James Gardner

Congratulations!

…Pierre-Laurent …was convinced that he was being watched by a giant hedgehog called ‘Norman épineux’

Aimard/Benjamin review – concentrated musical thought and pianistic imagination George Benjamin joined Pierre-Laurent Aimard to give the UK premiere of his ingenious and compelling Divisions

Good to see two old crime bosses now going straight and teaming up as a piano duet/private detectives. Streaming now on your favourite platform.

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

Mature Nīkau palm showing newly revealed spathe

Timeline cleanse: exciting developments near Titirangi…

Whaddya mean “again”…?

Mature Nīkau palm showing newly revealed spathe

Timeline cleanse: exciting developments near Titirangi…

Aimard/Benjamin review – concentrated musical thought and pianistic imagination George Benjamin joined Pierre-Laurent Aimard to give the UK premiere of his ingenious and compelling Divisions

Good to see two old crime bosses now going straight and teaming up as a piano duet/private detectives. Streaming now on your favourite platform.

www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

Good to see NZ First’s nonsense being called out here…

How Jacinda Ardern’s ‘groundbreaking’ climate law has become ‘a shell’ The Zero Carbon Act promised to lock climate ambition into law. But with key policies repealed, delayed or watered down, the once 'world-leading' legislation has become a husk of its former self.

When I wrote this just two-ish months ago, the premise was that the architecture of the CCRA (zero carbon act) remained, but the policies that sustained it had been hollowed out.

With the CCRA changes today, I feel like that no longer holds

www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-dept...

Government quietly loosens climate rules An announcement at 8pm on Tuesday saw the Government delinking the ETS from the Paris Agreement and extending another emissions deadline by 25 years.

The Govt quietly announced a loosening of climate rules at 8pm last night:
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:

www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

The Invasion of Parihaka On the anniversary of the invasion of Parihaka on 5 November 1881 I am reproducing an extract from Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo Nō Ngā Pakanga o...

The invasion of Parihaka, 5 November 1881.

buttondown.com/unsettling/a...

Excellent thread about Parihaka, which is far more fitting reason to remember remember the 5th of November.

Thanks.

Do you know which bill was removed to make way for this one?

IIRC Barbirolli was a family friend and would visit whenever the Hallé played in one of Barry’s father’s theatres.

Long shot (mainly due to how little engagement I get on here), but I'm looking for freelance writers with an interest, or specialism in, classical music.

If you are one, or know one, please give me a shout.

Does this free him up to stand as a Reform candidate now?

At a time when academics are under sustained right-wing attack, Dr Siouxsie Wiles stood up to the neoliberal regime of university management and won, but it came at a cost. If you can, please consider supporting Siouxsie, one of the most courageous scholars I know.
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...

Flying Nun on Multitrack

First installment of my blog about these special tapes in the FNR and Chris Knox collections at National Library of NZ. What is a multitrack? What is on these tapes? And how can you listen to and research them? Have a read. 👇👇

natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/f...

if you see this post, your actions are:
- if you have a spare buck, give it to Wikipedia, then repost this
- if you don't have a spare buck, just repost

your action is mandatory for the world's best source of information to survive

DEFENDING THE WAC: MARK LEWISOHN LOOKS AT WHY RENEWED APPRECIATION IS URGENTLY REQUIRED I was asked to write an op-ed piece saying why I think the BBC’s Written Archives Centre (WAC) is a unique and brilliant resource, which I can do because it’s both – and why, therefore…

@davidstubbs.bsky.social Mark Lewisohn is circulating an op-ed he has written about the BBC's restrictions on access to the Written Archives Centre. I would be grateful if you could repost it: cstonline.net/defending-th...

RIP Jack DeJohnette…

For reference…

Having visited the WAC and drawn on material found there, as an independent researcher I concur that this is a very harmful and foolish move…

Renewable energy investment should come from defence budgets, say retired military leaders Former European officers say spending on low-carbon power would make nations more resilient to threats from potential aggressors

At last! Many of us have been saying for decades that the nature and climate emergency is a security issue not simply an environmental one - look forward to government ministers agreeing ….

New Zealand guts climate policy it bragged about on the world stage The law was once held up internationally as a model of transparency. The government just weakened it.

You know, there’s this pervasive view that people don’t care about climate change / are bored of it / find it overwhelming but I wrote this story this week and social media went crazy over it. People care!!!! They really care are they need a way to channel it www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

New Zealand guts climate policy it bragged about on the world stage The climate related disclosures law was once held up internationally as a model of transparency. The government just weakened it.

More disgraceful action by this reprehensible government, as detailed by @kirstyjohnston.bsky.social

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Shame on this government for the deeply racist Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Amendment Act, just passed into law.

Reality bites: RoNS will bankrupt the nation The government’s mega-roads programme is now looking to cost an astonishing $40-50 billion, based on new documents released yesterday by the NZTA.On Monday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop touted the ...

What was actually in the fine print of yesterday's roading announcement: a $40-to-$50 billion bill that we could not pay without bankrupting ourselves. This has been implicit for a long time and should be in the damn headlines. greaterauckland.substack.com/p/reality-bi...

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