From the online chat. This is very significant, as Labour’s Justice spokespersons Lianne Dalziel and Charles Chauvel has constantly advocated for minimum pricing. Dalziel has insisted it should be at least $2 per standard drink (making it it legal to sell or buy wine for under $16 a bottle) and Chauvel has moved amendments to provide for minimum pricing.

Sounds like their own leader doesn’t agree with them. God knows how anyone is meant to work out Labour’s position on alcohol issues!

Andrea Vance at Stuff reports:

Parents face having their benefits slashed in half if they don’t send their children to school or early childhood education centres and enrol them with a doctor.

They must also complete basic health checks.

Social development minister Paula Bennet has just announced new ‘social obligations’ which she says will give kids a better start in life. …

From July next year all beneficiary parents must ensure their children:

* attend 15 hours a week Early Childhood Education (ECE) from age 3

* attend school from age five or six

* enrol with a General Practitioner

* complete core WellChild/Tamariki Ora checks

If they don’t, a ”graduated sanction process” will allow three warnings before they face a cut of up to 50 per cent.

People say we need to do something about child poverty. I believe this will do more to help a lot of vulnerable children, than almost any other measure.

If the taxpayer is providing money to parents specifically for the purpose of raising children, then it is not unreasonable to have a requirement that the kid go to (free*) school, get their (free) medical check ups and attend (also free or close to it) at least 15 hours of ECE.

The three warnings regime means the stick will only be used as a last resort.

A case can be made that this requirement be extended to any family that receives family tax credits through Working for Families.

* free in this context means to the parent

David Carter has announced:

Local Government Minister David Carter has announced proposed changes to the donation provisions of the Local Electoral Act.

Mr Carter says the proposed amendments reflect growing public concern about transparency and accountability in relation to candidate donations, and in particular anonymous donations.

“The amendments will limit the size of anonymous donations a candidate can keep to $1500, revise the definition of “anonymous”, increase disclosure, reporting and recording obligations and introduce penalties for non-compliance.

“They will bring the Act more into line with the Electoral Act which governs the conduct of parliamentary elections and, in doing so, will help build trust in the local electoral system.”

Excellent. This should end both the practice of declaring donations anonymous, when the identity is effectively known and also the practice of running the donations through a trust to conceal the donor’s identity. Both major candidates at the last Auckland Council election did this.

The changes:

• Limiting to $1500 the size of an anonymous donation a candidate can retain
• Requiring any candidate receiving an anonymous donation of more than $1500 to pay any excess to the electoral officer
• Requiring the electoral officer to pay the amount over $1500 to the local authority that is administering the election
• Expanding the existing definition of “anonymous” to include situations where the candidate could not ‘reasonably know’ the identity of the donor
• Raising the amount of a donation that the candidate must report in their electoral return from $1000 to $1500
• Requiring a third party who receives a donation on behalf of a candidate to disclose the identity of the donor (if known) to the candidate
• Requiring a person administering the affairs of a candidate who receives an anonymous donation of more than $1500 on behalf of the candidate to disclose the identity of the donor (if known) to the candidate

I look forward to seeing the exact amendments.

Westpac announced:

 Westpac has broken Christchurch’s insurance deadlock with policies for new construction and full replacement home and contents policies.

The lack of available insurance has left hundreds in limbo and unable to get on with rebuilding their lives after the earthquakes. To overcome that, Westpac and partner, Lumley Insurance, has secured international reinsurance backing. Westpac hopes, by being the first major financial institution in New Zealand to do so, it will help open up the market.

Westpac Managing Director Private, Wealth and Insurance, Simon Power, said customer feedback was the driver in persevering to put the ‘Canterbury New Build Pac’ together.

“We have listened to the frustration and anguish many of our customers have experienced through the lack of available insurance to build a new home and have been determined to find a practical solution,” Mr Power said.

“Now, not only do we hope this helps people move on but it also goes some way to opening up the market.

This is an incredibly significant announcement. Hopefully others will now do the same, so those building in Christchurch can get insurance, and have a choice of provider.

Stuff reports:

Disgraced Belarusian shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk has handed back her Olympic Gold medal as her former coach admits to doping her food without her knowledge.

Without her knowledge?

I think all Kiwis know the two words response to that.

Yeah Right!

Grazing Cattle on the road to Lake Matheson, Fox Glacier New Zealand. Landscape Photography by Todd Sisson.

Welcome to another hump day wallpaper on KiwiBlog

This week we return to South Westland for a view of the Southern Alps from the verdant pastures surrounding Fox Glacier village.  Fox is another of my favourite locations in NZ, not just for photography – it has a great ‘vibe’, well worth a visit….

You may download the large version from this link:  [free iPad wallpaper] Password = freewallpaper

See you next week!

Cheers – Todd

[www.sisson.co.nz] [blog]

Stuff reported at the weekend:

Sir Peter Jackson’s plans to build a world-class film museum in Shelly Bay were scuppered when Sir Ngatata Love’s partner sought $750,000 in consultancy fees to help secure the land.

I suggest people read the full article, which is potentially quite disturbing. I make no comment on the legality of what happened, recognising that there is an SFO investigation.

What I wonder about is whether this was a one off, or a regular thing. How many great Wellington projects may not have occurred because of such greedy demands?

Shelly Bay would be a wonderful location for a film museum. Hopefully the proposal can still happen one day.

Chris Finlayson announced:

After consultation with iwi members, Te Kotahi a Tuhoe have accepted the Crown’s offer to settle the historical claims of Ngai Tuhoe, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Christopher Finlayson and Ngāi Tuhoe Chief negotiator Tamati Kruger announced today.

“The Crown and Ngai Tuhoe will now work together to develop a Deed of Settlement by the end of 2012,” Mr Finlayson said. “Once completed, the Deed will be initialled by the negotiators. If the deed is then ratified by iwi members, the settlement will be signed and given effect through legislation.”

That is a huge achievement. Many thought no settlement would ever be reached. The history of grievances so extensive, that a resolution acceptable to the Crown and Tuhoe was so difficult. Some may associate Tuhoe with the clown Tame Iti, but that is unfair. They have just over 30,000 members and there were some appalling things happen in the past such as the Volkner Incident.

I’m no fan of these claims for water and wind and the like. But I do think settling the historical grievances is very important – both for the Iwi involved and New Zealand. The historical settlements have been taking place over the last 20 years and the end is in sight.

Patrick Gower blogs:

He has reached agreement with Tuhoe and for that he needs to be applauded – it will be his legacy.

The details of the settlement are here. With Te Urerewa the settlement is:

Who will own Te Urewera?

No one will own Te Urewera. The members of the governance board, both Crown and Ngai Tuhoe nominees, will act in the interests of Te Urewera, like trustees or directors of a company. They will not act on behalf of either the Crown or Ngai Tuhoe.

Will Te Urewera still be a National Park

Te Urewera will have a new legal identity established, and have its governance and management arrangements set out in its own act of Parliament. Key provisions of the National Parks Act will be included in the Te Urewera legislation, including protections for the natural and historical heritage and public access.

The new legislation will ensure that the land is managed to an internationally accepted standard for national parks.

What about public access?

Public access will be guaranteed on the same terms as now.

Will this create a precedent for other national parks?

No. This settlement addresses particular history and circumstances. Te Urewera is unique because the park and Ngai Tuhoe’s core area of interest are almost identical. There are many pockets of Tuhoe land in and around the Park and the two are inseparable and in many cases indistinguishable. Popular roads and hiking trails currently cross private Tuhoe land.

Also some details on the history:

Ngai Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi, and the Crown had no official presence in Te Urewera before the 1860s. Ngai Tuhoe, remained in full control of their customary lands until 1865 when the Crown confiscated much of their most productive land, even though they were not in rebellion and the confiscation was not directed at Ngai Tuhoe. The prejudice created by the confiscation was exacerbated by the Compensation Court process which returned much of the confiscated land to other.

After the confiscation the Crown waged war in Te Urewera until 1871 as it sought to apprehend those responsible for the 1865 death of Crown official, and then capture Te Kooti following his escape from Crown detention. The Crown extensively used “scorched earth” tactics, and was responsible for the execution of unarmed prisoners and the killing of non-combatants. Crown officer at the time described it as “extermination”.

In 1870 Ngai Tuhoe were forced out of Te Urewera and detained at Te Putere where they suffered further hardship. The wars caused Ngai Tuhoe to suffer widespread starvation and extensive loss of life.

In 1871 peace was restored to Te Urewera when the Crown withdrew its forces and agreed to leave Ngai Tuhoe to manage their own affairs.

Between the 1870s and the 1890s Crown pressure and the claims of other iwi led to the introduction into Te Urewera of the Native Land Court, surveying and land purchases despite Te Whitu Tekau opposition. In 1875 the Crown induced Ngāi Tuhoe to sell a large area of land at Waikaremoana by threatening to confiscate their interests if they did not sell.

Off memory the major outstanding settlement now is for the Far North Iwi.

Friday 21 September is Loud Shirt Day.

Be a star on Loud Shirt Day – Friday September 21, 2012 – and help deaf kids learn to listen and talk like their hearing friends. If you’ve taken part in Loud Shirt Day before you’ll know it’s a great way to commit serious fashion crimes and have a whole lot of fun at work or at school. And if this is your first year being involved with Loud Shirt Day, we know you’ll have a fabulous time wowing your colleagues and friends with your brightest, funkiest shirt.

This year we have a Hawaiian theme so what better way to celebrate than with a Hawaiian luau at your work or school plus Hawaiian pizza for lunch? Plus, please click here to enter the draw to win a trip to Hawaii.

Loud Shirt Day is the annual appeal of The Hearing House and the Southern Cochlear Implant Paediatric Programme. So what are you waiting for? Register for free now, knowing the money that you donate has a life-changing impact on deaf children.

A great excuse to wear a loud shirt and support a good cause. One of the organisers e-mailed:

Loud Shirt Day is a fundraising day for kids who have cochlear implants. I’m not sure if you know anyone with a cochlear implant. They are essentially like a very flash hearing aid but part of them is surgically implanted. They are modern day miracles in that they give hearing to people who are profoundly deaf.

There 325 kids in NZ with them. My daughter is one of those kids. 

In NZ the government funds one ‘ear’. And some parents like me fund the other (about 16%). They cost $50k each which is quite a hit for many families. 

Loud Shirt Day fundraises for funds to provide therapy for the kids, especially kids who are born with no hearing. It takes a lot of effort to catch a kid up to their peers. My daughter is on track to catch when she turns 7 (she is 5 1/2). We want to intensify the therapy available to newly implanted children and get that down to under 5yo (i.e. They can start school on par with their peers).

As someone with a hearing impediment myself, I know how tough it can be if a kid can’t hear properly, let alone at all.

Forest & Bird are running their bird of the year competition for 2012.

Currently in the lead with 76 votes is the Kokako, which has David Slack as its campaign manager.

Trailing on 3 votes are the Royal Spoonbill and the Taiko (Black Petrel) neither of which have a campaign manager. It shows the need for good campaign managers!

The full list of birds with campaign managers is:

Vote early and vote often. And you can donate to help your favourite bird also.

NZ Herald reports:

Vodafone has been slapped with more fines for Fair Trading Act breaches than any other company but a brand specialist says the telco has dodged major reputation damage by owning up to the wrongdoing.

The phone and internet company was fined $960,000 yesterday after pleading guilty to 21 charges for misleading advertising.

This brought the total fines Vodafone has copped for Fair Trading Act breaches to almost $1.5 million, the highest imposed on a single defendant.

Despite this milestone, Interbrand managing director James Bickford said Vodafone’s apology for its actions would mitigate the harm the offending could have done to its brand.

“They’ve come out and said ‘we’ve made an error’ and apologised for it,” Bickford said.

“As far as the brand is concerned, that’s what it should be doing,” he said.

Vodafone fines

Yesterday: $960,000 for misleading advertising over a free air-time deal and the coverage of its wireless broadband network.
November 2011: $81,900 for misleading customers over “$1 a day” mobile data charges.
August 2011: Fine $400,000 for misleading customers over its Vodafone Live! service.

While it does mitigate the damage to have Vodafone admit their mistakes and apologise for it, I think their brand is being damaged by the third fine for misleading advertising in a year.

Telecom are no longer the big bad bully. Having lost Chorus, they no longer have a structural advantage. Vodafone is the giant global brand, and they need to be careful that their brand doesn’t suffer any more damage. With 2 degrees also in the market, loyalty is far from guaranteed.

The headline in the Herald was:

Henare not up to the job, indicates PM

The first paragraph was:

Prime Minister John Key has given a brutal assessment of what he thinks of National MP Tau Henare’s qualifications for the job of Speaker.

So what brutal things did John Key say about Tau?

 Mr Key said National would work with other Parliamentary parties to find somebody who was acceptable to them

That’s it? Out of that statement you run a headline of PM indicates Henare “not up to the job” and call that a “brutal assessment”.

It is quite reasonable to do some analysis of context and speculate that the PM’s comments indicate he may not think Henare would be acceptable to other parties. Reading between the lines is part of the job.

But you can take that too far. In no way did the PM indicate Tau is “not up to the job” let alone make a “brutal assessment” of him. How can anyone call his fairly bland comment a brutal assessment? There is also a difference between being supported by other parties, and being “up to the job”. Before he became Speaker, Labour were very hesitant about Lockwood becoming Speaker – and he turned out to be brilliant.

A brutal assessment would be saying “MP X is not up to the job of Speaker, and would not be acceptable to Parliament”.

The .nz Internet domain had its 500,000th registration today.  It shows how long I have been involved that I recall the party to celebrate 100,000 registrations. I also recall some people were projecting the number of registrations would level off at around 120,000.

What pushed the registrations over the limit was the launch of kiwi.nz today. Within 15 minutes there were over 1,000 registrations which is more than double the minimum target of 500 set for the sub-domain to be created.

NZ Herald reports:

A Dunedin-based cleaning company has taken its campaign online saying part of the Employment Relations Act is failing businesses – the site called “vulnerable minister” targets Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson.

The site is here.

Crest Commercial Cleaning launched the website last week after three years of lobbying the Government to change part 6A of the ERA, which was set up to protect ‘vulnerable’ contract workers.

Under the law if a business changes its contract, ‘vulnerable workers’ are given the right to transfer their employment under the same terms and conditions – the outgoing contactor has a month to notify the new contractor if employees want to transfer.

Crest managing director Grant McLauchlan said the legislation was ambiguous and needed clarity.

He said his company were finding out the day before it took over a new contract.

“We want to be told in due course, because we get to the last day and don’t know if people are electing to transfer – we are left not knowing if we need to recruit our own people.

“It’s so ambiguous, and every time we try and work it out we end up in the employment court.

The Herald reports:

The Conservative Party has had a bump in the polls following Parliament’s passing of the first reading of a bill to legalise gay marriage, the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey shows.

The Conservatives would not make it to Parliament on its 1.5 per cent rating (up from 0.5), but if the threshold of the party vote is lowered from its current 5 per cent to 4 per cent under reforms to MMP before the next election, it has to rise only 2.5 percentage points to make it into Parliament with several MPs.

Wow this is trying to talk up a pretty minor movement. Small parties regularly move up or down by 1%. The reality is that even on 1.5%, that is barely over half of what they actually got at the last election.

Personally I would have expected they would have got a much larger and more significant bump, considering the publicity Colin Craig has had.

The full poll results are at Curiablog. On this poll the CL and CR both have 60 seats, so the Maori Party would have the balance of power.

Tom Hunt at Dom Post reports:

Press gallery life member Richard Griffin remembers the early days of derision, including walking through the atrium with Mr Muldoon at the opening.

The prime minister looked at a piece of carpet covering the central pillar of the main atrium, designed by leading artist Guy Ngan with large holes exposing the marble beneath.

“He looked at it and said, ‘Heh, it looks as if the moths have been at the carpet already’,” Griffin remembers.

Classic.

While the building – at least in some people’s minds – was attractive from the outside, inside was a “disaster”.

For one, MPs were distanced from each other by a building not designed for casual encounters.

This is actually a big thing. Parliament House is the best of the three major parliamentary buildings. The long corridors means you are often seeing colleagues, and you’d be amazed at how many major decisions get made in corridors!

Bowen House is next best. You get a bit of interaction on your floor. Last is the Beehive where you basically never casually bump into people except in the lifts.

Some say the tensions in the 4th Labour Government would not have got so bad, if it were not for the Beehive design, as you got the 7th floor at war with the 9th floor.

In early September 1979, journalist Richard Long managed to get the press gallery banned from the top three floors.

While the Cabinet – including a security- mad Mr Muldoon – were out for lunch, Long caught a lift to the Cabinet room and walked in.

He did not touch the confidential documents on the table but left his business card, illustrating the security lapse of unlocked lifts opening directly into a Cabinet room strewn with secret documents. It made the lead story in the following day’s paper.

Heh, that is very Richard Long.

The Brisbane Times reports:

 A national public health body has slammed the Newman government’s “gag order” on community organisations, saying it will strip service providers of one of their vital roles.

Queensland Health grant contracts now included clauses preventing non-government organisations advocating for state and federal legislative change, a spokesman for Minister Lawrence Springborg confirmed last night.

“We’re making it clear that we want to fund outcomes but not advocacy,” the spokesman said.

We badly need this in NZ. I’m all for funding of public health groups that provide actual public health services. But we spend tens of millions of dollars on groups that take the money and use it to lobby MPs on what the law should be. It is quite wrong that bureaucrats hand out money to lobby groups, to try and dictate policy to MPs.

There is nothing wrong with a taxpayer funded health group doing select committee submissions and the like. But some health groups are 95% taxpayer funded and as far as I can tell spend 95% of their resources on lobbying activities.

The Newman government raised concerns about advocacy when it announced in May that it was stripping about $2.5 million from the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities, which Queensland Health had previously funded to target HIV/AIDS prevention among gay men.

The group, which has a focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health, spoke up in favour of the former Bligh government’s civil union legislation and has recently criticised the Newman government’s plans to ban same-sex couples from having a child through surrogacy.

In an interview to mark his 100th day in office in July, Mr Newman argued the organisation had not improved HIV rates “and they had become an advocacy group [and] we’re not going to fund advocacy groups”.

That’s a good example. I personally favour same sex marriage and adoption. But I don’t think taxpayer funded NGOs should be campaigning for them. I’m not saying that has happened in NZ, just using the Queensland example.

A bill banning funding of NGOs that are greater than say 25% lobbying activity would be an excellent bill for a backbench National MP.

At the beginning of 2012, the Herald reported:

 Tenacity. Dion Latta’s friends knew he had it, and his rescuers quickly found out.

He was the farm boy who would never give up – and he battled under a freezing waterfall for three hours, and left those around him with hope even as they watched helplessly.

Though trapped under the waterfall, he was at first able to wave his hands in response to their calls, says a person familiar with the events. But eventually they would watch him undergo CPR for an hour at the bottom of a gorge before he was flown away on a rescue helicopter, unconscious. He died in hospital from hypothermia.

Dion’s friends are taking part in the Wanaka Challenge to raise money for Wanaka Search & Rescue.

On the 19th of January 2013, Ben Simmers (Swim) Joe Beamish (Run) and Ben Baker (Bike) will be competing in the Wanaka Challenge. The aim is not only to complete the challenge, but to raise us much money as possible for the Wanaka Search and Rescue. This organisation is one that is extremely close to our hearts.

As they were heavily involved in the rescue of Dion Latta, a friend, brother, teammate and general good bloke,who tragically passed away on the 2nd of January this year. This is not only something that Dion would have wanted us to do, and do well in, but by raising money will hopefully stop another tragedy like this one occurring again.

You can donate at the link above.

A contact has passed onto me the pass rates over the last three years for courses at Otago University. What is very interesting is how many courses, especially in Dentistry, have a 100% pass rate or 0% failure rate. I understand at other universities like VUW they audit any course which has a failure rate of below 20% as probably having a design problem.

At Otago only 10% of the courses have a failure rate of over 20%. Makes you wonder.

The pass rates are over the break

Continue reading »

A guest post by Martin Ryan on euthanasia:

Simon, Louise and the kids came to visit today.  Little Katie had her first day at school last week, she was so excited about it and showed me the picture that she drew for me.  I’m running out of room for them!  It’s lovely that she remembers her old grandma.  It’s so wonderful to see them every couple of weeks and share their little milestones.

Simon’s having a hard time at the moment though.  The recession has hit his plumbing business very hard.  He reckons he’s got another three months and then they’ll have to look at selling their home.  He’s worked so hard to get where he is.

I know this place is costing them a lot. $500 a week is a big additional expense at the moment.  Since I lost all my money in Blue Chip finance I’ve had to rely on Simon and Louise and they’ve been great about it.  He never mentions it and bats it away as the least he can do whenever I bring it up.  Tom and I raised a great son.

But it’s not fair on him.  He deserves to have a better life than that.  He needs his house now more than he needs a rattly old mother.  I figure if left to natural means I’ve got another few years in me.  I’d love to see Sarah hit school too, and perhaps even finish the memoirs.  But that’s at least $50k out of Simon and Louise’s pocket.  Out of Sarah and Katie’s university fund.

Such a fall.  I used to make such a difference in this world, teaching, speaking.  Now I’m nothing but a burden on my family.

Yes, they’ll be fine without me – better off in fact.  I’ll speak with the doctors tomorrow.  I’ll play something up, maybe the kidneys.  I hear they don’t ask too many questions if you’ve got all your marbles.  

I remember when they introduced the euthanasia law they talked about all the safeguards they’d put in.  But of course the standards slip.  They have to, there’s too much work to do to check every old lady’s reasons.

I’m always happy to run guest posts. It goes without saying I don’t agree with the perspective in this post as being at all realistic, but I accept some people think that could happen.

Clybourne Park at Circa was a superb night’s entertainment. There were so many things I loved about it, it is hard to know where to start.

Let’s start with the play itself. It’s got two acts (total time 2 hrs 20 minutes with an interval) set 50 years apart – 1959 and 2009. Both acts are set in the same neighbourhood and are about the tensions that arise when a couple buys a house in a Clybourne Park , a neighbourhood exclusively of a different race. In 1959 it is a black couple buying a house in an all-white neighbourhood and in 2009, Clybourne Park  has become all-black, but with gentrification a white couple is moving in.

The play, based loosely on actual historical events, has won four major awards. They are:

• The Laurence Olivier Award by the Society of London Theatre
• The Pulitzer Prize for Drama
• The Theatre World Award
• The Tony Award for Best Play

So with a play of that pedigree, it turns on how well Circa would implement it. Well they have been on a real roll lately, and this was no exception.

The first act focuses on Russ and Bev. They are packing up to move house. Their black maid Francine is there also. Russ is  a mixture of depressed and angry since his son killed himself after serving in Korea. The allegations that he killed civilians were too much for him.

Nikki MacDonnell stands out as Bev. She captures that 1950s domestic wife perfectly. Rather like Bree from Desperate Housewives she is so concerned about appropriate behaviour, and being a the good wife. She absolutely nails the role.

Gavin Rutherford also shows his versatile skills as the brooding Russ. You can see him on the point of exploding several times, and when it finally comes you almost want to applaud.

Paul Waggott and Andrew Foster play the local priest Jim and local Rotarian Karl. Karl’s wife Betsy is played by Danielle Mason. The character is deaf (and pregnant) and Mason is so convincing in the role that P Girl and I debated at the interval if she was deaf in real life. A different character in the second half made it clear she was not. But the fact she was so convincing we thought she might be, speaks volumes to her ability.

The 7th character is the first act is the well meaning husband of Francine, Albert. He just wants to help. Jade Daniels plays Albert, and his 2nd act character is similar. Both smiling nice guys – but we see in Act II that he has another side.

The drama is around when Karl tells Russ and Bev that the land agent has sold their place to a black couple, and try to pressure them to renege on the sale. You almost wince as phrases along the lines of folk being equal but different are used. And it gets really uncomfortable when the black maid is asked by the others if she agrees that black people are happier in their own neighbourhoods.

Russ though responds badly to the pressure, and it gets explosive when Karl threatens to tell the buyers about he suicide in the house – thinking that will scare them off.

The first act was very dramatic, but also had lots of laughs.

In the second act they all play different characters, but with some links to the original characters.  Both Nikki MacDonnell and Gavin Rutherford do quite increedible transformations. MacDonnell goes from being a matronly housewive in her 40s, to a trendy yuppy lawyer in her late 20s. You almost wouldn’t think it is the same actor. Likewise Rutherford becomes a grimy more youthful labourer who unearths a trunk which links the two acts together.

I won’t give away too much of the second act, but it was at times side splittingly hilarious. It starts with no tension at all, but eventually it is all laid bare as first the prospective purchaser is challenged to repeat a (not very funny) joke about blacks. Nancy Brunning’s character then responds with a joke which starts with “How is a white woman like a tampon”. The answer had me almost off my chair convulsed with laughter.  The joke fitted one of the characters perfectly.

One of the actors told me after the show that on their “test” night on Friday, the audience was predominantly elderly (as tickets are cheaper) and the response to the joke was more shocked. They were pleased to see the audience on Saturday night responding far more better to the joke. After the initial shock, almost everyone was laughing.

I have to praise the set also. It was one of the largest I have seen at Circa. The nice thing about Circa One it has so much room, and they used it to make the house very lifelike and real. During the interval some smart changes saw it transform into the modern version.

It really was a great show. A clever plot deals with sensitive issues of race in a very politically incorrect way. The drama and tension is punctuated with heaps of laughs. Clybourne Park has been my favourite show so far this year. Absolutely recommended as great theatre, so long as you are not easily offended.

John Smythe at Theatreview has reviewed the play also. His conclusion was:

Clybourne Park is a brilliant play deliciously done.

If you only go to one play this year, this should be it.