By Senor John Stringer formerly “coNZervative” (and perhaps again).

Today we decided to do the biggest flea market in Buenos Aries -the outdoor markets in Recolata.  This is right next to the famous cemetery so you could combine both and make a day trip of both. To get there catch a cab. This will cost you about 40-70 Arg pesos ie $2-5 US dollars (1/15). It’s dirt cheap; so don’t worry about grabbing cabs anywhere. A radio cab (fitted with radio) will cost an additional $14 pesos (ie 93c US).

There are about 150-200 outdoor booths selling mainly crafts. I even find a guy selling wargames models. There is art and food and jewelry. I buy some original Argentinian art (three small pictures) signed by the artist. These cost me about $8 each – excellent value. There is no bargaining as such in BA; the price is the price (as in NZ) but at markets you can always negotiate and I am offered a nice discount to buy two and further when I negotiate for three.

Below: older Argentinian men shooting the breeze together – I like the man dressed as a South American dictator or Mafia boss. A famous tango dancer and flamenco guitarist is playing under an ancient rubber tree (about 250 years old) which has those horizontal branches which the municipality has creatively propped up with sculptures such as this metal Hercules (below).

Below: old cobblestones around the market and one of the 250 year old rubber trees that provide much needed shade as BA gets really hot and under which people busk Tango and Flamenco.

There is lots of food and mobile lemonade stands with real fruit and tango fills the air. It is incredibly (burning) hot so I recommend a good hat and sunglasses are a must. Wear loose cotton or you’ll be overwhelmed on hot days. Below some of the Frida Kahlo cacophony at the market – a very popular cultural meme.

Above: where ever you go in the world graffiti seems the same. And here are what the Argentinian police look like.  We went in to a Mall and were constantly asked for money or pitched scams every few metres – which was a pest – and this mall area is patrolled by police. You will also get approached to exchange money at good rates but this is illegal so don’t accept – the money may be counterfeit. I recommend you use your hotel (at approx. 15/1 US) as we noticed long queues at the ‘bureau de change’ booths in public (ie at the malls).

Over all we were not taken with the food in Argy; lots of plain burgers and chips but Argentinians do take a herbal tea. These are served in an ornate hollowed out gourd and sipped through a silver straw implement with various ornate filters at the bottom (like a hookah). We had never seen this before. Note the prices $400 pesos ie $26.6 US approx.

Below: more Argentine architecture and a pirate restaurant we eat at on our last night at which I try not to order the #1 one blackboard special.

Tomorrow: South America is known for its dinosaurs and I’ll post on those as we visit Bernadino Rovadavia Natural Sciences Museum. ~ J.

The Herald reports:

An Auckland councillor who has politics “in her bones” has put her hand up to replace Maungakiekie MP Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.

Centre-right councillor Denise Lee (formerly Krum) told the Herald she will seek the National Party nomination for the Auckland electorate.

The selection process is expected to be outlined in the next couple weeks.

Lee was elected in October for her second term as the Maungakiekie-Tamaki councillor.

New Auckland Mayor Phil Goff included her in his “Cabinet” as deputy chair on the planning committee that has responsibility for issues including housing and transport.

The 46-year-old said Lotu-Iiga’s announcement in December that he would not seek re-election came as a surprise.

“The timing is not ideal. Had I known that Sam was going to announce this I would have been more than likely to not have run for council.”

I think it is a different scenario when a vacancy for a parliamentary seat comes up as a surprise, and a Councillor decides to go for it, and when they seek a term on Council at the very same time as seeking a nomination for Parliament. Basically you can’t control the timing sometimes.

Whoever National selects, they will face a tough fight against Labour candidate Priyanka Radhakrishnan, a policy analyst and advisor for the party, who has previously worked for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

I expect Maungakiekie to be a very close race and the quality of the candidates will count.

The Herald reports:

Dylann Roof was sentenced to death today for killing nine black church members during Bible study in a racially motivated attack, the first person to face execution for federal hate crime convictions.

A jury deliberated his sentence for about three hours, capping a trial in which Roof did not fight for his life or show any remorse. At the beginning of the trial, he addressed jurors directly, insisting that he wasn’t mentally ill, but he never asked them for forgiveness or mercy, or explained the crime.

Surprised it took that long.

Roof told FBI agents when they arrested him a day after the June 17, 2015, slayings that he wanted the shootings to bring back segregation or perhaps start a race war. Instead, the slayings had a unifying effect, as South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse for the first time in more than 50 years and other states followed suit, taking down Confederate banners and monuments. Roof had posed with the flag in photos.

So it backfired, which is the only good thing out of this.

Stuff reports:

List MP Jacinda Ardern will be Labour’s candidate in the Mt Albert by-election after her name was the only one put forward for nomination.

Labour’s General Secretary Andrew Kirton said on Thursday Ardern, who has previously contested the Auckland Central electorate, would be confirmed as the Mt Albert candidate by local Labour Party members at a meeting on January 22. 

Julie Anne Genter has been selected for the Greens so will be a race between Ardern and Genter. But I have no doubt Ardern will be elected and serve for many decades as the MP for Mt Albert.

As I have previously predicted she will become Labour Party Leader one day – possibly sooner rather than later.

Stuff reports that Councillor Linda Cooper is seeking National’s nomination in Helensville and in another story that Genelle Bailey is the likely front-runner.

The Herald reports:

New research has found babies are safe to sleep in a Maori flax-woven bassinet that was behind a Government policy U-turn last year.

Babies sleeping in the wahakura, or its $100 plastic sister the pepi-pod, are “relatively safe when compared with bassinets”, a joint study between the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic has found.

The research, which was recently published in leading scientific journal Pediatrics, concluded there were no significant differences in risk for infants sleeping in wahakura and that the pods came with advantages, including an increase in sustained breastfeeding.

I have no issue with the pods. They sound sensible and my feeling last year was that the Ministry of Health was being “perfect is the enemy of good” in opposing them.

However one paragraph in this story made me wonder:

Co-author of the research and wahakura founder, Tipene-Leach, said the study was a “major accomplishment”.

Doesn’t having the co-author of the research being the founder of the pods, rather fall short of best practice?

I think the Trump dossier is fake, as in none of the specifics in there actually happened. Why do I think that? Several reasons.

1. The dossier is almost cartoonishly perfect. It fits every conspiracy theory and prejudice about Trump – controlled by Putin, sexual deviant, hates Obama etc etc. I recall when Dotcom released his fake letter from Warner Brothers than Dim Post said it seemed like a cartoonish caricature.
2. Not a single detail in it has been verified, while to the contrary at least one major detail has been proven false (a Trump adviser has never been to Prague)
3. The dossier says Russia has been cultivating and getting blackmail on Trump for five years. If so, they are the most politically astute people in the world because five years ago or even two years ago no one thought Trump would be a credible candidate let alone President. Putin is a genius if he saw five years ago what no one else saw.
4. If there really was a top secret operation which had managed to gather blackmail on the President-Elect of the United States, it wouldn’t be something is so widely known and gossiped about that a former British spy would hear about it from sources. This would be the most highly guarded operation in history.
5. The former British spy (Christopher Steele) is generally well regarded but he may have fallen subject to Trump Derangement Syndrone and just willing to believe anything he hears, no matter how outlandish. Nothing he has in the dossier has any verification – it is all third hand gossip. Another explanation is that somone in Russia fed him false information on purpose so what has happened would occur – ie Steele got played.
6. The media have a history of falling for fake documents, when the subject is a Republican. Dan Rather got effectively sacked after his show ran forged memos alleging George W Bush had pulled in favours to avoid Vietnam War service. The memos were an obvious fake (the typeface used did not even exist during the Vietnam War) but many in the media were so keen to get dirt they suspended disbelief.

The irony of all this, is Trump is strengthened (unless somehow it is true) in my view. He has the perfect excuse to go to war even more with the media, and have sympathy on his side. He could well sue Buzzfeed and almost beyond doubt would win – they admitted themselves they knew parts of it had been proven false when they published it.

Of course there is a limit to the sympathy you have for Trump as he has pushed fake news himself. But two wrongs do not make a right, and the so called Trump dossier is as laughable as the Obama birth certificate story – both without a shred of evidence.

Andrea Black is a chartered accountant who has worked at both IRD and Treasury as a policy analyst.  She blogs on Deborah Russell who is seeking Labour’s nomination for New Lynn:

Let’s talk about tax.

Or more particularly let’s talk about one of our own. Deborah Russell – tax academic  – who has recently put herself forward to become the Labour MP for New Lynn following David Cunliffe’s resignation from Parliament.

I first met Deborah in early 2005 when she joined Inland Revenue policy. Before she started there was discussion of her two unusual features. She had a PhD and – at that time – didn’t know anything about tax.

A month or two later  I was at meeting which Deborah and her manager attended. I can’t remember the point of that meeting but in it Deborah had to give a short outline of what she was working on – an FBT issue I think. In her two minutes she suscinctly and crisply nailed the point of the FBT rules, the current problem that needed fixing and the technical solution. Now tax peeps we all know how hard it is strip away the detail and simply convey the key messages and Deborah – ‘who didn’t know anything about tax’ – was doing that from almost the first day she started working in tax.

I also particularly remember the blissed out look on her manager’s face while she was talking. He couldn’t believe his luck. He had won the pools with her.

She became a well regarded member of the division as much for her intelligence and work rate as her good humour and willingness to help her colleagues – professionally as well as personally. All while she was the mother of quite young children herself. She had a number of unglamorous projects including creating a tax expenditure for bloodstock which would stick in the craw of any tax person – but she got on with it and made sure it was done properly.

In 2014 following a stint in Adelaide and having moved to Massey where she teaches incipient CAs tax (bless you) she stood for Labour in the safe National seat of Rangitikei. Again an unglamorous job but a necessary one for the Labour Party.

In the last year or two she has become the media’s go to person when they want sensible comment on tax. Impressively even though she is a Labour Party activist she has always been able to explain the issues in clear politically neutral way. Just like she did in that first meeting in 2005.

I know Deborah also and think she would be an excellent MP, even if I disagree on some policies with her. If Labour wants a candidate who would be a good MP and even better Minister, they should select Deborah. They need candidates with credibility on economic and business policy issues such as tax.

By Senor John Stringer formerly “coNZervative” (and perhaps again).

The Tango was invented in southern Buenos Aries as a passionate folk dance of the poorer people. That is disputed, a bit like where the pavlova came from. It was considered immoral and disregarded but much later the French (cabaret I think) picked it up and it was anointed by the Argentinian elites. It was danced for the first time in a respectable facility on the famous 9^th July Avenue. It instantly became respectable if riské – a universal truth that if the rich appropriate something it becomes ‘cool:’ (cigarettes; Andy Warhol; flappers; taking drugs; top hats; powdered wigs; pantalooms; beards). You can see this passion and vibrancy for life -as in dance- everywhere in Buenos Aries: the architecture, the colours, gesticulation in cafes and on street corners.

Below; typical street bars and cafes celebrating Tango; and the way Portanes (citizens of Buenos Aries) tattoo themselves (we go for Polynesian black or blue swirls)  I found this human art quite interesting as it is more Scythian than Polynesian with which we are familiar.

Above: you do see these electric colours in Buenos Aries everywhere but generally Portenas (people of the port) dress down and are very casual whereas Brazil is all about fashion and facelifts. Love the colours of the buildings which is like the Greeks in Santorini or women’s attire in Nigeria. Bright and cheerful and embracing of life and colour.

I mentioned earlier cultural gaudiness (ancient Greece and the Puerta Madero suburb of old Buenos Aries). Here are some more images of this unique indigenous architecture made up of gathered materials and what could be got at hand thus the eclectic mix of colours that then became a thing.

Below: the beguiling cobblestone streets and colour of San Telmo and La Bocha are suburbs of the historic old south the working class strongholds of Buenos Aries. Think peeling stucco enriched by the culture of African slaves who came in through the port followed by later Italian immigrants in the 1880s.  It remains one of the poorest districts but has a thriving art scene (I recommend a stroll around El Caminito street) but beware the Tango escorts who will pop a hat on your head and take a photo and you’re then expected to pay. While we’re on that also resist the street beggars who in BA have children with them; they may get you to hold their baby or child while they pick pocket your wallet or bag.

I was very taken with the street art and murals everywhere in BA; the one above commemorates some historic fire I think or the fire service. Their murals are often three dimensional as in El Caminito where lurid paper mache sculptures leer down at you from balconies or from shop doorways or carved in high relief as above. Below is a while district faced by these murals and you can see some of the three dimensional figures as well. The folk art traditions of BA are rich and unpretentious and so far unencumbered by Globalist influences.

One of the things that interests me when travelling is what police cars and taxis look like and what security guards are dressed like: here is a police car and their taxis are small black sedans with a canary yellow roof (so a blend of London and NY cab). The Police look like black storm troopers.

In the image above (right) you can glimpse the famous BA crome flower sculpture in the Plaza Nacionas Unidas the Floralis Generica. This opens and closes (when it works – so Argentinian). That is a good segue to my surprise of BA – the vibrancy and depth of their arts.

We spent an amazing day at two BA art galleries: The Malba and the Musee National de Bellas Artes and I recommend you visit both (the latter is by far the best).

The Malba is in Palermo (the embassy district) and costs to enter and is contemporary art. The MNdBArtes is a short walk down the Plazas of Uruguay and Chile to Recoleta and is free. The latter has an AMAZING art collection and I mean WOW.  Because you can walk between the two galleries this is a good trip and there are lovely cheap street side cafes in between opposite the Law faculty which is half way between.

Above: Palermo the embassy district; and right the intimidating university Law faculty (university is free in BA and you can study anything) between the two art galleries which as far as architecture goes would cheer National Socialists (an ugly monolith). Looks like the NY Post Office.

If DPF is interested perhaps I’ll showcase some of the amazing art we discovered at the free Musee National de Bellas Artes as a separate series of posts – so far the highlight of this trip for me – but Tomorrow we’re off to the markets in Recolata (the biggest flea market in BA).

Below: the Musee National de Bellas Artes. Me with Frida Kahlo (in whose home Trotsky was murdered with a pick axe; and no that’s not a kakapo or kakariki). And with Jackson Polluck (you like my matching shirt?)  ~ J.

The Herald reports:

The New Zealand economy is set to move into high gear in 2017, according to ASB Bank.

The bank said this year was shaping up to be “full of promise” after a slow start in 2016. …

Strong population growth and low interest rates have fuelled construction demand and a tourism boom has the retail sector humming, she said in a commentary. The labour market has tightened and households now feel more confident.

Dairy prices have turned around after a two year slump, and analysts are already picking that Fonterra will lift its $6 per kg of milksolids farmgate milk price for this season. …

“All going well, 2017 should be a prosperous year for New Zealand. But, as always, being a small open economy which is subjected to the whim of global sentiment, we need to also prepare for the unexpected,” she said.

Consumer confidence has steadily improved over 2016.

“As we start a new year, household confidence is now well above average levels and points to stronger consumer spending growth.”

Turner said there were signs of healthy consumer confidence – from the busy mall car parks ahead of Christmas to the heavy holiday traffic.

Confident households were more likely to indulge at Christmas time and head away on holiday, rather than enjoy a “staycation”.

The tightening labour market had been a factor in contributing to a more confident consumer outlook.

“Furthermore, the recent recovery in dairy prices will deliver a wave of relief in dairy-intensive regions, meaning 2017 consumer spending growth should be fairly broad based across the country,” Turner said.

“Stronger domestic consumer spending should see NZ economic growth become relatively self-sustaining, and hopefully reasonably resilient to any global shock that could come our way.”

So long as Donald Trump doesn’t cause a global recession, we should be fine.

Stuff reports:

A Ngapuhi elder who called Bill English a “spoiled child” for not attending this year’s Waitangi commemorations says he’s “embarrassed” about his comments.

After seeing the letters exchanged between his iwi and the Prime Minister’s office, which said English could not speak at all on the marae unless a Maori representative did so for him, Kingi Taurua said he’s “ashamed” and “disgusted” by the treatment given to the Prime Minister.

“I didn’t know the letter contained that he wasn’t permitted to speak and if so he had to get someone Maori to speak for him. I express my apologies to the Prime Minister for that and I’m very ashamed.”

On Monday Taurua attacked English’s decision not to attend Waitangi events, saying he needed to respect marae protocol that political talks would happen away from the marae following the powhiri. He’s now asking for English’s forgiveness.

In a letter (readable in full at the bottom of this page) to English’s chief of staff, Wayne Eagleson, the Waitangi marae chairman Ngati Kawa Taituha stated “small but significant changes” to the powhiri including, “your Maori representatives speak or mihi on the Prime Minister’s behalf during the powhiri…and then at the conclusion of the powhiri process we will provide a stage and forum for the Prime Minister to engage with Ngapuhi, address the nation and talk politics freely and uninhibited, if he so wishes”.

So Ngapuhi unilaterally decided that the PM is not even allowed to speak for himself at the powhiri, no matter what is said.

They of course can make whatever rules they want for their marae. Just as the Prime Minister of New Zealand can choose to go to another venue which will give him unrestricted speaking rights.

Maybe David Seymour is right, and the PM should rotate his Waitangi Day attendance around the different Iwi and maraes of New Zealand.

This graph from Number Cruncher Politics is stark.

In the Netherlands the Labour Party is currently polling at 10% down from 35% last election.

In France it is widely expected the Socialist Party will come third in the presidential election behind the National Front. They are polling at 12%.

In Germany the SPD are polling at around 20%.

I think their failures are a mix of being on the wrong side of the immigration debates along with a rejection of high spending high debt parties.

Henry Cooke reports more info on the Saudi bomb maker who was a student in NZ:

“One year before he left he changed – became more isolated, more religious, more enthusiastic about the Syrian revolution.

“He would watch the news all the time about it. He became enthusiastic, sympathetic with the jihadists.”

Alsalem said the death of another student Al-Saya’ari knew in the Syrian conflict was a factor in his radicalisation.

“Another student studying in New Zealand went to Syria and got killed as part of the Islamic State. I think that shocked him, and made him sympathise with the jihadists more.”

So he was radicalised while studying in NZ. A good reminder that we should not be complacent.

Stuff reports:

The man hotly tipped to seek selection to replace former Prime Minister John Key in the Helensville seat has ruled himself out.

Rodney Local Board member Cameron Brewer says it’s not the right time for him.

“After much consideration and after consulting a lot of people, I have decided I won’t be standing for National Party selection for the seat of Helensville,” Brewer says.

Brewer moved to Riverhead in 2015 from central Auckland where he had been a councillor for the Orakei Ward.

He says many people believed that running for the seat was the intention behind his move.

“In reality, the real reason we moved out here was the lifestyle we could give the kids and we fell in love with property we bought.”

However, Brewer says if former Prime Minister Key had continued on as Helensville MP for another few years, he may have considered it.

He says at this stage in his life with three children and two of them aged under two, it is not the right time.

Standing with kids so young would be damn hard. So a good choice.

Brewer would have been a strong contender to win the nomination if he sought it. This may open up the field and encourage more to stand.

Simon Wilson makes some interesting observations:

One morning a few weeks earlier Little was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking to Susie Ferguson. She asked him, what was Labour going to do on day one to improve the lives of New Zealanders? It didn’t sound like a hard question, but Little couldn’t answer it. He talked about jobs and health and education. She seemed surprised and pressed him. He seemed affronted and repeated his answer. It went on like that.

And:

A few weeks later Andrew Little appeared on Kathryn Ryan’s Nine to Noon show on RNZ and it was the same story all over again. She fed him “aren’t you going to do this?” lines and he obfuscated. He got angry. Angry isn’t urgent. Angry is alienating. Urgent is inspiring.

I’m amazed that considering National is so unsubtle with labeling him Angry Andrew, that he so often does what he can to make that label stick.

It used to be a commonplace that the day John Key resigned all bets about the future of the National-led government would be off: the party, it was assumed, did not have a successor capable of maintaining its extraordinary popularity.

Don’t count on it. Bill English has a powerful, forward-looking front bench. They are energised by their new leader and comfortable mixing reformism with the innate conservatism of the centre-right. They’ll steal winning ideas from anyone – especially Labour, as they have shown with their appropriation of parts of Labour’s impressive Kiwibuild programme.

Boring Bill English could lose the election for them; Pandemonium Paula could do that too. But Labour should not rely on it. Bill English is a sophisticated, likeable and confident leader – and that means this election will be as hard for the centre-left to win as ever.

From what I hear some (not all) Labour MPs think they have already won the next election.

The Daily Mail reports:

The saga over alleged Russian interference in the U.S. elections took another sinister turn Tuesday, as it was revealed that U.S. intelligence officials provided President-elect Donald Trump with a charge that the Russians had obtained dirt on him.

U.S. officials included a two-page synopsis of ‘kompromat’ – Russian for compromising material – as part of their security briefing of Trump on Friday.

The material was based on memos compiled by a British intelligence operative who was considered ‘credible’ by the U.S. intelligence community, CNN reported.

What is believed to be the 35-page document itself was published by Buzzfeed, which pointed out that it contained errors. Little of its contents can be independently verified. …

The document claims Russian sources told the operative that they had extensive material on the now president-elect – including a secret film of him in the suite where President Obama stayed in Moscow, watching prostitutes committing degrading sex acts on the bed where the president slept. …

The document also referenced Trump’s ‘(perverted) conduct’ at the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama ‘whom he hated’ had stayed.

It cited ‘Source D’ as saying Trump’s conduct included hiring prostitutes ‘to perform a ‘golden showers’ (urination) show in front of him.’ It says the hotel was known to be under the control of Russia’s FSB, with hidden cameras and microphones.

As you can imagine the puns are flying on Social Media over what Wikileaks really means now!

I think the dossier is bogus. The source is meant to be a former UK intelligence operative and everything is third or fourth hand.

Not that I think Trump hasn’t probably cavorted with prostitutes. Less likely is that such a germaphobe would have anything to do with golden showers.

I feel slightly sorry for Trump over this, but hey he is the one who pushed fake stories for years against Obama such as the birth certificate nonsense so live by the sword and die by the sword.

The Herald reports:

United Future leader Peter Dunne has poured cold water on speculation he could retire from politics – confirming he plans to contest this year’s election.

Dunne today confirmed his intention to stand again in the Ohariu electorate in Wellington in this year’s general election.

“It is certainly my intention to stand again based on the many strong messages of encouragement and support I have been receiving from my constituents over recent months,” he told the Herald.

I expect Peter to win the seat. Almost without exception people claim he won’t win, and he does. They thought he would not win in 1984 but he did. Then in 1987 they thought he would lose because Bob Jones was not standing, but he won. Then in 1990 he held the seat despite the backlash against Labour. And then he has held the seat since 1996 despite not being in a major party.

His electoral record is:

• 1984 – 1,371
• 1987 – 4,492
• 1990 – 783
• 1993 – 1,065
• 1996 – 8,513
• 1999 – 12,557
• 2002 – 12,534
• 2005 – 7,702
• 2008 – 1,006
• 2011 – 1,392
• 2014 – 710

By Senor John Stringer formerly “coNZervative” (and perhaps again).

Things get a bit grave today.

One of the top tourist visits in Buneos Aries is their famous cemetery. This is raised to street level like that of the Romans as a series of mausoleums because the water table is so high. It is a mini city of family crypts with streets that you can wander about and ‘houses of the dead’ you can look in to. You can actually see the coffins and small staircases wind down into basements where other coffins are stacked. Others are altars with boxes of ashes.  Sometimes windows are broken and you could reach in and touch the coffins (death at arms reach).

People do death in different ways (like the Mexicans and their Day of Death; or the Etruscan death feasts; Irish wakes; Maori tangis) and this is quite a good way to be buried I think.  It is very much like the Appian Way into Rome -reflecting the Argys love of Italian as well as French culture – where family mausoleums lined the main road into the city. Like the Romans the Argentinians are all about showing off and this is about family pre-eminence.

Some crypts are well maintained, others have fallen in to disrepair (as families become poor or no longer exist).  These can be bought and sold like homes or renovated and traded. That is only way to enter the cemetery (dead) or if you are a family member with an existing mausoleum.

Above: disrepair and a Christian as well as Jewish crypt. People forget that all early Christians (including Jesus) were Jews at the same time and the first Christian church community was Jewish meeting daily in the Jewish Temple.

Above a chap over which hangs a Damocles Sword. Argentinian sculpture and statues are all about the military. Below: some cool bark on a tree outside the crypts.

And below is Eva Peron (Evita)’s grave. This is the most visited grave and it is her family grave with other members of her family (her maiden name). It is quite modest and this is because it was here before she died at 33 of cervical cancer and Juan Peron re-married (twice). His third wife is still alive so there is no joint mausoleum to Eva and General Juan Peron. His third wife became President of Argentina and has the distinction of being the first President of any country in the world. She is now 85 and lives in Milan.

Nearby to the cemetery and tucked away in the suburb of Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires, is the beautiful bookshop El Ateneo Grand Splendid. This is a refurbished grand theatre so we walk there with a couple from the UK and browse the books – obviously mostly in Spanish but many English readers are scattered throughout. It is beautiful and the stage is a converted cafe.

Tomorrow: the vibrancy of Buenos Arties street life and culture and The Tango.  ~ J.

The Herald reports:

Gareth Morgan is making his bid for Parliament official, starting the registration process for his new political party.

Morgan launched The Opportunities Party (Top) last year but said he would wait and gauge interest before registering it with the Electoral Commission in March.

Today, he said he had brought that process forward after signing up more than 2000 financial members – and with an eye on a possible early general election this year.

“With John Key resigning and Labour seeming to be calling by-elections at will, there is a possibility that National will get sick of that tactic and just go early. We have to be prepared for that eventuality,” Morgan said.

Top has launched two of its seven core policies so far, one a new tax on equity policy and another focussed on bringing in higher-skilled immigrants.

If the Morgan party gains any votes, where will they come from? My picks in order are Greens and NZ First.

The Independent reports:

Every citizen in France has automatically become an organ donor unless they decide to opt out, due to a significant change in the law.

The new rules, which came into effect on 1 January, sees France’s policy align with a number of European countries such as Spain and Austria, where “presumed consent” means anyone can become a donor of organs and tissues when they die unless they specifically choose not to.

While in NZ, you can’t even opt in. You can tick the box on the drivers’ licence saying you want to donate, but the doctors won’t even bother checking what your wishes are unless they are asked to by your family (who can over-ride your decision).

No surprise we have such an anemic rate of organ donation. The system is set up to make it hard to be a donor.