Podcasts about Britomart

The widow of late Green Party MP Fa'anana Efeso Collins is calling for an inquest into his death accusing the organisers of the charity event he was attending at the time of failing him. Faanana Efeso Collins died in February last year after suffering a cardiac arrest at a charity event on Auckland's Britomart. Grace Fia'va'ai filed this report.

The benefits of major events is on full display in the city of sails. Auckland hotels saw a $5 million boost in January, largely thanks to SailGP and country musician Luke Combs' Eden Park concerts. An extra 8,000 hotel rooms were booked over the four days, both events were on. Hotel Britomart General Manager Clinton Farley told Mike Hosking the events helped make a strong start to 2025. He says that, combined with the usual inbound tourism, helped make it a cracker summer season. Farley backs ideas for a bed-tax to pay for these money-making events, but says it needs to be nationwide. He says they don't want to create a messy visitor experience for tourists, where they pay different prices in different centres. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The almost three and a half kilometre long inaugural journey was made at a crawl; about five kilometres an hour overnight, meaning the loop took two and half hours in total while various underground checks were completed. The train ran south from Waitemata Station at Britomart under central Auckland past the new underground stations at Te Waihorotiu and Karanga-a-Hape to Maungawhau Station on the Western/North Auckland Line. Wayne Cooney, the Systems Director for the CRL spoke to Lisa Owen.

On Auckland's skyline, the country's largest residential tower sits unfinished and exposed to the elements. 

One NZ CEO Jason Paris speaks to Lisa Owen about the decision behind closing its Britomart store.

Streetside is Auckland Writers Festival's annual fringe event that showcases literature and the arts outside of conventional spaces. It's a free event in which writers, musicians and artists take to the streets of Britomart for a night of creativity. This year it takes place on Friday 17th May from 6-8pm. Beth caught up with Programme Manager for Auckland Writers Festival Jennifer Cheuk about Streetside and began by asking her how it all works.

If you could pick a gender, any gender, which one would that be, and why would it 1000% be knight? In this special minisode, I get to answer that question with Mabel Mundy, who shares fascinating insights into the genderfuckery of chivalric romance and crossdressing knights. Tune in now, to learn more about why gender ambiguity clearly is, and has always been, super hot, and how this plays out in Edmund Spenser and Philip Sidney's writing.If you too are picturing Brienne of Tarth at the bathhouse when hearing about Britomart, follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and let me know in the comments. To learn more about Mabel's work, follow her on Twitter at @mabelcjmundy.A big, big thank you to the brilliant team of Queer and Trans Philologies at Cambridge University for creating this space!References:Petition: https://www.change.org/p/support-our-surrey-campaign?This is not an isolated issue! See this list of current large-scale UK HE redundancies: https://qmucu.org/qmul-transformation/uk-he-shrinking/https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/39800/#call-for-papersQueer and Trans PhilologiesUniversity of CambridgeCRASSH @crasshlive (Instagram)CrossdressingGenderfuckeryEdmund Spenser's The Faerie QueeneSir Philip Sidney's ArcadiaMargaret Cavendish's The Covenant of PleasureChivalric RomanceBritomartMalecastaBradamanteLudovico Ariosto's Orlando FuriosoDiane WattThe Redcrosse KnightUnaQuestions you should be able to respond to after listening:What forms of genderfuckery does Mabel talk about? If you are not familiar with the term, please look it up and/or check out the Queer Lit episode with Nick Cherryman.Why is Mabel particularly interested in doing research on chivalric romances?Mabel comments on how crossdressing knights can reveal something about the social category of gender that is possibly more important than their individual gender. Would you agree with that? Why or why not?Do you have a favourite knight?

A kind, dedicated champion of fairness and equality. A father, and man of the people. Devastated MPs, and community figures have paid tribute to Fa'anānā Efeso Collins, the Green MP who died after collapsing at a charity event this morning. He was taking part in the ChildFund Water Run event at Britomart in Auckland, to support local communities in the Pacific. The shock at his sudden death has reverberated through the communities he served and loved, through to Parliament, where his journey as an MP was just beginning. Deputy political editor Craig McCulloch reports. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6347294011112

Green Party MP and former Auckland mayoral candidate, Efeso Collins, has died at a charity event in central Auckland. Collins collapsed while participating in the ChildFund, Water Fun event at Britomart this morning. He was a well known community figure in both the South Auckland and the wider Pasifika community.

Green MP Fa'anana Efeso Collins has died after collapsing while participating in a charity event in central Auckland.  Collins was taking part in ChildFund Water Run to raise funds to support local communities in the Pacific at 9am in Auckland's Britomart when he collapsed.  Emergency services immediately responded with CPR and defibrillators to treat the MP and continued working on him for an hour.  An organiser for the event confirmed to the Herald he had died at the scene.  Collins, 49, is survived by his wife Fia and two daughters.  Political Editor Jason Walls told Simon and James that select committee meetings had to be postponed after the news broke, and the MPs leaving the meetings were visibly shaken.  Collins was a relatively new Green MP but had been a member of the Labour party for years prior, and many across the political spectrum have been in mourning this morning.  An emotional afternoon is expected, as Parliament has one last meeting before adjourning until next Tuesday.  Walls said that there will be speeches from the Prime Minister, the Green Party leaders, and various other party leaders.  He said it going to be extremely emotional, and the tributes are expected to be touching.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The question of whether Auckland needs a waterfront or downtown stadium has always been an easy question for me to answer. No, Auckland doesn't need another stadium. We already have quite a few stadiums with different capacities catering to various our needs. There are a lot of other more important things Auckland needs; less traffic congestion, better public transport, a better waste water system, more schools, more housing, a massive wet and wild Waterslide park - you know, the important stuff. A stadium, in the heart of the city is a nice to have, right? But you know what, how nice would it be to have. Sitting on the glistening shores of the Waitemata Harbour, the CBD should be the pride of Auckland City. Instead, it's too often the subject of complaints about safety, policing and access as Queen St transforms into a shared space. A lot of work has gone into enticing people back into the city centre; the Britomart complex, an upgraded Quay St, the impressive Wynyard Quarter. We know if you create interesting spaces – theatres, stadiums, family friendly open spaces, shopping precincts, entertainment and hospo areas – and make them accessible – the people will come and we'll get a world class, vibrant city with all the economic benefits that go along with that. So for this reason alone, I say bring it on. However, a city-based stadium in Auckland is like a lot of infrastructure projects in New Zealand – spoken about for decades but rarely seen. We thought about it in 2006 when Trevor Mallard thought it would be nice to have one for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, instead of spending money on upgrading Eden Park. In 2017 then Mayor Phil Goff commissioned a $1million feasibility report - which he was then reluctant to release. It turns out stadiums don't turn much of a profit. We've had architects, various consortiums and sports team owners present their visions for a revamped Auckland waterfront. There are probably a few students out there who've created some pretty good-looking Auckland waterfront designs for a school study. So far they've all been pipedreams; a teaser to get the public on side, a push to get politicians to act. Yesterday a new vison for Auckland Quay Park was released to the public by a consortium headed by former Warriors Chief Executive Jim Doyle. It includes not just an impressive looking 50,000-seater stadium with views to Rangitoto (is anyone else concerned about the wind swirling around in there?) but also hotels, bars and restaurants, residential apartments and public spaces and parks. Their vision is impressive – who wouldn't want it over an old railway yard? It's good to see local iwi who own the land on board, and with the majority of the investment coming from the private sector, input from the council and government is thought to be less than what may have to be spent on maintaining Eden Park in the future. It's a compelling case and vision. We will just have to wait and see if anyone is brave enough to commit to it. I hope they do. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The boss of Auckland's City Rail Link is giving no guarantees it will hit its opening deadline of 2026. Preliminary work on the 3.4km track, spanning four underground stations, from downtown's Britomart to Mt Eden, began in 2016. But CRL chief executive Sean Sweeney says reaching that deadline of 2026 - 10 years later - is not guaranteed. The latest cost projection of the build is 5.49 billion dollars - and once it is up and running, it's is set to cost Auckland ratepayers an estimated 220 million dollars a year to maintain. It will serve as connecting link between existing rail services , making most of the central city accessible by train. An engineer ,Sean Sweeney has spent four decades working across the world overseeing such big construction jobs. But as he tells Kathryn Ryan, he believes Auckland is the most expensive place in the world for infrastructure projects.

A Queens Wharf worker says rules have been tightened on their site around checking people entering. While some commuters say they feel safe in the CBD, and that there are extra security staff at Britomart station. Reporter Lucy Xia spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Two civilians are dead and ten are injured after a shooting attack in downtown Auckland CBD. The 24-year-old gunman stormed a Britomart building under construction just before 7:30 this morning. Auckland mayor Wayne Brown says this is something that we're not used to. "It is safe to be here, it's a shock to Aucklanders. We all feel terribly upset and sad for the people whose families and lives have been wrecked. Also for the workers, whose normal day at work became a terrifying experience."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police are responding to serious incident in Auckland CBD near Quay Street where gunshots have been heard. Armed Police can be seen near Britomart and Commercial Bay and the public is asked to please stay indoors and avoid the area. Reporter Felix Walton spoke to Corin Dann.

A major police operation unfolded in downtown Auckland on Thursday morning, where people have been ordered to stay indoors. RNZ understands the situation involves an active shooter.  Gunshots are reported to have been heard on Quay Street, near the Britomart transport centre and Commercial Bay. The FIFA World Cup fanzone is also close by.  Deputy mayor Desley Simpson spoke to Corin Dann about the situation.

Auckland's $5.5 billion City Rail Link (CRL) will not open until sometime in 2026 or later, the Herald can reveal. This is at least 18 months longer than what was forecasted only a few months ago when the cost of the project blew out by $1.1b to $5.5b and the completion date moved from late 2024 to November 2025. In an exclusive interview during a tour of the mega-project, City Rail Link chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney said the latest completion date is not when Aucklanders will get to ride the underground railway. He said November 2025 is when City Rail Link Ltd hands over the brand spanking new 3.4-kilometre track from Britomart to Mt Eden to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail, which then have to do extensive testing before it opens to passengers. Sweeney was reluctant to say how long that could be, but when pressed said: “As a ballpark guess, I'd say six months, but people need to understand that numbers could change a lot, based on what happens.” The big issue vexing the minds of Sweeney and the Alliance contractor is moving from the construction of the tunnels and stations to the complex and risky phase of installing bespoke software and signalling work, and plugging a state-of-the-art railway into the existing, fault-ridden network. Three years ago, Sweeney told the Herald there are going to be challenges at the “back end”, and the problem is made worse because a metro rail system has never been built in New Zealand. At the time, he was commenting on the Crossrail line under London that encountered massive and costly overruns after back-end problems just as everyone was doing victory laps - the chairman got a knighthood and later got sacked. Sweeney said Crossrail was a much more complex project and does not envisage similar problems with the CRL, but did acknowledge plugging new plants and equipment into the existing rail network could lead to “unintended consequences”. Full testing of the new systems is expected to begin in mid-2024 and will take about a year, said Sweeney, who is planning to finish the job before the November 2025 date. One of the biggest issues that needs testing, he said, is a fire on a train in the tunnel. After the handover, AT and KiwiRail have to go through another set of tests, which Sweeney said is not straightforward and involves a lot of operational and training exercises. “There are exhaustive tests that they will have to go through, and safety checks, before they are allowed to run passengers,” Sweeney said. For example, every one of the 240 drivers in Auckland will have to go through the tunnels for training. An AT spokeswoman could not say when trains will start running on the CRL, saying it is working with CRL Ltd and the Alliance contractor, Auckland One Rail, the rail safety regular Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency and other stakeholders on a plan to begin as early as possible. The plan involved critical testing of the new systems before trains can operate, including emergency and evacuation protocols, driver training, signalling and other important systems needed to operate the CRL safely. “We will be able to confirm the dates for CRL operations once this programme is complete,” she said. Artist's impression of what the Karanga-a-Hape station will look like once it opens. Photo / Supplied Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Bridges, who was Minister of Transport when work started on the CRL in 2016, said a 2026 opening date is far too long. “While most big infrastructure projects do take longer than is said when they start, a critical mistake here was not continuing during Covid lockdowns, when in hindsight we could have, if anything, picked up the pace in a safe and appropriate way.  “That said, when it does open, my pick is that the vast majority of people will forget all the criticism, and Auckland will be in for a pretty golden period given the upgraded transport link, a new convention centre, and hopefully, an upward swing in cyclical economic activity,” said the former MP for Tauranga, who's now a resident of and cheerleader for the Super City. Bridges said the long wait to get to the finish line is little comfort to businesses disrupted - and in some cases, devastated - by the construction works. “But in a wider Auckland sense, it will be exciting when it eventually opens,” he said. Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges and Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck are disappointed about the time it is taking to build the CRL. Photo / Brett Phibbs Heart of the City chief executive Vic Beck, who has battled tirelessly for businesses impacted by the CRL works, said uncertainty looms large for the project. “It is extremely disappointing for the city that the benefits won't be reaped sooner, and particularly for those impacted by construction. This creates more anxiety because there is no fixed date for it to be operational. For some, that could now be up to 10 years of major disruption and impacts on them and their business,” she said. Beck has called for a review of the $12 million fund set aside for affected businesses to be sped up, saying no one should lose their livelihood for a public project. - Bernard Orsman, NZHSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland's $5.5 billion City Rail Link (CRL) will not open until sometime in 2026 or later, the Herald can reveal. This is at least 18 months longer than what was forecasted only a few months ago when the cost of the project blew out by $1.1b to $5.5b and the completion date moved from late 2024 to November 2025. In an exclusive interview during a tour of the mega-project, City Rail Link chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney said the latest completion date is not when Aucklanders will get to ride the underground railway. He said November 2025 is when City Rail Link Ltd hands over the brand spanking new 3.4-kilometre track from Britomart to Mt Eden to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail, which then have to do extensive testing before it opens to passengers. Sweeney was reluctant to say how long that could be, but when pressed said: “As a ballpark guess, I'd say six months, but people need to understand that numbers could change a lot, based on what happens.” The big issue vexing the minds of Sweeney and the Alliance contractor is moving from the construction of the tunnels and stations to the complex and risky phase of installing bespoke software and signalling work, and plugging a state-of-the-art railway into the existing, fault-ridden network. Three years ago, Sweeney told the Herald there are going to be challenges at the “back end”, and the problem is made worse because a metro rail system has never been built in New Zealand. At the time, he was commenting on the Crossrail line under London that encountered massive and costly overruns after back-end problems just as everyone was doing victory laps - the chairman got a knighthood and later got sacked. Sweeney said Crossrail was a much more complex project and does not envisage similar problems with the CRL, but did acknowledge plugging new plants and equipment into the existing rail network could lead to “unintended consequences”. Full testing of the new systems is expected to begin in mid-2024 and will take about a year, said Sweeney, who is planning to finish the job before the November 2025 date. One of the biggest issues that needs testing, he said, is a fire on a train in the tunnel. After the handover, AT and KiwiRail have to go through another set of tests, which Sweeney said is not straightforward and involves a lot of operational and training exercises. “There are exhaustive tests that they will have to go through, and safety checks, before they are allowed to run passengers,” Sweeney said. For example, every one of the 240 drivers in Auckland will have to go through the tunnels for training. An AT spokeswoman could not say when trains will start running on the CRL, saying it is working with CRL Ltd and the Alliance contractor, Auckland One Rail, the rail safety regular Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency and other stakeholders on a plan to begin as early as possible. The plan involved critical testing of the new systems before trains can operate, including emergency and evacuation protocols, driver training, signalling and other important systems needed to operate the CRL safely. “We will be able to confirm the dates for CRL operations once this programme is complete,” she said. Artist's impression of what the Karanga-a-Hape station will look like once it opens. Photo / Supplied Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Bridges, who was Minister of Transport when work started on the CRL in 2016, said a 2026 opening date is far too long. “While most big infrastructure projects do take longer than is said when they start, a critical mistake here was not continuing during Covid lockdowns, when in hindsight we could have, if anything, picked up the pace in a safe and appropriate way.  “That said, when it does open, my pick is that the vast majority of people will forget all the criticism, and Auckland will be in for a pretty golden period given the upgraded transport link, a new convention centre, and hopefully, an upward swing in cyclical economic activity,” said the former MP for Tauranga, who's now a resident of and cheerleader for the Super City. Bridges said the long wait to get to the finish line is little comfort to businesses disrupted - and in some cases, devastated - by the construction works. “But in a wider Auckland sense, it will be exciting when it eventually opens,” he said. Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges and Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck are disappointed about the time it is taking to build the CRL. Photo / Brett Phibbs Heart of the City chief executive Vic Beck, who has battled tirelessly for businesses impacted by the CRL works, said uncertainty looms large for the project. “It is extremely disappointing for the city that the benefits won't be reaped sooner, and particularly for those impacted by construction. This creates more anxiety because there is no fixed date for it to be operational. For some, that could now be up to 10 years of major disruption and impacts on them and their business,” she said. Beck has called for a review of the $12 million fund set aside for affected businesses to be sped up, saying no one should lose their livelihood for a public project. - Bernard Orsman, NZHSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been a rough ride for Auckland commuters today with torrential rain and flash flooding disrupting services and it is not over yet. All trains out of the Britomart transport hub in the central city were cancelled earlier today. Surface flooding caused disruption to some bus routes too. Darek Koper from Auckland Transport talks to Lisa Owen.  

A fault with KiwiRail's overhead power lines has caused commuter chaos across Auckland this morning, with train services cancelled across the city. The fault at Grafton resulted in power being switched off for safety reasons, forcing Auckland Transport to cancel all southern and eastern line services between Otahuhu and Britomart, as well as all Western & Onehunga Line services. This has impacted tens of thosuands of passengers, and because of the late notice of the outage, Auckland Transport says it was only able to provide a small number of bus replacements. Kathryn speaks with Darek Koper, Auckland Transport's Group Manager of Metro Services.

There are big commuter problems in Auckland with trains across the network cancelled. All Southern and Eastern line services have been cancelled between Otahuhu and Britomart. All western and Onehunga line services have also been cancelled until further notice, due to a Kiwirail track infrastructure problem. Finn Blackwell is at Newmarket railway station, and he spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Cancellations on the Auckland train network has caused commuter chaos on Friday morning. All Southern and Eastern line services have been cancelled between Otahuhu and Britomart. All western and Onehunga line services have also been cancelled until further notice. Ingrid Hipkiss spoke to our reporter Finn Blackwell who was at Newmarket Station.

Each Thursday Lorraine makes the 40 minute bus commute from Silverdale to Britomart train station to play the piano. She shares with Charlotte why she makes the effort. 

A concern Auckland Transport isn't focusing on the right things. Seven Auckland railway stations are getting new names, including the city's busiest train station, Britomart. The Taxpayer's Union says it seems there are too many comms staff and not enough engineers at the agency. Executive Director Jordan Williams says there are so many other problems worth fixing. He says there is a bus driver shortage, closed rail lines and cost blowouts on the City Rail Link. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this track Sue Berman talks with Frances Walsh from the NZ Maritime Museum and Britomart's Jeremy Hansen about the exhibition Bon Voyage, Good Trip, Be Good : An exhibition of photographs by John Rykenberg. On show in December and January at Britomart - https://britomart.org/festivities-and-farewells-britomarts-summer-exhibition/ "Summer can be a time of exciting excursions, of reunions and departures, of times of contemplation accompanied by a soundtrack of the ocean. This summer, Britomart celebrates the season with a look back before the era of mass air travel, when Auckland's wharves were the place where the city connected to the rest of the globe. From 1958-62, photographer John Rykenberg roamed Princes Wharf taking pictures of festivities and farewells as passengers gathered with their whānau before departing for destinations across the seas. This exhibition at The Pavilions and in the Atrium on Takutai is presented by Britomart, Auckland Libraries and the New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui te Ananui a Tangaroa reproduces some of Rykenberg's photographs, a reminder that even as times change, the thrill of travel and the emotion of reunion and farewell remain". Rykenberg Collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online: https://tinyurl.com/49cde36r https://www.maritimemuseum.co.nz/ Image: Departure of the Tofua, Auckland, 1959, Rykenberg Photography https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/81369/rec/86 Music: https://archive.org/details/78_now-is-the-hour-maori-farewell-song_bing-crosby-ken-darby-choir-maewa-kaihan-clem_gbia0004764a

Your credit or debit card will soon be your new ticket to public transport. A new ticketing system will be rolled out across the country to make it easier for commuters to take a bus, train or ferry, regardless of what city they are in. Commuters at Auckland's central train hub in Britomart were positive about the plan.  

It's back for 2023!!!  Join the Whānau on Instagram, Facebook & Tik Tok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surprise maintenance closures are heading down the tracks for Auckland train passengers and the disruption to commuters will last years. Rock foundations under several lines around the city need to be removed and rebuilt so they can cope with more trains on the lines when the network hooks into the City Rail Link, hopefully by the end of 2024. That means rolling months long closures on the Onehunga and Southern line, the Eastern Line, between Ōtāhuhu and Britomart and the Southern line, Pukekohe to Papakura. Commuters will be offered replacement buses. Auckland Transport's Darek Koper joined Lisa Owen.

Auckland's multi-billion dollar City Rail Link (CRL) project is a public transport dream providing a key link in the city's rail network or business owners' nightmare with construction impacting business for several years. The currently costed NZ$4.4 billion project will connect Britomart to Mount Eden via a 3.5 km long double-track rail tunnel with two new underground stations being constructed, Te Wai Horotiu near Aotea Square and Karanga a Hape near Karangahape Road. After COVID lockdowns impacted operating schedules and facing delays in our supply chain and labour shortages, the 2024 completion deadline is in limbo. The question on every Aucklander's lips is - when will the CRL be up and running? Wilhelmina Shrimpton spoke to City Rail Link CEO Dr Sean Sweeney about when we could see an update on the project's completion date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Severed SonsEpisode 50The Sons take some much needed downtime and eat chocolate croissants. Spitz questions refugees about Caer Dineval, Oak works a forge, and Trax and Britomart have a heart to heart.Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, Roll20, DnD Beyond, Monument Studios, and thanks to Syrinscape! Theme Music by Ron MurphyBecause Epic Games Need Epic Sound!Episode CreditsRon Murphy – DM, @ron88keysRBDMThe Severed Sons are:Spitz - Claire Clauson, @femmeslothDonaar – Paul Gary, @thepaulgaryFang – Ross Griffin, @griffRMThe Tortle – Josh Helgeson, @joshinaround88Trax – Zach Burrell, @zachburrell10Follow us on Twitter at @SeveredSonsDnD!Join our Discord!Give us a review on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, Spotify,  GoodPods or on our Twitter page and we'll read it on the air.  Stay frosty! Support the show

I haven't tried the scientists' new tool to work out whether my house is going to be under water sooner than I think.I am still a little surprised, though, that we seem to be making an awful lot of the fact that two well-known bits of data have never been joined together before to allegedly give us this startlingly new look at our lives and future.The land, in bits of the country, moves. And where it moves down, and in some areas, we are talking about four millimetres a year, this makes a real difference, if you are looking to calculate when the tide is in to your lounge and you are moving out.What we must point out, and the scientists never like to hear, is that the model around sea level isn't new. It's the same old model they have used for years, so its accuracy is in some doubt.So, by the time you take the doubt, the fact we've been worried about these things seemingly forever, and this new addition of land movement, the question is, has a lot changed? They say, yes of course. Instead of your town being underwater in 60 years it might be 20 years. Then again, it might not.What we do know is the media is always up for a good old scare story, hence, they continue to give precedence to the alarmism. But in the alarmism is part of the problem, how many times can they scream disaster before it wears off? It's already started to wear off and has been doing so for years.I note with irony on some of this modelling Auckland's Britomart transport facility would be swamped. That's odd because Britomart is new. Why would they build new stuff at the cost of hundreds of millions only to see it swamped?The other part of it is size. We can't handle a lot in this country.We can't build roads well, we can't keep people here, we don't pay particularly well, our productivity is famously bad, Covid has been a dreadful muddle of angst, anger and poor delivery, and our education system is shocking, in parts.So, the idea of being able to organise ourselves in a way that deals to something as large and overpowering as climate and where we live, I think is a bridge too far.In other words, it's like the pandemic itself. People like Bill Gates warned of pandemics, we didn't listen. People like the W.H.O warned of the rich countries robbing the poor of access to vaccines, we haven't listened.Any number of climate conferences chocked to the gunnels with alarmism have been held, have promises made, and still, we are getting next to nowhere.So the reality check is this, look up your area in this sparkling new tool, find out just when it is you need a snorkel, and then get back to life.Because history shows way more accurately than any ocean rise model, we ain't changing anything.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we talk to Clinton Farley, the General manager of The Hotel Britomart, New Zealand first five-star green hotel and his other role as non-executive director of Soap Aid, Australia, and New Zealand. Some of the key questions we cover in the episode are: 1) New build vs retrofit buildings, and the advantages with new-build hotels. 2) Examples of feasible partnerships with local firms which are great for the planet, people and ROI (see in show notes for a list of examples) 3) The need (or not) for the role of Chief Sustainability Officer? 4) One of the biggest sustainability challenge for The Hotel Britomart, as Clinton identifies is packaging. 5) Clinton leadership advice from his career and also as non-executive director of soap-aid We close the episode, with a favourite quote of Clinton "Status Quo isn't good enough for sustainability. Question everything” Please continue to give your reviews and comments on the direct website https://sustainabilitystoriespodcast.com/, as it really helps for the show The rating of hotel's 5 green star rating is provided by NZGBC (New Zealand Green Building Council) through Green Star. Green Star benchmarks projects against the nine Green Star categories of Management; Indoor Environment Quality; Energy; Transport; Water; Materials; Land Use & Ecology; Emissions and Innovation. Excelling in all these parameters is The Hotel Britomart, New Zealand's First- and only Five-star Green Hotel. Show notes: https://thehotelbritomart.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/clintonfarley/?originalSubdomain=nz Compostable packaging room amenities: https://sansceuticals.com/ Staff uniforms manufactured locally by Mavis and Osborne: https://www.mavisandosborn.com/

Britomart is a female knight, the embodiment and champion of Chastity. She is young and beautiful, and falls in love with Artegal upon first seeing his face in her father's magic mirror. Though there is no interaction with him, she falls in love with him, and travels, dressed as a knight and accompanied by her...

Scott Wynands runs gluten free bakery OM Goodness. The Hawkes Bay operation which employs nine staff has recently expanded into the Auckland market, with an outlet in the Britomart train station. The business has risen out of years of trying out bread recipes to find one that would suit his gluten intolerant daughter. Scott says the aim was always to make a gluten free loaf that would be a great for toast and also for sandwiches.

Scott Wynands runs gluten free bakery OM Goodness. The Hawkes Bay operation which employs nine staff has recently expanded into the Auckland market, with an outlet in the Britomart train station. The business has risen out of years of trying out bread recipes to find one that would suit his gluten intolerant daughter. Scott says the aim was always to make a gluten free loaf that would be a great for toast and also for sandwiches.

Peter Cooper is a billionaire and global investor who is perhaps best known for the transformation of Auckland's CBD through the redevelopment of Britomart. He was also pivotal in the creation of brewing giant Lion Nathan, and some people will be familiar with The Landing, a luxury retreat, winery and heritage project in the Bay of Islands - where Barack Obama stayed while visiting New Zealand. Cooper is currently based in California, but at heart he's a proud Kaitaia boy who turned his humble beginnings into an incredible portfolio of works, donations, and assets. This week Cooper received the supreme award at the Kea World Class New Zealand Awards, which recognises people whose achievements are driving the country's prosperity, development, and international reputation.

Peter Cooper is a billionaire and global investor who is perhaps best known for the transformation of Auckland's CBD through the redevelopment of Britomart. He was also pivotal in the creation of brewing giant Lion Nathan, and some people will be familiar with The Landing, a luxury retreat, winery and heritage project in the Bay of Islands - where Barack Obama stayed while visiting New Zealand. Cooper is currently based in California, but at heart he's a proud Kaitaia boy who turned his humble beginnings into an incredible portfolio of works, donations, and assets. This week Cooper received the supreme award at the Kea World Class New Zealand Awards, which recognises people whose achievements are driving the country's prosperity, development, and international reputation.

The country's first hydrogen-fuelled bus has been unveiled today as Auckland Transport moves towards an emission-free fleet by 2040. The $1.1 million bus will run from Botany to Britomart for a trial, running over the next two years. Reporter Louise Ternouth and camera operator Simon Rogers went to check it out.

Auckland commuter trains were delayed or cancelled across the network on Friday morning after a person was found dead on the train tracks in Manukau overnight. Reporter Jordan Bond spoke to Morning Report from Britomart station where trains are still running to and from Otahuhu.

Jase and Mike are coming to you from Britomart's beautiful Generator facilities to explore the world of women. Donna gives an insight into the female psyche over the Instagram, there's a discussion on apologies (when to use them and how they work) and some puppy selection advice. Plus, what to do if your man can't be dragged away from the podcast and we're on the hunt for listener feedback regarding foreskins. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cabinet is poised to sign off on making masks mandatory on all public transport in Auckland and all domestic flights around the country on Monday. Pleas to wear masks have gone largely unheeded, but after the community transmission scare last week, more Aucklanders are coming on board. Katie Todd has been talking to commuters at the city's public transport hub Britomart about how prepared they are to mask-up.

The confirmed case of Covid-19 visited several places in central Auckland while they were potentially infectious before they started displaying symptoms on the 9 November. People who were at those places should watch for symptoms, and get tested if they feel unwell. The Auckland Regional Public Health Service says on Saturday the 7 November, the person visited Smith and Caughey's Department Store on Queen Street between 3.50 and 6pm; before going to the Red Pig Restaurant on Kitchener Street from 6pm until 8.30. Anyone who was dining at Red Pig Restaurant on Saturday night will need to be tested and go into self-isolation until they receive a negative result. On Sunday the 8 November between 11.30 and 11.45 in the morning, they got takeaways from Starbucks on Queen Street and Sunny Town China Taste Restaurant around the corner on Lorne Street. That evening, around 6.40, they got takeaways from The Gateau House, at 332 Queen Street. On Monday the 9 November, around 11.30 in the morning, they again got takeaways from Starbucks on Queen Street and Sunny Town China Taste Restaurant on Lorne Street. Anyone who was at those places at those times should watch for symptoms, and get tested if they feel unwell and go into self-isolation until they receive a negative result. The woman in her 20s, worked at A-Z Collections on High Street. Anyone who went to the store on 8,9 or 11 November between 10.30 in the morning and 6.30 at night should also be tested and self-isolate until they receive a negative result. Getting a test There are three pop-up community testing centres open in the Auckland CBD from 8.30am this morning. They are at: Ellen Melville Centre, 2 Freyberg Place. The Wynyard Quarter Carpark, on Madden Street . The Doctors QuayMed, in Britomart, in the Quay Park Health Centre. The entrance is via Mahuhu Crescent. You can also get tested at GPs and Urgent Care Clinics. Health Officials are asking people who work in downtown Auckland to work from home today if possible. If you must go into the central city - wear a mask, and maintain social distancing. Stay at home if you are unwell and call your GP or Healthline, on 0800 358 5453, for advice. And... wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.

Auckland is back at Alert Level 1 after weeks of restrictions due to an outbreak of Covid-19. Reporter Jordan Bond is at Britomart to see how busy things are. He speaks to Susie Ferguson.

Maggie Gray came to NZ on an OE, worked with Mastercard during the Rugby World Cup and then fell in love with the place. Somewhat unusually, she started a food truck just after she became a Mum.She wanted flexibility on the job and the ability to work around her kids' needs, something her corporate career was unable to give her. Maggie was on a run in her local park while training for the half marathon when she spotted a Mr. Whippy truck pull up and people start gravitating towards it. As a busy mum she was an avid smoothie drinker and seeing the truck made her realise how amazing it would be if there was a similar truck but one that sold smoothies instead of ice-cream.This was in 2015 and despite what the movies showed, running a food truck selling quality food was extremely difficult and still a relatively new concept in Auckland. People associated food trucks with low quality hot chips and hot dog vendors. During winter there was a lack of events and so she partnered with a fellow food truck owner Timothy van der Werff of Double Dutch fries to organise their own street food event. Amazingly, hundreds of people were lining out the door to support their favourite food trucks and that is how the idea for the Food Truck Collective was born. An organisation that is dedicated to showcasing the brilliant people behind the food trucks we all love to eat at. Five years on, Maggie and Timothy use their knowledge of food trucks and what makes an outstanding event to organise events all over Auckland. Auckland Fried Chicken Festival, Auckland Vegan Food Festival and Food Truck Fridays at Britomart are just some of their popular events.On our episode we talk about:Realities of running a food truck while also being a MumWhy appearances are key, both for the food you serve as well as your food truckWhat it takes to organise a successful street food eventWorking in partnership with food truck owners – why that's key to a successful eventSocial Links:Food Truck Collective on Instagram @foodtruckcollectivenz . Learn more about Maggie's journey and what she's going to be up to next by also following @foodtruckmamma.nz 

News Bulletin presented by Vignesha Livingstone -Track fault at Britomart leads to delays and cancellations - Statistics in New Zealand confirm recession - Man escaped from managed isolation in Rotorua - The Late Late night host James Corden was forced to self isolate at home - Beauden Barrett decides whether he will be available for Rugby championship

The panel adds a new member, and begins a discussion of the first half of The Faerie Queene, Book III, by focusing on the character of Britomart, her historical and mythological characterisation, potential allegorical connexions, and chivalric impact.

The panel adds a new member, and begins a discussion of the first half of The Faerie Queene, Book III, by focusing on the character of Britomart, her historical and mythological characterisation, potential allegorical connexions, and chivalric impact.

New Zealand is now at Covid-19 Alert Level 1. Social, travel and work restrictions were lifted at midnight. The government wants workers to return to the central city to help keep local businesses stay afloat. RNZ reporter Mackenzie Smith is at Britomart in Auckland.

Tammy may sign on as a BodyBliss influencer, BLANC who runs some Britomart bars tells us the level two plans for the nightlife scene, and Kara's kid tries to hustle double breakfasts.

Prognostications about the next Cormoran Strike novel, based on the clues so far.  In this bonus episode, John and Katy predict what will happen in the next novel in the Rowling/Galbraith Cormoran Strike series with the help of Elizabeth Baird Hardy (Milton, Spencer, and the Chronicles of Narnia) and Beatrice Groves (Literary Allusion in Harry Potter). Given the Strike 5 title Troubled Blood, John explains Rowling’s reliance on the blood motif in Harry Potter and ponders its recurrence in Cormoran Strike. We speculate about the possibility of Marilyn Manson epigraphs through the book, how Manson lyrics could connect with key characters, and whether this blows apart the potential for repeating the chiastic structure of the Harry Potter series. Other clues point to the phrase “troubled blood” in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene. Like Rowling, Spenser mixes genres, with literary allusions abounding. Britomart, Florimell, and the Redcrosse Knight provide hints for the plot and characters of Strike 5: women in danger, Robin in disguise, depression and suicide, doppelgängers. From tattoos to Twitter headers, we leave no clue unexamined! Are we on the right track? What do you think?  

When Sarah Mathew, wife of the surveyor Felton Mathew, arrived at the Waitemata Harbour in 1840, it was to assist her husband select a site for the capital of Aotearoa, New Zealand. The couple soon moved into a tent in the area we now call Britomart. In a box beside the tent was what Sarah refers to in her diary as, “my devoted piano”. Once their house was finished, the piano moved in with her and it became indispensable as an entertainment in the home. Playing the piano well was considered an essential accomplishment for a young woman in society. In this concert, Dr Polly Sussex gave us a glimpse of recreational music in pioneering life in early Auckland using examples from the musical scrapbooks of the family of early missionary Henry Williams. Now held at Auckland Libraries, these scrapbooks of hand copied music contain fine examples of the sort of music played. Not many families had grand pianos at that time, so the practical second-best was the square pianoforte on which Dr. Sussex performed to conclude our Spring series for 2019.

Supermodel turned businesswoman Elle Macpherson says wellness was her biggest passion and sharing her life journey is her biggest joy.The 55-year-old wellness entrepreneur spoke to NZME this morning and will be headlining the first NZ Fashion Week gala tonight."Wellness is my passion and that's where I put my energy, it's also the area I know most about and it's the area that I can really share honestly and authentically," Macpherson told Newstalk ZB's Kerre McIvor."When I was younger, wellness was fitness, today I understand there's more to it than just eating right and exercising. Sharing my journey has been the biggest joy for me because it comes from the heart."The mother of two sons - Flynn, 21, and Aurelius Cy, 16 - also known as "The Body" said she believed the human body was "incredible" and can thrive when given the right environment.Elle Macpherson poses in the NZME foyer. Photo / Jason Oxenham.While in Auckland, Macpherson will also be in a promotional shoot for Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development.She will also experience a haka and traditional Maori welcome near Britomart and visit fashion shops in the district including Kate Sylvester, World and Zambesi, and sample chocolates at Miann.This evening, Macpherson will be the inaugural host for the NZ Fashion Week Gala at SkyCity."New Zealand...holds a special place in my heart," she said."I think it's a fascinating that a country with such a generally relaxed attitude to life and a strong sense of community, also achieves so much on the world stage."

A retail advocate hopes an opening day controversy won't overshadow the latest addition to Auckland's CBD.French make-up giant Sephora is under fire for washing confetti down the drains on Queen Street after its opening on Saturday.Auckland mayor Phil Goff has asked the council to investigate the issue.Chris Wilkinson from First Retail told Kate Hawkesby the brand shouldn't be defined by a single faux pas."It is culturally and environmentally out of step, however, let's not take this away from the fact that this is going to be important for the city centre."He says that this is a net win for Auckland."It's providing jobs and skills training and it's answering a demand for getting people back into city centres and interacting."It's believed that over 800 people queued down Queen Street for the opening. Wilkinson says that it is a big deal for the Auckland CBD."It strengthens that midpoint. We've got exciting stuff going on with Commercial Bay and Britomart in the lower part, but that mid-part is one area we'd like to see strengthened further." He says that the brand is already set to expand throughout the city and further down the country.  

Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we're joined by hāngī master Rewi Spraggon and his co-owner in The Māori Kitchen, Ganesh Raj, to have a yarn about Matariki, the Māori new year. Every winter, the nine stars of Matariki reappear in the dawn sky to signal the start of the Māori New Year. In te ao Māori this is a time to celebrate new life, to remember our tūpuna, and look forward to our future. It’s about friends and family, and is a very good excuse to come together for kai.This year Matariki is 25-28 June and events to mark it are happening all over the country.Hāngī master, chef, artist, musician, TV presenter and all round cool guy Rewi Spraggon has been advocating for giving Matariki the respect it deserves long before it was cool, and next week he'll be putting down a hāngī at Takutai Square in Britomart for Matariki. If you're in Tāmaki Makaurau, go check it out and get yourself some kai: more details here.Spraggon knows a thing or two about bringing hāngī to downtown Auckland already: he and business partner Ganesh Raj opened The Māori Kitchen at Queens Wharf in March, which serves up traditionally cooked hāngī in sandwiches, wraps and pies. Spraggon and Raj joined the Dietary Requirements crew to talk Matariki (and Puanga!) and tell us why we should all be getting our hāngī on a lot more.For more on Matariki, read this great explainer in The Spinoff Ātea.And check out this cool behind the scenes of a hāngī mini documentary. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Warriors and Blues fans will have an opportunity to watch both codes live this weekend for the price of one ticket.Members and fans of both the Warriors and the Blues will be able to attend each other's matches this weekend with their single ticket.The Warriors take on the Gold Coast Titans at Mt Smart Stadium at 8pm on Friday while the Blues host the Waratahs in the at Eden Park at 7.35pm on Saturday.Anyone who has a valid ticket to Friday's game against the Titans, including membership cards and corporate tickets, will be able to gain entry to the Blues game on Saturday night, and likewise ticketholders and members of the Blues can scan their match ticket for entry to Mt Smart Stadium a day earlier.Seating for fans at the reciprocal venue will be available in specified General Admission areas."We are hugely excited about this initiative and what it means for our members and sports fans in Auckland," said Warriors CEO Cameron George."We are always searching for new ways to add value for our fans and encourage them to attend games. We don't see the Blues as our competition."We'd prefer to work with them and hopefully this is just the start of things to come. Ultimately, we want fans in Auckland to get along to live sport and get behind both teams."The Blues are also right behind what is a unique opportunity in New Zealand sport."The two clubs work together and explore opportunities when we can," said Blues CEO Michael Redman."Some of our loyal fans also follow the fortunes of the Warriors and this is a chance to support them."Likewise, this is an enormous opportunity for the general sports fan to support the Warriors on Friday and the Blues on Saturday for the price of one ticket."It's a great chance for fans to show their support for the two oval ball teams in this city."A valid match ticket for either Vodafone Warriors v Titans on Friday, April 5 or Blues v Waratahs on Saturday, April 6 is required for entry at the respective venues.Seating at the reciprocal venues will be in specified General Admission areas regardless of the seating category selected at the original point of purchase. GA capacity is limited, and patrons will be admitted on a first come basis.Warriors and Blues ticketholders can use their match ticket on Friday, April 5 to travel to Mt Smart Stadium on trains only. Blues and Vodafone Warriors ticketholders can use their match ticket to travel to Eden Park on Manukau/Botany/Pakuranga special events buses, the NX1 bus services to Britomart and trains on Saturday, April 6. 

“But mostly I get up each morning to raise our infant daughter to become an extraordinary woman”. - Nat CheshireNat Cheshire seeks the extraordinary with relentless vigour. He is a painter turned architect turned father with a trans-disciplinary practice, Cheshire Architects, that he shares with his dad Pip. Operating across a huge breadth of types and scales, fields of luxury and austerity, newness and age, roughness and refinement, he sees diversity as a strength, not a weakness. And extreme discomfort as a gateway to a life worth living.He was a driving force in catalysing Aucklands architectural resurgence with the brilliant Britomart precinct, City Works Depot and numerous other projects. Nat’s work has been awarded eight Best Award gold pins in four years, is twice the winner of Metro’s designer of the year, HOME’s home of the year (for one of my favourite builds, the Twin Cabins) and twice its product of the year. His work is regularly published in global editions like Monocle, Wallpaper, Dezeen and Dwell. He seeks the extraordinary rather than the perfect in the pursuit of a new architecture and a new city.He also prefers a two hands full of toil than the quietness that Ecclesiastes prescribes.“Better a handful with quietness than both hands full, together with toil and grasping for the wind” - EcclesiastesIt was a privilege to have the opportunity to sit down with Nat for a chat on everything from the surrealness of being a parent, his relationship with the broader cosmos, lack of social success growing up, working style and thoughts on architecture and living a fulfilled life. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.Think less, experience more and embrace the discomfort,DougP.S. Are you a man? And do you live in your purpose every day or do you feel restless and without a sense of direction? Do you lack confidence in yourself as a man? Do you lack camaraderie and community to hold you to a higher standard? Do you feel there must be more to life? If so, or if you’re just curious to step up to a higher level join my mens group Divine Masculine kicking off 1st Jan 2019. Find out more here.Show notes:Thinking Architecture by Peter ZumthorJapanese castles: Stephen Turnbull (might not be actual reference)Bird by bird: Anne Lamott

This week up-and-coming comic Bridget Davies joins Johan in the studio, talking about big city dating, the creepy middle-aged men in Britomart bars, and what is even up with the virgin/whore dichotomy?!

This week up-and-coming comic Bridget Davies joins Johan in the studio, talking about big city dating, the creepy middle-aged men in Britomart bars, and what is even up with the virgin/whore dichotomy?!

Sugarby Cat RamboThey line up before Laurana, forty baked-clay heads atop forty bodies built of metal cylinders.  Every year she casts and fires new heads to replace those lost to weather, the wild, or simple erosion.  She rarely replaces the metal bodies.  They are scuffed and battered, over a century old.Every morning, the island sun beating down on her pale scalp, she stands on the maison's porch with the golems before her.  Motionless.  Expressionless.She chants.  The music and the words fly into the clay heads and keep them thinking.  The golems are faster just after they have been charged.  They move more lightly, with more precision.  With more joy.  Without the daily chant they could go perhaps three days at most, depending on the heaviness of their labors.Full transcript appears under the cut.----more----[Intro music plays]Hello! Welcome to GlitterShip episode 13 for September 1st, 2015. This is your host Keffy, and I'm super excited to be sharing this story with you.We're back from our unfortunate hiatus, which was caused because it turns out that moving more than 3,000 miles away across the entire continent is a bit of an upheaval. But, I'm settling in over here in New York, now, and I'm a little more than a week into the first year of my five-in-theory-year program.Our story today is "Sugar" by Cat Rambo. Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in the Pacific Northwest. A prolific storywriter and Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominee, her publications include stories in Asimov's, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. Her most recent book is Beasts of Tabat, Book 1 of the Tabat Quartet. She is the current President of SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). For more about her, as well as links to her fiction, see http://www.kittywumpus.netSugarby Cat RamboThey line up before Laurana, forty baked-clay heads atop forty bodies built of metal cylinders.  Every year she casts and fires new heads to replace those lost to weather, the wild, or simple erosion.  She rarely replaces the metal bodies.  They are scuffed and battered, over a century old.Every morning, the island sun beating down on her pale scalp, she stands on the maison's porch with the golems before her.  Motionless.  Expressionless.She chants.  The music and the words fly into the clay heads and keep them thinking.  The golems are faster just after they have been charged.  They move more lightly, with more precision.  With more joy.  Without the daily chant they could go perhaps three days at most, depending on the heaviness of their labors.This month is cane-planting season.  She delegates the squads of laborers and sets some to carrying buckets from the spring to water the new cane shoots while others dig furrows.  The roof needs reshingling, but it can wait until planting season is past.  As the golems shuffle off, she pauses to water the flowering bushes along the front of the house.  Placing her fingertips together, she conjures a tiny rain cloud, wringing moisture from the air.  Warm drops collect on the leaves, rolling down to darken pink and gray bark to red and black.Inside the house is quiet.  The three servants are in the kitchen, cooking breakfast and gossiping.  She comes up to the doorway like a ghost, half fearing what she will hear.  Nothing but small, inconsequential things.  Jeanette says when she takes her freedom payment, she will ask for a barrel of rum, and go sell it in the street, three silver pieces a cup, over at Sant Tigres, the pirate city.  She has a year to go in the sorceress' service. Daniel has been here a year and has four more to go.  He is still getting used to the golems, still eyes them warily when he thinks no one can see him.  He is thin and wiry, and his face is pockmarked and scarred by the Flame Plague.  He was lucky to escape the Old Continent with his life.  Lucky to live here now, and he knows it.Tante Isabelle has been with her since the woman was thirteen.  Now she's eighty-five, frail as one of the butterflies that move through the bougainvillea.  A black beak's snap, and the butterfly will be gone.  She sits peeling cubes of ginger, which she will boil with sugar and lime juice to make sweet syrup that can flavor tea or conjured ice."If you sell rum, everyone will think you are selling what lies between your thighs as well!" she says, eying Jeanette.Jeanette shrugs and tosses her head. "Maybe I'd make even more that way!" she says, ignoring Daniel's blush.Tante Isabelle looks up to see Laurana standing there.  The old woman's smile is sweet as sunshine, sweet as sugar.  The sorceress stands in the doorway, and the three servants smile at her, as they always do, at their beautiful mistress.  No thought ever crosses their minds of betraying or displeasing her.  It never occurs to them to wonder why.Christina is a pirate.  She wears bright calicos stolen from Indian traders and works on a ship that travels in lazy shark-like loops around the Lesser and Greater Southern Isles, looking for strays from the treasure fleet and Duchy merchants.  The merchants, based in the southernmost New Continent port of Tabat, prey on the more impoverished colonies, taking their entire crops in return for food and tools.  The treasure fleet is part of a vast corrupt network, fed by springs of gold.  This is what Christina tells Laurana, how she justifies her profession of blood and watery death.When Christina comes to Sant Tigres, she goes to the inn and sends one of the pigeons the innkeeper keeps on the roof.  It flies to Laurana's window.  She leaves her maison and sails to the port in a small skiff, standing all the way from one island to the other, sea winds whipping around her.  She focuses her will and asks the air sylphs, who she normally does not converse with, to bear her to her lover's scarlet and orange clad arms.Tiny golden hoops, each set with a charm created by Laurana, are set in Christina's right ear.  One is a tiny glass fish, protection against drowning, and the other is a silver lightning bolt to ward off storms. Christina likes to order large meals when she comes ashore.  Her crew hunts the unsettled islands and catches the wild cattle and hogs so abundant there to eke out their income.  They sell the excess fat and hides to the smugglers that fill these islands.  So she is not meat-starved now, but wants sugary treats, confections of butter and sweet, washed down with raw swallows of rum, here in harbor, where she can be safely drunk."Pretty farmer," she says now.  She touches the sorceress's hair, which was black as Christina's once, but which has gone silver with age, despite her unlined skin and her clear, brilliant blue eyes."Pretty pirate," Laurana replies.  She spends the evening buying drinks for Christina and her crew.  The pirates count on her deep pockets, rich with gold from selling sugar.  Sometimes they try to sell her things plundered on their travels, ritual components, scrolls or trinkets laden with spells.  The only present Christina ever brought her was a waxed and knotted cord strung with knobby, pearly shells.  It hangs on her bedchamber wall where the full moon's light can polish it each month.Laurana brings Christina presents: fresh strawberries and fuzzy nectarines from her greenhouse.  In Sant Tigres, she trades sugar for bushels of chocolate beans and packets of spices.  Someday, when circumstances have changed, she would like Christina to spend a day or two at the plantation.  Jeannette would outdo herself with the meals, flakey pastries and flowers of spun sugar. It is time to send for a new cook, she thinks.  It will take a few months to post the message and then for the new arrival to appear, and even more time for Jeannette to train her in the ways of the kitchen and how to tell the golems to fetch and carry.Someone leans forward to ask her a question.  It is a new member of Christina's crew, curious about the rumors of her plantation."Human slaves are doomed to failure," she says. "Look what happened on Banbur – discontented servants burned the fields and overtook the town there, turning their masters and mistresses out into the underbrush or setting them to labor."And," she added. "Whites do badly in this climate.  I can take care of myself and my household, but it is easier to not worry about my automatons growing ill or dying."Although they did die, after a fashion.  They wore away, their features blurred with erosion.  They cracked and crumbled – first the noses, then the lips and brows, their eyes becoming pitted shadows, their molded hair a mottling of cracks.Time to redecorate soon, she thought.  She did it every few decades.  She would send a letter and eventually a company representative would show up, consult with her, and then vanish back to Tabat, soon replaced by rolls of new wallpaper and carpets, crates of china and porcelain wash basins.  She looks at Christina and pictures her against blue silk sheets, olive skin gleaming in candle glow.Later they fall into bed together and she stays there for two hours before she rises, despite her lover's muffled, sleepy protests, and takes her skiff back to her own island.  Overhead the sky is a black bowl set with glittering layers of stars, grainy as sandstone and striated with light.  Moonlight dapples the waves, so dark and impenetrable that they look like polished jet.At home, she goes upstairs.  A passage cuts across the house, running north to south to take advantage of the trade wind, and open squares at the top of each room partition let the wind through.  Britomart's is the northernmost room.The air smells of dawn and sugar.   Sugar, sweet and translucent as Britomart's skin, the color of snow drifts, laid on cool white linen.  The other woman's ivory hair, which matches Laurana's, is spread out across the pillow.Tonight her face is unmasked.  Laurana does not flinch away from the pitted eyes, the face more eroded than any golem's.  Outside in the courtyard, the black and white deathbirds hop up and down in the branches, making the crimson flowers shake in the early morning light."Pleasant trip?" Britomart says.Laurana's answer is noncommittal.  Sometimes her old lover is kind, but she is prone to lashing out in sudden anger.  Laurana does not blame her for that.  Her death is proving neither painless nor particularly short, but it is coming, nonetheless.  A month?  A year?  Longer?  Laurana isn't sure.  How long have they been locked in this conversation?  It has been less than six months so far, she knows, but it seems like forever.She goes to her room.  The bed is turned down and a hot brick has been slipped between the sheets to warm them.  A bouquet of ginger sits on the table near the lamp, sending out its bold perfume.She lies in bed and fails to sleep.  Britomart's face floats before her in the darkness.  She is unsure if she is dreaming or really seeing it.  She wonders if she remembers it as worse than it really is.  But she doesn't.Two weeks later, the pigeon at her window.Christina has a bandage around her upper arm, nothing much, she says, carelessness in a battle.  She pushes Laurana away, though apologetically.  Rather than sleep together, they stay awake and talk.  It is their first conversation of any length.  Two hours after their first meeting, in the Sant Tigres market, they had fallen into bed together, four months ago."So she's sick, your friend?" Christina says."You were raised here in the islands," Laurana answers.  "You don't know what it was like in the Old Country.  In the space of three years, sorcerers destroyed two continents.  Everyone decided to make their power play at once.  They called dragons up out of the earth and set them killing.  The Flame Plague moved from town to town.  Entire villages went up like candles.  Millions died, and the earth itself was charred and burned, magic stripped from it.  Some fought with elementals, and others with summoned winds and fogs, but others with poisoned magic."She pours herself more wine.  Christina's skin is paler than usual, but the lantern light in the room gleams on it as though it were flower petals."And you were here…" Christina prompts."I was here in the islands, preparing to go.  I heard that Britomart had blundered into someone else's trap and was dying of it.  I brought her down.  The magic is clean here, and there are serendipities and artifacts.  I hoped to heal her.""But that hasn't happened."The wine is mulled with cinnamon and clove and sugar that has not completely dissolved, a gritty sweet residue at the cup's bottom."No," she says. "That hasn't happened."Christina smuggles Laurana onto her ship while it's at harbor.  She and three other sailors are supposed to be watching it.  Laurana sits with them drinking shots of rum until the yellow moon swings itself up over the prow, its face broad and grinning as a baby's.  It reminds her of Britomart and her tears well up.  She savors the moment, for magic removes almost all capacity to weep.She nudges Christina and points to the distant reef.  Out on the rocks, mermaids cluster, fishy eyes shining in the moonlight, fleshy gills pulsing like tidepool creatures shuttered close by the light.  She kisses Christina as they watch.Eventually, the two climb into Christina's bunk for frantic, slippery, drunken lovemaking, careful of the still healing arm.She leaves in the small hours, past the stares of the mermaids.  It is still planting season and the golems work and night.When she first came to the island she tried yellow-flowered sea-island cotton.  Then indigo and ginger.  With the arrival from the Wizard's College of Tabat of schematics for three-roller mills and copper furnace pots, sugar cane has become the crop of choice.  Her workers perform the labor that must be undertaken day and night when the cane is ready to harvested and transmuted into sugar and molasses.  She makes rum too, and ships barrels of it along with the molasses casks and thick cones of molded muscovado sugar to Sant Tigres, which consumes or trades all she can supply.Most sorcerers are not strong enough to animate so many golems.  She has the largest plantation in this area.  Others, though, have followed her lead, although on a smaller scale.  It took decades for them to realize how steadily she was making money, despite the depredations of the Dutch merchants or the pirates they paid to disrupt the Aztec shipping trade.She had been to the Old Continent before all the trouble, two years learning science at a school, where she had met Britomart, who was an actual princess as well as a sorceress.  She had been centuries old when she met Britomart but she had dared to hope that here was her soul mate, the person who would stay by her side over all the centuries to come. But in the end, she wanted to return to her island, full of new techniques and machineries that she thought would improve the yield.  Rotating fields and planting those lying fallow with clover, to be plowed into the soil to enrich it for planting.  Plans for a windmill to be built to the southeast, facing into the wind channeled through the mountains, with sails made of wooden frames tied with canvas.  Lenses placed together that allowed one to observe the phases of heaven and the moons that surrounded other planets, and the accompanying elegant Copernican theories to explain their movements. She swore to Britomart that she would return by the next rainy season and she kept her promise.But by then, the trap had been sprung and Britomart had begun to rot away, victim of a magic left by a man who had died two weeks previously."You're ready to be rid of me," Britomart says."Of course not.""It's true, you are!"She goes about the room, conjuring breezes and positioning them to blow across the bed's expanse."You are," Britomart whispers. "I would be."Two breezes collide at the center of the bed.  Britomart wants it cold, ever colder.  It slows the decay, perhaps.  Laurana isn't sure of that either.Outside she sees that the golems are nearly done with the south-east field.  One more to go after that.  She glances over the building, tallying up the things to be done.  Roof.  Trimming back the bushes.  Exercising the horse she had thought Britomart would ride.Half a mile away is the beach shore.  Her skiff is pulled up there, tied to a rock.  Standing beside it, she can see the smudge of Sant Tigres on the horizon.She is so tired that she aches to her bones.  Somewhere deep inside her, she is aware, there is an endless well of sorrow, but she is simply too weary to pay it any mind.  It is one of the peculiarities of mages that they can compartmentalize themselves, and put away emotions to never be touched again.She does this now, rousing herself, and prepares to go on.  She has a pact with the universe, which told her long ago when she became a sorceress: nothing will be asked that cannot be endured.  So she soldiers on like her workers, marching through the days.She is still tired a week later."Go to her," Britomart says.  "I don't care.  You don't have much time with her.""I have even less with you," Laurana says, but Britomart still turns away.It is harvesting season’s end.  Outside in the evening, some of the golems are in the boiling house, where three boilers sit over the furnace, cooking the sugar cane sap.  The syrup passes from boiler to boiler until in the last it begins to crystallize into muscovado.  Two golems pack it into clay sugar molds and set the molds in the distillery so the molasses will drain away.In the distillery, more golems walk across the mortar and cobble floor in which copper cauldrons are set for molasses collection, undulating channels feeding them the liquid. They mix cane juice into the brew before casking it.  In a few months, it will be distilled into fiery, raw rum and sold to the taverns in the pirate city.She goes and fetches her notebook and sits in the room with Britomart, her pen scratching away to record the day's labors, the number of rows harvested, and making out a list of necessities for her next trip to Sant Tigres.  She estimates two thousand pounds of sugar this year, three hundred casks of molasses, and another two hundred of rum.  Recently she received word that the sorcerer Carnuba, whose plantation is three days south, renovated his sugar mill to process lime juice.  Lime juice is an excellent scurvy preventative, and much in demand – she wonders how long it would take a newly planted grove to fruit.  Her pen dances across the page, calculating raw material costs and the best forms of transportation."Is she pretty?" Britomart asks.  Her face is still turned away.Laurana considers. "Yes," she says."As pretty as I was?" The anguish in the whisper forces Laurana put down her pen.  She takes Britomart's hands in hers.  They are untouched by the disease, the nails sleek and shiny and well-groomed.  Hands like the necks of swans, or white doves arcing over the gleam of water."Never that pretty," she says.The next morning Laurana goes through the room, touching each charm to stillness until the lace curtains no longer flutter.  Until there is no sound in the room except her own breathing and the warbling calls of the deathbirds clustering among the blossoms of the bougainvillea tree outside.She hears a fluttering from her room, a pigeon that has joined the dozen others on the windowsill, but she ignores it, as she ignored the earlier arrivals.  She sits beside the bed, listening, listening.  But the figure on the bed does not take another breath, no matter how long she listens.All through that day, the golems labor boiling sugar.  Jeanette brings her lemonade and the new girl, Madeleine, has made biscuits.  She drinks the sweet liquid and looks at the dusty wallpaper.  The thought of changing it stuns her with the energy it would require.  She will sit here, she thinks, until she dies, and dust will collect on her and the wallpaper alike.Still, when dinner-time comes she goes downstairs and under Tante Isabelle's watchful eye, she pushes some food around on her plate.Daniel cannot help but be a little thankful that Britomart is dead, she thinks.  He was the one who emptied her chamber pot and endured her abuse when she set him to fetching and carrying.  The thought makes her speak sharply to him as he serves the chowder the new girl has made.  He looks bewildered by her tone and slinks away.  She regrets the moment as soon as it is passed but has no reason for calling him back.Upstairs the ranks of the pigeons have swollen by two or three more.  She lies on her bed, fully clothed, and stares at the ceiling.The next morning she takes two golems from their labors to carry Britomart's body for her.  They dig the grave on a high slope of the mountain, overlooking the bay.  It is a fine view, she thinks.  One Britomart would have liked. When they have finished, she stands with her palms turned upwards to the sky, calling clouds to come seething on the wind.  They collect, darkening like burning sugar.  When they are at the perfect, furious boil, she brings lightning down from them to smash the stone that stands over the grave.  She does it over and over again, carving Britomart's name in deep and angry, blackened letters.At home she goes to lie in bed again.One by one, the golems grind to a stop at their labors, and the sap boils over in thick black smoke.  They stand wherever their energy gave out, but all manage in their last moments to bring their limbs in towards their torsos, standing like stalks of stillness.It may be the smoke that draws Christina.  She arrives, knocks on the door, and comes inside, brushing past the servants.  Without knowing the house, she manages to come upstairs and to Laurana's bedroom.Laurana does not move, does not look over at the door.Christina comes to the bed and lies down beside the sorceress.  She looks around at the bedroom, at the string of shells hanging on the wall, but says nothing.  She strokes Laurana's ivory hair with a soft hand until the tears begin.Outside the golems grind to life again as the rain starts.  They collect the burned vats and trundle them away.  They cask the most recent rum and set the casks on wooden racks to ferment.  They put the plantation into order, and finish the last of their labors.  Then as the light of day fades, muffled by the steady rain, they arrange themselves again, closing themselves away, readying for tomorrow.END"Sugar" was originally published in Fantasy Magazine in 2007.This recording is a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license which means you can share it with anyone you’d like, but please don’t change or sell it. Our theme is “Aurora Borealis” by Bird Creek, available through the Google Audio Library.Thanks for listening, and I'll have another story for you on September 8th.[Music plays out]

Every large city on earth is gripped with limits to growth. Especially cars in gridlock and clogging motorways and roads. We witness it every day at rush hour as we sit frustrated in traffic, wondering when will this increasing problem ever be solved?Enter A New Idea:The concept of affordable personal rapid transport pods, travelling above ground that whisk you across the city along an environmentally benign 2-directional elevated guide-way to your destination, in comfort, safely, swiftly and cheaply.Is this possible? What would be the cost? Is it environmentally benign?The system is called the Metropolitan Individual System of Transportation on Elevated Rail (MISTER).With over $3 Billion allocated for a tunnel from Britomart in Auckland to Epsom, are the rate payers willing to dig further into their pockets for an outdated transport system, when that amount of money would cover the totality of suburban Auckland with a Personal Rapid Transport System?The fact that even today the NZ Government is balking at such extravagance, gives us time to pause and look at other options. The MISTER system, will remove all of the Britomart and other interchange requirements which would be necessary with city rail using Britomart as a hub. Its AVERAGE speed (50 to 70 km/h) is by far higher than any current transit system, including metro (30 to 35 km/h), let alone buses and city rail. It provides high grade boarding and alighting: many, small stops, located anywhere, including inside of buildings and off the streets etc. No need to mess up traffic (as is an issue with light rail and with expansion of traditional bus services). Costs under $10M/km for a 2-directional guideway, including all infrastructure, vehicles and other costs. This is 10 to 50 times less than for city rail or metro. It will cause decongestion of all surface usage, both footpath and roads, while taking no much more space than lamp posts. And the whole of Auckland wide, not just the CBD, public transport can be served by this 'Personal Rapid Transport System' far better and without any taxes or public funding, instead of a heavily subsidised rail network, light rail and buses ($400 M/year, and $12B over 25 years, this is what we heard from Mayor Brown, right ?!) Yes:The PRT system, is a city-wide network linking all of the suburbs with each other and to the Central Business District and would transport people faster than rail or even car and directly to their destinations, without any need for transfers or parking space.It would eliminate entirely the need for railway, light rail and buses in Auckland, while providing much more convenient, faster, safer and cheaper service, including it being available 24/7, all of the time without waiting and with no more than 2 minutes of waiting at peak times.How does this compare with current 'solutions' ? At the same time, for the cost of building just this one underground tunnel system ($3B+) the PRT system would cover the entire Auckland area with over 300km of network, replacing all subsidised trains and all buses in the CBD and being capable of carrying 1 million plus rides per DAY, when current rail carries 10 million per YEAR !PRT - Personal Rapid Transit  See the video www.mist-er.com Is a 50 year old concept, and as a result of inexpensive computing technology is now a feasible mode of mass transport.It consists of : Elevated Guide-ways with small off-line Stops Automated Vehicles Automation  and computers. Extensive literature is available on the internet:http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans/ Infrastructure consists of a light guide-ways suspended 10-15 meters above the ground, over city streets or along the curb side or in the central reservation of the freeways or wide streets. Small and frequent off-line stops. Automatic, small car sized vehicles transport one or a few passengers who know each other (family or friends) in luxury and comfort.Travel is on demand and always available (24 x 7) Travel directly from start to destination with no stopping and no interchanges. High average speed of 50 km/hr or better. Reduced traffic congestion Safety - personal and from accidents (safer than air travel) Comfort – as a private car, but a far less stressfull journey Infrastructure development : Low cost Fast Non-invasive Profitable operation Easy access for young, old and disabled More Ecological than any current systems Resistant to earthquakes, storms, snow and flooding Let Auckland Rate Payers have a discussion here in Auckland and also across New Zealand.Have Auckland be the Leading Livable City within the Pacific Basin.http://mist-er.com

Topics include Windows 8, yoobee Britomart opening, iPhone 5, Windows Phone 7 lawsuit, Ubuntu update, new HTC Mango handsets, Apple Final Cut news, updated Parallels Desktop for Mac and HP TouchPad giveaway. Running time : 0:47:42

Last and I think BEST class on the Faerie Queene: scopophilia and narraive. Colin Clout and the Graces are present to the hidden Calidore, as Amoret has been present to Britomart in the house of Busirane. Voyeurism: they're present to us but we're not present to them. Kleinian reading of this scenario. Paradoxes of fiction and fictional interest. They'll reappear in Milton as well. Tomorrow: Lycidas!

Allegory for whom? Why the house of Busirane? Whom is it for? Britomart? Amoret? Scudamor? How does the House of Busirane work in each of these three cases?

Allegory and human individuality. What it means to turn people into allegories. A version of road rage. Temporal fouls ups as Britomart wounds Marinell after she sees Florimel racing to aid the already-wounded Marinel. What Britomart's wound means. Her pleasure in her distress. Seeing and wounding. Adonis.

Plot vs. allegory in Britomart. Allegory in the service of plot. Allegories about the primacy of plot, of human character to symbolization.

Guyon vs. Britomart: why? How do chastity and temperance find difficulty harmonizing? Arthur and Guyon go chasing Florimel. What could that mean? Why is Timias the one figure who chases the Foster? Castle Joyous. Britomart's wound by Gardante. What is the meaning of that wound?