Fair Trade scorched almonds!

I'm rather partial to scorched almonds, so I was delighted to discover yesterday that TradeAid are selling Fair Trade ones!  (Or almost - from the picture it doesn't look like they're as chocolate-heavy as actual scorched almonds, plus they're cocoa-dusted rather than shiny).  I can't wait to try them :-)  They've also added chocolate-coated raisins to their range.

Buy online or find your local shop here.

Responding to Islamic State

Yesterday Martin wrote an email to our Prime Minister with the subject line "Thoughts on Resisting ISIL." I'd like to share it with you here:

Dear Mr Key,

I am aware that you face some difficult questions regarding New Zealand's foreign policy and our reponse to ISIL, and would like to contribute to the flow of citizen's comments which I hope you are receiving.

My high school choir teacher was (later) killed by separatists in the Philippines who bombed an airport he was travelling through.  His son pursues 'revenge' against them by helping others in the area build a strong civil society with no room or need for radicalism.

In that vein, let me urge you to strenuously pursue non-military contributions in addition to the current military support you have proposed.  I was struck by this recent article in the WSJ, arguing how rule of law and legitimation of small businesses can push back radicalism, and imagine you would relish that agenda.  I am also keen that somebody asks (and publicises?) who is buying oil from and selling weapons to parties such as ISIL.

Should it seem that we must engage militarily, please double check that there is some hope of meaningful success.  I would hate to be just making things worse because we were afraid to look disinterested.

If you feel that there is, however, a need to fight then I urge you to do so without regard for the risks of attacks against NZ.  If something is right to do, then we should bear the cost.  We should be generous, and not calculate solely for our own narrow interest.  I think that many kiwis will consider arguments along that line, particularly after Ebola has reminded us that it is foolhardy to leave other countries to rot as if we were not all neighbours.

We should also be confident that or society can sustain a few bruises, and resist battening the hatches so tightly that we come ourselves.

Finally, may I encourage you to offer a path home for those who got to fight for ISIL and realise the horror of what they have joined.  Be strong against those who remain radical, but help those turning back to find a better path and then to spread the lessons they have learned.

Thank you for your time, and I will be praying for you as you face these (and all your other) difficult responsibilities as Prime Minister.

The world is a big place

I try to expose myself to ideas from different places by listening to the BBC World Service, reading blogs and literature from other places and talking to foreigners I meet about how they see the world.  Yet I still frequently slip into tacitly assuming that everyone sees the world more or less the same way I do.

I was reminded of this today, while listening to a BBC documentary about gay refugees from Iran.  In New Zealand, people who think that gay relationships are wrong tend to advocate two options for gay people: heterosexual marriage (generally after some kind of curative treatment) or celibacy.

Apparently, in Iran, there are two options, too - but they're different.  Celibacy wasn't mentioned as an option (although maybe it is one) but the two main choices are heterosexual marriage (at least sometimes after some kind of curative treatment) or gender reassignment surgery.  I was so surprised!  I would never have thought that there were societies where people were against gay relationships yet in favour of gender reassignment surgery.

Just another reminder that the world really is a big place...

Home Improvement

Martin (with various helpers) has been a busy beaver in recent weeks!

The structure at the corner of the wheelchair ramp on which we keep various plants had to get moved when our house was being painted at the beginning of the year.  It was in pretty bad condition so we decided to make a new one rather than reinstalling it.  And now, 8 months later, it's all done :-)

It's not nailed to the ramp: the green wooden struts sit a bit above the ramp and keep the slats in place and the slats rest on the edge of the ramp.

I think it looks very nice and tidy :-)

But that's not all.  Martin can't carry me at the moment because of his recent back surgery, so the commode wheelchair is currently in frequent use.  Getting it from the bedroom to the toilet has always been challenging as the space it needs to get through is pretty tight.

To free the area up a bit we decided to replace our linen-and-tools cupboard/shelving unit with a much smaller unit.  We found a lovely unit on TradeMe, but that wasn't the end.  It's smaller so, although it fits all the linen, new homes were needed for the tools.

So we ended up buying a set of little basket trays to hold small things like nails and building a set of shelves with nails beneath to hang things to take care of the actual tools as well as bottles of solvent etc.

Here's a better view of the shelves: complete with baseboard and painted a lovely blue :-)

With many thanks to cousin Geoff for supplies and useful advice, Aunty Elspeth for sourcing materials, Anna for sanding and painting, Allan for the loan of his circular saw and Jan for loan of his drill and helping put the shelves up :-)

Hope in the future

Last week I was reading Psalm 52:

Why do you boast, O mighty one,
    of mischief done against the godly?
    All day long you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
    you worker of treachery.
You love evil more than good,
    and lying more than speaking the truth.
You love all words that devour,
    O deceitful tongue.

But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see, and fear,
    and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
“See the one who would not take
    refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
    and sought refuge in wealth!”

But I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
    because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
    I will proclaim your name, for it is good.

As I listened to it, I realised how unlike the psalmist I am.  When I see people doing bad stuff I don't look at them, mystified, and think "how can you possibly think God will let you get away with that forever?".  Instead, I'm more likely to feel depressed or outraged.  Either way, I'm tacitly assuming they'll get away with it forever, just like they are.

Yet part of the Christian message is that that's not true! As the psalm says, "God will break [them] down forever; he will snatch and tear [them] from [their] tent; he will uproot [them] from the land of the living."

Because that's mostly likely only going to happen in the distant future, I tend to forget that it's so and live as if it's never going to happen.

Martin's reading a book about some of this at the moment: Jürgen Moltmann's Theology of Hope.  In it Moltmann is talking about how Christians often forget the big hope of the gospel: that a time is coming when God is going to make everything good and perfect.

One thing Martin mentioned from it that struck me was about activism.  Christians absolutely should be involved in striving to make the world a better place: that's part of being the 'first-fruits of the new creation' and of loving our neighbours as ourselves.  However, Moltmann argues that we shouldn't be overly invested in these things: partly because we know that they'll never really solve the problems of the world (just alleviate them somewhat) and partly because we know that the real solution is coming.

I found that really helpful in thinking about my own disappointment with the results of the recent election in New Zealand.  Yes, I do think things would have been better for the most vulnerable Kiwis if the Greens had gotten into government.  But things wouldn't have been utopian, because we'd still all be fallen sinful people, stuffing things up all over the place.  However, a time is coming when there won't be any poverty or disability any more.  I can hold onto the fact that the real solution is coming, and that tempers my disappointment that the partial and temporary solution I was hoping for isn't in place.

I've always been a bit nervous of focussing too much on a future where God makes everything perfect.  People insult Christians by describing us as people overly focussed on 'pie in the sky when you die'.  I realise now that I've over-reacted to that insult and have, instead, given far too little thought to celebrating the future God has promised us.

So over the last week or so I've been practising a new spiritual discipline.  Whenever I've been disappointed by something, I've taken the time to think: is that something that would occur after Jesus comes back?  If not (and it generally isn't), then I remind myself that things won't always be like this.

• When I've looked at our dingy white hand towels (dingy because I've refused to use bleach for cosmetic purposes since I learned that doing so forms dioxins), I've taken time to celebrate that a time is coming when I can have beautiful things without destroying the health of my fellow-creatures;
• When I'm tired and sore and nauseous, I've tried to remind myself that God has promised me a new body one day;
• When I read of the suffering of one person in Sierra Leone who lost four people close to him to ebola in just one week, I mourn with him, but also remind myself that God has promised us a future without such dreadful grief.

May God remind you, also, of the good future he has promised to all his children, and may that give you fresh courage to face the challenges in front of you as you work as his ambassador wherever he has place you!

'Ethical' Kiwisaver schemes

See update re. Koinonia at end of post

The Kiwisaver scheme to which Martin currently belongs is being closed down, so we're on the hunt for a replacement.  Ideally we'd like to invest in a scheme that invests in something socially positive, but if we can't have that then at least we want to exclude investments in things that are really harmful.  To see what our options are I've been trawling all the Kiwisaver schemes that pitch themselves as 'ethical'.  I thought I'd share what I'd found here in the hope of saving someone else some work.

All the 'ethical' schemes exclude investments in alcohol, tobacco, gambling and armaments except Craig's Investment Partners' 'Balanced SRI' Fund (which only aims to "have a diversified portfolio of investments that are deemed to be environmentally and socially sustainable") and OneAnswer's 'Sustainable Growth' Fund (which excludes investments in tobacco, gambling and armaments but allows investments in alcohol).  I've listed any other 'ethical' criteria the various schemes employ under their names below, along with what kind of investment they are, what their past returns have been like and what fees they charge.  Note that for 'past returns' I'm listing the returns to end March 2014, after tax (at the maximum rate) and fees.

Fidelity Life's Ethical Kiwi Fund
NB: This fund appears to no longer be accepting new members.

• No additional ethical criteria.
• A medium risk balanced' fund investing 60% in shares and 40% in fixed interest.
• Past returns: 5.8% per annum over the last five years (9.2% over the last three).
• Fees: $3.03 per month plus 1.16% and up to 0.065% per year.

SuperLife's Ethica

• In addition to alcohol, tobacco, gambling and armaments it excludes investments in pornography and fossil fuel extraction.  It also excludes investments where it sees the activity behind the investment having negative social/community outcomes, damaging the environment or violating UN standards on human rights, health and safety or child labour.  Investments in activities that would be illegal in NZ are also excluded.
• A medium-risk 'balanced' fund that's 60% shares and property and 40% cash and bonds.
• Past returns: 6.3% per annum over the last five years (5.0% over the last three).
• Fees: $2.75 per month plus 0.23% and approx 0.50% per year.

Grosvenor's Socially Responsible Investment Balanced Fund

• No additional ethical criteria.
• A medium-risk 'balanced' fund that's 50-70% shares with the balance in fixed interest and cash.
• Past returns: I can't find these - the disclosure statement only lists the 'growth' fund, as does 'Sorted', so I think this may be a new fund.
• Fees: $3 per month plus 1.17% per year.

Craig's Investment Partners' Balanced SRI Fund

• Aims to "have a diversified portfolio of investments that are deemed to be environmentally and socially sustainable".
• A medium-risk 'balanced' fund that's 60% shares and 40% cash and fixed interest.
• Past returns: 5.4% per annum over the last five years (4.7% over the last three).
• Fees: 1.25% entry fee plus up to $30 and 1.25% per year.

Grosvenor's Socially Responsible Investment Growth Fund

• No additional ethical criteria.
• A high-risk 'growth' fund that mostly invests in New Zealand and Australian shares.
• Past returns: 5.2% per annum over the last three years.
• Fees: $3 per month plus 1.17% per year.

OneAnswer's Sustainable Growth Fund

• In addition to tobacco, gambling and armaments it excludes investments in nuclear power, pornography and fur.  It does not exclude investments in alcohol.  It only invests in companies which it sees as being in the top 50% of their class in terms of environmental, social and governance policies and transparency.
• A high-risk 'growth' fund with at least two thirds of the funds invested in shares and/or transferable securities.
• Past returns: 5.8% per annum over the last five years (2.5% over the last three).
• Fees: $2 per month plus 1.62% per year.

Amanah

• In addition to alcohol, tobacco, gambling and armaments it excludes investments in money-lending, pornography and pork.  It also takes into account "environmental, social, and governance considerations" in its investments and is Shari'ah compliant.
• An 'aggressive' fund investing in equities, debt-free real estate and cash.  It will only invest in companies with a low level of debt (no 'high-gearing'.)
• Past returns: the fund has only been in existence since late March 2014.  Between then and end June 2014 it lost 4.9%.
• Fees: $2.70 per month plus 1.78% and 15% on any returns above 8% per year. 

Update from September 2016

I wasn't looking at restricted schemes when I did this post two years ago.  However, since then Koinonia, whilst still restricted, has become much more open: anyone who self-identifies as Christian can join.  Here's what I've found about it.  For consistency, I've given returns to end of March 2014 (the same as for the rest of the post), although that means I can only give three-year returns and not five-year returns as the older data is no longer easily accessible.

Koinonia Income Fund

• In addition to tobacco, gambling and armaments it excludes direct investments in pornography and beer (but not wine or spirits - it's an Anglican fund and these are used by Anglicans in worship).  They also avoid:
• companies whose primary purpose is extraction and production of fossil fuels;
• those with a poor environmental or industrial relations record;
• those where the management "appears excessively concerned with their own remuneration";
• those where "the activities of key individuals raise serious ethical concerns". 
• A low-risk 'defensive' fund that's 100% cash and fixed interest.  35% of funds are invested overseas, where they will not necessarily be invested in accordance with their investment guidelines.  As they say: "Our policy does not preclude investment in certain overseas funds which may not necessarily have the same approach as the Board to ethical investment. For example, tracker funds, alternative strategy funds and certain fixed interest funds.".
• Past returns: 2.1% per annum over the three years ending 31 March 2014 (note that, for the first year of the period, this was actually a different fund that was wound up and replaced).
• Fees: 1.5% (no monthly fee).  Note that this fee doesn't seem to be published anywhere: my number is what's given in a number of recent quarterly reports.

Koinonia Balanced Fund

• In addition to tobacco, gambling and armaments it excludes direct investments in pornography and beer (but not wine or spirits - it's an Anglican fund and these are used by Anglicans in worship).  They also avoid:
• companies whose primary purpose is extraction and production of fossil fuels;
• those with a poor environmental or industrial relations record;
• those where the management "appears excessively concerned with their own remuneration";
• those where "the activities of key individuals raise serious ethical concerns". 
• A medium-risk 'balanced' fund that's 50% cash and fixed interest, 25% international shares, 20% Australasian shares and 5% 'alternative assets' (forestry etc.).  45%-50% of funds are invested overseas, where they will not necessarily be invested in accordance with their investment guidelines.  As they say: "Our policy does not preclude investment in certain overseas funds which may not necessarily have the same approach as the Board to ethical investment. For example, tracker funds, alternative strategy funds and certain fixed interest funds.".
• Past returns: 4.0% per annum over the three years ending 31 March 2014.
• Fees: 1.7% (no monthly fee).  Note that this fee doesn't seem to be published anywhere: my number is what's given in a number of recent quarterly reports.

Koinonia Growth Fund

• In addition to tobacco, gambling and armaments it excludes direct investments in pornography and beer (but not wine or spirits - it's an Anglican fund and these are used by Anglicans in worship).  They also avoid:
• companies whose primary purpose is extraction and production of fossil fuels;
• those with a poor environmental or industrial relations record;
• those where the management "appears excessively concerned with their own remuneration";
• those where "the activities of key individuals raise serious ethical concerns". 
• A high-risk 'growth' fund that's 40% international shares, 25% cash and fixed interest, 25% Australasian shares and 10% 'alternative assets' (forestry etc.).  50-60% of funds are invested overseas, where they will not necessarily be invested in accordance with their investment guidelines.  As they say: "Our policy does not preclude investment in certain overseas funds which may not necessarily have the same approach as the Board to ethical investment. For example, tracker funds, alternative strategy funds and certain fixed interest funds."
• Past returns: 4.3% per annum over the three years ending 31 March 2014.
• Fees: 1.8% (no monthly fee).  Note that this fee doesn't seem to be published anywhere: my number is what's given in a number of recent quarterly reports.

Summary of past returns (after tax and fees) and fees (updated to include Koinonia):

	fund type	return over 5 years	return over three years	fixed fee (annual)	percentage fee
Koinonia Income	defensive	?	2.10%	$0	1.5%
Koinonia Balanced	balanced	?	4.90%	$0	1.7%
Fidelity Life's Ethical Kiwi	balanced	5.80%	9.20%	$36.36	1.22%
SuperLife's Ethica	balanced	6.30%	5.00%	$33	0.73%
Grosvenor's SRI Balanced	balanced	?	?	$36	1.17%
Craig's Investment Partners' Balanced SRI	balanced	5.40%	4.70%	$30	1.25%	+ 1.25% entry fee
Koinonia Growth	growth	?	4.30%	$0	1.8%
Grosvenor's SRI Growth	growth	N/A	5.20%	$36	1.17%
OneAnswer's Sustainable Growth	growth	5.80%	2.50%	$24	1.62%
Amanah	growth	N/A	N/A	$32.40	1.78%	+ 15% on any returns above 8%

I made bread!

We're wondering about buying a fancy electric beater (one of the ones that can handle bread dough) so we've borrowed one off Martin's boss for a couple of weeks to try it out.  We were worried it might be too heavy or noisy for me to cope with so wanted to have a go with one before we bought one.  It's worked out beautifully so far and today I used it to make bread for the first time :-)

I used to make bread a lot back in the day but these days I can only manage no-knead bread.  However, today I made normal bread!  It was so much fun - seeing it rise like magic, smelling all the rich yeasty smells - all things that I've been shut off from for years!  Yay!

It's been awesome, and hopefully we'll be buying one of our own soon, using a mixture of our own money and some money we got when my Grandma died.  She was a great baker so it feels like a fitting tribute :-)