The trial is over and the right outcome was handed down.  I was dismayed by how much coverage was given to Weatherston, and how much dirt was raked up about Elliot.  Each of us has a similarly messy life and we are entitled to our secrets and indiscretions. The cynic in me would observe that [...]

Domestic Violence, New Zealand, Quotable | No Comments »

The police officers killed by Stan Graham in 1941, in the deadliest incident in the history of the New Zealand Police Force. Last week Sergeant Don Wilkinson, of a secret police unit involved in surveillance of drug manufacturers, was shot dead on a South Auckland street. This was an awful tragedy for the New Zealand [...]

Domestic Violence, Firearms, New Zealand, Police, Suicide | 2 Comments »

“Chocolate and toast,” Capitalism Bad; Tree Pretty It’s part of a bigger project to blame people in poverty for making bad choices on an individual level, rather than seeing the structural issues which leave people so broken that they torture a three year-old. If we can tut-tut about the smoking, then we don’t have to [...]

Culture, Domestic Violence, New Zealand, Politics | No Comments »

The rhetoric around child abuse is getting quite deafening. What better time than to throw my own rhetoric into the mix? Christine Rankin’s group called for three minutes of silence, including drivers on the roads (!) Transit said that drivers had better not stop and get out on the motorway, because that wouldn’t be safe [...]

Culture, Domestic Violence, New Zealand, Politics, Smacking | 1 Comment »

Yesterday Parliament passed the Amendment to Section 59 with 113 in favour and 7 against.  This is a bill which criminalises parents by making the correction of children a criminal offense, a subset of assault, worth as much as two years in jail. One of the key features of the bill is specifically denying the [...]

Culture, Domestic Violence, New Zealand, Politics, Smacking | 3 Comments »

Helen Clark and Sue Bradford are trying to convince New Zealand that the repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act (aka the anti-smacking bill) is about preventing child abuse and perhaps secondarily about ‘sending a message’ to stop smacking because it is poor parenting. That’s the political spin, and it makes it pretty difficult [...]

Domestic Violence, New Zealand, Politics | 11 Comments »

Last Saturday, I spent the evening hanging out with some of my friends including Craig. We had just had some burgers on Oriental Parade, overlooking the beautiful lights of Wellington harbour, and were heading back to our car, when our peaceful evening was shattered by a disturbance on the other side of the road. A [...]

Culture, Domestic Violence, Misandry, Sexism | 3 Comments »