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NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Letters: Sell produce of all shapes and sizes and let the consumer choose
Boy racer solution If anyone assumes that boys and girls showing off their cars under darkness against a societal norm is going to stop, they are clearly naive. The solution is to provide a place to congregate under safe controls. Communities need to provide safe places to undertake this activity. Police would still be able to prosecute breaches of law – that must continue. Once society accepts youth behaviour, and minimises risks at the same time, we will ensure tragedies don't happen. John Ford, Taradale. Cost of convenience Nadine Higgins' opinion piece (July 20) on the cost of convenience overlooks some important context. First, PayWave was promoted during the Covid-19 pandemic to reduce transmission – and it still serves that purpose. It's not just about saving a few seconds at the checkout; for many, it helps avoid days or even weeks of illness. That's a public health benefit, not a frivolous convenience. Second, pre-cut vegetables aren't just for the careless or extravagant. For people with limited strength, dexterity, or mobility – due to age, disability, or illness – pre-prepared food can be essential for maintaining independence and eating well. In fact, it's the broader demand from convenience-focused shoppers that makes these products viable for supermarkets to stock. Without that larger market, those who genuinely need them might not have access at all. Sometimes what looks like an unnecessary convenience from one perspective is, in fact, a vital aid from another. Cheryl Simes, Oxford. The rights of children In writing of the call to establish a commissioner to monitor the use of slave labour, Bruce Cotterill in an opinion piece (July 19) posits that we need to worry about our own backyard first. He cites our ranking of 35th in the OECD for the wellbeing of our children. Have we lost sight of the rights of children to a positive and protected early life? Maybe this is because we are constrained by the fear of infringing adult rights and freedoms? It seems incredible that we have produced so many reports (doorstops) over the years and set up so many agencies with so little effect. According to Cotterill, it is time we got serious about the issue of children being murdered and appoint a commissioner who could make a real difference to keeping our children safe. Who would disagree with that? Glennys Adams, Ōneroa. The point of principles Bruce Cotterill, amazingly, manages to take issue with someone in a position to do so addressing the issue of human slavery. He follows it up by Bruce-splaining to Kiwis that it's all very well to hold principles, but you're all a bit naive to think the rest of the world should care about them, grow up. Well, no thanks, Bruce. That's sort of the point of holding principles: you stand on them no matter what. There are those of us who would prefer to stand on our principles in regards to slavery – whether it makes much of a difference or not. Adam Wright, Mt Roskill. Parliamentary process It seems extraordinary in our Parliament, no matter which party is in Opposition, that they have to oppose everything that a government proposes. If more sense were brought to parliamentary business, there would surely be so much legislation about which there could be agreement. This would save hours, if not days, of the expense of having 122 MPs spend excessive hours debating many issues, with then more time available to assist their constituents. Hylton Le Grice, Remuera. Last-gasp miracle The Warriors' last-gasp win over Newcastle on Sunday would have made Houdini go ... 'Holy last-gasp miracle!' Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'It's been a wonderful ride': Strawbs' Dave Cousins and The Magic Of It All
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. When Dave Cousins completed 2023 Strawbs album The Magic Of It All, he was determined it wouldn't be their last. Sadly his death in July 2025, aged 85, ended a story that began in 1964. Ahead of that album launch, he looked back with Prog on the band's colourful career, touching on the personal and business struggles he'd faced while making the record. 'The Strawbs' farewell album?' says Dave Cousins. 'Who told you that?' The esteemed prog folk act's sole constant since they formed in London in 1964, Cousins is referring to The Magic Of It All, the new LP he made in Cape Town, South Africa. Flummoxed, Prog protests that the new record has been billed as the Strawbs' swansong in online news stories. 'Well, it bloody well shouldn't have been!' he says. 'Just because my body isn't up to playing live any more, it doesn't mean I won't continue recording. I have every intention of doing so.' Chatting from his home in Sandgate, near Folkestone in Kent, Cousins is admirably upbeat despite recent health trials including a major cancer op, stent procedures and a full knee replacement. He has plenty to say about the new record's songs, and the South African musicians who feature on it, alongside fellow Strawbs Blue Weaver and John Ford. But Prog also feels duty bound to address ongoing controversies regarding who does and does not play upon the new LP, and why. When news broke that absentees included long-timers Chas Cronk (bass) and Dave Lambert (lead guitar), plus Dave Bainbridge (keys and guitar since 2015) and Tony Fernandez (intermittent drummer stool since 1977), a ruckus broke out on Facebook. So what's the story? 'There was misinformation from fans and band members,' asserts Cousins. 'I found it deeply hurtful. There was resentment and vindictiveness – people saying this new album isn't the real Strawbs. I won't name names, but band members weren't saying things directly, they were recruiting other people to say things for them, which made it even worse. 'For me, the continuity of the band has always been about the strength of the songs rather than individual players. Anyway, with Blue Weaver and John Ford on the new record, this is absolutely a Strawbs album.' The acrimony hasn't come from out of nowhere. With Weaver producing, Cronk, Lambert, Bainbridge and Fernandez all played on 2021's Settlement, which followed on from 2019's Strawbs 50th Anniversary Weekend in Lakewood, New Jersey. Even then, there was trouble at t'mill. 'The band didn't like Settlement,' says Cousins. 'I did. I thought it had a great flow, but the others were like, 'Oh, this is Dave Cousins and friends, innit?' Tony Fernandez [whose drum parts were replaced the release] wrote and said, 'Is this some kind of April fool's joke? This doesn't sound like any Strawbs album I've ever heard.' I thought, 'What are you on about?' Ultimately I had to decide what worked best for the songs – and when Settlement charted very high in the prog and folk charts, I was vindicated.' While those tensions must have been a factor in Cousins' Strawbs planning thereafter, he says the rebooted line-up's South African odyssey arose out of chance. When his partner visited family in Cape Town, he decided to join her. 'But the air fare was expensive,' he says, 'so I thought I'd try to play some shows while I was there.' To his surprise he drew enthused crowds, proving that South Africa had an ongoing love for the Strawbs . It's the legacy of their great popularity there in the early 70s when classics Lay Down, Part Of The Union and New World chimed with those contesting the apartheid system's Natives Resettlement Act, which aimed to remove black residents from parts of Johannesburg. Visiting South Africa for the first time, Cousins received something of a hero's welcome – and he was tickled to find a Strawbs tribute act doing the rounds. It was after one of his own gigs, however, that documentary maker Niel van Deventer approached him with two propositions. Could he make a film about the Strawbs? And would Cousins write a new Strawbs album and allow van Deventer fly-on-the-wall access, while recording it at the Academy of Sound Engineering in Cape Town? There's huge upheaval coming. But this world belongs to all of us – that's the point For the bandleader it was a no-brainer – especially as van Deventer's sponsors could help finance the project. Why not make an album and a documentary simultaneously? It would further nourish the band's story, and input from talented local musicians would likely prove inspirational. 'Bassist Schalk Joubert had already played live with me in Cape Town; he was phenomenal,' says Cousins. 'He brought in Mauritz Lotz, the guitarist, then the wonderful drummer Kevin Gibson. I couldn't believe the quality of what we were recording, and how quickly and easily we were able to do it.' Working at the Academy of Sound Engineering while students sat in for work experience the group nailed Cousins newies including Everybody Means Something To Someone – exploring the lost art of letter-writing – and the plea for inclusivity and understanding that is choir-bolstered folk ballad Our World. 'Migrants driven by climate change are leaving Africa for the rest of the world, and there's huge upheaval coming,' he says of the latter, co-wrotten with John Ford. 'But this world belongs to all of us – that's the point.' Elsewhere, All Along The Bay – penned by Cousins and Weaver – mentions Cape Town's indigenous jazz music form, ghoema, while detailing some of the Strawbs' South African adventures. But what of the rest of the recent line-up? Were they invited to contribute? Cousins doesn't want to go into specifics, but Cronk and Lambert did contribute to an early version of the track Wiser Now. 'It's a special and particularly poignant song,' he say. 'But when they sent me their parts... well, what can I say? I'd heard it all before, so when the opportunity arose to record with different people, I jumped at it – and out came a version that was extraordinarily different and very creative.' (Prog approached both Cronk and Bainbridge for comment, but their responses didn't shed much light on the subject. Bainbridge said that, although he would like to provide some 'balance,' he'd hold fire. Cronk was in two minds; 'I certainly wouldn't want to get involved in a 'band at war' kind of angle,' he wrote in an email, politely declining to comment further.) Prog wonders if Cronk and Lambert might have read meaning into the Wiser Now lyrics and taken umbrage? 'Nowadays it's ever clear / Friendships that I once held dear / Fade away and disappear / I'm wiser now,' Cousins sings in sepia-tinted, oh-so-English tones. 'No,' says Cousins. 'That verse hadn't been written at that point.' Yet the words are lent addition weight in the light of current frictions. 'I know – but it wasn't intentional,' Cousins says, before veering off. 'The song is partly about me being a late starter as a songwriter, and there's also a reference to Bob Dylan's Simple Twist Of Fate. I was in the audience when he played a BBC TV show in 1965. I'll never forget it; he was mesmerising.' If I contract any kind of infection, I should go straight to accident and emergency Whatever the rights and wrongs of politics chez Strawbs in 2023, one thing is clear: Cousins will continue following his muse wherever it takes him. He won't stop making music, but he's definitely stepping down from live performance. He took his final bow at 2023's Cropredy Festival alongside 'Strawbs past and present.' Cronk and Lambert declined to appear for reasons Cousins won't discuss, while US resident Bainbridge was sidelined while awaiting the green card that would allow him to travel. Involving Portugal resident Fernandez would would have involved intensive rehearsals, which Cousins would have been unable to undertake due to his incurable myelodysplastic syndrome. 'My doctor's advice is that, if I contract any kind of infection, I should go straight to accident and emergency,' he explains. 'I can't rehearse for long periods in enclosed spaces. Also, a certain other Strawbs member has a perpetual cough, so that wasn't going to work either!' Various band members are written into the song. I can tell you the 'antiquated strummer' it mentions is me! Does Prog sense that Cousins feels some former Strawbs have not been supportive regarding his illness? 'Yes – but that didn't influence any decisions I made,' he replies soberly. He adds that pragmatism drove his Cropredry team selection, featuring Weaver and the rehearsed South African musicians. 'Oh, and [guitarist] Brian Willoughby, too – he was a Strawb for a long, long time, you know. People tend to forget Dave Lambert left the band for 20 years...' Ultimately, Cousins' ongoing focus is The Magic Of It All – and the new album's title track celebrates all he's experienced with the band. It's a travelogue, and a love letter to music, but it also details the odd wrong turn. 'When I sing 'We should have banked a goldmine / But then the bank went bust,' it's a reference to management pulling the plug on us financially circa Heartbreak Hill,' he says, referring to the album recorded in 1978 but not released until 1995. 'We'd got waylaid making pop, but Heartbreak would have put us back on top.' Codification is king for Cousins. He writes his life into his songs, and playful new track The Lady Of The Night – the title appears to be a red herring – is billed as a light-hearted letter to Strawbs fans. 'I won't give too much away,' he says with a laugh, 'but various band members are written into it. What I can tell you is that the 'antiquated strummer' it mentions is me!' Meanwhile, van Deventer's The Magic Of It All documentary will arrive later in 2023, include footage from the final Cropredy appearance alongside the making-of-the- album content. 'We're also doing new interviews with [former Strawb] Rick Wakeman and loads of others,'' says Cousins. 'It's going to be terrific. I can't wait to see it!' He takes stock, thinking how best to sign off, landing on on The Winter Long from 1974's Hero And Heroin. 'You know, there are literally hundreds of couples who have used the end section of our trilogy Autumn as their wedding music. It's been a wonderful ride; it really has.' Solve the daily Crossword
Irish Times
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Jaws: As Steven Spielberg's film turns 50, we're still living in the shadow of the shark
As a great fan of John Ford, Steven Spielberg will forgive us for disingenuously quoting the last lines of that director's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. 'This is the west, sir,' Carleton Young's cynical journalist notes in the 1962 western. 'When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.' If you insist. Fifty years ago, Jaws destroyed American cinema. From the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, the industry passed through one of the most artistically fecund periods in its history. A swathe of hairy directors shook up the business with challenging films that showed the influence not just of golden-age Hollywood but also of the French new wave and Italian neorealism. [ Jaws: One of the most gripping films out of Hollywood Opens in new window ] Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde and Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider sounded the trumpet. Classics by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola and William Friedkin followed in their wake. The studio heads were freaked by the gloomy, anti-heroic aesthetics. They were further freaked when the films became genuine hits. READ MORE Then, in the summer of 1975, Jaws came along and made everything all right again. Here was a big, noisy, popcorn smash that had its shocking moments but still ended with the defiant saviours sailing (paddling, to be more accurate) towards a hopeful horizon. It was flashy, funny and ferocious. And the studio heads didn't need their teenage children to talk them through any drug references. Two years later Star Wars offered an even more comforting endorsement of traditional Hollywood values. It beat the record Jaws had set for highest-grossing feature ever. Its sequels were also smashes. Merchandise was as important a revenue generator as ticket sales. Half a century on, the victory could hardly be more complete. Virtually every major blockbuster released this summer is a sequel or a reboot: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Jurassic World: Rebirth, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Superman, and on and on. Joseph Kosinski's F1 feels, among big-budget releases, the closest to an original production, but even that leans heavily on the good will generated by the same director's Top Gun: Maverick. Franchise titles currently generate 82 per cent of the US box office. [ Ranked: the 25 greatest films to lose out on best picture Oscar Opens in new window ] Thanks a bunch, Spielberg. Without Jaws we'd have a summer packed with the descendants of Taxi Driver, Chinatown and Nashville. Jaws destroyed American cinema. Right? If you'll allow a spoiler for a 63-year-old film, it was John Wayne, not Jimmy Stewart, who shot Liberty Valance. The myth about Jaws annihilating postclassical cinema is just that. It is certainly true that certain business decisions encouraged a wider swing into more populist cinema. The studio took a gamble on releasing in a season hitherto considered too balmy and outdoorsy for big-budget titles. Ever since, the summer has been considered US blockbuster-season. More daring still, they ditched the then common practice of beginning with a limited release before edging the film out to the wider nation. Jaws landed in a then-unprecedented 409 cinemas on opening day. (Though it didn't arrive in Ireland until after Christmas.) Huge wide release is now seen as a way of counteracting bad word of mouth. By the time the reviews land, punters have already parted with their money. [ The Shark Is Broken review: Ian Shaw is uncannily like his father in this inventive, irreverent play about the making of Jaws Opens in new window ] This was not the case with Jaws. Audiences shrieked and the tills clanged. Merchandising brought in more cash. Innovative TV ads fuelled pester power. So, yes, it helped change the business. We are still living in the shadow of Jaws. But the studios were always going to manage a shift back to easily marketable popcorn entertainment. Not least because the postclassical movies were more divisive than is now understood. Quentin Tarantino , in his book Cinema Speculation, acknowledges that division. 'Regular moviegoers were becoming weary of modern American movies,' he writes. 'Was everything a drag? Was every movie about some guy with problems?' Jaws was merely the instrument of an inevitable readjustment. The myth is also worth debunking because it offers a misleading impression of the film itself. Featuring naturalistic dialogue, using craggy character actors as its leads, working in a subplot about local governmental corruption, Jaws sits as comfortably in the world of Scorsese and Friedkin as it does with the more fantastic entertainments Spielberg went on to deliver. After that famously horrifying opening, it demands our patience as it works slowly towards the next outbreak of carnage. One more thing – a small thing maybe – distances the film from present-day cowardice. The screenplay is happy to hugely alter the plot of a novel that, by the time of film's release, every literate human on the planet had read. The romantic subplot is ditched. Different people die. Different people survive. Try that with the upcoming Harry Potter series and you'd have a billion nerds complaining that it wasn't 'book accurate'. Justice for Jaws. It didn't kill anything that wasn't going to die unassisted.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Major political scandal led to ethics reform in Tennessee: Notorious Nashville
An invoice scam by a low-level government employee in Memphis led to a police investigation that culminated 20 years ago in a federal probe that brought down some of the state's biggest political figures. A dozen local and state officials were arrested in 2005 on bribery charges and convicted in a case led by the FBI dubbed "Tennessee Waltz," aptly named after the famed song about a stinging betrayal. It remains one of the biggest political scandals in state history. The case is part of the state's infamous past, but its impact stretched across decades with ethics reforms that still serve as guardrails for politicians today. The highest-ranking public servants arrested after betraying their oaths of office include two former state senators from Memphis − John Ford and the late Roscoe Dixon. Ford, the most powerful politician caught in the FBI investigation, was convicted of accepting $55,000 in cash payoffs from an undercover agent posing as a corrupt businessman. Ford's chicanery included shepherding a bill tailored to benefit the fake company − even using the wording proposed by the undercover agent. Dixon was convicted on bribery and extortion charges for accepting $9,500 in bribes to help pass legislation. Police in Memphis initially investigated a tip about an invoice scam in which a contractor for the Shelby County Juvenile Court Clerk's Office accepted money for work never performed. When investigators realized the corruption extended all the way to the state capitol in Nashville, they sought help from the FBI, which has no jurisdictional boundaries. FBI agents created a fake electronics recycling company, E-Cycle, and used informants to infiltrate state government. They also used undercover agents to pay bribes and record conversations with politicians. An FBI agent used the name "Joe Carson" and posed as the head of E-Cycle, meeting with lawmakers, passing out fake business cards, making campaign contributions and hosting a reception with live music for politicians at the Sheraton Nashville Hotel. Federal agents were surprised at how easy it was to bribe lawmakers − and to write a new state bill the politicians were ready to pass that would have favored the fake company. The case lasted more than three years and ensnared politicians in Memphis, Chattanooga and at the state capitol in Nashville. Those convicted and sentenced to prison included: Chris Newton, a former Republican representative from Cleveland; William Cotton, a Democratic Hamilton County commissioner; Charles Love, who had been a member of the Hamilton County school board; and Darrell Catron, a former Shelby County Juvenile Court aide. The FBI sting led to the arrest of a father-son duo from a Memphis political dynasty. Michael Hooks Sr., a powerhouse Democrat and son of a Civil Rights pioneer − pleaded guilty to accepting $24,200 in bribes while chairing the Shelby County Commission. His son, Michael Hooks Jr., pleaded guilty to theft from a federally funded program when he was a Memphis city school board member. The scandal resulted in the creation of new state ethics laws and an independent ethics commission. The Tennessean is publishing a Notorious Nashville story for each year from 2000-2024. Catch up on the series here. Beth Warren can be reached at bwarren@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville, Memphis political corruption led to ethics reform
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Major political scandal led to ethics reform in Tennessee: Notorious Nashville
An invoice scam by a low-level government employee in Memphis led to a police investigation that culminated 20 years ago in a federal probe that brought down some of the state's biggest political figures. A dozen local and state officials were arrested in 2005 on bribery charges and convicted in a case led by the FBI dubbed "Tennessee Waltz," aptly named after the famed song about a stinging betrayal. It remains one of the biggest political scandals in state history. The case is part of the state's infamous past, but its impact stretched across decades with ethics reforms that still serve as guardrails for politicians today. The highest-ranking public servants arrested after betraying their oaths of office include two former state senators from Memphis − John Ford and the late Roscoe Dixon. Ford, the most powerful politician caught in the FBI investigation, was convicted of accepting $55,000 in cash payoffs from an undercover agent posing as a corrupt businessman. Ford's chicanery included shepherding a bill tailored to benefit the fake company − even using the wording proposed by the undercover agent. Dixon was convicted on bribery and extortion charges for accepting $9,500 in bribes to help pass legislation. Police in Memphis initially investigated a tip about an invoice scam in which a contractor for the Shelby County Juvenile Court Clerk's Office accepted money for work never performed. When investigators realized the corruption extended all the way to the state capitol in Nashville, they sought help from the FBI, which has no jurisdictional boundaries. FBI agents created a fake electronics recycling company, E-Cycle, and used informants to infiltrate state government. They also used undercover agents to pay bribes and record conversations with politicians. An FBI agent used the name "Joe Carson" and posed as the head of E-Cycle, meeting with lawmakers, passing out fake business cards, making campaign contributions and hosting a reception with live music for politicians at the Sheraton Nashville Hotel. Federal agents were surprised at how easy it was to bribe lawmakers − and to write a new state bill the politicians were ready to pass that would have favored the fake company. The case lasted more than three years and ensnared politicians in Memphis, Chattanooga and at the state capitol in Nashville. Those convicted and sentenced to prison included: Chris Newton, a former Republican representative from Cleveland; William Cotton, a Democratic Hamilton County commissioner; Charles Love, who had been a member of the Hamilton County school board; and Darrell Catron, a former Shelby County Juvenile Court aide. The FBI sting led to the arrest of a father-son duo from a Memphis political dynasty. Michael Hooks Sr., a powerhouse Democrat and son of a Civil Rights pioneer − pleaded guilty to accepting $24,200 in bribes while chairing the Shelby County Commission. His son, Michael Hooks Jr., pleaded guilty to theft from a federally funded program when he was a Memphis city school board member. The scandal resulted in the creation of new state ethics laws and an independent ethics commission. The Tennessean is publishing a Notorious Nashville story for each year from 2000-2024. Catch up on the series here. Beth Warren can be reached at bwarren@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville, Memphis political corruption led to ethics reform
