Sue Kedgley Archive

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  Saving the trolley buses, again - by frog

  
  
  
  A strange anomaly of the Emissions Trading Scheme is that electricity is facing a carbon charge from 2010, while fuel faces a charge in 2011. This meant that the electric trolley buses in Wellington faced the strange side effect that they could become less viable compared to diesel buses.  Luckily Sue Kedgley and other stepped [...] read more
  September 9, 2008 3:42 pm - 29 Comments
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  The cost of choosing trains - by frog

  
  
  
  At the same time as Wellingtonians are looking around for about for $1 billion to build the Transmission Gully motorway (including rattling the donation tin under the noses of non Wellingtonians), train fares in the region are going up by an average 10.2%. The Dominion Post reports on Porirua’s 22% train fare increase: Rebecca Matthews [...] read more
  September 2, 2008 10:12 am - 44 Comments
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  Michael Pollan - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley has just put up this video of a conversation she had with one of my favourite food writers, Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. read more
  August 12, 2008 9:37 am - 4 Comments
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  The BBC bee vs the National Geographic spider - by frog

  
  
  
  If you’re a fan of nature docos you’ll enjoy these video clips on The Ranger’s Blog, highlighting the cultural differences between America’s National Geographic and Britain’s BBC both discussing the same topic; a spider lying in wait to catch a bee for dinner. The “unashamedly anthropomorphic” National Geographic: The jumping spider packs a ton of [...] read more
  July 30, 2008 11:10 am - 9 Comments
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  Mandatory country of origin labelling - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  Tomorrow I will present my 37 thousand signature petition calling for mandatory country of origin labelling of all fresh and single component food to the Health Select Committee. It’s hard to believe that both the Labour and National parties oppose something as basic as our right to know where our food comes from. We have [...] read more
  July 29, 2008 3:20 pm - 40 Comments
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  Stephanie Alexander talks food in schools - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley has been putting her journalism skills to work and talking to Australian chef Stephanie Alexander about the Kitchen Gardens in Schools she initiated. Kitchen Gardens in Schools is described as such: In the Kitchen Garden Program children across Years 3 to 6 spend a minimum of 40 minutes a week in an extensive [...] read more
  July 28, 2008 7:38 am - 2 Comments
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  The food rebellion - by frog

  
  
  
  The emergence of an activist food rebellion against an over processed western diet was the topic of Sunday Magazine’s cover story ‘The Art of Eating’ yesterday [off line].  Interestingly it had a short snippet on Sue Kedgley telling a story over dinner. Kedgley tells those of us sitting nearby of three Christchurch women who met [...] read more
  July 21, 2008 3:21 pm - 15 Comments
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  Supermarket behaviour threatens suppliers - by frog

  
  
  
  Check out this story from the Independent in the context of Sue Kedgley’s call for a supermarket code of conduct and an inquiry into the way the duopoly treats farmers and consumers: Supermarket giant Progressive Enterprises is turning the screws on its suppliers with a “no clash policy” imported from Australia. The policy financially penalises [...] read more
  July 19, 2008 9:51 am - 13 Comments
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  What’s the public good of broadcasting? - by frog

  
  
  
  I feel a certain amount of sympathy for the National Party over its beratable broadcasting policy.  The nature of media has changed so much in recent years that the debate can no longer be easily defined as either public or private.  With a multitude of television stations, radio networks and print publications available, many operating [...] read more
  July 8, 2008 10:35 am - 24 Comments
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  A food pricing inquiry - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley set off a bit of a flurry with her parliamentary line of questions yesterday calling for a pricing inquiry into supermarkets and a possible supermarket code of conduct: Sue Kedgley: Does she agree with Consumer New Zealand that with a concentrated market dominated by a very small number of players, consumers need better [...] read more
  June 27, 2008 10:57 pm - 20 Comments
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  The world food summit - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley’s postcards from Rome attracted a lot of comment on the blogosphere for her attacks both on free trade and wealthy nations’ subsidies of their own farmers.  From my perspective, being concerned about both of those things at the same time is an entirely consistent stance.  The reality is that wealthy and powerful countries [...] read more
  June 12, 2008 4:23 pm - 12 Comments
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  Bits and pieces - by frog

  
  
  
  Here’s a quick wrap up of some Green Party coverage snippets over the last week: Sue Kedgley in the Capital Times, in an article mostly about solving congestion and oil dependence by investing trains and trams, also takes time out to reveal her poor credentials as a groupie (the article is online but not the [...] read more
  June 9, 2008 2:56 pm - 2 Comments
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  NGOs Cry Foul at FAO Food Conference - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  I’ve just come from the NGO’s presentation of their fiery declaration, which is in stark contrast to the bland ‘declaration’ of the high level conference which is bogged down in negotiations and still hasn’t been agreed to. The Minister Jim Anderton was pleased with New Zealand’s participation in the conference and felt we ‘waved the [...] read more
  June 9, 2008 10:55 am - 12 Comments
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  GE Rears Its Head as Saviour of World Food Emergency - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  It was to be expected, but still a shock, to find Bill Gates and the Rockefeller foundation at the conference (they weren’t excluded like the NGOs) launching a new bold sounding “Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. In partnership with various UN agencies, aimed at ‘lifting millions out of poverty and hunger by increasing [...] read more
  June 8, 2008 2:13 pm - 29 Comments
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  Food conference highjacked by free trade corporates - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  [Frog: This is the first of three posts sent to me from Sue Kedgley, who is attending the World Food Conference in Rome] As usual in these international conferences, clarity and truth came from civil society and the NGO’s than from the set piece speeches of most world leaders. NGO’s were treated appallingly at the [...] read more
  June 7, 2008 3:53 pm - 27 Comments
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  Greens looking forward to after the election - by frog

  
  
  
  Vernon Small, uses his column in the Dominion Post today to argue that the Greens have no where to go when they get down to negotiations after the election. He notes that the political climate while volatile, looks better for the Greens than last election. So, on balance, the Greens can look forward to a [...] read more
  June 2, 2008 5:07 pm - 78 Comments
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  Sue Kedgley on Peak Food - by frog

  
  
  
  Sue Kedgley spoke at the Farmers Market Biennial Conference yesterday on Peak Food: We are in danger of becoming a cash crop nation –producing dairy and to a lesser extent meat for export –while other sectors are being eroded by cheap imports. We import 2.8 million tonnes of food each year — bananas from Equador, [...] read more
  May 31, 2008 7:38 am - 39 Comments
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  Gareth Morgan on Food: Buyer Beware - by frog

  
  
  
  In this latest video from Sue Kedgley, Gareth Morgan speaks candidly about the risks associated with poorly labelled food imported from overseas. He talks about how production models in non-OECD countries differ from our own and that there are risks associated with assuming that our Food Safety Authority is equipped to deal with the differences. [...] read more
  May 23, 2008 10:48 am - 3 Comments
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  Getting chickens off the drugs - by frog

  
  
  
  It seems that if you keep a rather large number of chickens inside a building and afford each chicken roughly about an A4 piece of paper’s worth of space, and feed them a very limited diet, those chickens occasionally get sick.  At this point you’ve really got two choices – you could knock down the [...] read more
  May 13, 2008 3:13 pm - 14 Comments
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  The Green Party candidate list - by frog

  
  
  
  The Greens have just announced their candidate list, as voted on by party members: Jeanette Fitzsimons Russel Norman Sue Bradford Metiria Turei Sue Kedgley Keith Locke Kevin Hague (West Coast, DHB Chief Executive) Catherine Delahunty (East Coast, activist and chairperson of the Tairawhiti Beneficiary Advocacy Trust) Kennedy Graham  (Christchurch, senior diplomat and law lecturer) David [...] read more
  May 12, 2008 3:02 pm - 60 Comments