The local body elections analysed

I first stood for the mayoralty back in 1992. There were three of us vying for the title; Bob Francis and myself and a lady whose name I won’t mention because I have not sought her permission to do so. In the event more than 11,000 votes were cast and in round figures Bob got 6000, I got 4000 and the lady, who was a credible candidate, got 1000. Twenty-one years later, when the town will have grown, though perhaps not as fast as we might...

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In faint praise of the salesperson

After we were married and were creating a stable of young children we were accosted one evening by a door-to-door salesman selling encyclopaedias. The brand was Britannica, but it could just as easily have been Collins. Both products were sold by slick marketers who seldom left a household without extracting a sale. If you think accost is too strong a word to describe someone who is merely plying their trade I checked my trusty Chamber’s...

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The good old days not that good

Those standing for office in the upcoming local body elections, having rushed to media outlets to inform the public of their excellent attributes, will have found that it was not only an expensive exercise, but they will also have been given an infinite variety of choices.There are at least 5 radio stations and three newspapers that will have plausibly endeavoured to convince the incumbents and aspirants to choose their particular vehicle...

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Important questions for our age

From time to time I devote the column inches of my article to searching locally, nationally and internationally for the most important questions that currently need to be contemplated. Here they are: 1. If Oracle’s catamaran was designed and made almost entirely in N.Z., and if their CEO is Sir Russell Coutts, and if Jimmy Spittle owns a multi-million dollar home in Auckland then how come Peter Montgomery didn’t say as he concluded...

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