Time to wave the red flag

There’s an old story, popular back in the 1950’s, about a young British lad walking along the footpath when a Rolls-Royce passes and splashes him with water that had accumulated on the roads edge. As the car speeds away he shakes his fist and declares “One day I’m going to bring down the ruling class.” On the other side of the Atlantic a similar situation. A Cadillac speeds past a young man, drenching him with gutter water and the boy...

Read More...

The hand that rocks the cradle

One-time rugby league star Graham Lowe committed an unpardonable sin when he described Jacinda Ardern on the Paul Henry Breakfast as being “a pretty little thing” and “would look good as a prime minister.” The twitterati and other sections of the social media erupted and Graham sensibly laid low until the furore died down. While the comments enraged many of her colleagues, Ms Ardern was not drawn to respond. Mr Lowe was born in another...

Read More...

Solving Auckland's problems

I’m full of admiration for the My Masterton campaign, launched in February by the Masterton District Council in partnership with the Wairarapa Times-Age to increase jobs and population in the district. The newspaper offered $100,000 of “in kind” advertising; presumably this will be in the northern regions where their parent company owns The New Zealand Herald. The District Council has a large graphic sign on its building set to indicate...

Read More...

Taking refuge from the refugees

I read recently that on August the 19th in the American city of Baltimore police found a 28-year-old man wounded from a gunshot. He was taken to hospital, where he died later that night. The report said this was the city’s 212th homicide victim for the year. Baltimore has a population of 600,000. Multiply that figure by 7 and you approximate New Zealand’s population. If we Western nations all sing off the same song sheet then to keep...

Read More...

The government is here to help

While Auckland expands and the regions stagnate the government has a grand scheme to encourage more migrants settle in the outer reaches of New Zealand. Like so many government initiatives this one is bound to fail. The problem is people like vibrant cities and the diverse culture they provide.The Third Labour Government once came up with a plan to “decentralise” New Zealand. One of the first benefactors of this strategy was Masterton....

Read More...