Trucks, utes and even dogs will descend on city centres around the country today, as farmers take part in a huge protest. Video / Supplied
The first week of a three-week recess saw Trevor Mallard take on an old oak tree, Judith Collins turned 1, Grant Robertson was called an egg, and MFAT's boss got a selfie with a famous cat in London.
"Cheeky and cheerful": National Party leader Judith Collins marked a year as leader. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Monday: Kieran McAnulty, Citizen of Anywhere Playing England
Rarely has anybody changednationality with such alacrity as Labour's whip Kieran McAnulty during the UEFA Euro football championships.
Last week, as England faced off against Denmark, McAnulty tweeted: "For the next hour or so I am Danish."
Beneath his name on the name place sheet it read "Egg in any form".
Bit of an egg: Grant Robertson's place setting at a business lunch this week. Photo / Supplied
No, they weren't calling him an egg. Robertson is allergic to eggs – the dietary advice had made it a bit further than the kitchen.
Robertson's boss Jacinda Ardern was also having an unexpected day. She turned up at Linton Army Base – her first visit to an Army base since becoming PM – for a sod-turning of a new maintenance building.
The implement to turn the sod was not the shovel she was expecting: but a large digger.
Heavy duty sod turning: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern after using a digger to turn a sod at Linton Military Camp. Photo / Michael Neilson
Wednesday: Judith Collins turns 1.
National Party leader Judith Collins marked her first (and possible only) anniversary as National Party leader. Asked later what she had done to honour the occasion, Collins replied "I worked".
The National Party Facebook account was a tad more effusive about the occasion, putting up a post describing Collins as "cheeky and cheerful by nature".
"Judith with her unparalleled resilience and willingness to make the hard decisions has been the strength we all needed."
The next day Collins went to the dentist to have a cracked filling fixed.
Thursday: Tie a resource consent around the old oak tree
Speaker Trevor Mallard's efforts to build on the carpark behind Parliament began in earnest this week.
Privacy screens went up around an old oak tree in the carpark. The tree is tagged for removal to make way for new office buildings. It is a heritage tree, and this week's operations were to assess the health of the roots in preparation for the consent application.
Known as the Parliament Oak, it is about 160 years old.
Workers prepare for a root inspection of an old oak planted in 1860 behind Parliament Buildings. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Mallard, who possibly knew the tree as a sapling, plans to move it to another site.
It is the second attempt to move the tree to make way for a new building. The first was in 1986-87, when public protests halted the uprooting (and the building project was scrapped).
Mallard will be hoping for more success this time: although NZ First leader Winston Peters may well sniff an opportunity to halt the latest incarnation of a "Parliamentary Palace" and chain himself to it.
Act's 'honest conversation' about crowd sizes
Since its rise in popularity, Act has taken to posting photos of the large crowds that attend David Seymour's addresses on his seemingly interminable "Honest Conversation" roadshows.
This week the party sent Beehive Diaries a more tongue-in-cheek boast of a "2500 per cent increase in attendance at the public meeting we held in Westport".
An Act Party gathering in Westport. Photo / supplied
The increase was from one person who turned up to a meeting before the election – to 26 people who went to listen to MPs Nicole McKee, Simon Court and Chris Baillie speak this week.
At least it was true to the "honest" part of honest conversation.
Friday: MFAT boss' selfie with Larry the Cat at No 10 Downing St
A photo of MFAT boss Chris Seed taking a selfie with Larry the cat outside the British PM's address at 10 Downing St in London did the rounds on Twitter this week.
Beehive Diaries asked Seed for the result of his efforts – and he produced it.
The selfie MFAT boss Chris Seed took with Larry the cat outside No 10 Downing Street, London. Photo / Chris Seed
Larry has been the resident cat at No 10 since 2011.
Larry is far more famous than Seed, but Seed has his own cats, Jackson and Malone.
Seed was in London earlier this week as part of a trip which also includes Washington, Singapore, and Berlin – bolstering trade talks and touching base with NZ posts overseas. It was something of a return to normal business after an extended period of very limited travel. Diplomats are among the people prioritised for vaccination.
