At the Waihi Calf Club Day

The boy who once was me (or perhaps I once was he) benefitted from growing up in a country which at that time fostered many if not all of Martha Nussbaum's Central Capabilities in most citizens. I accept that girls had to work harder to access all the opportunities our country offered, and Maori were not expected to prosper as did the rest of us, and more did not .

My father tried to develop a quality dairy farm on land which was too hilly, too rough, and covered with too much gorse and ragwort to manage without more capital. Hard work was not enough, unfortunately. I did not know that then, and so I learned from him that one works hard, and that is how to do well. On the farm, I also learned how to look after animals, and to care for their well being. 

The calf I am holding won top prize for me and I got to hold the cup, and keep it on the mantelpiece for a year. My mother polished it. I still have the miniature which I was given to keep. My older brother, and the headmaster's daughter and I won the team prize; she is holding that cup. All three calves were from my father's farm, and an important factor in the judging was the quality of the animals. Establishing a Jersey herd provided the calves with which we won cups, and the debt which eventually drove him off the land.

I do not romanticise those years. However, it was a time of great prosperity in New Zealand, and even greater equality of opportunity. In many ways a deeply conservative country, yet our "Tories" would have been regarded as socialists in most other countries. Even now, as we approach another general election, the differences between Labour and National are mainly in how to achieve a just distribution of wealth.