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It’s a case of dog whistle politics in the music industry.

A tribute song for the 29 miners who lost their lives in Pike River disaster is the highest new entry on the Kiwi artists singles chart this week.

Written and sung by Dave Dobbyn, along with the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, This Love was recorded at a concert attended by members of the miners’ families. It enters the local chart at number 16.

Before writing the song Dobbyn spent time in Greymouth with the families of the miners, and said he felt their overwhelming grief. “I was very moved by their strength of community upon such a heavy loss of life. It spoke of a shared deeper love that survives in hope.”

Holding onto first place on the NZ Top 40 chart is Joel and Benji Madden, formerly of Good Charlotte, with their song We Are Done. The identical twins now work under the title The Madden Brothers.

Meanwhile, Stan Walker’s rousing anthem Aotearoa retains the number 1 spot on the NZ singles chart for a second week. The song, which Walker sings entirely in te reo, was launched last week to mark Maori Language Week.

Hamilton-based rock and metal band Devilskin are also clinging to the top of both the general and Kiwi album charts for a third week with We Rise.

Highest new entry to the album chart is former Midnight Youth vocalist Jeremy Redmore, with debut album Clouds Are Alive making it in at number 6. It also reached number 2 on the Kiwi artist album list.

Entering the singles chart at number 2 is 19-year-old actor Troye Sivan, with Happy Little Pill. It is the debut single for the Australian, who has a massive following on YouTube. He also played a young Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

To get the gold for her new album, Kimbra shunned the lights and distractions for a bucolic bolt hole in LA that echoes her native Waikato.

He was given $100,000 of taxpayer money to study bogans, and now more than $300,000 more has been awarded to a documentary presenting the work of “Boganology Doctor” David Snell.

Robert Pattinson has spoken out about the cheating scandal that ended his relationship with Kristen Stewart.

“Shit happens, you know” he told

Never let it be said that really bad movies don’t make good TV.

Sharknado 2: The Second One,

Computers are a step closer to becoming the next Stephen King, JK Rowling or George RR Martin thanks to a new artificial intelligence software that writes its own fables.

Researchers at the University of NSW have developed a computer system that generates simple stories constructed on a psychological model.

Perhaps it was inevitable that our use of technology would eventually into one of the most fundamental areas of human behaviours: story telling.

All humans need to do is select from one of 22 available storylines wired around an emotional core, such as retribution.

The computer then plots out the emotions the characters need to experience and constructs events to match each plot point.

The new system is the brainchild of passionate reader and computer science PhD student Margaret Sarlej.

“Computer generated storytelling is in its very early stages, and we’re a long way from a computer becoming the next Tim Winton, but this is a step forward,” Sarlej said.

Sarlej created the fundamental storytelling engine of the system by encoding the 22 available fable types with the series and structure of emotions characters need to experience to convey that moral message.

OPINION:

I’d like to thank Ivan Hansen for his letter to the editor.

Hansen’s indignation was palpable. It simmered with outrage. The words sizzled like sausages in a pan. It warmed a frosty winter dawn.

Admittedly it was a short letter. A brisk, no-nonsense, carefully aimed fusillade, the like of which I haven’t read for a very long time in the letter column of this esteemed journal.

“You must be joking!” he began.

That’s guaranteed to grab attention.

“The yellow rectangle pictured in GO (July 25) is supposed to be art”

Ahh, the power of the unassuming question mark. My attention was now firmly fixed.

“According to the measurements provided, the painting is depicted in a sideways position. Call me a Philistine if you like but this painting has as much to do with art as a fire siren has to do with music.”

Let me assure Hansen that the Philistines, despite a bad Biblical press, were, by the standards of the time, a cultured society with a taste for interesting ceramic ware. There’s absolutely no need to apologise.

The pleasure came from reading someone unafraid of sharing a clear, concise, albeit combative view of contemporary art.

Personally, I don’t agree with Hansen’s comments about Leigh Martin’s untitled painting, but I do respect his willingness to expose himself to the hostile fire which could follow.

I also hope that his mind is open to the opposite view. Perhaps a visit to the gallery for a face-to-face encounter with Martin’s painting might change his opinion.

Ultimately, you can never judge art from a newspaper image. A cup of tea with the artist might also be an illuminating experience for both parties, as Prime Minister John Key would testify. Art is a long, winding journey of discovery.

We need these robust, no-holds barred cultural debates accompanied by satisfying detonations of public opinion. But the conversation should also be open-minded. It must never descend into personalised abuse. It must be accompanied by a set of invisible but clearly defined rules of combat, one of which must be a respect for the other side. There’s no room for ad-hominum attacks in the cultural arena.

New Zealand has enjoyed its share of cultural controversies when strong words and even stronger emotions have surfaced.

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There was the debate over the donkey in the loo when a national newspaper reported with considerable outrage that the et al collective’s contribution to the 2005 Venice Biennale featured an enclosed metal urinal from which emerged the sound of a braying donkey.

The work was actually never intended for Venice, but the shock, horror and indignation which followed engrossed and entertained the country for weeks, proving that facts should never get in the way of a good and satisfying controversy.

There was the 1951 battle of The Pleasure Garden when Christchurch engaged in protracted trench warfare after a coterie of city fathers decided that contemporary art had gone far enough, thank you very much, and what today seems to be a completely inoffensive painting by Frances Hodgkins would never besmirch the pristine walls of the city’s public art gallery.

In retrospect, it seems to have been a storm in a very small teacup, but one which loudly resonates in Christchurch’s psyche, inspiring a recent successful play and a rush of warm nostalgia.

Ivan Hansen is simply maintaining a fine and honourable tradition of expressing an individual’s view of art – and power to his arm. He might not have liked what he saw. We might not like his comments, but he has every right to make them.

– The Press