The Casey Costello guide to the school holidays
The Spinoff Daily, Wednesday October 2
Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily.
Today on The Spinoff: Giving up animal products is one of the best things you can do for the planet. But can you have your steak and eat it too? Plus: John Key’s new hobby, and a new episode of Gone By Lunchtime.
But first: Are you a child just trying to make it through the break? We have some independent advice for you.
Toby Manhire: “The New Zealand First list member and associate minister for health has made a series of decisions that have brought merciful rays of light to some of the most downtrodden and vulnerable in our community: tobacco companies.
Among Costello’s initiatives is winning cabinet approval for a 50% cut in the tax on heated tobacco products. Ministry of Health experts advised against it. So did Treasury officials. They told Costello ‘that Philip Morris would be the biggest winner from tax cuts for HTPs, which they said were toxic and more harmful than vaping’, RNZ reported.
Costello was having none of that. For she was in possession of, and not for the first time, something stronger, more mysterious and powerful: ‘independent advice’. It wasn’t Costello’s first advice rodeo, and this time she flat refused to tell reporters where or from whom the independent advice had come. The prime minister said he hadn’t seen the independent advice. And if you think any of that is a problem, I have some independent advice that says (a) it’s fine, and (b) you seem very uptight!
Like a latter-day Greta Thunberg, Casey Costello is an inspiration to action – specifically, to action against the phalanxes of killjoy “officials” (parents and other various adult bores) hellbent on stopping good stuff happening. This school holidays, let us rise up in the name of fun times and making independent advice work for you. (No responsibility will be accepted for anything, etc.)”
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Paris is burning: Will New Zealand abandon its climate change targets?
The meat lover’s guide to eating a more climate-friendly diet
Exclusive: John Key has a hobby
The capital gains tax debate has lurched back onto the agenda thanks to the boss of our biggest bank making a fairness case, prompting scoffs from Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis, and getting a fresh attention bump thanks to the prime minister’s housing issues and investment decisions. Is it a good idea, and can Labour ever avoid getting electorally squashed by trying to push the rock up the slope again?
In the new episode of Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas chew it all over. Plus: did the government underestimate the strength of feeling in Dunedin over its long promised new hospital? Is the swap of a teacher te reo programme for more maths resource a good idea? And a journey through the crust of the Earth in pursuit of the source of Casey Chatbot Costello’s “independent advice” on tobacco taxes.
Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
TV Review: In confronting death, Dai Henwood is teaching us how to live
‘Maybe she was just messing with me’: When Damien Wilkins met Janet Frame
Coming soon: Home Education
From a dahlia farm to a house bus, six families have found their own ways of educating their children at home. This documentary series follows these kids and their parents as they contend with the challenges and joys of education outside the bounds of a traditional classroom. Episode one premieres Tuesday October 8 on The Spinoff. Made with the support of NZ On Air.
