When life comes at you fast.
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Paul H 
@paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
mastodon 4.7.2An ageing pākehā with middling sensibilities. Embracing the new Aotearoa. Born in Ōtepoti, educated in Tāmaki Makaurau, living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Worked at IBM for decades. Was contracting to the government. Left-wing. INFJ. Liverpool fan. Strong Hungarian links.
#Ōtepoti #Aotearoa #INFJ #YNWA #Hungary
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Joined May 03, 2022
Header:
Kāpuka-taumāhaka, the mountain that watched over me
Avatar:
Selfie taken in a coffee bar
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Orbán has conceded! 🇭🇺
One of the hallmarks of a leader is to provide moral clarity in the time of crisis - what are the right and the wrong things to be doing. Spain's PM, Pedro Sánchez, has clearly demonstrated that in his response to the US and Israel war on Iran. I liked that he said, paraphrasing, "It is the function of a government to protect and to improve the lives of its citizens." and that should be the test of any government's response, especially, but not only, in a time of crisis. That's it, political leadership in a nutshell. Anything a government does, any piece of legislation it passes, any regulations it promulgates - that's the test. Does it improve the lives of its citizens? And that does not always mean "economic growth". Our lives have far deeper and richer dimensions than just economic wealth - although clearly that is very important.
By this measure, our government is a failure. You can apply Sánchez’s test to so many of this government’s policies and you will struggle to see how they improve the lives of us as citizens. Deep sea mining? Codifying English as an official language? Debasing Te Tiriti? Restricting voting enrolments? Building mega roads? The list is endless.
Arggghhh!
Budapest, October 1956.
'Ruszkik Haza!' translates as "Russians Go Home!" and was widely used during the revolution. When the last Soviet troops finally left Hungary in June 1991, the day was marked with a citywide festival in the capital called 'Budapesti Búcsú' or Budapest Farewell.
At last night's huge demonstration in Budapest, seventy years on from 1956, Hungarians were once again having to shout, 'Ruszkik Haza!' It can't come soon enough.
Fortepan [232392] / László Virány
Ah dear. So, according to Luxon it's everyone for themselves, and damn your neighbour, when it comes to saving fuel in response to the current crisis.
According to the Stuff article below, "Asked what the government was asking Kiwis to do to save fuel, Luxon said it would be up to each person on how they navigate it."
So hoarding petrol's OK, is it? So, fuck you I've got mine, is how we are going to get through this?
Honestly, he is just the pits.
I have watched quite a number of short videos from social media of election night in Hungary, especially Budapest. The thing that struck me was the sheer joy everyone felt. People were so unbelievable happy. Singing on the metro, high-fiving each other as the went up and down the escalators, cars stopping and people hugging strangers. You could feel the absolute happiness people felt at the defeat of Orbán and the success of Magyar. Such a wonderful night.
As you would sadly expect our government has delivered a full-throated support for the actions of the US and Israel in starting a war with Iran. It reads in part, "Iran has, for decades, defied the will and expectations of the international community. The legitimacy of a government rests on the support of its people. The Iranian regime has long since lost that support. In this context, we acknowledge that the actions taken overnight by the US and Israel were designed to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security."
See https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-government-statement-iran for the full text of the statement co-signed by Luxon and Peters.
Helen Clark is having none of it, posting on LinkedIn, "The statement on the US & Israel attacks on Iran by the New Zealand Government therefore is a disgrace. It knows full well that international law has been breached even though negotiations on Iran's nuclear capability were under way. It knows that the US walked away from the last nuclear agreement with Iran. Why the servility?"
A gentle plea not to re-center the victory of the Tisza party and the defeat to FIDSEZ to be about other countries or their politicians. This is a victory for Hungary and Hungarians and should be celebrated as such. While it will reverberate more widely in the coming months, let's not make it about other countries, especially the US. Not tonight anyway.
Our voting papers for the Hungarian elections on 12 April have arrived. We will vote in person at the Embassy here in Wellington - the only option. By Hungarian electoral law, voting must be start at 6:00am local time so we are planning to be among very first in the world to vote. Hungary has an MMP style system but we only get a party vote, and not an electoral vote as well, as we aren't registered at an address in Hungary.
We will do our bit to ensure Hungary gets the government it should have.
Incredible really. Bishop tells an infrastructure sector audience today that the fuel crisis could get ugly. "It's a scary prospect and I'm not 100% sure the public have quite worked it out yet". (Business Desk, sadly paywalled.) Well whose responsibility is that, do you think? We have banged on about this before, but Luxon is incapable of showing anything remotely like leadership and it is literally his job to do so. That comes with the title, 'Prime Minister', mate. Doesn't matter that the situation is not of his doing or that tough, difficult decision will need to be made. That comes with the territory. But his job is to model the behaviour, set the vision, inspire people to give of themselves, that kind of stuff. Instead he is missing in action and his own Ministers are saying, in effect, people don't understand what is going on. Fuck me, it is frightening how bad he is.
[Edit]. See non paywalled link below, thanks to @rimu@mastodon.nzoss.nz
My daughter said to me as we shared a train ride into work this morning, "Today's the first day I feel proud for what Hungary has done."
Getting ready for Sunday when we will visit the local Hungarian Embassy and lodge our postal vote in the elections!
This is a good news story on many levels. Wonderful recognition for a song from Aotearoa and it seems Hollywood went about acquiring rights to use 'Pō Atarua' in Project Hail Mary in the appropriate manner. And for the importance of digitising our cultural assets where possible. That has ensured that this song, its performers (the Turakina Māori Girls Choir) and the copyright holders have been properly recognised and rewarded.
I wonder if there will be a run on shredders in Hungary over the coming days?
One of the significant features of the election was that the winning Tisza Party won 93% of the electoral seats which are decided on a 'first-past-the-post' basis. Many of these seats are rural and in small towns which are typically conservative in outlook. The result is a country-wide rejection of FIDESZ and the way it has run the country. Especially the corruption and the attendant increase in inequality (sound familiar?). The Tisza Party is a centre-right party so many of its actual policies won't be that different to FIDESZ. But people overwhelmingly have had enough a corrupt, corpulent party that has enriched itself by feasting on the lives of ordinary Hungarians.
Crowds are chanting 'Ruszkik' haza! right now in Budapest as the city celebrates the downfall of Orbán and FIDESZ.
Word on the the public sector street is that MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment) is urgently seeking a number of policy staff to work on the National Fuel Plan - which does already exist, see link below. Start straight away and there will be a 7-day roster. MBIE has experience at this sort of thing because of the excellent work they did with the COVID response. I have no doubt that the public sector is up to this, despite the lamentations of the right-wing about 'bureaucrats' and 'red tape'. It's the political leadership that I worry about.
This photo was taken in a bathroom at my Unnamed Government Agency a few days ago. It always reminds of what it was like to have a government that led us through the crisis of COVID and could communicate so clearly and so well. The sign, which must be 6 years old by now, remains in great condition and is standing the test of time very well. Bit of a metaphor really.
Such a joy to hear and see this!
You can't make this stuff up. A US Vice-President openly and publicly campaigns for Orbán, all the while decrying EU "interference" in Hungary. The world's gone mad.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/07/jd-vance-eu-interference-hungary-election-viktor-orban
Well played, Otago Daily Times!
"Albatross colony may be relocated after mineral find"
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/albatross-colony-may-be-relocated-after-mineral-find
A fascinating article about the concerns of EU members - and the activities of their intelligence agencies - about the soon-to-be-former Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. The EU and their agencies were worried that Szijjártó was an asset of the Russians, and were 'listening in' to his calls. The release of a transcript of Szijjártó and Lavrov just before the elections were likely a warning shot by the EU and their intelligence agencies that they would play 'hard ball' if FIDESZ was re-elected. No doubt they have more transcripts.
Szijjártó was not seen on election night and Péter Magyar has quipped he was probably busy at the shredder. There is more to come on this, I am sure.
Life was different back then. An advert for Cadbury's Continental Chocolates.
Cadbury's Continental - Christmas (with Rae Pritchard)
Replying to
@zl2tod@mastodon.online I think you are right that most people sense is more than likely to get ugly sooner rather than later. I read that something like 30-40% of oil and gas refinery infrastructure in the Middle East is already destroyed/damaged. That will take *years* to repair and restore, even assuming the war ended today - which it won't. We are facing a massive fossil fuel crisis for years.
@krishnadraws lol. I loaded up the IBM 3278 profile and almost wanted to type 'flist'!
#IBM #RetroComputing
@cameraobscura@mastodon.scot Wonderful! That's a very moving piece of writing and captures the joy so many felt - and are still feeling. Great link too. Thank you.
Replying to
@corbin@toot.community I tried this on Edge on macOS and for the first time using Edge was actually a pleasant experience. Amazing. Thank you.
@leighelse@mastodon.nz Nice!
Replying to
@Torithom@theforkiverse.com I vividly recall in the very days of COVID having a bottle of light antiseptic spray by the front door so we could spray courier parcels before bringing them inside for fear of getting the virus! Then, as you say, hand washing became outdated advice. So the government followed the science, adapted the messages to the true nature of the virus, and we adapted our behaviours accordingly.
Replying to
@colinburgess@mastodon.nz @ClareBear@mastodon.nz @BobLefridge@mastodon.nz @paw@mstdn.io Yes, I generally find Aprils Fools jokes pretty naff and these days we have enough to worry about without putting up with more stupidity. But this was clever and quite believable on first reading.
Replying to
@pablo Thanks for this! I managed to find it under Dashboard/Privacy Settings but only on the website, not the app. Amazing - in a bad way.
edit:spelling