times
‘Thrilled' sculpture removed from hospital
The 1980 artwork Water Sculpture, by Dunedin artist and convicted child sex offender John Middleditch, has been removed from the ground floor foyer at Dunedin Hospital. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON A nearly half-a-century-old copper sculpture by convicted child sex offender and artist John Middleditch has been uprooted from Dunedin Hospital. Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) says the artwork has been moved into storage and its future is now out of its hands. Meanwhile, a Dunedin survivor of historical sexual abuse says she is "thrilled" the artwork has been taken down. HNZ announced in early March none of the late Dunedin-born artist's work would appear in the new hospital. At the time, it removed the plaque for the 1980 artwork Water Sculpture and two paintings from the walls of the hospital. Southern interim group director of operations Craig Ashton confirmed yesterday the sculpture had been removed from the hospital's main foyer before Easter. "The sculpture is owned by the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust and is now in storage. "Any decision on the future of the sculpture sits with the trust." A blessing of the site would occur later this week, Mr Ashton said. Middleditch's convictions came to light after a Dunedin woman in January called for the prominent water feature to be removed and not relocated to the new site. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN The survivor made a formal complaint to police late last year, after requesting the Southern District Health Board remove the artwork in 2012 — a request she said was ignored. She alleged Middleditch sexually abused her in 1972, when she was 11. The survivor, who asked to remain anonymous, said yesterday she was "thrilled" and "quite stunned" by the sculpture's removal. She had initially been told at a meeting with HNZ it would take some time to remove it, and screening would be placed around the artwork so people did not have to look at it. "I was quite surprised when they told me that it was being moved, because that was quite different from what we'd discussed. "I mean, that's certainly what I was hoping for, but I did understand that it was quite a big practical issue to move something that's concreted in, and plumbed in and so big." She hoped survivors would be consulted and included in any ongoing decision-making process. HNZ was committed to ensuring its healthcare facilities were a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, Mr Ashton said. "The placement of the artworks at Dunedin Hospital were reviewed following concerns raised about the background of the artist. "We were appreciative of these concerns being raised with us."
