The real value of Dyer’s book lies in how thoroughly he has unpicked all the various factors that came together to turn this entirely preventable disaster into an inevitability.
It hasn’t been the normal hardships – central government and lousy weather – that have recently pushed Wellingtonians’ tolerance into the red zone.
For the past nine years, there has been a political culture of absentee government, where almost any regulatory action that involved spending money fell out of favour.
Having belatedly advised Havelock North about the pollution of their water supply, local authorities seem to prematurely see light at the end of the tunnel
Once again, our little show pony Prime Minister is prancing around the world offering to take in refugees – from Syria, from Nauru – while […]
We seem to be living in an era of virtual government, where governments promote only an illusion of policy kapow! rather than the sort of […]
Somehow, the ‘need” for belt tightening – or of stemming the rise in income inequality – just goes right out the window at this time […]
So why did Turkey shoot down that Russian plane? According to the Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, it was all about Turkey (a) being hand in […]
What is about the centre right in Auckland? There they are, in the citadel of commerce, and yet they’re routinely unable to put up a […]
There’s no success like failure, as Bob Dylan once said, and Serco’s failures mean nothing but trouble on the horizon for ordinary New Zealanders. Unfortunately, […]
Local Government Minister Paula Bennett’s statement of support for cutting red tape in the building industry was probably self-certified as being politically OK, but it […]
The ‘crisis – what crisis?’ response by the government to the Auckland housing price bubble is no longer acceptable. So says Reserve Bank governor Grant […]
Like the Commonwealth Games, the America’s Cup is one of those large sporting events that is struggling to find anyone foolish enough to want to […]
Leadership requires the leader to set aside self-interest. It is a concept that sometimes seems quite alien to Prime Minister John Key – who has […]
It isn’t often that one story can encapsulate (a) the bogus rhetoric used to justify sky-high pay packages for top executives, (b) the unequal way […]
In case anyone still questions the value of our public investment in state radio, the revelations about the Ruataniwha dam project – which began with […]
An interview with Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown
In the wake of David Shearer’s Labour party conference speech last year, housing policy has become a crunch test of how well each political party […]
The lack of affordable housing, as Finance Minister Bill English conceded last year, is an example of market failure, and in this Q&A transcript English […]
Article – Gordon Campbell Disclosure rules exist in local body legislation for the public’s benefit, not the benefit of politicians. Yet the explicit message from […]
Article – Gordon Campbell Click for original version. Cartoon by Martin Doyle Is it too soon to start talking about the curse of the Act […]
For now, Labour and the Greens are not opposing the convention centre in Auckland per se, but are asking for the tendering process to be […]
Famously, Winston Churchill once described one of his American political allies as being “the only bull I know who carries his own china shop around […]
Clearly, centre-right governments dislike Big Government only when it isn’t their brand of government. When it is, many of the democratic brakes get removed, quick […]
Reading meaning into the utterances of Christchurch mayor Bob Parker is always a risky business, but Parker’s comment to the Press the other day that […]
Like the Biblical loaves and fishes, the government’s Future Investment Fund from asset sales just keeps on giving – $1 billion for schools and hospitals […]
Wellington’s Occupation in their own words The Occupied Dominion Post – Issue 1 Monday 24th October PDF Download – 667kb For a long time, political […]
Opinion – Gordon Campbell This close, nail biting victory – without the triumphalism that the All Blacks running riot over their opponents would have entailed […]
The death of Muammar Gaddafi – either from wounds inflicted by a NATO air strike, or (more likely) from summary execution on his way to […]
So, it seems, the Greens were right all along – a special levy to fund the costs involved with the Christchurch earthquake still makes good […]
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