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BLUE How Luxon pulled the BLOOD Nats out of a toxic tailspin SPECIAL INVESTIGATION JULY 30-AUGUST 5 2022 EXCLUSIVE: A stunning new twist in our most famous cold case NEIL GAIMAN FAME GAME HALLELUJAH How The Sandman The fascinating origin Leonard Cohen’s song became a TV epic of many modern words on the big screen

CONTENTS ISSN 2381-9553: Vol 281, No. 4257. July 30-August 5, 2022 Te Kaiwhakarongo Aotearoa COVER IMAGE: BENTLEY FAMILY COLLECTION GETTY IMAGES FEATURES Zaltzman is never lost for words to set her Greece has influenced many modern off on linguistic adventures. by Mark Broatch psychological therapies. by Marc Wilson COVER STORY LIFE 44 | Science Archaeology continues 14 | Catching a killer to turn up fossil evidence that humans Police have new evidence and a fresh theory 36 | Health Assistance dogs are may not have evolved only on Africa’s about who might have killed Kirsty Bentley transforming the lives of children with savannahs. by Bob Brockie in 1998. Chris Cooke puts one of our best- autism and bringing peace of mind to known cold cases back in the spotlight. their families. by Nicky Pellegrino BOOKS 24 | Blue blood-letting 38 | Nutrition A vegan or vegetarian 46 | Mind hunter JP Pomare is about A new book on the National Party’s post- diet won’t guarantee better health, but to release his latest thriller, his fifth in five Key era lays bare its inner turmoil of the attention to detail should bring benefits. years. He speaks to Linda Herrick about past six years. by Danyl McLauchlan his rocky childhood, his obsession with by Jennifer Bowden psychology, the lack of violence in his books 30 | The plot thickens and why his new novel is set in the US. She’s been a teen stowaway, a prostitute 40 | Food Vegan food writer Katy Beskow and a GP. So it’s not entirely surprising provides all the inspiration you need to warm 49-55 | Books A hopeful narrative about the that Lauren Roche has now turned to up your winter with a few flames. rewilding of our oceans; novels by Gina Cole, fiction writing, in the latest chapter of her Danielle Pender and Colleen Maria Lenihan; the extraordinary life. by Sharon Stephenson 42 | Wine Often overlooked, Central latest local poetry collections; and an appraisal Otago chardonnay is gaining in popularity. of how the West’s obsession with atoning for 34 | Game of the name past sins gives cover to authoritarian regimes British podcaster and performer Helen by Michael Cooper 43 | Psychology The values-based philosophy of the Stoics of ancient COMMENTARY 12 | Politics Jane Clifton ENTERTAINMENT 94 | The Good Life 3 | Upfront 60 | Streaming TV Russell Baillie  Greg Dixon 62 | Film reviews Sarah Watt 4 | Letters Plus Caption Competition, 64 | Music Russell Baillie, Graham Reid DIVERSIONS 66 | TV preview Russell Brown Quips & Quotes and 10 Quick Questions 71-91 | TV programmes 56-59 | Diversions 8 | Bulletin Andrew Anthony  & Puzzles 92-93 | Radio programmes p46 93 | Classical Elizabeth Kerr 9 | Diary Charlotte Grimshaw 10 | Reality Check Stephen Davis 11 | Life Bill Ralston p53 Editor KARYN SCHERER Senior Designer RICHARD KINGSFORD Chief Executive Officer JANE HUXLEY Classified Sales KIM CHAPMAN Chief Subeditor FRANCES GRANT Subeditor NICK RUSSELL General Manager STUART DICK classifi[email protected] Political Columnist JANE CLIFTON Editorial Assistant REBECCA ZHONG Editorial Manager SARAH HENRY Subscriptions Email [email protected], Books Editor MARK BROATCH Editorial Office 317 New North Rd, Kingsland, Senior Account Manager CHLOE JORDAN magshop.co.nz or phone 0800 624 7467 Entertainment & Arts Editor RUSSELL BAILLIE Auckland 1021 [email protected] The NZ Listener is published by Are Media Ltd, Television Editor FIONA RAE Editorial postal address PO Box 52122, Commercial Brand Manager MAE KELLY Level 1, 317 New North Rd, Kingsland, Auckland 1021. Art Director DEREK WARD Kingsland, Auckland 1352 [email protected] Printed by Webstar, 114 Swanson Rd, Henderson, Assistant Art Director SHANE KELLY Editorial contact [email protected] Sales Director CLAIRE CHISHOLM Auckland 0610. © 2022. All rights reserved. 2 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

UPFRONT Charles in charge? The time is fast approaching when this country should have its own home-grown head of state, argues Peter Hamilton. The Queen’s eventual passing will bring constitution. In fact, establishing a republic would not require into sharp relief the question of whether major legislative overhaul. New Zealand should become a republic. The head of state is the most important A common refrain is that Māori would not want to sever constitutional position in a Western the link with the British Crown because the Treaty of democracy and embodies the “persona” of Waitangi was signed with Queen Victoria. The reality the nation in a way a politician never can. is that successive colonial governments, acting in the name of Queen Elizabeth II has done a brilliant the Crown, permitted serious breaches of the Treaty for more job of representing the United Kingdom in her international than 100 years, until local politicians, from the 1970s on, set activities. But she is absent from our about redressing land grievances. national life and has not visited New It is for tangata whenua to outline Zealand in more than 20 years. Nor their views on this, but what is will “King Charles III” and his wife be important is that the legal status the dynamic duo we need in these dif- of the Treaty remains embedded in ficult times to promote New Zealand our constitution. The British Crown in our key markets. This is a key func- has no role to play in that regard. tion of a head of state, which New Prince Charles recently made Zealand is currently missing out on. it clear that it is up to individual At present, the Governor-General countries to decide their future; must fulfil the role of our absentee the monarch has no role in such head of state. But the job lacks the decisions. Most Commonwealth status associated with this high countries are already republics. office. We expect them to carry out Barbados has just joined their ranks all the duties and functions as if they and others in the Caribbean are were our head of state but decline to lining up to follow suit. Australia’s accord them the mana and prestige new government has also appointed that should go with their office. a junior minister to investigate This diminishes their profile both Distant reign: Australia becoming a republic. domestically and internationally. should Prince Those who are attracted to the Many New Zealanders probably don’t Charles be even know the name of our current our next head pageantry and family squabbling Governor-General, Dame Cindy Kiro. of state? will still be able to enjoy the spectacle of monarchy in the UK. And “King Under a republic scenario, the Charles” would still be a welcome Governor-General would be the A new head of state visitor to our shores as head of the focus of our national identity. could be appointed by a Commonwealth. A referendum would need to But it is time to break the last be held on the issue. If the majority majority of Parliament, vestiges of the colonial apron strings wanted a republic, a second decision with former politicians and choose a New Zealander as our would be necessary to determine head of state, rather than a monarch how the head of state would be excluded from the role. who still sits at the apex of the British chosen. class system. That would certainly Many New Zealanders have said underscore our identity as a mature, they might support a republic, but not if it means having a US- independent and confident nation situated in the South Pacific, style president. The office needs to be non-partisan, but that is with close links to Asia as well as to Europe and the United States. l easily achieved by requiring that the person be appointed by a majority of Parliament – say 70% – and by excluding former Peter Hamilton is a former deputy secretary in the Ministry of GETTY IMAGES politicians from the role. Foreign Affairs and Trade and was a diplomat for 35 years. His The decision can be made independent of the current recent memoir, New Moons for Sam, sets out the case for having discussion on whether New Zealand should have a written a New Zealander as our head of state. SUBMISSIONS for Upfront should be approximately 600 words long and should be sent to [email protected]. Full contact details must be provided. JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 3

LETTERS Our failing health system Last year, with a day off from lack of capacity. Sometimes, one of my patients, I would Minister Andrew Little, and my anaesthesia work and free there isn’t a ward bed for ICU indeed be found wanting or spoke to the outgoing Director- to roam, I reflected on the dire patients, but they need to be culpable under the HDC Act. I General of Health, Dr Ashley state of Wellington Hospital. pushed out early. These fac- found this an extremely com- Bloomfield. They either I was so concerned that I con- tors are dangerous, cruel and promising situation. ignored me or placated me. tacted the office of the Health wasteful. Nurses were already and Disability Commissioner stressed and increasingly This is not a problem of any The situation with Covid-19 (HDC). Space and staffing were burnt out. particular political party, as and influenza is even more causing daily compromises health organisations have dangerous for patients and with patient care. Wellington is not in any way shuffled chairs and money staff now. I no longer work, unique in the New Zealand for as long as I can remember. but know the failure of the Like many hospitals, it system, and its problems are I suspect the current reor- system has continued. This has consistently runs near or not due to individual failure in ganisation, while laudable, will been entirely predictable from over 100% occupancy in all the organisation. mainly divert a huge amount early 2020. beds, as well as ICU. There of the limited health budget were 35 patients waiting in The HDC representative away from patient care. Now, desperately ED, including in corridors. informed me that the danger- overworked and stressed prac- Major surgeries were on hold ous deficiencies were not its As recommended, I wrote to titioners are able to be held or cancelled on the day, due to concern. I then clarified with various Wellington Hospital accountable, even when they her that if harm happened to managers, as well as Health are doing their best. Surely WINNING CAPTION Margaret Cannon, Palmerston North FINALISTS Prince William, Duke of Cambridge: “Oh no, I forgot to remind Father he’s babysitting today.” – Brian Gore, Tauranga Caption: Duchess of Cambridge delighted to win the first Oh no, four rounds of “I Spy”. – Bronwen Gunn, Levin Kate, we’ve already got PA announcement: “Would the owner of a Range Rover registration HUFRTD please move their vehicle from the three! main entrance.” – John Carstensen, Tauranga Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge: “Don’t worry, darling, no one will know it was me.” William: “Except, perhaps, the woman in front.” Caption – Kate Highfield, Hastings Catherine: “Next tour’s New Zealand!” competition GETTY IMAGES –  Ann Love, Nelson THIS WEEK’S PICTURE Catherine: “Game, set, match, love. You get to open the old folks’ home in Hull.” – Vic Evans, Nelson Caption Competition {[email protected]} Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Ian Foster ahead of the third test between the All Blacks and Ireland in Wellington, on Saturday, July 16. TO ENTER Send your captions for the photo at right to [email protected], with “Caption Competition No 471” in the subject line. Alternatively, entries can be posted to “Caption Competition No 471”, NZ Listener, PO Box 52122, Kingsland, Auckland 1352. Entries must be received by noon, Tuesday, August 2. THE PRIZE An anthology of climate change poetry from 91 writers with connections to Aotearoa New Zealand. 4 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

this accountability rests with the Minister of Health or the director of the ministry? Dr Paul Glover Gratefully retired anaesthetist LETTER OF THE WEEK WEALTH OF OPPORTUNITY “We’re just asking everyone for a small donation to help keep the event free.” Thomas Piketty blames capi- talism for financial inequality was presented to the working This is clearly not the case, and Reserve Bank chief economist (“Wealth by stealth”, July 23). group by the Treasury and the rental property pays at least Paul Conway responds: “We However, the concentration of Inland Revenue Department, the same marginal tax as other do not believe the evidence wealth into the hands of a tiny which claimed that for a rep- asset classes that have a capital presented by the NZPIF is elite is more pronounced in resentative investor, housing growth element attached to conclusive enough to remove communism, where those with marginal effective tax rates them. from the initial RBNZ report political connections get the can be close to five times lower (referred to in the Listener wealth and power. than other investment strate- The Morgan Wallace report article). gies, such as foreign shares was then presented to and Already in New Zealand, and domestic superannuation accepted by the working “Neither Treasury nor IRD we have too much power funds. group, which in its final report has retracted the tax analysis centralised in Wellington. did not include or reference and the NZPIF-commissioned It is partisan and inefficient, The NZ Property Investors the research claiming that report does not sufficiently with countless millions being Federation then commissioned rental property was under- change results to alter any wasted on pet projects. Redis- an economic report into the taxed. In fact, it said “the conclusions drawn. tribution of wealth through validity of the Treasury and group’s view is that tax has central government will never IRD research design and not played a large role in the “We note that this Treasury create equality. conclusions. This report, by current state of New Zealand’s and IRD analysis is backwards economic consultants Morgan housing market, and will be looking, and more recent What is required is for Wallace, pointed out errors unlikely to play a large role in changes in tax policy and eco- people to find meaningful and in the Treasury/IRD research fixing it”. nomic conditions mean that useful jobs within society. In design and their finding that Peter Lewis these taxation and economic order to do this, they will no rental property was taxed less Property Investors Federation relationships may not con- doubt have to study hard at than other investment classes. tinue in future.” school, work hard as an adult, and spend their money wisely. In summary, the Morgan Letters to the editor {[email protected]} People need to realise that this Wallace report concluded that is a way to achieve wealth and the Tax Working Group paper The Editor, NZ Listener, PO Box 52122, Kingsland, Auckland 1352 doing the opposite leads to assumed that only housing/ poverty. property has a capital return ● Letters must be under A phone number can be helpful.  ALEX SCOTT component and that PIE, 300 words. Preference is ● Pen names or letters submitted To blame and penalise superannuation fund and given to shorter letters.  elsewhere are not acceptable.  people through burdensome company investments don’t. ● A writer’s full residential ● We reserve the right taxes just for working hard address is required on all to edit or decline letters is perverse. The aim of a fair letters, including emails. without explanation. society is to facilitate people’s mobility through the strata of wealth, so that the indolent rich fall and the industrious poor rise. Bruce Robertson (Westmere, Auckland) HOUSING AND TAX In his speech to the National Property Conference (“House of Cards”, July 16), Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway states that the Tax Working Group in 2018 showed that the tax system had historically favoured housing as an investment asset. This is factually incorrect and is based on work that JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 5

LETTERS 10Quick Questions byGABEATKINSON Quips& Quotes 1. For what main purpose some curtains at an auction. think only this of me”? were retail price tags invented What did he buy instead? “History is a vast early in the late 19th Century? ❑ The Rime of the Ancient warning system.” ❑ Big Ben ❑ Simplify accounting ❑ Stonehenge Mariner – Norman Cousins ❑ Eliminate haggling ❑ Tower of London ❑ Reduce shoplifting ❑ Canterbury Cathedral ❑ The Soldier “Metaphors have a way ❑ Improve advertising ❑ The Waste Land of holding the most 5. Which German city ❑ The Raven truth in the least space.” 2. Which breed of dog was founded in 1938 to is the character Scooby- accommodate Volkswagen 8. Which of these nominated – Orson Scott Card Doo based on? factory workers and their families? films won the Oscar for Best “I want my 13-year-old ❑ Great Dane to understand how ❑ Irish Wolfhound ❑ Berlin Picture in 1995? important honesty ❑ German Shepherd ❑ Hamburg is but also know that ❑ St Bernard ❑ Munich ❑ Four Weddings and a Funeral she is 12 when kids eat ❑ Wolfsburg ❑ Pulp Fiction free.” – Seen on Twitter 3. A new, giant species ❑ The Shawshank Redemption of what kind of plant was 6. Which actress is the ❑ Forrest Gump “That it will never come recently identified growing voice of Marge, Patty and again is what makes life in London’s Kew Gardens? Selma in The Simpsons? 9. In real life, which of these sweet.” – Emily Dickinson ❑ Venus flytrap ❑ Yeardley Smith creatures has a higher “Wealth is the ability ❑ Monstera ❑ Julie Kavner to fully experience life.” ❑ Waterlily ❑ Nancy Cartwright maximum running speed? ❑ Pitcher plant ❑ Pamela Hayden – Henry David Thoreau ❑ Coyote ❑ Roadrunner “Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, 10. K Bars have been made by never an opportunity.” Whittaker’s since the 1950s. – Khalil Gibran What is the K short for? “Austerity measures … will only lead to 4. In 1915, a woman named 7. What is the title of a ❑ Knave Answers on less money being Mary Chubb asked her well-known poem that ❑ Kwench page 58. spent in areas like husband, Cecil, to purchase begins: “If I should die, ❑ Knobbly health and education.” ❑ Kaput – Grant Robertson on the TIMING IS EVERYTHING about 1200 events and evening of taking BP medication based government’s approach takers about 600. The risk was on this one Spanish study. to tackling inflation I enjoyed your cover story halved, but for about 97 out of Tony Townsend describing Russell Foster’s every 100 patients, whether (Matakana) “Luck is a very thin exciting research on circadian the medication was taken in wire between survival rhythms (“Like clockwork”, the morning or in the evening In reference to the article on and disaster, and not July 16) but have some con- made no difference (the medi- circadian rhythms, readers many people can keep cerns regarding the sidebar, cation was effective whenever would be interested in the their balance on it.” “Timing is everything”. The it was taken). research done in this field advice to switch to take blood by a New Zealander, Anna – Hunter S. Thompson pressure medication at night The other concerning issue Wirz-Justice. rather than in the morning is is that the controversy gener- “The only love affair I have controversial. ated by the publication of this Anna was born and schooled ever had was with music.” paper prompted the editors in Christchurch and is a gradu- Although the conclusion, of the European Heart Journal ate of Otago University. She – Maurice Ravel based on the Spanish study in to publish an “expression of is now professor emerita at the European Heart Journal, concern” stating that the con- the Centre for Chronobiology, “I went into this stating that cardiovascular tent and conduct of the trial is Psychiatric Hospital of the Uni- competition to tell my risk is halved when BP medica- under investigation and that versity of Basel in Switzerland. story, and to highlight tion is taken at night is correct, the major results and conclu- my food, and talk about what is important for most sions should be interpreted Her research has focused on migrant communities people is to consider what the with caution until further the therapeutic applications of and their cuisine and risk actually is and what differ- notice. As is usually the case, chronobiology, non-pharma- how we should celebrate ence changing this behaviour this proviso did not receive as ceutical clinical applications them in mainstream will make to them. much publicity as the paper for health and wellbeing, and media.” – Sam Low, 2022 that triggered it. treating mental conditions. During the six years of Among other things, she winner of MasterChef NZ the trial, 1752 of the 20,000 Although timing of medica- introduced light therapy for patients experienced a car- tion taking is important for treating seasonal depression diovascular event. The hazard many medicines, I would not in Europe. ratio was 0.55, which tells rush into changing the time us that morning takers had Anna has received many 6 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

awards, including that of the Australian technologies because the fetus is now BEST NZ Society for Medical Research in 2013, too big. BOOKS and more recently, the Daylight Award FOR in Europe for daylight research. Worse still is the shocking paucity of YOUNG Patricia Armour provider skill sets to fit long-acting con- READERS (Narrow Neck, Auckland) traception in primary care. The wait for 2022 an intrauterine device fitting is a month FIVE ORDINARY WOMEN or two if you live in Auckland. Finalists in bookstores Charlotte Grimshaw (Diary, July 16) The default position for a failure to writes almost enthusiastically about give women easy access to the means now women who have chosen to have an abor- to manage their fertility is a mail order tion. However, there are occasions when medical termination service, which a woman, when asked why she wants women can use again and again instead. an abortion, replies, “I have no choice.” Usually this is because the partner has Is this reproductive justice? threatened to abandon her if she pro- Chris Hannah ceeds with the pregnancy and often these (Whatatutu, Gisborne) women are dependent on their partner for monetary as well as emotional sup- CAUGHT IN THE NET port. Some are students dependent on family support. Ramping up payments to beneficiar- ies (Letters, July 2 & 23) is popular with One needs to remember these women correspondents, who describe it as when talking about “the right to choose”. “achievable”. One even proposed a Kathleen Kenrick universal basic income (UBI) equiva- (Roslyn, Dunedin) lent to the “living wage” for every adult, although there are doubts about The five “ordinary women” in Charlotte even being able to continue paying for Grimshaw’s column are, by her own national superannuation – a lesser definitions, anything but ordinary. amount – to just those over 65, which University educated and married, as may not be possible or sustainable. examples: only a third of New Zealand women have a university degree, and The Welfare Expert Advisory Group many are not married. saw a benefits deficit of an “eye-water- ing” $5.2 billion. Rape, sadly, is misogynistic violence that affects all social and economic Benefit cuts from the 1991 “mother classes. of all budgets” were restored in Labour budgets from 2020, but with other areas The other of Grimshaw’s certainties (think education, health and transport) is that these women’s abortions were not also calling out for much more funding, “agonising” decisions. How can she speak all these demands could not be met at with such certainty? Having to part with once. a pregnancy because you live in a car, or John Wilson have more than you can manage in your (Johnsonville, Wellington) domestic situation, may pragmatically be the right decision, but it does not mean it ALL SHOOK UP is without grief and a sense of loss. In reply to Janet Weir on the Elvis movie The contemporary rhetoric is that an (Letters, July 16): the trouble is that if unplanned pregnancy is just an incon- movies rewrite history, generations will venience, thus denying women even the grow up never knowing what really possibility of speaking to their sadness. happened. Reproductive justice must include Very often, truth is stranger and more easy access to abortion services, some- interesting than fiction. thing that New Zealand women have Helen Carver always had to negotiate, with very little (Dannevirke) improvement since March 2020. To date there is no formal training for abortion Letter of the week prize care in primary care, nor funding to sup- port the work by general practice and In How to be a Bad midwives. Muslim, award-winning NZ writer Mohamed Women are having to travel, wait as Hassan blends their pregnancies develop, perhaps storytelling, memoir even being denied the use of the medical and non-fiction to map the experience of being Muslim in the 21st century. JULY 30 2022 LISTENER

BULLETIN FROM LONDON ANDREW ANTHONY Summer of our discontent The English Anything outside the norm and evasions, not to mention members are some way to the summer is by and we experience a collective parties, have proven truly right of the MPs, who them- tradition a gentle nervous breakdown. corrosive. And now, the upshot selves have shifted to the right kind of season: is yet another Conservative in recent years. In a similar mild, green and And that’s the last thing we Party leadership contest. way that an increasingly dys- full of soft, cooling breezes and need at the moment, as we are Of course, as the winner will functional Republican Party refreshing showers. Not this about to get our fourth prime become prime minister, it produced Donald Trump, an year, and certainly not today minister in six years. has played out as a national increasingly delusional Tory as I write. The mercury has just drama, with live debates on base, which seems committed gone north of 40⁰C for the Not only is our weather first time in these islands’ becoming Italian, but also our to higher spending and recorded history. lower taxes, will choose the successor to the egre- The climate activist gious Johnson. group Extinction Rebel- lion has stormed the M eanwhile, offices of News UK, pub- a sunburnt lisher of the Sun, in protest nation has at its upbeat coverage of looked on with a mixture the heatwave. The grass in the parks is parched of bemusement and brown, like hay; London- ers have been advised cynicism. The main to stay at home, and fires have broken out around contestants all remained the city’s edges. The air is so hot it’s sweat-inducing loyal to Johnson, right just to walk to the end of the street. Alas, there are up to the last moment very few places in which to find any respite. when Rishi Sunak finally I was lucky enough to located his conscience book a slot at a pond where you can swim on Hampstead Heath, and quit as Chancellor north London’s biggest park. Scores of people were being Super hot in the city: of the Exchequer. And turned away when I arrived, the Evening Standard the leading candidates some having travelled across on sale at Victoria have made noises about the city, dreaming of diving Station, London. backing out of low-carbon into the cooling, but rather muddy, waters. All they had to commitments. look forward to was a long trip home and a cold shower. The contest to decide the UK’s next As inflation climbs and wages fall –with industrial Just as this country all but collapses in the face of sub-zero prime minister will come down to the action breaking out across the temperatures – trains are prejudices of an ageing, suburban and public sector – and the weather cancelled, roads are closed, rural-based sliver of the population. grows more extreme, we yearn schools are shut down – so for the soothing balm of a the same goes for 30⁰C+ tem- peratures. The whole of our sensible leader with integrity. infrastructure seems to depend on meteorological moderation. But it will come down to the political system. The fracture TV between the contestants. preferences and prejudices of that opened up with the Brexit What’s bizarre about this an ageing, suburban and rural- referendum has not been spectacle is that, in the first based sliver of the population, mended. There seemed to be a instance, only 358 Tory MPs which scarcely represents the brief moment of national unity had a vote in deciding who was people as a whole. when Covid hit, but now that to go forward to the final round If only figuratively, the has completely disappeared. of two, even though it was pre- national temperature is almost Boris Johnson’s long and sented as if the public at large certain to keep climbing. l GETTY IMAGES tawdry exit drained a good had a say. deal of the confidence that Then, 160,000 Tory party Andrew Anthony is an was briefly restored in the members get to choose the ulti- Observer writer and is married workings of the state. His lies mate winner. As a rule, these to a New Zealander. 8 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

DIARY CHARLOTTE GRIMSHAW The crumbling dump Some years ago, for Vice President Mike supporters, was to fundraise and the consensus is the hear- I was in Toronto for Pence, and tried to stop the off the big lie, raising US$250 ings have shown he could be the International peaceful transfer of power. million for a bogus “Official criminally indicted. Festival of Authors. It has been fascinating to Election Defense Fund” that Walking through watch the committee demon- didn’t exist. Among Trump’s But Trump has turned the the lobby of the Westin Hotel, strate how pre-planned and alleged crimes, which include Republican Party into a cult I became aware of people co-ordinated this attempted seditious conspiracy and of personality, and many glaring, scowling and head- coup was, and how close election fraud, this one may in it are still pushing his big shaking. There were jeers, it came to succeeding. amount to wire fraud. lie for their own ends. It is a hiss. What had I done? Had predicted Liz Cheney will I somehow caused terrible Trump laid the groundwork offence to all good Canadians? before the election, telling his I turned to flee, and almost crashed followers that if he lost, the into Dick Cheney, the most powerful I turned to flee, and almost result would be fake. After US vice president ever to have ruled. crashed into Dick Cheney, the the election, Trump-appointed most powerful US vice presi- judges, Attorney General Republicans have tried to lose her seat to a Trump- dent ever to have ruled. Chief William Barr, the Justice dismiss the January 6 com- endorsed candidate in the instigator of the disastrous Department and government mittee as “partisan”, but the August Wyoming primary. war in Iraq, he is a widely security agencies, all told the inconvenient truth is that the reviled figure, considered President there had been no most impressive and authori- If Trump runs and loses at best a sinister and craven widespread fraud, and he had tative figure on it is their own in 2024, there could be a opportunist, at worst a war lost in a fair contest. Liz Cheney, and almost all the successful coup, because criminal. Having walked into witnesses have been Trump- his authoritarian movement him, I was perhaps lucky not to Undeterred, Trump set to appointed Republicans. is working all over the US to have been mown down by his work spreading his “big lie”, erode non-partisan election entourage. It was with exuber- from which he was able to Trump has been condemned safeguards. Trump supporters ant relief that I joined in the generate his “big grift”. The by previously hardcore loyal- are hounding election officials glaring and scowling. lie was that the election was ists in his own administration, stolen. The grift, a hugely out of their jobs, and are It’s Cheney’s record that successful rip-off of his own running for positions that makes the current actions will enable them to influ- of his daughter, Repre- ence outcomes. It is an PARRY JONES sentative Liz Cheney, all extraordinarily reckless the more remarkable and push towards autocracy, effective. Congresswoman fuelled by the mesmeric Cheney, herself a politi- lies of a conman. cian of ultra-conservative Republican pedigree, is In Trump’s closed, the vice chair of the Janu- self-referential world, ary 6 committee set up his supporters are to investigate the violent “courageous”. In reality, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. Liz Cheney is the one with the courage. In all human As we all know, Trump systems, the dynamic is supporters, who’d been the same: one narcissist, convinced by him that if enabled by enough liars the election had been and cowards, can turn a stolen, sought to prevent shining city on a hill into the certification of the a crumbling dump. l votes. They marched on the Capitol, armed with “Excuse me, but your fly is undone.” Charlotte Grimshaw is an guns, knives, explosives, Auckland author and critic. bear spray, body armour, clubs, spears and a noose JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 9

REALITY CHECK STEPHEN DAVIS Familiarity breeds consent What is it that “news” article on Twitter explanation is that X may potentially false, participants about the for the truth and retweet it. believe the fake news simply were more likely to rate it as workings Although stories are some- because he has been exposed plausible if they were repeat- of our times shared on social media to it repeatedly – a cognitive edly exposed to it. This trick is brain that as fake news to raise the alarm, trick described as the “illusory well understood by the Putins make us likely to believe fake the majority of shares appear truth effect”. A 2018 study and Trumps of this world – news? to be by individuals who published in the Journal of repeat a lie often enough and believe that the information Experimental Psychology found people will start to believe it. Researchers all over the world are attempting to answer that Much mistaken: Does anything about X question as alarm grows about Barack Obama the individual – his the damage to society of misin- gives his inaugural personality, his poli- formation and disinformation. address in 2009. tics, the way he thinks – make him more susceptible to the I have been looking at these “A single prior exposure to fake illusory truth effect? studies for a University of news headlines was sufficient to Otago project. There is not yet measurably increase subsequent Not according to the 2018 a consensus, as in other areas perceptions of their accuracy.” study, but other research sug- of brain research, but it is fair gests political bias does matter. GETTY IMAGES to say some of the findings are is true when they share it. that “a single prior exposure to depressing. What are the cognitive fake news headlines was suf- For example, a photo of ficient to measurably increase Barack Obama’s 2009 inau- Meet X, an ordinary citizen. mechanisms that explain this subsequent perceptions of guration was more likely to He’s using Twitter and has just belief in what are often highly their accuracy”. Unless the be mistakenly identified as seen a link to a news article. He implausible, partisan stories? story presented was extremely Donald Trump’s much more doesn’t know it, but the article Why would X struggle to differ- unlikely – the Earth being poorly attended 2017 inaugu- contains false information in entiate between fact and fiction? square –the effect was com- ration by a Trump supporter the form of fake news. pounded with each additional than an opponent of Trump. Research conducted by exposure in news headlines. What does X think of fake behavioural psychologists Even if the story was marked as A University of Chicago news? According to a survey and cognitive scientists has study found an individual’s by US think tank the Pew suggested some answers. One perception of a biracial politi- Research Centre, it is likely cian’s skin colour is strongly that X has multiple concerns influenced by their political about the impact of fake news partisanship, with Republican on his life and has taken steps supporters consistently per- to reduce his exposure. He ceiving candidates are darker may have limited his total than they actually are. news intake or stopped using a particular outlet or source. It would be interesting to see if the same perception dif- Although we might assume ferences across political lines that his newfound awareness existed here, but the major and the steps he has taken studies have been conducted to reduce his exposure will overseas. We need more New form some sort of protective Zealand-based research. barrier between X and a belief in fake news, the Pew study The government’s words suggests that this is not the of concern on the issues of case. There appears to be a misinformation and disin- significant overlap between formation are still not being those most concerned about matched by action. l fake news and those interact- ing with fake news the most. Stephen Davis is a Dunedin- based investigative journalist, So, despite any concerns educator and author. he has, X may still mistake 10 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

LIFE BILL RALSTON My glass half-full It is a bleak, cold government cannot march house waiting list and “4500 the reductions in fuel excise winter of our into the debating chamber families are living in motels at duty and road-user charges discontent. The All joyously singing that ditty, the cost of $1 million per day”. by more than five months. Blacks have lost a but more’s the pity. It would What they are saying here home test series make Parliament a lot more Labour’s media releases are is, to help you to fight the against Ireland for the first cheerful and stop us all much more upbeat, headed highest inflation since 1990, time. Inflation is running getting too depressed by the with statements such as “Govt they won’t take quite as at a whopping 7.3%. The litany of bad news that comes provides more cost of living much off you – for now. pandemic is still laying many out during question time. support” or “Empowering of us low. Woe is us. I should stop reading media Hiking the price of petrol in The secret to happiness releases from National and an election year is unlikely to is that it is all an attitude Act. Chris Bishop sent one encourage people to vote for you. of mind. For example, pointing out that in the past National’s Nicola Willis four years, Kāinga Ora, the Pacific Aotearoa to achieve Because the 25-cents-a-litre recently bemoaned the government’s state housing home ownership”. That cut lasts until January 31, fact an MYOB Consumer arm, spent $24 million latter release was about it’s hard to see how Labour Snapshot survey showed renovating its offices and teaching Pasifika peoples will ever get rid of it. Hiking a million New Zealanders hired 1700 additional staff. financial literacy, so they the price of petrol in an were considering moving “Despite this, Kāinga Ora has can eventually save up for election year is unlikely overseas and 200,000 have added just 21 net new state a home; the former was to encourage people to vote already made plans to leave. homes in the year from June about extending half-price for you, so I would expect She pointed to the cost-of- 2021 to May 2022.” Bishop public transport fares and the cut to last at least until living crisis, a collapsing helpfully added that there health system, a labour are 27,000 people on the state the day after polling day. shortage and unaffordable home ownership as the “Me, me, me – can you see Halving the price ANDY TRISTRAM causes of the impending anything else on the chart?” of public trans- exodus. port was a good move by the government. Yet I could argue that Except, where I live, we those factors are the cure don’t have a bus service. for our problems. If a Still, all those big city million of us kindly left train and bus commuters the country, there would should be happier now. be a huge oversupply of housing and prices would There is an argument drop dramatically, pressure that, in a city like Auck- on the health system would land, public transport be immediately eased and should be free. It would surely a labour shortage drastically increase means higher wages for patronage and so elimi- those still here who want nate the need for much of to work. the massive investment in transport infrastructure There is an ancient that is looming for the city. Monty Python song, Always Look on the Bright Side of I would point out the Life, which advises, “When bright idea of free public you’re chewing on life’s transport is unlikely to gristle, don’t grumble, give happen, but I don’t want a whistle and this’ll help to be “chewing on life’s things turn out for the gristle”. l best.” I appreciate that the JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 11

POLITICS JANE CLIFTON Mutual exploitation The government needs to make it easier for immigrant nurses to gain residency, so they can relieve the pressure on our understaffed hospitals. The govern- New Zealand will continue to of immigrant workers, he is terrible strain from Covid ment’s be tough on nurses, and tough guilty of remarkable naivety. variants and supercharged immigra- on the causes of nurses. new versions of the flu. But tion reset NUANCE NEEDED with the workload ever more increasingly The government says too onerous, an immigrant nurse better suits many incoming nurses can’t With the exception of may find the grass in New the name “beset”. Especially be trusted to stay doing the the refugee intake and Zealand rather less green than since Immigration Minister jobs they’re recruited to do. special country-to-country they were led to expect. It has Michael Wood declared the In its defence, the statistics relationships, immigration is been repeatedly officially other day that the previous appear to bear this out, but and always has been bluntly acknowledged that nurses’ policies were “a bit of an workloads are at unfair and, exploitist charter”. The government says too at times, dangerous levels. many incoming nurses can’t To borrow a remark from be trusted to stay doing the Where the government former French president jobs they’re recruited to do. seems to have read the nurse- Nicolas Sarkozy, Wood retention stats as evidence unfortunately missed a very at such a small margin as to transactional. The founding of flighty ingratitude, the good opportunity to shut up. be barely even annoying. question on both sides is, health sector alleges more There’s a turnover of 6% of what’s in it for me? nuance. Some overseas- The pickle he’s now in over foreign nurses, versus 4% for sourced nurses quit because the critical shortage of nurses domestically trained nurses The country of destination the pandemic’s near freeze is that it’s embarrassingly – hardly a haemorrhage. generally only wants a on their relatives joining clear the government is person because they are them simply exhausted their insisting on exploiting Even if it were true, as the either disgustingly rich or patience. Others are likely immigrant nurses on its Beehive’s aggrieved tone sug- usefully accomplished. It to have changed jobs or even terms rather than theirs. gests, the two-year-wait policy doesn’t particularly want professions because of the would still be questionable their partners, children continuingly unreasonable Every significant health in the current climate. Given or parents, but will, to workload, and who could lobby is pleading for incom- one hospital has resorted to varying degrees, let them in blame them? ing nurses to be given full accommodating waiting over- as the price for getting the “green-list” residency so they spill patients under canvas, investment or the talent. The quicker the nursing can, for instance, buy homes more nurses are surely better shortage is alleviated, the and avoid steep fees for their than fewer, even if they make The immigrant wants a lower that dropout rate children’s education, rather better set of conditions and will be. The latter point is than having to wait two years the revolving door spin opportunities for themselves one the government seems before they can even apply to a bit faster than we and their families. Where that determined to discount, stay. In the currently feverish might like. gets tricky is that conditions even though its stance is global market for health Although Wood’s in the new country will not becoming a political problem. professionals, other exploitation always be met, or stay met. The general public can get countries offer this concerns are well chippy about pilots, doctors and more. founded, in the light For nursing, this is now and even teachers being of some sickening an entrenched catch-22. demanding about pay and The instruc- cases of enslavement We need foreign nurses conditions. But nursing, tion here from the because hospitals are under being a physically demanding Beehive remains that and emotionally taxing job Michael Wood 12 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

without the stratospheric having its heart set on an is not a net benefit, and the government is being salary, is a beloved exception, immigration reset that drasti- it’s beyond doubt that the consistent. National’s and not just in New Zealand. cally reduces New Zealand’s country’s infrastructure Shane Reti recently drew an Everyone wanted to know dependence on foreign labour. spending failed to keep pace admission from it that the about the plucky Kiwi nurse However, thanks to Covid, the with immigration-fuelled current Budget includes no who helped see British Prime Ukraine invasion, inflation Minister Boris Johnson and other buffeting global The Productivity Commission has through his tussle with inconveniences, it’s a goal that found that, contrary to long-held Covid. The many doctors simply can’t be met anytime assumptions, immigrant labour doesn’t who treated him might as soon without awful “nose depress wages or displace local staff. well have been chopped liver. despite face” casualties. There is simply no upside in population growth. But those money for more medical CHRIS SLANE picking a fight with Florence A further awkward point are separate issues. Overall, school placements. So the Nightingale. is that the reasons for the immigration appears to be government is being tough on government’s drive to ration confoundingly beneficial, the causes of doctors as well. A BIT AWKWARD immigrant skills aren’t all despite the government’s that well supported by the view that it is exploitative. Help may be on its way. The In normal times, the two-year in-depth research that it Even if it were not beneficial, government has funded 1000 wait for residency eligibil- actually commissioned. The this country cannot, for business consultants to help ity would not be draconian. Productivity Commission’s the foreseeable future, get restructure the health system. New Zealand needs not just immigration report has found along particularly happily Hopefully, some of them will to import nurses but to retain that, contrary to long-held without it. conclude that letting foreign them, so bonding is fair. But assumptions, immigrant workers in the health sector this hospital staffing shortage labour doesn’t depress wages At least, in its admonishment exploit us at the same time as is scarcely less of a life-threat- or displace local staff. Nor that immigrant nurses need we exploit them is mutually ening emergency than the is it the fount of our chroni- to show more commitment, beneficial. l coronavirus itself. cally lagging productivity. The government’s mul- There are obviously ishness seems to stem from niches in which immigration JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 13

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION Catching a killer Police have new evidence and a fresh theory about who might have killed Kirsty Bentley in 1998. Chris Cooke puts one of our best-known cold cases back in the spotlight. ●photographbyNATASHACHADWICK 14 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

JULY 30 2022 LISTENER Family under fire: Jill Peachey (formerly Bentley) says the trauma of her daughter’s murder was made much worse by the police focusing their suspicions on her son and husband. 15

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION NZ POLICE t remains one of this coun- $100k REWARD of either not eliminated as suspects, or try’s highest-profile unsolved suspected of having been involved in the crimes. On the afternoon of New THE POLICE ARE OFFERING A murder and disposal of her body,” he says. Year’s Eve in 1998, Ashburton REWARD OF UP TO $100,000 schoolgirl Kirsty Bentley set off for “material information or evi- John was the last family member to dence” leading to the identity and see her alive. Sid told police he’d been in Ifor one of her frequent walks conviction of any person or people Christchurch and Lyttelton for the day, with her pet Labrador. She responsible for Kirsty’s death. leaving just before 5pm to come home. never returned. But police had spoken to three people who Now, more than two decades after her They will also consider immunity claimed to have seen him at the Hotel Ash- mysterious murder, police have a fresh view from prosecution for any accom- burton bottle store just after 4pm. on what might have happened. plice who provides information or Detective Inspector Greg Murton took evidence, as long as they are not The reported sightings of Sid in the bottle over the investigation in 2014 and since then the main offender. store were significant, says Murton. “If he’s been poring over every detail in the mas- true, then he has arrived back in Ashbur- sive file, and pursuing his own inquiries. In a “Our ultimate goal is to provide ton well before he originally said he did, rare glimpse into how murder investigations answers and a sense of closure and it gives him just enough time to have are conducted, he has revealed the existence for Kirsty’s family,” says Detective got home and the opportunity to have been of evidence not previously made public, and Inspector Greg Murton. involved in his daughter’s death. It meant a new profile of the likely killer. he had lied, so it assumed great importance To give new impetus to the case, police The reward is available for six in the inquiry for obvious reasons.” have posted a reward of up to $100,000 for months. Anyone with information anyone who can help them close it. should call the police non-emer- One of the scenarios the original police Both the review and the reward have gency hotline on 105 and use team considered was that Sid had arrived come too late for Kirsty’s father, Sid, who the reference “Operation Kirsty”. home to find John had murdered Kirsty. Sid died in 2015. But they offer both relief and Anonymous calls can also be made could have taken her body in his ute to the hope to her brother, John, and mother, to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111. Rakaia Gorge and returned just after 6pm, Jill, who have struggled to cope with the when Jill told him Kirsty was missing. Sid aftermath of what they claim was a flawed searching for cannabis plants. Her body or John could then have staged the scene investigation from the beginning. was too decomposed to determine whether at the Ashburton River to make it appear there had been a sexual attack, but it was that Kirsty had been attacked while out FAMILY UNDER SUSPICION obvious she had been killed by a single walking. blow to the back of her head with a blunt Kirsty was just 15 when she left the house weapon. There was no evidence of a pro- “The timeline and opportunity for Sid on that sweltering afternoon. It was 34°C longed assault or struggle. to have been involved was very tight,” says and she was looking forward to seeing in Murton. There was also no forensic evi- the New Year with her boyfriend by the Hundreds of suspects were identified dence to support the theory. According to family pool. and interviewed. A Commer van seen in the pathologist, the wound on Kirsty’s head would have been bleeding, but no blood “She was in love – she was very, very “I wish Sid was alive was found at the house or in Sid’s ute. And happy. Kirsty had a life ahead of her,” recalls to hear this. I knew there were sightings and other evidence to Jill from her home in Invercargill, where she what hell he went support many of Sid’s claimed movements has lived for more than a decade. through. John has been in Christchurch and Lyttelton. through so much and Both the family and the police searched he didn’t deserve it.” In 2000, however, a strange incident into the night after the teenager failed to strengthened the police’s suspicions. Sid return. But it wasn’t until about 9.30am the the neighbourhood came under intense told Jill that after banging his head on a next day that her dog, Abby, was found tied scrutiny, but was never positively iden- cupboard, he had a thought he might have to a tree just off a wooded track that they tified, and there was also a focus on the returned from his trip to Christchurch ear- often used on their daily walks. The track owner of a Ford Falcon who changed its lier than he’d previously stated, stopping at was next to the Ashburton River, just 500m appearance soon after the murder. Links a nearby beach. from their home, and had been searched to cannabis growers were also investigated, the night before. but no arrests were made. Jill told him he needed to tell the police, which he did. He later retracted this and Then came a chilling discovery – 30m Almost three years later, it emerged stuck to his original story. from the dog, Kirsty’s underwear and publicly that police suspected Sid and John shorts were found on top of a bush. Her might be involved. But Murton says that “The question legitimately raised was. body was not discovered until 17 days later suspicion had begun much sooner. “[Both ‘Why would he provide himself with a false in the Rakaia Gorge at the bottom of a steep Sid and John] have been in the category alibi?’” says Murton. John and Sid were bank, covered in branches. She was wear- reinterviewed and police planted a listen- ing the cotton sarong and black top she was ing device in the family home. seen in before she left for her walk. ‘RUINED LIVES’ The Rakaia Gorge is a 32-minute drive from where her underwear and dog were Jill, who these days endures many health found, and her body might have lain issues, has since remarried. Her husband, there forever had it not been for two men Noel Peachey, is her full-time caregiver. She says the trauma of her daughter’s murder has been unbearable, but was made much 16 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

1 3 24 56 1. The CCTV image that is the last photo of Kirsty Bentley alive. 2. The walking track down to the Ashburton River. 3. Abby the dog was found tied to a tree. 4. The place where Abby was found. 5 and 6. The location in the Rakaia Gorge where Kirsty’s body was found.

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION MARTIN HUNTER worse because the police convinced her that But they would not let up. I just don’t under- that proves who the killer is, but because her son was the killer and her husband tried stand why he was so dogged on his view. I the police believed it was Sid and John, they to cover it up. felt helpless. I said: ‘Shouldn’t the evidence haven’t come forward.” point to what they were accusing me of?’” She recalls being summoned to the police When Murton took over the case, he station, and over the best part of a day heard John now lives in the UK and has no plans faced the considerable job of unpicking it from the then head of the inquiry, Detective to return to New Zealand. There is a sense all. “An extensive amount of work has been Inspector Greg Williams, that he believed that he’s living a life in exile. “This has influ- completed into establishing the movements John had killed Kirsty at home, because he enced my mental health. I have had to talk to of Sid Bentley,” he says. was jealous over her boyfriend coming to people to try and get back some semblance stay. “He briefly had me on the hook. It is of normality to live the rest of my life like a Despite every available investigative very painful to look back on,” she says. normal person.” technique being used, the police have been unable to find any evidence that John and Sid Both Sid and John protested their inno- Sid was a chronic alcoholic and died after colluded in murdering Kirsty or disposing cence loudly and persistently over the a battle with cancer. Both men had their lives of her body, he says. “Nor evidence point- years. John, who left New Zealand in 2007, ruined, says Jill. And she believes the suspi- ing to any other specific person.” However, says he had nothing to hide. “I was talking cion over their involvement has prevented now he has a fresh view about what prob- to them and telling them the truth. I am Kirsty’s real killer being found. “There may ably happened, and a new suspect profile. innocent. I’ve had nothing to do with this. be someone who does have information For Jill, this twist in the saga comes as a 18 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

Detective Inspector John told his sister her boyfriend had NEW WITNESS INFORMATION Greg Murton: Kirsty phoned. Records show Kirsty called her boy- could have been friend at 2.38pm. She was told he would be Murton reveals that Sid was seen by three abducted or held back in an hour. She was seen walking the people in Lyttelton that day – a waitress, a at a neighbouring dog towards the river around 3pm. Mean- customer at the Royal Hotel, and a worker address. while, Jill was at her job as a caregiver, and at a nearby takeaways. This information has Sid was on a day off from the local irriga- never been revealed before by the police huge relief, but it is also devastating. “I sigh. tion company, so he went to Christchurch on and is consistent with Sid’s initial account. I shake my head. What we had to go through some errands. He also dropped into Lyttel- If he was in Lyttelton, he could not have for all those years. I wish Sid was alive to ton, as he had served in the merchant navy arrived home in time to be involved. hear this. I knew what hell he went through. and enjoyed looking at the ships. John has been through so much and he didn’t “This is a very elaborate alibi if it is a false deserve it.” Kirsty’s boyfriend phoned back at one. But it is supported and corroborated in 4.31pm. John couldn’t find her and said he’d many aspects,” says Murton. THE TIMELINE get her to call when she returned. But she never did. According to the pathologist, the There is also evidence, including till Murton’s new profile of the murderer is undigested remains of French fries in her receipts, to support Sid’s claims of being in based on an extensive re-examination of stomach, from McDonald’s purchased at the known facts, and new evidence. 11.30am that day, indicate that she was killed “Sid Bentley has that afternoon or early evening. maintained he was John was by himself when Kirsty arrived never there and home at 2.30pm. Aged 19 at the time, he had When Jill arrived home at 5.15pm, John there is no definitive returned for the summer break from uni- met her on the drive and said: “Where the evidence that he was.” versity in Christchurch. He told police he f---’s Kirsty?” They searched along the walk- was in his room occupied with his computer ing tracks by the Ashburton River, then Christchurch earlier in the day. The earliest and TV. returned to the house. he could have left Christchurch to drive to Lyttelton was 2.30pm, and the latest he could Sid arrived home at 6.07pm, just after the have left there, to be involved, was 3.06pm. TV news had started. When Jill told him Kirsty was missing, his immediate reaction “That leaves him just 20 minutes to order was to call the police. and buy takeaways, eat them and then walk to the pub and order a drink and then drink There were many claimed sightings of it and then get back to his car – a small time Kirsty walking the dog, but most could not window even for one of those events. And pinpoint exactly when. Kirsty walked Abby this doesn’t include the time he says he spent up to four times a day, and most witnesses walking at the wharves.” were interviewed days or even weeks later. But Murton feels confident in the sightings Sid told police he also stopped for a drink of her around 3pm heading to the river. at a pub in the CBD. This, and the amount he said he paid for parking, if true, meant He also says that Sid’s recollection to an even later departure to Lyttelton. “If Sid police of his movements add up to him went to Lyttelton and did what he said he arriving home at about 6pm. “In his initial did, he could not have returned in time to interviews, he was very consistent about have been involved in disposing of Kirsty’s his actions and movements that afternoon body. To accept that scenario you’d have to in Christchurch and provided considerable reject his account that he went to Lyttel- detail,” he says. ton and reject the sightings there by three people.” If Sid had been involved in Kirsty’s murder, however, the latest he could have Murton says he kept an open mind about arrived home was around 4.28pm. Sid’s movements. He also looked at Sid’s changed story about stopping at the beach. Murton believes Sid would have needed The change came after he faced exten- around 20 minutes to discover that John had sive questioning by police about the three killed Kirsty (or for Sid to kill her himself), sightings of him at the Hotel Ashburton. It plan a fake abduction site, figure out what was put to Sid that he lied about being in to do with the dog, collude with John, plan a Lyttelton. response to police, then clean up and carry Kirsty out to his ute. Getting to the gorge, Sid blamed his changed story on his poor unloading the body, and then getting back memory and alcoholism. “He reverted to his home would take about one hour and 19 original recall of events,” says Murton. minutes. So what about the sightings of Sid at the Given that Sid was seen by Jill at 6.07pm, Hotel Ashburton, supposedly at the same he couldn’t have committed the crime if he’d time he was in Lyttelton? Murton believes the arrived home later than 4.28pm. And if he wasn’t involved, then neither could John be, as he couldn’t drive and had no access to a car. JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 19

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION sightings cannot be completely relied upon. ‘FIND ME THE PROOF’ Pressure continued to mount on the A till operator at the hotel’s bottle store family as the original investigation team Jill Bentley is now Jill Peachey. She tried to find evidence to support their was interviewed three weeks after Kirsty separated from Sid soon after he changed theory. In December 2001, police got a went missing. She stated that she served his story, but says it was not related. Their search warrant for the Bentleys’ house and a person who looked like Sid, but with a marriage had been in trouble before Kirsty took away tarpaulins and a tent for testing. lighter beard, and could not be sure it was was murdered, she says, and a separation No trace of Kirsty’s blood was found. him. was inevitable. “It wasn’t until I got out of Ashburton that Two months after Kirsty’s murder, a However, she still recalls with a shudder I could do any kind of grieving,” says Jill. “It customer in the same bottle store came for- her reaction to being told her husband and hit me bad. I began drinking very heavily ward. He’d met Sid previously, although he son had done unspeakable things to her then. I don’t now. The police never came had not seen him for five years. Although daughter. “I recall that day very clearly. It was back with any evidence.” he didn’t greet him, he says he was sure he all laid out in such a convincing way that I saw Sid, and saw his vehicle in the carpark. had myself believing it. I came home and took There were phone calls from the police, However, he was unsure of the time and the photos of John down.” but she believed there was an ulterior date, and what he says he purchased did not motive. “I felt they were attempts to keep match the till tape for that day. “They hatch a plot and tabs on John rather than concern for my Sid wraps her up and welfare.” The third person was a porter at the he is away to dispose hotel. He’d seen Sid’s photo in the paper of her? John and Sid Williams also played her a covert record- after Kirsty went missing and thought he couldn’t make a cup ing of Sid. Police had bugged the house had seen him somewhere, but he wasn’t of tea together!” while she was still living there. “Nothing sure where. “It was only later in January, surprised me by that point. The recording when police asked for anyone working at She heard that after the police spoke to was Sid on his own murmuring to himself.” the bottle store that afternoon to come for- John’s friends and teachers, they decided he The only phrase she could make out was, ward, that he ‘clicked’ that this was when was a loner who had been bullied at school “I’ve blown it now”, but only after she had he saw Sid.” and developed non-mainstream interests. read a transcript. Murton reveals there was another local They also considered the urgency in how Jill failed to see the remark as any kind of man in the bottle store that afternoon who John spoke to Jill when she returned home compelling evidence and says it could have looked like Sid, but with a lighter beard. as suspicious. It was put to her that John’s related to anything. “It could have been He was there at the exact time all three wit- motive for killing Kirsty was jealousy over because he couldn’t get his leg over because nesses claimed to have seen Sid. her boyfriend, who was due to stay the night. he said the wrong thing to me,” she says. “I believe these witnesses are honestly The hours-long session left Jill trying to Other covert recordings of Sid and John mistaken,” Murton says. “While police are make sense of the bombshell that Greg Wil- did not reveal any hint of them colluding. grateful for people coming forward, when liams had just dropped on her. Says John: “They got nothing because there there’s conflicting evidence it’s my job to was nothing to get.” evaluate the accuracy and reliability of “The next day, I decided to go through it witness statements. “Sid Bentley has main- constructively and look at the timings and In 2010, Williams told media that John had tained he was never there and there is no what he had. I said, ‘This is not possible. been inconsistent in his account of Kirsty definitive evidence that he was.” How does a father who adored his daughter leaving the house. He said John had initially come home and sort out the fact his son has told police he didn’t hear Kirsty leave, but Murton favours the sightings of Sid at murdered her?’ She is dead and they hatch two years later said he did. Lyttelton, which are consistent with what a plot and Sid wraps her up and he is away he said he did. to dispose of her? “I said to Williams that I would trust what I said first, as that is when my memory was The other factor that stood out for Murton “John and Sid couldn’t make a cup of tea the freshest,” John says now. “Kirsty walked is Kirsty’s boyfriend’s account of his second together. I know that if Sid had come home the dog a lot. I didn’t really pay much atten- phone call to the Bentley home. “According and John had done it, he would have taken tion to her coming and going. He has tried to him, John was completely normal, put the John to the police after he had dealt with his to make something out of nothing.” phone down and went looking for Kirsty, grief over Kirsty.” but came back and said she still wasn’t back.” The same year, police revealed they Jill told the inquiry head she could not believed the scene at the Ashburton River The timing of the call, at 4.31pm, is also accept his explanation. “[John] wouldn’t where Kirsty’s dog and underwear were significant, he believes. If John and Sid were hurt a butterfly. I said we would agree to found was most likely staged to look like a involved in Kirsty’s murder, the call had to disagree. I said: ‘You find me the proof, then sexual attack. have been within minutes of Sid arriving I’ll believe it’.” home and either discovering Kirsty dead As for John’s “Where the f---’s Kirsty?” The way the dog lead was tied meant it or murdering her. But her boyfriend said remark, Jill says it’s easily explained: “The had been removed from the dog first, so the John was calm and it was like any other call. dog and lead were gone. It was clear Kirsty killer was confident in controlling dogs. was not back, so it was not an unusual None of Kirsty’s blood was found there. “All Sid’s interactions with police after- concern.” wards were consistent with a confused, The specific pollen by the river was grieving father – a father who genuinely not on the underwear, and there were no loved Kirsty. For Sid to react to John killing tears to the cotton sarong she was wearing, his sister by seeking to cover it up, and move despite the area being thick with thorned very quickly to do it, would be out of char- blackberry. acter, according to Jill.” There was thorned blackberry at the gorge as well, and given that no fibres from 20 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

Left, a family portrait of the Bentleys taken in 1992. Right, Jill and Noel Peachey. her clothing were found at either location, familiar with the crime location. About is a known cannabis-growing area. He then BENTLEY FAMILY COLECTION; NATASHA CHADWICK the police believed Kirsty’s body may have three-quarters had prior convictions. “It is delivers the most startling revelation of his been wrapped in something when she was extremely rare for a father and son together entire review: that police have additional transported there. to kill a teenage daughter/sister and dispose “strong evidence” they have not made of her body,” says Murton. “In fact, there are public. “Evidence held by police indicates She was found curled up in a fetal posi- no known records of this that I am aware of that a cannabis user or grower was the tion with her clothing discreetly positioned in the UK or New Zealand.” likely offender – a regular to heavy user,” to cover her body. The state of her clothing he says. and her shoes still being on was not typi- Neither Sid nor John had any convictions. cal with what is most often seen in sexual Nor could Murton find any connection He declines to explain how or when the attacks. police discovered the new evidence. “It is “Evidence held by police critical evidence in an active inquiry, so Police consulted retired British detec- indicates that a cannabis I won’t be commenting on it.” He notes, tive Chuck Burton, who had analysed all user or grower was however, there is no known link between child murders in the UK from 1960 to 2002 the likely offender – a Sid and John to cannabis growing or and compiled the information into a data- regular to heavy user.” consumption. base. Burton said the careful placement of Kirsty’s body showed some sort of emo- between them and the Rakaia Gorge, espe- John confirms to the Listener he was not tional connection between the offender and cially the obscure site where Kirsty was using cannabis at the time of his sister’s the victim. found. murder. “I have never used cannabis. I was known as having a very low opinion Murton disagrees: “The fact she was laid In summary, he notes: “No obvious motive of drugs,” he says. out carefully does not necessarily point to has ever been uncovered and no evidence someone who knew her or cared for her. of collusion. Alleged sightings at the Hotel ABDUCTION SCENARIO There have been many murders where kill- Ashburton cannot be relied on, and there ers [who are strangers] have displayed such are witnesses and timings showing Sid was So who did kill Kirsty Bentley? Murton care.” in Christchurch and Lyttelton. There was agrees the scene at the Ashburton River no evidence of an assault at the house; no was probably staged, and the killer was Burton’s database has, however, helped forensics. No blood was found in Sid’s ute. familiar with the area. Given that the Murton assess the likelihood of Sid and Kirsty’s DNA was found on the dog lead, but nearest location to park a car was 100m John’s involvement, and to build a profile of John and Sid’s DNA was not.” away, it doesn’t seem likely that the attack the killer. Out of 3668 cases in the database, would have taken place there. 187 were female victims aged 12 to 17. In every Another crucial fact, he believes, is that case where the victim was transported, the the area where Kirsty’s body was dumped “It is unlikely but cannot be ruled out. offender was a stranger or acquaintance. This was a highly risky location to do that. None of the cases where underwear had There were lots of people around that after- been removed involved a parent. noon. He would have had to carry her body or force her to walk to his car. More likely In almost all cases (98.3%), the killers were he would have left her there.” strangers or acquaintances, and most were JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 21

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION ROBERT RATHBONE If the attack had happened on the track, The pertinent question is why would the there recently, in the early hours of the it’s also more likely the killer would have killer stage such a scene? And why dump morning, by someone living nearby. This thrown her underwear on the ground, her body somewhere else? The only logi- would account for her not barking for 18 rather than on top of nearby bushes. “If cal reason, he believes, is to hide forensic hours and not being thirsty when found.” Kirsty was abducted from the riverside, evidence such as semen and/or DNA. an offender would be more likely to grab Tragically, this scenario is not unique her and take her away, underwear and It all leads to the scenario he favours in New Zealand. In 1989, a 13-year-old girl, shorts on, and simply leave the dog behind,” the most, based on the evidence: “Kirsty Karla Cardno, was abducted from a street Murton says. could have been abducted or held at a near her home in Lower Hutt, held in a neighbouring address while on her walk. nearby house, raped, beaten and buried. There is another clue, he believes, that A neighbour would have the opportunity the dog was not left at the riverside when and motive to stage the scene and tie up Murton says all Kirsty’s neighbours have Kirsty went missing in the afternoon. the dog.” been spoken to, but no individual has been “Abby didn’t want a drink when she got identified as a particularly strong suspect. home but ate some dog roll. This seems If they had let the dog go, it’s likely she strange if she had been tied up all night would have hung around the house where “This offence could have been commit- without water, and even more so if she had Kirsty was. “They had to get rid of [the dog] ted by a stranger, possibly a neighbour, or been tied there since mid-afternoon.” and there was no other way to do so,” he someone living on her walking route. [It says. “It’s possible the dog had been placed was] almost certainly someone with a local connection to the neighbourhood where 22 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

user or grower, and may have been a farm ‘All leads worker, and were familiar with the Ash- explored’ burton River and the Rakaia Gorge. The previous head of the Kirsty PLEA FOR CLOSURE Bentley inquiry, Greg Williams, is now a detective superin- John completed his PhD in astronomy last tendent. He declined to be year, so is now Dr Bentley. He is pleased interviewed by the Listener, but in a state- about the Murton review and the new ment he stressed that a dedicated team of evidence, but wishes it had happened investigators had “worked tirelessly explor- sooner. “Considering the strength of the ing all possible leads” as part of the inquiry. information, I just don’t understand,” he says. He maintained the focus on the Bent- leys was “appropriate and relevant”. “Up He is also upset that the previous head of until his death, Sid failed to account for the inquiry, Greg Williams, is continuing his whereabouts during the period when to defend his investigation (see sidebar). “I Kirsty is most likely to have been killed. Both Sid and John Bentley made a number of “If there is something inconsistent statements and their behav- you have seen or heard, iour called into question their involvement.” if it might be useful, please tell the police.” It was important to gather evidence and information from a broad range of In exile: John Bentley had nothing to do with my sister’s murder. sources in such cases, he said. “In this case, in the UK, where he has If he is going to make accusations about the Bentley family were obviously key and been trying to gain back inconsistencies and behaviours without would need to be eliminated if we were to some semblance of a giving details, what use is that other than identify circumstantially another person or normal life. to protect himself? It is an exercise in PR persons that might have been involved. This rather than police work. included extensive interviews with Kirsty’s Kirsty lived, and the riverbank where mother, Jill.” Abby was found tied up.” “Now I know there was a weight of evidence showing Dad and I had nothing Police continued to support Jill through- It was, he believes, “an abduction for sex to do with it, for him to keep saying that out the investigation, he said. “While in the and murder – an opportunist offence. [It’s] makes me angry. It has damaged me. It has later years the investigation focused on a plausible scenario, in my view.” damaged my mum. My dad died knowing John and Sid Bentley, the team under my that people thought he was involved; that command remained open to other scenarios He says the killer was alone at the rel- people thought he was a liar.” and suspects and continued to investigate evant times, and had access to a vehicle. those people.” “There was possibly a catalyst, a recent The most important thing, he says, is change or stress in their life, such as a to find Kirsty’s killer, and he hopes the The police assistant commissioner recent relationship break-up, or rela- reward helps. He urges the public: “If for investigations, Sue Schwalger, also tionship issues, or losing their job – a there is something you have seen or heard, provided a statement to the Listener. “Police homicidal build-up. Someone with crimi- if it might be useful, please tell the police.” understand how much this investigation nal – likely sexual – convictions, or a means to Kirsty’s family,” she said. “After propensity towards sexual offending [and] Jill makes her own plea to the person more than 20 years, police continue to con- forensically aware, so possibly caught by responsible: “Please let us wrap this up sider all possible avenues of inquiry.” forensics previously.” and put yourself out of your misery.” The original investigation was It’s also likely they were a cannabis She has great faith in Murton, and is “extremely thorough” and had been through aware of his track record resolving the “a number of review processes”, she said. Helen Milner “Black Widow” murder “The differing of opinions is healthy for case in Christchurch. “It was a relief to such a complex case and, more generally, is meet him and find somebody with an open an important part of any robust investiga- mind,” she says. tion and review process. It ensures we are open to all possibilities and will objectively She is still surrounded by mementos of consider any new information that comes Kirsty, and hopes that John will one day to light.” feel more comfortable about returning home. Although Kirsty’s murder remained unsolved, “I can confidently say that police, “I am so proud of him. I love him to at every stage of this process, have been bits, as I did with both children. Now committed to holding the offender or with what has been announced, I want offenders to account”. everyone to listen and for people to give my son a break and hopefully see justice for Kirsty.” l JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 23

NATIONAL’S UNCIVIL WAR Blue blood-le A new ‘It was like a form of therapy for the end of it they’d put down their spoon or their book on the them,” Andrea Vance explains coffee cup and they’d …” [she sighs and sags with National when asked why so many cur- relief ]. “And this happened many times. No one Party’s rent and former members of had sat down with these people and said, ‘Hey, post-Key the National Party spoke to her, what happened to you? What was the real story era lays both on and off the record, for behind that?’ And it was a cathartic process, I bare its her new book, Blue Blood. In it, think.” inner she documents the bizarre, gothic psycho-drama turmoil of of National’s recent political history – a horrible But wasn’t there also an ulterior motive? the past torrent of coups, leaks, betrayals, vendettas, tan- Many of Vance’s interviews are anonymous, six years. trums, blunders, resignations and breakdowns. because “if you talk to them on the record politi- cians are not very honest. They’re very guarded. by DANYL McLAUCHLAN Vance is an award-winning journalist known So, that offered people a shield.” And if you were for high-profile political scoops and scandals, a National MP during the party’s civil war era and is probably the last person in the world that and you knew that your political enemies might people in National should talk to. Now the party be talking to Vance confidentially, wouldn’t you is clawing its way out of the deep and bloody sit down with her and provide your own highly hole it had dug itself into by the end of Judith flattering version of events? Collins’ leadership, the timing is particularly unfortunate. “Some people talked to me because they genuinely care about the National Party Why were they so willing to pore over the and were horrified and didn’t want it to past, when the past is so awful? “We’d have repeat the mistakes of the past,” she says. these long conversations,” she says, “and we’d “But there will be others who just really go through things in quite a lot of detail, and at wanted their side of the story put across.” 24 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

tting National struggled to find a successor to former prime minister John Key, far left. Simon Bridges, second from left, and Judith Collins were both deposed, but the party appears resurgent under Christopher Luxon, right. INK IN HER VEINS of Todd Muller’s brief leadership; Judith and the government via a kitchen cabinet GETTY IMAGES/LISTENER ILLUSTRATION Collins. – an informal group of trusted ministers Vance was born in Northern Ireland, near and advisers – whose membership stayed Belfast, where her father was a newspa- Blue Blood represents a deeper dive into consistent through most of his term: Key, per editor. She worked as an investigative that subject matter. What went wrong with Bill English, Steven Joyce, Gerry Brownlee, journalist at News of the World, then as night one of our nation’s most important political Murray McCully and chief of staff Wayne editor at the Scotsman. In Scotland, she met parties? National considers itself the “natu- Eagleson. They debated policy, formulated and fell in love with a New Zealander. And tactics and enforced discipline. And the she wanted to travel. “I wanted to go to Aus- National considers itself unity and competence of this leadership tralia because the newspaper culture there the “natural party of team created the illusion of a unified and is on a par with the UK. But my husband put government”. Why capable party. But each member of Key’s his foot down and said, ‘If we have to leave, couldn’t it govern itself? team functioned as a load-bearing wall, we’re not going to Australia.’ So we came supporting an organisation that was rotting here, and it was only supposed to be for a ral party of government” – why couldn’t it from within. As they departed, one by one, couple of years. And then it stuck.” govern itself? the structure of the National Party began to shift and creak. Vance was a press gallery journalist for The book begins at the end of the Key Fairfax (now Stuff ). She moved to TVNZ, years. Sir John Key announced his retire- Key endorsed English to take over as then back to Stuff again. She’s reported ment at the end of 2016, burnt out: “nothing prime minister, which alienated Joyce. But from South Sudan and Myanmar, and in left in the tank”. He’d won three elections most of Key’s team stayed in place. English 2014 won the prestigious Wolfson scholar- and led his party for a decade, eight of them was intellectually brilliant with decades of ship to study at Cambridge. After the 2020 as prime minister. He ran both National political experience and enormous energy election, she published a feature article – although Vance describes a period of him dissecting National’s catastrophic year: arriving for work on Monday mornings the coup against Simon Bridges; the chaos JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 25

STUFF NATIONAL’S UNCIVIL WAR Andrea Vance: “If you talk to them on the record, politicians are not very honest.” She says MPs who talked found it cathartic. With colleagues like these, who overtired. Her sources believe that was because he was helping needs enemies? his wife, a Wellington GP, scrub her surgery clean on Sundays, before cooking the family roast. Some of the horrible things National MPs and insiders say English was less charismatic than Key, but still more popular about one another in Blue Blood: with the public than the seemingly dour leader of the opposition, Andrew Little. So that was all right. “Her constituency is playground losers. There’s always a kid like Collins in every school who was king of the Vance regards Jami-Lee Ross as outcasts. The Maureen Pughs. The Cameron Slaters.” a symptom of what went wrong inside National, because he wasn’t – A former National staffer on Judith Collins the party’s only dubious character. “He was a classic case of the John Major-type person; he And then Little stood down and Jacindamania set in. Labour rose without a trace.” surged in the polls. National won more seats in the 2017 election but Winston Peters chose to form a government with Labour, backed – Former National MP and attorney-general Chris Finlay- by a confidence and supply agreement with the Greens. That was son on Simon Bridges partly, some in National suggest, because National’s negotiating team was stacked with senior MPs that Peters openly loathed, “Whiteboard Amy” suspecting them of leaking details about his superannuation over- payments during the election campaign. – Former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson’s nickname for Amy Adams, adopted by National staff mocking her BURNING BRIDGES lack of direction on policy, persistent indecisiveness and endless, circuitous meetings Eagleson stepped down after the election and English retired from politics in 2018. Joyce contested the leadership and retired after “The Devil Wears ASOS” losing to Bridges. Paula Bennett remained as deputy leader. Amy Adams and Nikki Kaye, both also regarded as potential leaders, – a (carefully whispered) nickname for Nicola Willis, were promoted. This was National’s next generation, handpicked National’s sharply dressed deputy leader by Key and his team for the fast-track to success. “I think he had a Walter Mitty view of himself as Darth All of them were driven and accomplished politicians, hard-work- Vader. Sometimes his voice would get very low and he’d ing and whip smart. Which was part of the problem. The new team say, ‘You can’t cross me and get away with it.’ He was wasn’t a team so much as a group of ruthless and ambitious rivals. basically in a dream world.” But the greater risk to the party was the new cohort of politicians coming up behind them. Something had gone horribly wrong with – Finlayson on Jami-Lee Ross “In modern politics, you have to say stuff about the envi- ronment. Judith didn’t like that green stuff. She’s quite funny about climate change. She’s got a real hard-on for farmers.” – A National staffer on Collins’ “Monday Night Massa- cre”, when she seized personal control of the 2020 election campaign “The moment you have to resort to kneeling down and praying in a church in the middle of an election cam- paign: oh f---.” – Former Cabinet minister Maurice Williamson on Collins praying in front of media “They knew their portfolios really well, but they also acted like they were still ministers. They just didn’t have 20 staff wandering around helping them.” – A National MP describing former Education Minister Nikki Kaye’s IT problems and former Trade Minister Todd McClay attacking a photocopier 26 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

Simon Bridges speaking to the media in October 2018, flanked by, from left, Amy Adams, Judith Collins and Paula Bennett. National’s candidate selection process. Vance regards him as a symptom of what destabilise the leader, who is then brought GETTY IMAGES Jami-Lee Ross was elected to Parlia- went wrong inside National – because he down by their rivals, who are then under- wasn’t the party’s only controversial char- mined in turn. And with each iteration the ment in 2011 and appointed by Bridges to acter. In 2017, Todd Barclay, the 27-year-old mood in the caucus becomes more chaotic National’s front bench. For reasons that still National MP for Southland, resigned after and savage. Bridges is overthrown by Todd remain unclear, Ross then turned on his it emerged he’d been clandestinely record- Muller, who finds his own party impossible leader. First, he leaked Bridges’ travel details ing conversations between his electorate to lead and quickly resigns after a nervous to the media. He secretly taped their con- staff. breakdown. He’s replaced by Judith Collins, versations discussing electoral donations, who drags the party through an election then made the recordings public before Every MP Key’s team campaign where it suffers a catastrophic presenting them to the police, alleging that groomed for power has defeat. She then turns on her own caucus, Bridges was corrupt. But Bridges was a now left Parliament. waging war against her many internal former Crown prosecutor with a graduate “And all of them enemies until a failed attack on Bridges law degree from Oxford. Unsurprisingly, absolutely blew it.” sees her dumped, too. Perhaps sooner than when the Serious Fraud Office charged he expected, former Air New Zealand CEO four people with fraud, Bridges was not In 2020, his replacement, Hamish Chris Luxon takes over the leadership in one of them – but Ross was. The case is still Walker, admitted leaking confidential November 2021. ongoing. And all of this played out against a patient information to the media and nauseous churn of personal attacks, allega- announced he wouldn’t run for re-election. “This was a difficult book to finish tions and counter-allegations of bullying, Almost immediately afterwards, another because things just kept happening,” says sexual harassment and extramarital affairs. young National MP, Andrew Falloon, Vance. She thought she was done in late resigned after media reports that he’d sent May, but then Bridges resigned from Parlia- SCANDAL UPON SCANDAL “inappropriate images” to various women. ment. An unnamed senior minister notes In 2021, National’s candidate for Upper in the book that every MP Key and his team Vance didn’t interview Ross. “He would Harbour, Jake Bezzant, resigned from the groomed for power – Bridges, Bennett, only speak to me in person and we just party after his ex-girlfriend launched a Kaye, and Adams – has now left Parliament. couldn’t make that work,” she explained. podcast called Whips, Chains and Brains, “And all of them absolutely blew it.” “But I hope he talks to someone, eventu- in which she accused him of using intimate ally, to tell his side of the story.” After his photos of her to impersonate her on the But Luxon is also a Key protégé. He’s break-up with National, he contested the internet, so he could have online sex with being advised by Key, and by Key’s former 2020 election for Advance New Zealand, other men. chief of staff. His own chief of staff, Cam- an amalgam with Billy Te Kahika’s Covid eron Burrows, is a former Key adviser. conspiracy party. Advance campaigned The way Vance sees it, these toxic traits The highest-ranked MPs after Luxon are against vaccination, cell phone technology, – a poisonous culture, dysfunctional can- Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop, widely 1080, fluoridation and electromagnetism didates and intense leadership rivalry regarded as National’s most formidable but failed to win a seat in Parliament. – amplify one another. The scandals talents. Both are former staffers in the Ross now sells anti-5G supplements via an Key government. “Our politics has become online website. very dynastic,” Vance observes, noting that the leaders of the current govern- Most political parties experience leader- ment – Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson ship turmoil in opposition. But it’s rare to and Chris Hipkins – were senior advisers see a figure like Ross rise to such heights. in Helen Clark’s Beehive. Of the current iteration of National, Vance concludes: “A change in leadership has wiped the blood clean from the floor.” And given the current mood, it certainly seems possible that Luxon will become prime min- ister next year. But the deep-seated issues that have confronted his party over the past few years remain. And not everyone has left. Collins remains a member of Luxon’s caucus. Weeks before Vance’s book was published, Peter Goodfellow – scion of one of New Zealand’s wealthiest families, pres- ident of National for 12 years, and widely blamed within the party for its many dis- astrous candidate selections – announced he was stepping down from his office. He intends to remain on the board. l JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 27

NATIONAL’S UNCIVIL WAR This is your captain speaking In this extract from Blue Blood, political reporter Andrea Vance charts the rise of Christopher Luxon to National’s top job. In the six tumultuous days acolytes made it clear they would throw marble walls of the Beehive’s Banquet Hall, after Judith Collins’ leadership their lot in behind Luxon. The party’s small usually reserved for government announce- imploded in November 2021, band of liberals, led by Nicola Willis and ments. Bridges accepted Luxon’s offer: he Simon Bridges wrestled with Chris Bishop, also wanted a clean break. would take the shadow finance portfolio, a dilemma. The National lead- But there was still hesitancy. Luxon and ranked Luxon’s number three. They would ership contest came down to Mark Mitchell had put their names forward keep the news under wraps. a choice between himself and during the marathon meeting that ended ambitious former airline chief Christo- Collins’ leadership. The caucus asked for “We are the reset,” Luxon told report- pher Luxon. A poll just before Collins was more time to deliberate. ers on emerging from the caucus meeting. jettisoned had registered both men in the He noted his track record in reversing the preferred PM rankings, neck-and-neck on Luxon was untested: he had been an MP fortunes of underperforming companies. 2.5%. less than 400 days, much of which was spent Nicola Willis was chosen by the caucus to be Bridges had worked hard to restore his in lockdown in Auckland. Bridges kept his his new deputy. The party’s top three were public image in the months since he’d been powder dry, although he publicly hinted he all Key protégés. Willis owed her list MP rolled as leader. He was wiser and more was considering a tilt. Mitchell offered to place in Parliament to the departures of Bill resilient. Writing his memoirs was a form of withdraw if Bridges stood. English and Steven Joyce in April 2018. political rehab, but it had also allowed him to reflect on solutions for the widening wealth He had been an MP But unlike Luxon, she was not new to gap and inequity in the education system. It less than 400 days, politics; she had pedigree. Her great-great- was his personal manifesto. He would also much of which was grandfather, Archibald Willis, was a Liberal be taking back the reins in an entirely differ- spent in lockdown. Party MP for Whanganui and voted “yes” ent climate. The country’s mood had shifted, to women getting the vote in 1893. Almost more fractious after nearly two years of the Over the weekend, there was a furious a century later, her mother, Shona, was a pandemic and less enamoured with Jacinda round of lobbying and organising. The party political journalist in the Press Gallery Ardern’s leadership. wanted to avoid a vote. Senior party figures, while pregnant with Willis. As Key had, Bridges drew inspiration including John Key, implored Bridges and from former Australian prime minister his supporters to strike a deal with Luxon Willis arrived at Parliament in 2003 as John Howard, who led his Liberal Party to to restore harmony to the fractured caucus. a researcher for English, going on to work defeat in 1987 before being ousted by his Bridges weighed up his options. In taking a for [former leader Don] Brash and then Key. deputy Andrew Peacock. Howard rose to the deal similar to that offered to Bill English in Luxon had come to know Willis in the coun- top again, and went on to win four elections. 2006, he saw a chance to influence and shape try’s cliquish corporate scene. In July 2018, Bridges and his wife, Natalie, policy in the same way Key’s deputy had. had dined with Howard, who offered his She had worked in senior management advice and support. The Aussie political On the morning of November 30, Bridges roles for Fonterra. (Luxon was tipped to Lazarus had opened National’s annual contacted his rival. With mere hours to go head the multinational dairy co-operative conference that year, urging MPs to get in until the caucus cast a vote, they agreed to in 2018.) Willis’ husband, Duncan Small, behind Bridges, their new leader. “Proud as meet in Wellington. Their advisers were had worked for Luxon, as Air New Zealand’s you may be of your former leaders, every oblivious, scrambling to book two venues for head of government affairs. The mother of new leader is entitled to make his own the post-decision media conference. Bridges four powered through the party rankings, impression,” Howard said. In 2021, Bridges wanted the grand Legislative Council Cham- from 45 to 13 under Collins. She made a was ready for another crack. ber, where he’d first addressed journalists name for herself grilling Housing Minister He had support but fell short of the 16 as leader in 2018. Luxon wanted the curved Megan Woods, with a particular emphasis votes needed to triumph. Collins and her on how a shortage of homes was affecting low-income families. Willis, aged 41, was appointed for her political nous and expe- rience. But with a no-nonsense, head-girl manner, it was also anticipated she wouldn’t 28 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

shy away from instilling discipline. raised a Mormon but renounced her faith Pre-ordained: Bridges, right, struck a deal STUFF Her elevation to deputy leader was partly in her twenties to support gay rights. For which allowed Luxon to ascend to party the past few years, there was concern that leadership. down to optics. The caucus liked the contrast the balance in the National caucus tipped of Willis’s social liberalism, particularly on towards social conservatism, and one of beliefs. “My faith is personal to me. It is not abortion rights, gay marriage and euthana- its many fractures was along religious in itself a political agenda.” Luxon appeared sia, with Luxon’s social conservatism. His lines. The observant MPs were known as to be trying to have a bob each way, placat- worship at the Upper Room, a Christian ing those nervous of “The Taliban” while fundamentalist church, made waves ever Luxon appeared to be appealing to the Christian Right. Willis was since his entry into politics. The church’s trying to have a bob a ballast, but Luxon went further: ruling out American-born pastor had expressed alt- each way, placating changing abortion laws if elected prime right views on social media, which Luxon those nervous of ‘The minister, and changing his vote in order to later decried. Shortly after Luxon’s selec- Taliban’ while appealing support safe zones outside abortion clinics, tion as the party’s candidate for Botany, the to the Christian right. when he had previously opposed legislation Newmarket church stripped its website of to create them. The 52-year-old also claimed some of the more controversial sermons. “The Taliban”. Among their number were he had stopped attending church five years Once chosen, Luxon laid out his views, Bridges, an Anglican whose father was a earlier. Among the conservative elements in saying he was personally against decrimi- Baptist minister, Simon O’Connor, Simeon caucus, the apparent dilution of his princi- nalising abortion or euthanasia. At the time, Brown, Harete Hipango and Maureen Pugh. ples was quietly noted. the country was a year out from twin ref- erendums on the issues. “My faith is a very Alfred Ngaro, who holds a theological “The media have got him wrong, think- personal thing … it gives me mission and degree, Agnes Loheni and Paulo Garcia, a ing he’s a Christian fundy conservative,” a purpose,” he said. Luxon wore his social con- devout Catholic, had not returned to Parlia- senior party figure says. “He is more com- servatism on his sleeve. On his first day as ment after the 2020 election. fortable with the ideas of Barack Obama a candidate, he went further than National than [former Canadian prime minister] Party policy in supporting the withdrawal Media interviewers continued to bait Stephen Harper or Boris Johnson. He’s not of single-parent support benefits from Luxon on his beliefs. He confronted the particularly different parents who don’t vaccinate their children. issue head-on in his maiden speech, argu- from Ardern. Economi- Luxon later revealed he had recently turned ing that just because he held a Christian cally, maybe.” down a job running a California-based can- faith did not mean he had extreme views. nabis company. He believed the risk to the It anchored him and gave his life purpose, Extracted from Blue mental health of young users was too great. he said, and he argued a person should not Blood: the Inside Story be elected nor rejected because of their of the National Party Luxon’s faith continued to be a curiosity. in Crisis, by Andrea New Zealand is a largely secular society, Vance (HarperCollins, and both prime ministers Helen Clark and John Key were agnostic. Jacinda Ardern was $36.99). JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 29

SARAH MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY PROFILE Lauren Roche: “Having multiple projects on the go keeps my brain active.” 30 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

The plot thickens She’s been a teen stowaway, a prostitute, and a GP. So it’s not entirely surprising that Lauren Roche has now turned to fiction writing, in the latest chapter of her extraordinary life. bySHARONSTEPHENSON T here’s a Japanese word, rediscovery. There is pain, but there is also jobs, from working at McDonald’s to ikigai, which means having a lot of laughter and light.” cleaning the corridors of Wellington a direction or purpose in Hospital, ironically the same corridors she life. Although there’s no It’s a journalistic cliché to go hunting later walked as a doctor. literal English translation, for the tragedy in someone’s life, but you it’s a philosophy that embodies the art of don’t have to search far with Roche. She Seeking adventure, at 16 she stowed living a balanced, slower life – one that was born in Wellington, the oldest of three away on an American naval ship, spend- brings joy. daughters, to parents she says “didn’t really ing 21 days in complete darkness, unable know what they were doing”. to sit up in the tiny cupboard she was Mention to Dr Lauren Roche that she secreted in. “One of the sailors brought me may have achieved ikigai and, eye roll “Mum was 18 when she had me and food and I would pee in a can. But I refused aside, the GP-turned-author will agree. Dad was 21. They were bright but under- to poo in the can, so I held on for 21 days!” “These days, I have a nice quiet life,” she educated and my childhood was pretty says from her home in Northland’s Tutu- chaotic.” It’s probably not surprising that this kaka, a hefty stone’s throw from the water. story doesn’t end well: two months after “I actually live a hermit life, which I love.” She’s not airbrushing it: there were vari- arriving, Roche was arrested for being an ous moves across the Tasman and never illegal immigrant. She spent three weeks I’m calling to chat about the 60-year-old’s enough money, food or love to go around. in a Texas jail before being deported. debut novel, Mila and the Bone Man. Set When Roche was eight, she was sexually in the Far North, close to where Roche has Back in Wellington, she was working as lived for seven years, it centres around “I picked medicine a fire-eating stripper and prostitute when Mila, a young woman of Croatian heritage, because it was the most she discovered she was pregnant with son and her Māori neighbour Tommy, whose challenging thing I could Paul (now 42). It wasn’t her finest hour: passion for the bush and bones changes find – to try and nullify “We did some terrible things back then, her life in ways she couldn’t imagine. “It’s the bad things I’d done things like rolling Korean sailors for their a story of deep friendship and complex and absolve myself.” wallets.” grief and the way that affects people. And how these characters, who are of the forest, abused by the father and brother of her TURNING POINT seek healing and solace from that forest.” mother’s boyfriend. Like her mother, Roche was stalked Before we get to that, and chat about “Blood was running down my leg, so I by post-natal depression and tried to why Roche gave up medicine to write, we told Mum I fell on a stick,” she recalls. “I commit suicide. Unlike her mother, it first have to dip into how she got here, to a think she suspected what had happened proved Roche’s turning point. “When I writing hut in dense native bush, her five- because she sent me to live with my was in hospital, one of the doctors said month-old puppy at her feet. grandparents.” to me, ‘Do you have any dreams for your life?’ I told him I’d always wanted to be a It’s an astonishing story that has eve- Her mother, who struggled with drug doctor, and he smirked. But while I was rything: prostitution, fire-eating, prison, and alcohol abuse and mental-health in the psych unit, I realised my life was sexual abuse, bankruptcy, medical school, issues, fatally overdosed when she was 32 turning into my mother’s and that educa- drugs and suicide. There’s even a ship- and Roche was 14. “I was living in Auck- tion was the only way to stop it. I picked wreck, an Ironman competition and three land with an aunt at the time, so for years medicine because it was the biggest, most marriages. I felt as though I’d let Mum down because challenging thing I could find – to try she died alone. It took me a long time to and nullify the bad things I’d done and It’s the kind of story, if Hollywood ever unpick that grief.” absolve myself.” got its hands on it, in which you just know Kate Winslet would play the role of Roche. Roche was bright but left school at 15. Roche returned to high school to There followed a cycle of soul-sapping complete her last three years, repeating It was the subject of Roche’s 1999 seventh form because she became preg- memoir, Bent not Broken, in which she nant with her second son, Christopher wrote, “My life is one of dreams lost (now 37). and found again, of abandonment and JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 31

PROFILE 1 23 LAUREN ROCHE COLLECTION Put it down to her rugged Viking roots, Because she wasn’t working or paying life, all will be fine. My life has been a or the determination she wears like a her bills, the debts piled up and Roche mess, then it hasn’t been, then it has been shield, but there was never any question declared bankruptcy in 1995. “I was too a mess again. In the second book, I was Roche wouldn’t finish what she’d started. messed up and depressed to figure a trying to figure out why I’ve had so many “My grandmother looked after my eldest way out, but too embarrassed to go on a ups and downs in my life.” while Christopher came to Otago Uni- benefit.” versity with me. He had epilepsy and was There was a third marriage, and autistic, so it was a challenge raising him A friend offered her a lifeline – work eventual divorce, to a plumber in Napier. on my own and studying medicine.” at a Kāpiti Lotto shop – which she did for And the realisation that although Roche a year. It gave her the mental space to had managed to put some of her psycho- She’d rise at 4am to revise, and often start writing. “I wrote a medical column logical demons back in their box, she’d felt like a fish out of water. “I had this neglected the physical ones. recurring dream of getting kicked out “I remember my first because I wasn’t good enough. But I swimming lesson at “My weight had climbed to 103kg and remember Professor Eru Pōmare saying the local pool where I was tired all the time. I wanted to do to me, ‘We need more doctors like you, so five- and six-year-olds something positive for my health.” don’t let them get you down.’” were beating me.” True to form, she picked the hardest Roche had her heart set on obstetrics in a magazine and started thinking about thing she could find – the Ironman com- and gynaecology, but juggling 48-hour what I wanted to write. Even though my petition, a gruelling 3.9km swim, 180km shifts with young children wasn’t a good parents had issues, they were both great bike ride and 42.2km run. fit, so she became a GP, first in Welling- readers and passed that love of books on ton, then Paraparaumu, Palmerston to me. As kids, we’d have boxes of second- “I could only swim three strokes, North and Napier. “I’ve been gradually hand books from the Salvation Army.” hadn’t ridden a bike since I was 20 moving towards the sun,” she laughs. and couldn’t run. I remember my first EXTREME EXERCISE swimming lesson at the local pool where Being a respected GP didn’t automati- five- and six-year-olds were beating me. cally cancel out her demons: a gruelling Once Roche started writing, she couldn’t Their parents, many of whom were my work schedule ended her second mar- stop. She followed Bent not Broken with patients, were watching, which was riage (her first, to a Canadian national a second memoir, Life on the Line. “I hugely embarrassing.” for a visa, lasted a day) and then her old finished the first book on a positive note, nemesis, depression, returned. “I started but I didn’t want people to think that, if But Roche persevered, and despite an prescribing myself sleeping tablets and you get an education and change your injury that meant she had to walk the became addicted.” race instead of run, 18 months later she completed it in 16 hours, 36 minutes. There was another failed suicide attempt, which ended with Roche being While training for her second Iron- “treated in hospital by doctors who were man, Roche injured her back. Two my juniors. It was mortifying.” surgeries followed, leaving her with spinal cord damage. It put an end to exer- cise and left her in daily pain. “All I can 32 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

45 1. Roche as a toddler. 2. At a 1981 Springbok tour protest in Wellington. 3. Graduating with a Master of Creative Writing from AUT in 2021. 4. Competing in the Taupō Ironman in 2007. 5. With Winnie the poodle at Hibiscus Hospice, Whangaparāoa, in 2012. do these days is a gentle walk in the bush. them because they didn't want to spend Roche laughs for a really long time I can’t drive far or sit for long.” 10 seconds doing something to help when I ask if she’s scratched her literary nature. I wondered how that kind of itch. “I’m just getting started,” she says in It also signalled an end to Roche's selfishness would feel for someone of a tone that suggests this is only the tip of medical career, because one side effect of the forest.” the writing iceberg. the injury was incontinence. “Having to go to the toilet every 15 minutes doesn't The first draft of the manuscript, Her writing hut, tucked into the 4ha really work when you’re in a public- completed in 2019, was from the perspec- property she shares with her partner, facing role.” tive of a young Māori woman. But that coffee roaster Graham Allen, has seen eventually proved problematic. a lot of action lately. There’s the manu- It was the break she needed to become script Roche completed as part of her a full-time writer, but this time of fiction. “I consulted with Māori and one master’s degree in creative writing at Auckland University of Technology, “I had outright hatred from some “One person whose Songs to Sing to the Dying, a book she in my family when my memoirs were opinion I respect said describes as “a metafictional postmod- published, so Dad begged me to pick on having me write from ern pastiche that personifies death and someone else’s family story. I remember the Māori perspective demystifies some aspects of dying”. the local community paper running was culturally really a story about my first book with the confronting.” Her second completed manuscript, set headline: ‘From Stripper and Prostitute in the 1850s, tells the story of two artists to Doctor’. Dad was so worried about his person whose opinion I deeply respect competing to illustrate the medical text- parents seeing it that he ran up and down said having me write from the Māori book Gray’s Anatomy. the street grabbing newspapers out of perspective was culturally really letter boxes.” confronting. I realised that Mila didn't There are other books in the pipeline – have to be Māori to be part of the natural “having multiple projects on the go keeps JUST GETTING STARTED world, so I rewrote it, giving her Euro- my brain active” – and the rest of the day pean heritage and making Tommy, the is filled in with reading, playing with her It’s the nature of memoir that other autistic boy next door, Māori. bichon puppy, Lucy Jordan, and trying to people can get caught in the crossfire. answer all the questions on the TV show Roche says since many in her family are “Writer Pip Adam, who was my mentor The Chase. no longer alive to defend their stories, she for this novel, agreed it was good to decided to switch to fiction. change the ethnicity of my protagonist It is, she concedes, her own take on and I’m thrilled with how it turned out.” ikigai. “My injury really opened up my life The idea for Mila and the Bone Man and allowed me to do something else I love. came in 2018 when she was running Once again, I’ve totally changed my life.” l through the bush. “There had been all this publicity about kauri dieback,” she Mila and the Bone Man (Quentin Wilson explains. “So, they’d set up sanitisation Publishing, $37.99) is available on stations around the bush, but I watched August 18. runner after runner swerve around JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 33

LANGUAGE Game of the name British podcaster and performer Helen Zaltzman is never lost for words to set her off on linguistic adventures. byMARKBROATCH Lots of inventions at least you’ve got this saxophone by [his] Word associations: Helen and discoveries get surviving.” Zaltzman’s language named after people explorations include forays into – the biro pen, the Zaltzman is touring the country next the origins of eponyms, puns and sandwich, degrees month with her language show, The Allu- profanities. Celsius – but there is frequently sionist, to talk about, among other things, little rhyme or reason to how says, mainly because he colluded this happens. Sometimes people “If something’s named with Nazis in the harm and death actively promote things taking after you, that’s quite of a lot of children. Also, he did little their names – such words are grand. But if it’s a work on the condition that was called eponyms – though many disease, people aren’t later given his name, a high-func- times through history people necessarily excited.” tioning form of autism. A British have tried to prevent it or had psychologist, Lorna Wing, named it little choice, typically because the eponyms. “Yeah, they come up quite often after him but apparently he denied association happened after they in the show. There was an episode about Dr it had anything to do with him. We were dead. Asperger quite recently,” she says, speaking talk about how Asperger was Aus- to the Listener on a Zoom call from Sydney. trian so his name would have been Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, for pronounced with a hard g – every- instance, didn't invent the terri- There were a lot of problems with Hans where you hear it pronounced ble star of the French Revolution Asperger, an Austrian paediatrician, she like purge – as apparently should and was actually opposed to capi- gerrymandering, named after US tal punishment, merely wanting politician Elbridge Gerry. “We just humane deaths. The guillotine do what we want!” she cries. was once known as the louisette, after its actual inventor, his col- Medical eponyms are tricky in league Antoine Louis. The fellow general, she says, because often who designed the Uzi machine they’re an honorific. “If some- gun, Israeli soldier Uziel Gal, thing’s named after you, that’s quite didn't want it named after him, grand. But if it’s a disease, then though Richard Gatling, who patented people aren't necessarily excited: the best known of early machine guns in ‘Oh you killed my grandmother, brilliant.’” the 1860s, was dead keen; Mikhail Kalash- Her father has Parkinson’s disease, Zaltz- nikov, designer of the AK-47 among other man says, and it is a shame to have such a weapons, wasn’t happy at the ubiquity of negative association with the English sur- the killing machines he’d created but took geon James Parkinson, who was apparently pride in their efficiency. an incredibly interesting and socially useful person who fought for workers’ rights. There’s always a story with an eponym, I mention that my grandmother suffered says British broadcaster and podcaster from another eponymic ailment: Capgras Helen Zaltzman. Some people have inter- syndrome, a delusion whereby someone esting stories unrelated to their inventions, thinks a loved one is an impostor. Luckily, like Belgian musician Adolphe Sax, inventor she liked the replacement. of the saxophone, who had a very calami- tous childhood. “He had so many near-death ADHESIVE LABELS experiences. He accidentally drank vitriol [sulphuric acid] thinking it was milk, he Often, says Zaltzman, the eponym is named swallowed a pin, got hit in the head by a not after the first person to discover cobblestone, nearly drowned, apparently something but the one with the most he was nearly asphyxiated by furniture “sticky” association. Or with foods, the first varnish. It does make you think differ- one to sell it, such as the Granny Smith apple, ently: wow, he went through all that and which was first cultivated in Australia by a woman named Smith. “I don’t think there’s 34 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

anything wrong with pavlova – it’s just about whatever I wanted and thought, GETTY IMAGES a good dessert,” she says, before I alert with language I won’t run out of things her to the trans-Tasman argument to be interested in. It’s been probably over who invented it. the most educational experience of my life, despite the formal education that I Many people may not even know had for 17 years. that some words are named after people. Boycott, for example, was “I remember when I got into The Allu- named after an overbearing British sionist, I hadn’t really learnt about all land agent in Ireland. Henry Shrap- the enormous problems as well, par- nel was a British army officer who ticularly with the English language, invented the shell. The hoover – that which, I think, is a reflection on British dated English term for a vacuum education – they don’t teach us about cleaner – might have been named the empire or anything, or that English spangler after its inventor, an asthma is not a global language by some kind sufferer, if he hadn’t passed it on to his of accident or lottery. As people in more moneyed cousin, Susan Hoover. Aotearoa New Zealand know all too well – there’s a lot of violence there For some eponyms, such as silhou- and bad political acts and oppression.” ette, it’s disputed how they caught on. Says Zaltzman, “[Étienne de Silhou- “It’s such a struggle ette] was a French finance minister to keep a language who introduced very severe austerity alive when you’ve measures in the mid-1700s, so his name got English got applied to things that were done stamping around.” very cheaply. And because silhouette portraits don’t have colour in, and were She came to this country three years very popular around the same time, ago, and noticed in particular the that’s how he got on those.” Although revival of te reo Māori and the begin- there’s evidence that Silhouette also nings of dual-naming of places. “As collected outline portraits, so we may language revivals go, it’s been quite a never know the truth on this one. successful one. It’s such a struggle to keep a language alive when you’ve got Before doing research, Zaltzman English stamping around.” had no idea of the history of the word “guy”. It follows Guy Fawkes, one Favourite podcast episodes? “Well, of the people executed for the 1605 obviously I hate all my work,” she says. Gunpowder Plot. Fawkes wasn’t even But Zaltzman likes being surprised by the primary person involved in the language. One episode covered how plot, she complains. That was Robert in 1880s Buenos Aires the bakers went Catesby, so we could have been saying, on strike and gave pastries names like “a good bunch of bobs” – or maybe even “priest balls” to insult the church and “guidos”, as Fawkes was also known. government. The strike lasted only 10 days and they got a big pay rise because AN EDUCATION people wanted their pastries. But the pastries retained those names. After The Allusionist has been going for that episode went out, she says, “some- seven years. How did Zaltzman, who one said, ‘You should talk to a guy who’s has Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry out doing a PhD in how in 1960s Brazil the of South Africa, get into talking about newspapers would print recipes that puns, profanity and Polari — a slang didn’t work, as a signal to readers that language — for nearly 200 episodes? they were being censored.’ “I’d always been very interested in “These little ways of protest are the history of language,” she says. “I everywhere, if you knew where to look went to a pretty old-fashioned school, for them.” l so we learnt French and Latin from the age of seven. And I studied a lot of Old The Allusionist show is on around the English and Middle English at [Oxford] country in August including at the Auck- university. land Writers Festival. See theallusionist. org/ “I did other things for years and then I got the opportunity to make a podcast 35 Title donors: From top, Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone; the hoover could have been called a spangler; Hans Asperger’s name became a syndrome. JULY 30 2022 LISTENER

LIFE HEALTH by Nicky Pellegrino Child’s best friend Assistance dogs are transforming the lives of children with autism and bringing peace of mind to their families. Impulsive and unpredictable behaviour “Some said it was was the idea of “freedom through is often a feature of autism spectrum the first time they restraint”. “Parents are often scared disorder, and taking children out of their had been able to take a child will run off,” Wright says. usual environments may be stressful the whole family to “Bolting is the term they tend to use. and risky. As a result, many families feel the zoo or a cafe.” So, children with autism may end trapped and isolated. up being strapped into a pram a lot they received an assistance dog. Not longer than typically developing Specially trained assistance dogs can change only did they venture further afield children, to keep them safe.” and visit more places with the dog, the lives of children with autism and their par- but there were fewer “meltdowns” Once tethered to a dog, which is among children, who were soothed trained to anchor them if they try ents, literally opening up their worlds and giving by its presence when feeling over- to bolt, a child with autism is free to whelmed by the sights and sounds walk without there being any fear of them greater of a new environment. them running away, perhaps towards a busy road. Alex Williams and freedom. Occupational therapist Shelley Alfie. Demand for Research- Wright says perhaps the most There have been concerns about the dogs is huge, surprising aspect of the study this use of a tether, and suggestions Williams says. ers from the that an easy-release Velcro fastening University of should be used instead. But families in the study pointed out there is no South Australia point in a harness that a child is able to rip off and, while being attached recently studied eight families and had them map the places they went before and after LISTENER JULY 30 2022

overwhelming for the child HEALTH BRIEFS with autism. But with the dog there to stroke, it made TAU PROGRESS a big difference. A new Flinders University study “The dog also acted has shown how a protein called tau, as a visual cue. Other a critical factor in the development people realised this was of Alzheimer’s disease, turns from a child with special needs normal to a disease state. The when before they might team’s findings provide hope for have assumed the child preventing the tau transformation was behaving badly.” process from happening, thus keeping tau in a healthy state and Some dogs slept with avoiding toxic effects on brain cells. the children, and perhaps Although the changes to tau have partially on them, supplying deep pressure and been known about for decades, calming them enough to sleep through the night. it remained unclear how it occurs. The children spent time leaning into their dog, The new study has solved part of the mystery. Some children used their dog to boost confidence, WATER BIRTH BENEFITS and several who were non- verbal began talking. Water births provide benefits for healthy mums and their Canine companions: watching TV with them, and considered them newborns, according to a review GETTY IMAGES Lachlan with Lady. a friend. Some also used their dog to boost their of 36 previous studies involving Inset, Sienna with confidence in stressful situations, and several 157,546 women. Researchers from Rocco. The dogs are who had been non-verbal began talking due Oxford Brookes University in the UK a calming influence to their interest in interacting with the dog. found that water immersion during and help kids cope labour and/or birth significantly out in the world. “Many parents were not sure how they reduced the use of epidurals and managed without a dog,” says Wright. injected opioids compared with to the dog may be a form of restraint, standard care. Water immersion it is one that allows more freedom In New Zealand, it costs about $75,000 to breed also reduced the likelihood of for both children and their families, and train a dog then settle it with a family, and perineum tearing and excessive giving peace of mind, and potentially the Assistance Dogs New Zealand Trust has a bleeding after birth and the need saving lives. long waiting list. for surgical perineum cutting. “It was a key reason that many Alex Williams, the trust’s fundraising VITAMIN D OVERDOSE of these families had applied for and communications manager, says the an assistance dog,” says Wright. concept is relatively new here. The organisa- Researchers from East Kent tion started in a fairly small way but is now Hospitals University NHS Previous research has shown graduating eight to 10 dogs a year. It takes at Foundation Trust in the UK have the presence of an assistance least two years to develop and train the ani- posted a warning about taking too dog reduces morning cortisol mals, and instructors also need to work with much vitamin D after they treated levels in the child and their parents, the family, supplying regular follow-ups. a man who ended up in hospital. and participants in the Australian The condition caused the man to study confirmed that their children “Demand is huge,” Williams says. “When have recurrent vomiting, nausea, were calmer. we started, we were the first organisation abdominal pain, leg cramps, here to train dogs for autism. We mostly tinnitus (ringing in the ears), a dry “Some said it was the first time work with kids and some adults with mouth, increased thirst, diarrhoea, they had been able to take the whole neurodisabilities, and given that we’re and weight loss of 12.7kg. The family on an outing to the zoo or to a a charity, can only output so many.” man had been taking a cocktail of cafe,” says Wright. “Previously, those vitamins, which pushed his calcium experiences would have been too Williams has seen for herself the difference a service dog can make for and magnesium up. But most children with autism and their families. worrying, his vitamin D “We had one client who was non-verbal levels were seven times and the dog was in a full-tether role. higher than normal. Now, that child is verbal and can interact with other kids. The dog has helped her develop, and when it retires, she may not need another one because she’s got more independence now.” l JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 37

LIFE NUTRITION by Jennifer Bowden Read the label A vegan or vegetarian diet won’t guarantee better health, but attention to detail should bring benefits. Question: Well-planned vegan foods. They do not eat meat, fish, I recently read in a newspaper article that vegan products and vegetarian dairy products, eggs or food products were often less healthy when compared with regular diets appear to containing those ingredients. food products. Vegan ready meals had more salt and improve long-term sugar than meat-based ready meals, and plant-based health outcomes. Vegetarians, in contrast, add dairy yogurts had less protein and more calories than regular products and eggs to their plant- dairy yogurts. I thought vegan diets were supposed based diets. to be healthier? Although plant-based diets are at GETTY IMAGES VAnswer: egan and vegetarian diets, when not automatically more nutritious risk of being deficient in protein, iron, well planned, are linked to a range because they are vegan. vitamin D, calcium, iodine, omega-3, of health benefits. However, the and vitamin B12, a well-planned plant- critical point here is the “well Vegans abstain from using animal based diet can meet all the nutrition products, including in their diet. requirements of otherwise healthy planned” part of the statement. They eat plant-based foods such as adults – except for vitamin B12, which vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and vegans must acquire through dietary Because there are many vegan diet options, and not seeds, and plant-derived processed supplementation. all are healthy. As you’ve read, food products are From a health perspective, well-planned, healthful vegan and 38 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

– albeit a nutritionally deficient vegetarian. NUTRITION BITES Unfortunately, the same is true when it comes HUNGER GROWS to food products. Not all vegan or vegetarian products are created equal. And often, the more World hunger is a growing processed they are, the less healthy they are problem, the World Health likely to be (which explains why nutritionists Organisation, Unicef and other recommend choosing foods as close as possible international food agencies say to their natural form). in The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. An We must pay as much estimated 828 million people attention to the nutrition were affected by hunger in 2021, profile of a vegan food some 46 million more than the product as to a “regular” year before and 150 million more food product. than in 2019. About 2.3 billion people (29.3%) were moderately vegetarian diets Sadly, a segment of the food industry is pre- or severely affected by food GETTY IMAGES appear to improve long-term health pared to invent new ways of eating poorly insecurity, about 350 million outcomes. For example, a 2017 review for consumers. For example, if you want to more than before the Covid-19 of 86 cross-sectional and 10 cohort avoid sugar, they’ll create sugar-free junk foods. pandemic began. studies found that vegetarians had a And if you want to eat vegan, they can create lower incidence of heart attacks and vegan food products that are more unhealthy UNHEALTHY PICKMEUPS cancer, and vegan diets were associ- than non-vegan foods. ated with a lower incidence of cancer. New research suggests that Vegetarianism is also associated Having said this, it does not mean that children, like adults, tend to with a lower prevalence of diabetes, the entire food industry is corrupt. gravitate towards poorer metabolic syndrome, hypertension It simply means we must pay as food choices when they are and all-cause mortality. much attention to the nutrition experiencing negative emotions. profile of a vegan food product A study published in the Journal Of course, there is no single as we would to a “regular” food of Nutrition Education and Behavior version of a vegan or vegetarian product – if we are interested has found that children chose diet. Theoretically, one could eat in our long-term health. fattier foods on days they were only French fries and baked potatoes One cannot assume a experiencing negative emotions. and still qualify as a vegetarian “vegan” label guarantees Similarly, adults have been a healthy food product, yet found to choose less nutritious we often subconsciously foods and overeat when they think this. Indeed, research- experience negative emotions. ers have termed this the “health halo effect” – the finding LOCKDOWN & EATING that consumers presume a food DISORDERS LINK to be healthier if it has healthy- sounding phrases on its packaging Norwegian researchers have reported a significant increase such as “protein”, “natural” or, in this case, in eating disorder diagnoses “vegan”. A 2018 study, for example, found that among adolescent Norwegian even when a traffic-light warning label was girls after the onset of the Covid- affixed to a food product, consumers still per- 19 pandemic, which mirrors ceived it as healthy if it had the word “protein” research findings in North America. on the front packaging. Notably, there was a 67% increase in diagnoses in primary care In summary, a well- planned vegan or vegetarian and a 278% increase diet can undoubtedly in diagnoses in produce health benefits. specialist care. The But it’s important to timing suggests compare nutrition labels societal changes between products to find induced by the the healthiest option. l pandemic, including Email your nutrition restrictions questions to listenerlife@ on young aremedia.co.nz people’s lives, education, and activities, may have played a role. JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 39

LIFE FOOD Thrill of the grill Vegan food writer Katy Beskow provides all the inspiration you need to warm up your winter with a few flames. The barbecue is the perfect place 3 garlic cloves, crushed In a bowl, toss together the peppers to cook paella, as the heat starts 1 tsp smoked paprika and courgettes with 1 tablespoon high – perfect for chargrilling 1 tsp dried oregano of the olive oil. Lay the vegetables the vegetables – before naturally 300g bomba paella rice on to the hot grill along with the reducing in temperature while the 400g canned or jarred butter lemon halves and cook for 2-3 rice is absorbing the saffron stock. I love tender minutes on each side, or until char Spanish butter beans, with a pinch of good-quality (lima) beans, drained and rinsed lines appear and the vegetables saffron for a honeyed taste. 8 pitted green olives, sliced into soften. Set aside in a bowl. SMOKY PAELLA WITH BUTTER BEANS AND OLIVES rounds Drizzle the remaining tablespoon handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, of olive oil into a 30cm carbon steel pinch of saffron strands (barbecue-safe) paella pan and place 800ml hot vegetable stock chopped the pan onto the grill. When the oil 6 mixed mini sweet (bell) peppers, halved and small handful of fresh dill, roughly is hot, add the diced onion and soften for 5-7 minutes. deseeded torn, stems discarded 1 courgette, sliced into rounds pinch of sea salt Add the garlic, smoked paprika 2 tbsp olive oil and oregano and cook for a further 1 unwaxed lemon, halved Preheat the barbecue on high heat. 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until 1 onion, finely diced Stir the saffron into the hot vegetable fragrant. stock in a jug or pan and allow to infuse. 40 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

minutes on each side, until charred in places and very tender. Remove from the grill and allow to cool while you prepare the salad. Bring a pan of water to the boil on the hob, then add the orzo. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until al dente, then thoroughly drain away the water. Add the pasta to a large bowl, then stir in the cucumber, olives, almonds, lemon juice, parsley and dill. Roughly slice the ramiro peppers, then stir into the salad. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil and stir gently to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4. BAKE THIS LIGHT and zesty lemon cake in the oven, allow to cool and rest (preferably overnight), then grill on the barbecue to create layers of flavour in the dessert. Whip up a bowl of limoncello-infused cream, then top with crunchy pistachios. Stir in the rice and coat in the From left, smoky GRILLED LEMON CAKE WITH LIMONCELLO CREAM mixture for a couple of minutes, paella with butter AND PISTACHIOS then add in half the stock. Cover beans and olives; the pan with kitchen foil or close charred pepper orzo 250g (2 cups) self-raising flour the barbecue lid and cook for 15-20 salad with olives; 100g (½ cup) caster sugar minutes, or until most of the stock grilled lemon cake ¾ tsp baking powder has absorbed. Stir in the remaining with limoncello 250ml (1 cup) sweetened soya milk stock along with the butter beans and cream and pistachios. 100ml sunflower oil cook for a further 10 minutes, until 1 tsp good-quality vanilla extract the stock is absorbed and the dish is long and slim and have a thin skin, zest and juice of ½ unwaxed lemon starchy and thickened. so they cook quickly and become 270ml vegan double cream, chilled very tender with little effort from 2 tbsp limoncello Scatter the cooked vegetables over you. Serve the salad either warm 2 tbsp shelled pistachios, roughly chopped the top and squeeze over the charred or chilled. lemons. Scatter on the olives, flat-leaf Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a small baking tray parsley and dill. Season with salt to CHARRED PEPPER ORZO SALAD WITH (30cm x 20cm) with baking paper. taste, then allow to stand off the heat OLIVES for 5-10 minutes before eating. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and 2 ramiro peppers, halved lengthways baking powder. In a jug, whisk together the soya Serves 4. and deseeded milk, sunflower oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice. Fold the liquid mixture into the dry mixture HOT TIP 1 tbsp good-quality olive oil, plus extra until just combined. for drizzling Prepare all the ingredients before you Pour into the lined baking tray, then bake in start cooking so you can easily throw 250g dried orzo pasta the oven for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden together the paella on the barbecue, 2 baby cucumbers, thinly sliced and risen. Remove from the oven and allow to with everything you need to hand. cool before cutting into 6 squares. Rest the cake (or ¼ regular cucumber, diced) overnight, or for at least 6 hours. TENDER AND JUICY peppers, orzo 8 black pitted olives, thinly sliced pasta, olives, lemon juice and fresh 1 tbsp flaked (slivered) almonds When you are ready to serve, preheat the baby cucumbers are combined in this juice of ½ unwaxed lemon barbecue on high heat. satisfying salad. Ramiro peppers are handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, Add the double cream to a large bowl and stir in finely chopped the limoncello. Use an electric whisk or stand mixer small handful of fresh dill, finely to beat the cream until whipped and light. Set aside. chopped Carefully place the squares of cake on to the hot generous pinch of sea salt and black grill. Allow to cook for about 1 minute until char lines appear, then turn them over. Remove from pepper the heat before a golden crust forms on the cake. Preheat the barbecue to medium heat. Place the grilled cake squares on serving plates Brush the ramiro peppers all over and top with a spoonful of the whipped cream. with olive oil. Place the peppers on Scatter with chopped pistachios and serve while to the hot grill and cook for about 5-6 the cake is still hot. Serves 6. JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 41

LIFE WINE by Michael Cooper Forget your ABCs Often overlooked, Central Otago chardonnay is gaining in popularity. Chocolate mousse Think Central Otago classy, concentrated and finely with smoked salt. wine, think pinot poised wine, with deep grapefruit noir. Think Central and peach flavours, a subtle oak RICH CHOCOLATE MOUSSE is taken to the Otago white wine, and influence, cool-climate vigour and next level with a pinch of smoked sea salt. Salt you probably think pinot gris or a long finish. Best drinking 2024+. enhances the flavour of chocolate, making it riesling, rather than chardonnay. (14% alc/vol) $66 “pop” and intensify. It also gives a subtle crunch to the top of the dessert. Smoked sea salt is Why is that? In Burgundy, home Māori Point Single Vineyard Central available in supermarkets; it’s worth keeping of the world’s most esteemed Otago Chardonnay 2021 some in the cupboard to add a hit of smokiness pinot noirs, the dominant white- Already enjoyable, this youthful to other dishes, too. wine variety is chardonnay. But wine was hand-picked at a Bendigo in the first decade of this century, hilltop site and fermented and CHOCOLATE MOUSSE WITH SMOKED SALT when Central Otago’s pinot noir lees-aged for 10 months in oak plantings were exploding, many barrels. Light lemon/green, it 340g silken tofu wine consumers around the world is full-bodied, with fresh, ripe, 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces belonged to the ABC (Anything But peachy flavours, mealy notes 4 tbsp maple syrup Chardonnay) club. adding complexity, balanced 1 tsp good-quality vanilla extract acidity and excellent depth and pinch of smoked sea salt flakes Between 2002 and 2008, when harmony. (14% alc/vol) $36 Central Otago’s area of bearing Add the silken tofu to a high-powered jug pinot noir vines soared from Te Kano Central Otago Chardonnay blender and blitz on high until smooth, 264ha to 1198ha, the area of 2020 or use a stick blender to blitz it in a bowl. bearing chardonnay vines rose Hand-picked, barrel-fermented from just 62 to 67ha. Today, the and matured on its yeast lees Add the dark chocolate pieces to a heatproof region’s pinot gris plantings are for nine months, this regional bowl, then melt over a pan of simmering water, more than double chardonnay’s, blend is mouthfilling and making sure the base of the bowl does not touch but the quality of chardonnays vibrantly fruity, with fresh the water. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate from the Deep South is capturing acidity, very good intensity has melted into a shiny liquid, then carefully widespread interest. of peachy, citrusy flavours, add to the blended tofu. oak-ageing complexity and a Domaine-Thomson Surveyor dry, lengthy finish. Already Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract Thomson Clutha Left Bank enjoyable, it should be at its and blend again to ensure the mixture is silky Chardonnay 2021 best 2024+. (14% alc/vol) $38 l smooth. Spoon into 4 ramekin dishes, then chill This stylish, single-vineyard in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight, wine was hand-picked on the WINE OF THE WEEK until set. Just before serving, sprinkle over the left bank of the Clutha River, at smoked sea salt. Lowburn. Bright, light yellow/ Aitken’s Folly Riverbank Road green, it is lemon-scented, youthful Central Otago Chardonnay 2019 Serves 4. and tightly structured, with fresh acidity and strong citrusy, Estate-grown at Wānaka HOT TIP peachy, slightly biscuity flavours, and barrel-fermented, this showing very good vibrancy and youthful, vigorous wine is a Silken tofu can be complexity. Best drinking 2024+. distinctly cool-climate style found in most super- (13.5% alc/vol) $45 of chardonnay. Fragrant, it is markets. It’s often medium to full-bodied, with found in the world Felton Road Block 2 Central Otago vibrant citrusy, peachy flavours, foods aisle. l Chardonnay 2020 finely integrated oak adding This is an edited extract This typically outstanding wine is complexity and a crisp, steely, from VEGAN BBQ, grown in a special part of The Elms lingering finish. Best drinking by Katy Beskow (Quadrille Vineyard in front of the winery, 2023+. (12.7% alc/vol) $28 Publishing, $35). which has the oldest vines. Bright, light yellow/green, it is a very 42 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

PSYCHOLOGY been struck by a recent upswing in psychological authorities talking about stoicism. One of them is by Marc Wilson Johannes Karl, a colleague who has been looking at how modern stoicism relates to wellbeing. Human virtues The term “stoicism” typically conjures up ideas that can be summarised by phrases The values-based philosophy of the such as “stiff upper lip” – the idea that being Stoics of ancient Greece has influenced stoic means sucking it up. many modern psychological therapies. Contemporary lay conceptions of stoicism have A thens is dotted with important for many reasons but, for evolved to encompass the idea that we should GETTY IMAGES places to see really the purpose of this column, it’s nota- endure, hide and not discuss the slings and arrows old stuff. There’s ble as the place where students of the of our daily experience; that we should be unemo- many a fenced-off early school of Stoicism congregated. tional types like Spock in Star Trek, and brush off ruin with a plaque In fact, Stoicism took its name from the existential fear of knowing we’re all going to describing the ancient structure the word stoa. die some day. But there’s rather more to stoicism within. The Acropolis Museum is built than this. Indeed, Karl’s research shows that buying over an ongoing excavation of ancient The people who into this “misunderstood” stoicism predicts poorer structures which you can see through brought you cognitive wellbeing and happiness. In particular, having a glass sections of the first floor. behavioural therapy stiff upper lip and an attitude of “sucking it up” explicitly acknow- predicted less hedonic and eudaemonic wellbeing Among the places to visit is the ledge this lineage. – happiness experienced through pleasure and a Ancient Agora of Athens – a large sense of meaning and purpose. area studded with ruins, some recon- “Psychology”, as my structed, that served as a meeting undergraduate philosophy In fact, the early Stoics argued first and foremost place for citizens going about their professor Kim Sterelny that we should try to live in a manner consistent daily business. My favourite part is told us, “is philosophy’s with our ideals, and not just any ideal but the vir- the massive Stoa of Attalos. This is a bastard offspring”, and I’ve tues that define us as human beings. For the Stoics, giant, rectangular, two-storey building we are defined by our social nature – we work best with pillars along one side and rooms Enduring stoic: Star Trek’s Mr Spock. when we work together. We are certainly not the along the other. The reconstructed Above, Zeno of Citium, the founder only social species, however – consider gorillas, stoa has been adapted to house the of Stoicism. dolphins or even bees. But what we definitely have Museum of the Ancient Agora. over these primates, cetaceans and invertebrates is that we are rational and able to control ourselves There are stoa in pretty much (Twitter evidence to the contrary notwithstanding). every place where ancient Greeks For the Stoics, we should strive to be good human made a home. The Stoa of Attalos is beings, and that means living up to our sociality and controlled rationality. But, as with any good fairy tale, life is littered with distractions that can turn us from the path of virtue. Distractions such as people who aren’t good for us, or obsessions with things we don’t need, might look like they’re what we require to be happy when in fact they mire us down and keep us from reaching our human potential. Contemporary psychological therapies owe a considerable debt to the Stoics. The people who brought you rational emotive behavioural therapy, and its more recent counterpart, cognitive behav- ioural therapy, explicitly acknowledge this lineage. The “distractions” that mire us down are the irrational thought patterns that get in the way of us living our lives to the full – “I’m no good at anything”, or “I’m unlovable”, for example. Indeed, these therapies, and others such as dialectical behavioural therapy and acceptance and commit- ment therapy, give a lot of weight to working out what it is that we value and the “virtues” that are important to us, and living in harmony with them. l JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 43

LIFE SCIENCE earliest upright fossils also appeared to be well- adapted to climbing trees. by Bob Brockie Areas of forest once thought to be pristine and uninhabited are found to have once supported millions of people in dense settlements. For example, people who first arrived in Sri Lanka, about 45,000 years ago, did not settle on the coasts but headed directly inland to dense forests. There, fossil bones and artefacts show they lived in jungle caves and ate monkeys and giant squirrels, which they shot with bows and arrows. State of origin In 2017, archaeologists discovered what is thought to be the earliest cave paintings yet Archaeology continues to turn up fossil discovered: three wild pigs painted deep in a evidence that humans may not have limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi evolved only on Africa’s savannahs. some 45,000 years ago. The pictures are the earliest known examples of representational art. Scientists have long sup- in search of prey or predators. Longer posed that early humans legs enabled them to walk or run long There are 40,000-year-old cave paintings in evolved on African distances and develop “adroit move- Borneo that depict human figures, hand silhou- savannahs. But that idea ments, swiftness and stealth” (to quote ettes, boats, geometric patterns and wild cattle, which survive to this day in the country’s interior. has become questionable. an early theorist). It freed up ape- The Amazon rainforest stretches over many The traditional theory suggests men’s arms and hands. They evolved countries, from Brazil to Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and our chimp-like ancestors used their longer opposable thumbs and shorter, Venezuela. In the north-west of the Colombian Amazon, at the remote site known as Serranía de la long arms and short legs to climb and Lindosa, a 13km-long white cliff is marked with thou- sands of astonishing wall paintings that are more swing through the African jungles. The physical evidence than 12,000 years old. The painters must have used On the ground, they walked on all ladders or scaffolds to reach high up on the cliffs. The detailed paintings depict many now-extinct fours and on their knuckles. Between is misleading, as animals such as giant sloths, mastodons, camelids, 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, the human remains are ice-age horses and hunting scenes. La Lindosa was African climate dried out and many better fossilised declared a protected archaeological area in 2018. forested parts turned into open grass- in savannahs than land, especially in east Africa. they are in forests. Using aerial radar, a team of German scientists has just discovered a mind-blowing, large, densely As forests disappeared and apemen populated urban settlement under the Bolivian moved on to the savannahs, they jungle. Ground excavations show the settlement to be 1000 to 1700 years old, with pyramids up to 20m underwent a suite of skeletal changes. tall, as well as platforms, reservoirs and canals, all surrounded by many kilometres of elevated roads GETTY IMAGES They adapted to their new home or causeways. There are many more ancient cave and rock-shelter paintings, hand prints and stencils by evolving longer legs and walking straighter fingers – all the better for in the South American rainforest, from the Andes to the Amazon basin. upright. Bipedalism allowed the earli- throwing objects, clubbing prey (or Until recently, the savannah theory was plausible est humans to see over the tall grass each other) and for handling objects because most of the physical evidence pointed that way. But the physical evidence is misleading, as with dexterity. human remains are better fossilised in savannahs than they are in forests. In forests, human remains About 200,000 years ago, their soon disintegrate in the acidic soil. brains started to grow dramatically, Migrating out of Africa, early people were prob- ably opportunists. As hunter-gatherers, we lived and some 100,000 to 50,000 years ago, wherever we could maintain ourselves, probably exploiting a mosaic of empty, patchy savannahs and Homo sapiens developed the power jungles, woodlands and scrub lands, coasts or tiny islands. Humans were even butchering mammoths of complex speech. near the Siberian Arctic Circle some 45,000 years ago. Then we invented agriculture and started But many recent fossil discoveries chopping and burning down the world’s forests. l call the savannah theory Out of Africa: into question. A number cave art at of fossil apemen have been Serranía de unearthed with human- la Lindosa. like feet, and some of the LISTENER JULY 30 2022

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BOOKS Mind hunter JP Pomare is about to release his latest thriller, his fifth in five years. He speaks to Linda Herrick about his rocky childhood, his obsession with psychology, the lack of violence in his books and why his new novel is set in the US. A s part of his job, New Zea- Megan Abbott, Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan JP Pomare hasn’t lived here for years, land crime thriller writer JP Beach, a lot of Stephen King’s older stuff, basing himself in Melbourne on and off Pomare spends a lot of time all with a strong sense of middle America.” since 2007. He met his wife, Paige, there thinking about pathological and they married six years ago. behaviour, trying to figure out why people Pomare generally avoids portray- do bad things. And, on the phone from his ing overt violence, unlike many of his The Pomare whānau is Ngāpuhi, from home in Melbourne, Pomare is also on peers. “Sometimes I do wonder about the Poutō on the Kaipara Harbour in North- the job, chatting about his new book, The sensationalism of violence, which sort of land. “I don’t speak much te reo, which Wrong Woman. becomes the story, the thrill for certain is something I’ve always felt some regret readers,” he says. “But I don’t know if I about,” he says. “When you become an With his two-year-old daughter, Blake, want those readers. I like the Hitchcock adult, you always look back at the missed burbling away in the background, Pomare thing, where the most horrible things opportunities from school to learn music is warm and generous with his time, or languages. It’s much more difficult which, in terms of work commitments, is “I like the Hitchcock when you are working and raising a already pinned down until 2024. thing, where the most family, particularly in another country. horrible things could His fifth novel in as many years, The happen, but you draw “I don’t feel a deep connection with Wrong Woman confirms his growing the reader’s attention my whakapapa up north. I’d like to get confidence as a writer, combining psycho- somewhere else.” up there and take my daughter soon. I logical acuity and interesting characters see my kuia [grandmother] every few with a slick, unpredictable narrative. could happen, but you draw the reader’s years. She and my koro, who passed over attention to something else.” a decade ago, were my closest connection Before he got into crime, Pomare, who to my kaumātua and the iwi.” was born Josh, used to write what he At 33, Pomare seems young to have called “shitty literary stories”, emulating such a prodigious output, although, as he In marketing terms, Pomare’s “ter- “the dead white men” he’d been reading, points out, “It’s one of the only industries ritories” include Britain, the US and like Kurt Vonnegut and Samuel Beckett. where you still qualify as young at my – interestingly – South Korea, but he’s age.” Pomare’s first book, Call Me Evie, set had a faithful following on both sides of But he realised he might be able to build the Australasian publishing scene abuzz. the Tasman from the start. a bigger readership by crafting less pre- Here was an exciting new “New Zealand tentious “genre fiction” – in his case, loose writer” – and a Māori crime writer to Call Me Evie collected the 2019 Ngaio interpretations of the thriller. boot. But he doesn’t fit an exact mould. Marsh Award for Best First Novel, and his Yes, Pomare is a “New Zealand writer”, third book, Tell Me Lies, was shortlisted Until now, his books have been set in who grew up on a farm near Rotorua run for last year’s Ngaios and Australia’s Australia or New Zealand. But The Wrong by his horse-breeder dad, Bill Pomare Ned Kelly Award. The Last Guests, his Woman moves the action to a small college (now aged 73), a colourful character in 2021 novel set in the Rotorua region, is town in the US, in which an old-school racing circles who ran a horse, Ocean longlisted for this year’s Ngaio Marsh private investigator accidentally stumbles Billy, in last year’s Melbourne Cup. Bill Awards, with the finalists announced in across an online “dating” website that has also given his son shares in one of his August. matches rich older men with very young horses, which Pomare senior named Call working-class girls. Me Evie, a sign of his parental pride. To his great satisfaction, Pomare dumped his “mind-numbing” job “It’s an American story – how the police – working for his brother’s mar- operate, the presence of guns and opioids, keting company – as soon as he started on very privileged wealthy men, the power imbalance,” he says. “I spent a great deal of JP Pomare: “I don’t speak much te reo, which is time reading books with a strong sense of something I’ve always felt some regret about.” setting, and watching TV shows like Mare of Easttown, really brilliant crime. I read 46 LISTENER JULY 30 2022



BOOKS the first book. “My publisher [Hachette] came back together as whānau. at Rotorua’s Waiariki Institute creative- was excited enough to give me a decent “I wasn’t a super-bad kid,” he adds. “I writing programme set him on a path of advance, and since then has been really intensive reading, tentative writing and supportive. I’ve had a good run here and was distracted and kind of overexcited, I creating a podcast, On Writing, where he in other territories, so I haven’t needed to had insomnia. At high school, you can get quizzed authors on their motivation and worry about it.” anxious. Navigating high school was one methods. thing; throw in every other element and it That Pomare has been able to sharpen was a cocktail for disaster.” Pomare’s hunger for information his focus on writing seems remarkable underpins his decision-making, now, given his childhood, which had some After leaving home, Pomare kept including his diet. He’s pescatarian, very rough patches. He was the youngest attending Western Heights High School, avoiding meat but occasionally eating a of four children born to Bill Pomare and living with a friend whose mother – Sue limited range of fish. “Growing up on the his second wife, Pauline, a nurse. Pauline’s Werry – was a teacher. “She really helped farm has a lot to do with it,” he says. “One death of ovarian cancer when JP was 10, me get on track.” of the things I often think about is my diet, with two older brothers and a sister, hit Pomare had already developed what he calls “a passion for stories and, more the whole family hard. “I want to understand and for me it began as a moral imperative “It was an unusual time, and before that, my own biases and – the best thing for the planet. reasons for the too,” says Pomare. “That presented a whole way I think.” “Personally, I don’t feel comfortable lot of challenges for everyone, not just about killing animals to eat them. When Dad but all the kids. I think we are all still broadly, the idea of narrative, seeking the we were kids, we would watch the lambs deeply affected by that. Everyone is obvi- causes and effects of the world around being slaughtered. They had names. We ously a product of their history, but I think me”. used to have a Lamb, Calf and Kid Day at we were particularly shaken by it. primary school and you’d bring your pet “I also had an obsession with psychol- lambs, you’d do “leading” and all sorts of “It wasn’t sudden – there were about ogy. I remember, when I was still living things to show them off. Six months later, three years when Mum was deeply unwell at home, as a teenager going into Roto- you’d eat them. Those memories were and the cancer kept coming. So then there rua Public Library and searching out a formative.” were four kids, and it fell to Dad.” couple of random psychology books. I was so interested in it. When I met Paige, As for the future, “I’m growing more When Bill formed a new relationship she thought I was the strangest person and more interested in helping Bipoc with a woman who moved in with her own because she’d get in my car and a psychol- [black, indigenous and people of colour] child, there was an outbreak of hostilities. ogy text book would be on the player. I and First Nations writers enter the indus- was interested in group psychology and try, or at least develop and learn,” he says. “Oh yeah,” says Pomare. “My sister was behavioural economics. I guess I want to “Particularly those who want to enter a 12, and my brothers were 14 and 15. I guess understand my own biases and reasons more commercial space but feel pushed a lot of our pain and frustration, we put it for the way I think.” towards literary fiction.” on her in many ways. We are fine with her now, but we had a big falling out.” Aged 18, after a brief interlude at Victo- And then there is his father, a man of so ria University of Wellington studying law, many stories. “I think there’s an inevita- Bill Pomare, who was kicked out of Pomare entered a restless period of travel bility that I will write Dad’s biography at his adoptive home when he was 15, and dreary jobs, including a bakery, where some stage,” he says. “There are the legal unwittingly established an unwelcome he subsisted on bread, and a menswear obligations, with my contracts, but then precedent. Pomare laughs. “Dad was shop. there is every other form of narrative I kicked out, my eldest brother, Kent, was can pursue. It’s quite exciting. Technically, kicked out and I was kicked out when I But a year of correspondence study I am young.” l was 15. So from the outside, it would have looked like the wheels were really falling THE WRONG WOMAN, by JP Pomare off, but I relished the independence and (Hachette, $36.99) is out now. the freedom. There was a period when we all hated each other, but years later, we all 48 LISTENER JULY 30 2022

Oceans of optimism A hopeful narrative about the rewilding of our oceans takes aim at destructive fishing practices. by VERONIKA MEDUNA REWILDING THE SEA, by Charles Clover of wolves to Yellowstone National Park , Charles Clover: acknowledges the many (Witness Books, $40) is out in paperback next the re-emergence of these glistening top challenges the ocean faces. week. predators is restoring the function of the If we allowed great whales to recover to entire marine ecosystem, bringing back industrial-scale fishing, and the particu- pre-whaling numbers, they alone could rare petrels and northern skua to join in larly destructive trawling and dredging, strip as much carbon from the atmosphere on the feast. Clover credits the ecological as the greatest, but also most solvable, as some of the highest-polluting nations turnaround to local political decisions that problem. He devotes an entire chapter to release into it – simply by fertilising the reined in overfishing and illegal fishing – the commercial fisheries of a few nations ocean’s algal gardens with their iron-rich both of the tuna itself and its smaller prey – the “forces of de-wilding” including poo. – just in time before bluefins slid too close China, Russia, the US and EU – with their to local extinction. heavily subsidised fleets fishing either in This is just one example journalist- the global commons of the high seas or in turned-campaigner Charles Clover uses to Another chapter travels to the Solent, other nations’ coastal waters. It’s an all call for the urgent rewilding of the world’s the channel that separates the coast of too common story of long-term futures oceans. Biodiversity and climate are utterly Hampshire from the Isle of Wight, to high- sacrificed for short-term profits, which intertwined in the ocean, he writes, and we light the restoration of native oyster beds. leaves 94% of wild fish stocks either fully are too myopic to recognise the multitude With each oyster capable of filtering up plundered or overexploited. of crucial ecological services the marine to 140 litres of water a day and hundreds realm provides. For those more accus- of other species associated with an oyster But Clover manages to hold on to a tomed to economic arguments, he adds reef, Clover argues that the ecological value hopeful narrative throughout, not least that even the International Monetary Fund of this keystone species far exceeds the by profiling the many individuals – often puts a US$2 million value on a single great economics of its extraction. rugged fishermen themselves – who whale, based on its contribution to carbon succeed in decades-long David v Goliath capture – a price comparable to a thousand All examples are within British waters, battles to protect coastal seas to improve trees. including vast marine protected areas ecosystems and livelihoods for local fish- around its colonial island territories ers. The author may be on to a hopeful Published nearly two decades after in the Indian Ocean, but there is a nice trend, with a recent ban on bottom trawl- Clover’s first book, The End of the Line, New Zealand connection when Clover ing on Dogger Bank, a sunken landmass which highlighted the indiscriminate acknowledges the work of Bill Ballan- in the North Sea that over-exploitation of fish stocks at the tine, the late ocean-conservation pioneer once connected Britain expense of ecosystems and local coastal who fought to create the world’s first and mainland Europe, fishing communities, his new work is more no-take marine reserve at Leigh, north of and the World Trade hopeful. It traces the author’s own journey Auckland, and was a strong proponent of Organisation finally from despair to hope after co-funding the ecosystem thinking – as opposed to many securing a deal to curb UK-based foundation Blue and becoming conservation efforts on land, which focus harmful fisheries involved in restoration projects along on fragmented species rather than habitats. subsidies, after two the coasts of Britain and its international decades of failed nego- territories. Throughout the book, Clover acknowl- tiations. l edges the many challenges the ocean The opening chapter takes readers to faces, but he keeps coming back to the islands of St Kilda, off the west coast of Scotland, where bluefin tuna once again roam in large shoals after being virtu- ally absent for a century. Like the return JULY 30 2022 LISTENER 49

BOOKS Out of this world Under no satirist in the tradition of Juvenal and ranty in places, but this collection is hard illusions Swift. He even has a poem called “A to put down. A great holiday from more Modest Proposal”. Hill shoots his angry polite and cryptic poetry. Angry satire, self- barbs in many directions and subtitles examination and this collection “Poems/Antipoems”. EARTH & ELSEWHERE, by Ian Rockel eco-lyricism in new Among the “antipoems” is a 20-page (Steele Roberts, $30) poetry collections. diatribe, “Supercut: A season of Covid Ian Rockel’s collection is a very different -19”, made up entirely of news clippings proposition. The octogenarian poet deals by NICHOLAS REID and opinion pieces from the press. This with climate change and the degrada- collage amounts to an alert and oddly tion of the Earth in terms of deep history OUT OF THE WAY WORLD, HERE invigorating account of how the pan- and mysticism. First he addresses how COMES HUMANITY! , by Keith Hill demic played out. Irony, really heavy past generations dealt with weather and (Disjunct Books, $25) irony, is Hill’s most constant weapon. climate, often using medieval imagery. Keith Hill is a strong, angry, dyspeptic Addressing the problem of species Then he moves to the present age where becoming extinct, his poem “We Need to a “satellite views our neighbours as a fur- Stop Dithering” suggests we put these nace, / night skies in Sydney crackle with animals out of their misery by eating flames” and “the scream of gulls / tired them and maybe storing their DNA for of plastics, / throats in grotesque shapes future use. You may guess what tone he / from objects tossed aside”. But in the strikes in dealing with imperfect democ- last quarter of his text we are introduced racy, Donald Trump, climate change, to “Elsewhere”, apparently an idyllic workers’ rights and the unequal distri- alternative to Earth, though possibly bution of wealth. Okay, it’s raucous and just a dream. Rockel writes lean verse, 50 LISTENER JULY 30 2022