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Tommy Gee obituary

TonnyMy friend Tommy Gee, who has died aged 100, was a progressive colonial service administrator during the 1950s and 60s in Uganda, where his sympathies with the local population won him few friends among the expat community. On Uganda’s independence in 1962 the prime minister, Milton Obote, asked Tommy to stay on to oversee an expansion in education that led to a doubling in the number of secondary schools from 21 to 42 in three years. Later, back in the UK, he became administrative director of the newly formed Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University, after which he helped to establish the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. Born in Nottingham, Tommy was the son of Tom, a butcher, and Beatrice (nee Whitby). After attending High Pavement grammar school in Nottingham he gained a mathematics degree at Brasenose College, Oxford, and went into the Royal Navy at the end of the second world war, rising to be chief navigator on HMS Glasgow. Afterwards he passed the civil service exams and was posted to Uganda, where his first role was as an assistant district commissioner. He later became district commissioner for the kingdom of Bunyoro and then secretary to the legislative council in Kampala. A proponent of Africanisation, Tommy’s stance put him at odds with most of his work colleagues, who envisaged the British empire continuing for many more years than it did. When he vocally opposed the deportation of the King of Buganda to London, it looked as if he would be sacked for his outspokenness – until the secretary of state, Alan Lennox-Boyd, said he agreed with Tommy’s standpoint and he was allowed to keep his job. After independence Obote appointed Tommy on a three-year contract as a permanent secretary in the ministry of education, tasked with dramatically increasing school numbers, which he did via enterprising solutions such as enlisting western volunteers in the classroom until local teachers could take over. He was appointed OBE in 1965. Back in the UK he worked for a while as a principal at the Ministry of Overseas Development before accepting an offer to set up the IDS at Sussex University. While at Sussex, he went to Fiji in 1969 to write a report on the viability of setting up a University of the South Pacific, and was subsequently made the university’s registrar in 1970. He moved on to be registrar of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in 1985 and left three years later. In retirement he lived in Keymer, West Sussex, where he was a Liberal Democrat county councillor. He relocated to Suffolk in 1996, serving as a prison visitor in Norwich until moving back to Sussex in 2020. Tommy had a perpetual twinkle in his eye, plenty of stories to tell, and was open to change even in old age. At 85, after a lifetime in the Church of England, he became a Quaker (which is how I met him), and at 98 he journeyed up the Amazon with his son Nathaniel. He married Anne Smith in 1948, having met her at a ball at Brasenose. She died in 2010; he is survived by their children, Nathaniel, Simon and Sarah, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Thousands rally in Madrid to demand snap election over corruption allegations

Tens of thousands of people have attended an anti-government demonstration in Madrid to demand a snap general election as the country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, tries to weather a series of corruption allegations involving his family, his party and his administration. Sunday’s protest, called by Spain’s conservative People’s party (PP) under the slogan, “This is it: mafia or democracy?”, was held three days after one of Sánchez’s closest erstwhile allies, the former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, was remanded in custody by a judge investigating an alleged kickbacks-for-contracts scheme. The PP put attendance at 80,000, while the central government’s delegate to the region estimated that half that many people had turned out for the rally at the Temple of Debod in the centre of the capital. The PP’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, described the legislature as “absurd” and said it could not be allowed to continue. He added that Ábalos’s detention before trial proved Sánchez’s style of politics – labelled sanchismo – was rotten. “Sanchismo is political, economic, institutional, social and moral corruption,” Feijóo told the crowd. “Sanchismo is in prison and it needs to get out of government.” Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the populist PP president of the Madrid region – whose boyfriend is to go on trial accused of tax fraud and falsifying documents – went further. In a characteristically fiery speech, she attempted to invoke the spectre of the defunct Basque terrorist group Eta, saying Sánchez had given succour to the Basque nationalists who supported his government. “Eta is preparing its assault on the Basque Country and on Navarra while it props up Pedro Sánchez,” she said. “Tell me that’s not true. But there’s no bigger moral corruption and no greater betrayal of Spain that that.” Eta abandoned its armed struggle for independence in 2011 and formally dissolved itself seven years ago. Felix Bolaños, Spain’s minister for the presidency and justice, said the PP and the far-right Vox party – which did not take part in Sunday’s demonstration – were fundamentally the same and were competing to see which could “say the most outrageous things about the prime minister”. Sánchez, who came to power in 2018 after using a vote of no-confidence to topple the corruption-mired government of one of Feijóo’s predecessors, has vowed to carry on despite the proliferation of graft allegations concerning his circle and a flurry of recent judicial blows. On Monday, his attorney general, Álvaro García Ortiz, resigned after being found guilty by the supreme court of leaking confidential information about the tax case of Ayuso’s boyfriend. The conviction of Spain’s top prosecutor has further fuelled the debate over the politicisation of the judiciary and came as investigations continue into allegations of corruption involving Sánchez’s wife and his brother. While the prime minister has dismissed those claims as politically motivated smears, in June he ordered his right-hand man, Santos Cerdán, to resign as the socialist party’s organisational secretary after a supreme court judge found “firm evidence” of Cerdán’s possible involvement in taking kickbacks on public contracts for sanitary equipment during the Covid pandemic. Ábalos and one of his aides, Koldo García, are also accused of involvement in the illegal enterprise. Cerdán, Ábalos and García all deny any wrongdoing and insist they are innocent.

Benjamin Netanyahu asks Israel’s president for pardon in corruption case

Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Israel’s president for a pardon for bribery and fraud charges and an end to a five-year corruption trial, arguing that it would be in the “national interest”. Isaac Herzog’s office acknowledged receipt of the 111-page submission from the prime minister’s lawyer, and said it had been passed on to the pardons department in the ministry of justice. The president’s legal adviser would also formulate an opinion before Herzog made a decision, it added. “The office of the president is aware that this is an extraordinary request which carries with it significant implications,” a statement from his office said. “After receiving all of the relevant opinions, the president will responsibly and sincerely consider the request.” Presidential pardons in Israel have almost never been granted before conviction, with the one notable exception of a 1986 case involving the Shin Bet security service. A pre-emptive pardon of a politician in a corruption case without an admission of guilt would be precedent-setting and highly controversial. The submission on Sunday comes weeks after Donald Trump wrote to Herzog to ask him to pardon Netanyahu, who has been on trial since 2020 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, involving alleged political favours for wealthy backers in return for gifts or positive media coverage. Netanyahu rejects the allegations, and has condemned the case as a “witch-hunt” orchestrated by the media, police and judiciary. His critics have accused him of prolonging the war in Gaza to keep his coalition together so he can stay in office and keep his legal jeopardy at bay, but elections are due next year. In a short letter included in his legal filing and in a televised statement released on Sunday, Netanyahu argued it was in his personal interest to prove his innocence in court, but that it was in the interest of national unity to cut short the trial, which he claimed was “tearing us apart”. The prime minister said in the televised statement: “As exonerating evidence that completely disproves the false claims against me is revealed in court, and as it becomes clear that the case against me was built through serious violations, my personal interest was and remains to continue this process to its end, until full acquittal on all counts. “But the security and political reality, the national interest, demands otherwise. The ongoing trial is tearing us apart from within, fuelling fierce disagreements, and deepening divisions. I am sure, like many others, that ending the trial immediately would help lower tensions and promote the broad reconciliation our country so desperately needs.” The demand for a pardon without a guilty plea or resignation has the potential to spark a political and constitutional crisis, which the country’s supreme court could ultimately be called on to resolve. The single significant precedent is a case from nearly 40 years ago, in which senior Shin Bet officials were accused of covering up the execution of two Palestinian militants involved in a bus hijack. The high court of justice allowed the president at the time, Chaim Herzog – the father of the current president – to issue pre-indictment pardons in the circumstances. However, legal scholars say it is far from clear that the 1986 case, Barzilai v government of Israel, would provide a precedent for Netanyahu’s corruption trial, especially in the absence of an admission of guilt from the prime minister. In the Barzilai case, the officials admitted guilt and the head of the Shin Bet resigned. The absence of admission or resignation on Netanyahu’s part would make it very hard for Herzog to issue a pardon, argued Suzie Navot, a constitutional law professor at the Israeli Democracy Institute. “This would be stopping an ongoing criminal proceeding for bribery. It has nothing to do with the [1986 Barzilai case],” Navot said. “What Netanyahu wants now is actually to be above the law.” Civil society leaders and opposition leaders made it clear that they would fight any move to grant Netanyahu a pardon. Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, sent a message to Herzog on social media, saying: “You cannot grant Netanyahu a pardon without an admission of guilt, an expression of remorse, and an immediate withdrawal from political life.” “Only the guilty seek pardon,” Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats party, said in a social media post. “The only exchange deal on the table is that Netanyahu will take responsibility, admit guilt, leave politics, and free the people and the state – only then will unity be achieved among the people.” Quique Kierszenbaum contributed reporting for this article

Bridge to the past: JR to wrap Pont Neuf again, 40 years after artistic forebears

The enigmatic French artist JR will undertake what he says is his biggest ever challenge next year when he “wraps” Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge across the Seine River in Paris, in a tribute to a monumental art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. For three weeks next June, the 232-metre (761ft) long bridge will be wrapped in fabric, 40 years after the married artists known for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations did the same thing. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in his Paris studio, JR said the project – titled the Pont Neuf Cavern – was “100% the most challenging thing I’ve ever done”. “I love a challenge,” the photographer and street artist said. “I realised this was an opportunity for me to do something that I needed to do and hadn’t been able to do before. “Suddenly, I realised I could actually wrap this bridge and create a real cave in it. “You’re going to see this big rock formation in the middle of the city. It will be really disruptive.” Since the mid-2000s, JR, who is never seen publicly without his aviator sunglasses and black fedora, has brought large-scale photographic projects to cities around the world. His collaborative installations range from trompe l’œil illusions to portraits of people to raise awareness of the marginalised and oppressed. JR’s career began as a teenage graffiti artist and street “tagger” who worked with one eye on the lookout for police. In 2010 the Guardian described him as the “hippest street artist since Banksy”. His work was collected in the 2015 book Can Art Change the World, revised and republished last year with a forward by film director George Lucas. Though no longer entirely anonymous – we know JR stands for Jean-René and he is 42 – he retains an air of mystery despite achieving global fame. Growing up in one of Paris’s banlieue housing estates, JR was only two when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Pont Neuf in 1985. “Obviously, I didn’t know about it at the time, and art really came late into my life,” he said. “You have to understand, I really didn’t come from this art world. I was not familiar with it at all. “Much later, when I discovered the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, I realised what I had missed. I knew the [Pont Neuf] project had had a major impact on my city and it made me wish I’d been there. “To be asked to do something 40 years later on the same bridge is a huge responsibility but also an incredible moment for me to create something truly mesmerising, to push myself into creating a piece that will also, I hope, make a mark on the city of Paris – and maybe the world – like Christo and Jeanne-Claude did.” Christo was born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff in Bulgaria in 1935, and arrived in Paris in 1957. There he met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, his partner and artistic collaborator until her death in 2009. Among their most famous projects was wrapping the Berlin Reichstag in 1995. Christo’s nephew Vladimir Yavachev, director of the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, said he approached JR to mark the anniversary of the original Pont Neuf wrap and has given him an artistic carte blanche on the project. “I was looking for an artist who had been influenced by Christo to have the inspiration for another project and thought of JR. When I called him and asked if he’d be interested, he loved the idea,” Yavachev said. Yavachev oversaw the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in 2021, a work Christo had been planning at the time of his death in 2020. Unlike the struggle Christo had to obtain permission from the then mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, to wrap the bridge in 1985, the current mayor, Anne Hidalgo, agreed immediately – as did the city police chief and the French president, Emmanuel Macron. The Pont Neuf cavern will be open from 6 June to 28 June next year. The bridge will remain open. JR said the technical details of the project, which involves dozens of engineers and hundreds of workers, are still being worked out. “The the critical thing about doing public art is that you can literally see the whole process,” said JR. “So people will be able to see every single step. There’ll be nothing hidden from them. Everything will be in the open.” As for how much the project, which is being paid from private funds, will cost, Yavachev said: “Jeanne-Claude used to say it will cost what it has to cost.” “That’s good man. That’s a great answer,” JR said.

Can you have a community without craic? Scholars of Ireland’s pubs warn of declining numbers

Like triple-distilled whiskey, Irish pubs appear to have timeless appeal. They are staple setting in films, books and plays, draw tourists to Ireland, replicate themselves around the world and induce social media quests for the perfect snug and the perfect pint. Scholars have now bestowed academic imprimatur on this cultural treasure status by examining – and celebrating – pubs through the lens of history, sociology, architecture, psychology, design, art and literature. Two new books, The Irish Pub: Invention and Reinvention, and The Dublin Pub: A Social and Cultural History, brim with footnotes, data and lore as they analyse what makes a “perfect pub” and the mysterious alchemy that produces “craic”. However, in each case the authors come to a sobering conclusion: Irish pubs are in trouble. They are vanishing from rural Ireland and many are struggling to survive in the capital. “It feels like a moment of transition,” said Donal Fallon, author of The Dublin Pub. “Every Dubliner should drive through rural towns to see what’s happening. The pub has been knocked off its perch.” Some villages have lost all their pubs and new housing developments often omit pubs, said Perry Share, a co-editor of The Irish Pub, a collection of essays by 20 writers. “Planners are not insisting that pubs be put in. That could create problems in future in terms of loneliness and community cohesion.” Since 2005, Ireland has lost a quarter of its pubs, more than 2,100, averaging 112 closures a year. Cited reasons include high taxes on alcohol, drink-driving laws, rising property prices and a fall in alcohol consumption. It is a global phenomenon – traditional bars are shuttering across Britain and much of Europe and Asia – but for Ireland the stakes are particularly high, said Share, who heads the school of social science and humanities at Atlantic Technological University. “Our society is becoming segmented into different interest groups so it’s important to have these places to interact across class and gender lines,” he said. “In the pub it’s OK to express emotion in a certain way and to grab someone and hug them.” Just over half of the population live within 300 metres of Ireland’s remaining 7,000 pubs, and, Share said, pubs remained central to expressions of Irish culture, such as in novels by authors including Sally Rooney and Paul Murray, TV shows such as Trespasses, and Hollywood depictions of Ireland. “Even if declining, the pub is still part of the fabric of everyday life. If it does disappear it’s a real loss. People talk of alternatives, like coffee shops, but no one says they had great craic in the coffee shop,” he said. The volume Share co-edited with Moonyoung Hong, a professor of English at the University of Hong Kong, ranges over the evolution of taverns in the era of Jonathan Swift, the emergence of gay pubs in the 20th century, and the export of Irish-themed pubs from Nepal to Peru. An essay by Kevin Martin – the author of a previous volume on pubs titled Have Ye No Homes to Go To? – identifies 10 elements for an ideal pub, including “a great pint of Guinness at a decent price” and “convivial company when required, and peace when not”. Social media influencers chronicle searches for “the best” Irish pub on Instagram and other platforms but Fallon, a social historian, said that missed the point: “This veneration of a handful of places, this ranking system, is often driven by aesthetics rather than any appreciation of what the pub is. Something doesn’t have to be the best to be important. It has to be part of its community. If you’ve had the worst day in your life the nearest pub is probably the best pub.” Fallon’s book uncovers colourful tales involving figures such as the American photographer Lee Miller, who photographed the Palace bar while on assignment in Dublin for Vogue in the 1940s, but also explores and toasts unsung, nondescript suburban pubs. Fallon notes the word pub stems from public house. “There is real warmth in that term. It implies a shared space and a living space. It captures the collective sense of what a pub is.”

Ukraine war briefing: Ukrainians fly to US for peace talks with Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida on Sunday for talks on Washington’s plan to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, a US official said. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced earlier on Saturday that a delegation was en route to the US for this purpose. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will also attend the meeting. “Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov, together with the team, is already on the way to the United States,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X. The meeting will take place without Zelensky’s top aide Andriy Yermak, who resigned on Friday after anti-corruption agencies conducted searches at his apartment. Russian officials said earlier that Witkoff planned to travel to Moscow next week, echoing Trump’s words that he would send his envoy to Russia to meet with Putin to discuss a “fine-tuned” peace plan. President Emmanuel Macron will on Monday host Volodymyr Zelenskyy for talks in Paris, with France raising the prospect of imposing new sanctions on Russia to “exhaust its economy”. The two leaders will discuss “the conditions for a just and lasting peace”, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, said on Saturday. “We will welcome President Zelensky to Paris on Monday to move the negotiations forward,” Barrot said in comments to the La Tribune Dimanche newspaper to be published on Sunday. “Peace is within reach, if (Russian President) Vladimir Putin abandons his delusional hope of reconstituting the Soviet empire by first subjugating Ukraine,” he added. In a warning to Moscow, Barrot added: “Vladimir Putin must accept the ceasefire or accept exposing Russia to new sanctions that will exhaust its economy, as well as intensified European support for Ukraine.” Ukrainian naval drones hit two tankers operating under sanctions in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, an official said on Saturday. The two oil tankers, identified as the Kairos and Virat, were empty and sailing to Novorossiysk, a major Russian Black Sea oil terminal, the official said. The strikes on the tankers represent a different kind of attack. Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil refineries for months, but using long-range aerial drones to strike far behind the frontlines. Kyiv has repeatedly called on the west to take action against Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”, which the Ukrainian government says is helping Moscow export large quantities of oil to fund its war. Six people were killed and dozens were wounded by a Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine. Nearly 600 drones and 36 rockets were fired into the country, Dan Sabbagh and Jane Clinton report. The attack cut power to the western half of the city, leaving at least 500,000 residents without electricity. Emergency crews have restored power to more than 400,000 households. Two waves of attacks could be heard across the capital, the first starting at about 1am and the second at about 7am before an all-clear was given just before 9.30am. Moldova closed its airspace for about an hour overnight after a drone incursion that its president denounced on Saturday, accusing Russia of flying across the country to attack Ukraine. Earlier this week, Moldova said a drone had crashed on its soil, with six drones in total overflying its territory. The defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday airspace had been “closed for approximately one hour and 10 minutes” just before 11:00pm local time on Friday (2100 GMT). The ministry said the “emergency measure” came after two unidentified drones illegally flew over Moldovan territory, “creating a direct threat to aviation safety”.

Six dead and dozens wounded in Russian attack on Ukraine

Six people were killed and dozens were wounded by a Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine. Nearly 600 drones and 36 rockets were fired into the country in an attack that its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said highlighted Ukraine’s need for western help with air defence, as well as other financial and political support. “We must work without wasting a single day to ensure that there are enough missiles for our air defence systems, and that everything necessary for our protection and for pressure on Russia is in place,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s state emergency services said two people died in the overnight attack in Kyiv and 38 were injured. The attack cut power to the western half of the city, leaving at least 500,000 residents without electricity. Emergency crews have restored power to more than 400,000 households. Regional officials and police said one person had died in the region surrounding the capital, two in south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and one in a midday attack in Kherson region in the south. “While everyone is discussing points of peace plans, Russia continues to pursue its ‘war plan’ of two points: to kill and destroy,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on Saturday morning as Kyiv residents surveyed the damage after a heavy night of explosions that mostly targeted the capital. Two waves of attacks could be heard across the capital, the first starting at about 1am and the second at about 7am before an all-clear was given just before 9.30am. Ukraine’s military said it had struck the Afipsky oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai, one of the largest in southern Russia, causing a fire at the plant. The site supplies diesel and jet fuel to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. Russia is engaged in a campaign to break Ukraine’s civil resistance this winter by attacking its energy infrastructure as the war heads towards its fourth year. The attacks come as a series of key Ukrainian political figures have been embroiled in a corruption scandal. On Friday, Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, was forced to resign after his flat was searched by anti-corruption officials investigating a kickback scheme. Two other ministers have already been fired and the scheme’s alleged architect, an old friend of Zelenskyy, has fled the country. Zelenskyy said on Friday that he would restructure the office of the president – which Yermak ran as a gatekeeper to the leader – amid speculation as to who might lead it or how it could be reorganised. An opposition MP called for the president to appoint Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK and the former head of the armed forces. Liudmyla Buimister, a Ukrainian politician, wrote in a social media post that “a man trusted by the military, citizens and international partners is exactly what we need now”. Zaluzhnyi has been considered a potential political challenger to Zelenskyy, though allies of the ambassador said on Saturday they were unsure he would agree if asked. Overnight, Yermak told the New York Post: “I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals.” However, it was unclear how he might serve the military. “I am an honest and decent person,” he added in a text message. Yermak led Ukraine’s negotiating team over the past fortnight as Kyiv responded to a pro-Russia 28-point plan released by the White House. It demanded that Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk province and agree to a general amnesty, and that the west drop sanctions imposed on Russia. Talks stalled this week during the US Thanksgiving holiday, but are expected to restart shortly. A Ukrainian delegation led by Rustem Umerov, secretary of the country’s national security council, has set out for Washington, Zelenskyy said. On Saturday a US official told Reuters that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would meet Ukrainian officials in Florida on Sunday. Ukraine has submitted a 19-point counter proposal, which has been shared with Moscow. Next week, Witkoff is due to arrive in the Russian capital, though few expect a breakthrough, since last week the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, described the Ukrainian leadership as illegitimate. Kyiv’s position is weakened by the corruption scandal, easily the most serious domestic political crisis of Zelenskyy’s presidency, while Russia hopes its continued bombing and a potential financial crisis for Ukraine will wear it down. Ukraine is hoping EU leaders will agree a €140bn (£122bn) loan secured against Russian central bank assets to shore up its budget from next year, but opposition from Belgium, where most of the money is held, has dimmed hopes of reaching an agreement by the end of the year.

Working the land but rarely owning it: life for New Zealand’s young farmers

On a farm south of Auckland, Cam Clayton breeds sheep and cattle – working alongside the dogs he’s trained since they were puppies. There, he looks out on knobbly hills and tree-filled gullies in Waikato, close to where he grew up. “I have the best office, with the best views,” says Clayton. The 30-year-old is part of a changing sector in New Zealand: data from the statistics agency shows the number of farms has been steadily declining: from 70,336 in 2002, to 47,250 two decades later – a drop of 33%. The land area taken up by farming has shrunk too, by 15% over the same period. Historically an agricultural country, dairy, meat, kiwifruit and apples are still major exports for New Zealand. While the number of farms has declined, some have grown from small holdings into big businesses. New Zealand’s farmer-owned dairy co-operative, Fonterra, has recently sold its consumer businesses to French dairy giant Lactalis for nearly NZ$4bn ($2.3bn). Yet while dairy fetches record prices, it’s difficult for young farmers like Clayton to follow the traditional path to farm ownership. In the past, young farmers would often run a farm owned by someone else in return for a share of the profits, while saving to purchase land of their own. But land is becoming more expensive; prospective farm owners have to save for longer, and look for other types of work to make money. “Someone buys the neighbour’s farm, then the next neighbour, suddenly you have a portfolio of five farms and Joe Bloggs the young farmer can’t buy a 150-cow farm to get started,” Clayton says, who leases the block he works on. “You have to be really passionate and in it for the long haul.” Cheyne Gilooly is chief executive of the Young Farmers club, a 98-year old institution that connects people across New Zealand. Finding a way to buy land is a frequent topic of discussion at the dozens of clubs throughout the country which are open to people aged under 31 – fewer and fewer of whom own their farms. “The big challenge at the moment is helping people finance their way into farm or land ownership as land gets more expensive,” says Gilooly. Cam Lowery, 27, and his partner Poppy Mitchell, 25, are one year into holding a lease for Lowery’s parents farm near Milton, south of Dunedin. They have 2,700 sheep, as well as some cows, calves and hoggets – young sheep who haven’t been shorn. After going to university, Lowery worked as a shepherd across the South Island. “I just couldn’t see a way into farm ownership through shepherding,” he says. Kiwisaver, a government-supported retirement saving scheme, can be used for first home payments, but can’t be used to buy a farm. “It’s hard to build equity off-farm,” Lowery says. For now, because the farm is owned by family, they are settled. Mitchell works as a physiotherapist in Dunedin during the week, an hour’s drive away. Lowery does all the farm work, with Mitchell’s help on weekends. “My days start at 7 or 8 am and I keep working until 7pm at the moment,” he says. The work is hard, but it feels worth doing, Mitchell adds. In Waikato, Clayton does a bit of everything: he helps on his parents’ dairy farm, manages a 600-hectare (1,480 acres) block of land, breeds and sells his cattle and sheep. It’s lots of casual work “just hopping around farms”. One day, he might be milking; the next, mustering ewes for a neighbour or inseminating cows. Clayton was a recent finalist at the Bay of Plenty-Waikato Young Farmer of the Year contest. He will now compete against other regions in challenges including identifying horse tack, grading different types of wool and demonstrating his ability to communicate with dogs. A written test includes questions about plant varieties, agricultural legislation and irrigation. “It’s a broad spectrum, looking at all things rural,” Clayton says. The long-term plan is to own a farm with his partner, Emma. There’s lots to learn, he says but loves the variety of life on the land. “I can’t get out of bed fast enough to see what challenges the day will throw at me,” he says.