Only 10 days now until Matariki

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Another mid-winter week has started on a bleak note with little to brighten the news scene.

Television One’s Sunday programme kicked things off with a sombre message around the damage that has been done here by extreme weather and the massive effort that will be needed to repair it.

Footage of the shattered roads and ruined houses just emphasised again the destruction and the almost existential threat to vital transport links and the district’s economy, and told the rest of the nation once again what we already knew.

The only positive outcome could be a realisation in Wellington that the multiple challenges are too big for the district to overcome without central government being right alongside.

One small consolation is that the weather forecast for this week is relatively benign when compared to snow elsewhere.

If any diversion would be welcomed there was a lot available on the world scene.

Riots in major French cities continued after the shooting of a boy known simply as Nahel M at a traffic stop. The boy’s family have appealed for his death not to be the cause of injury and damage to property and they were joined by French footballer Kylian Mbappe who himself has come from the same deprived suburbs as Nahel did.

French president Emmanual Macron cancelled a state visit to Germany and thousands of police were put on the streets to try to stop the anarchy.

Footage of looters riding away on expensive motorcycles showed that there are always some looking to take advantage of a situation, but the great majority of those protesting are disadvantaged people of colour with an immigrant background.

There was yet another mass shooting in the United States, this time in Baltimore, while the bloody war in Ukraine entered its 17th month.

One fascinating news item from the weekend was the second Ashes test which was won by Australia but which has led to unprecedented rage from British cricket lovers over an incident when batsman Jonny Bairstow was stumped by the Australian keeper after walking away from his crease.

The Australians’  action was within the rules but it led to sustained booing and chants of “Aussie Aussie Aussie, cheat cheat cheat” while the Australians were confronted in Lord’s sacred long room.

Yes, it pales against all the other things going on here and around the world but it will go down in cricket history as something to rival Trevor Chappell’s infamous underarm delivery in 1981.

Cheer up it is only 10 days now until the Matariki holiday.