I heard a friend once say that we are witnessing the demise of the American Empire, just as Empires have come and gone before. There’s been some amazing analysis of the USA election results and like most I’m watching things evolve with great interest. Are we witnessing neo-liberalists last … [Read more...]
Always build your footpaths where the people walk
I enjoy the writings of Chris Trotter. During the month he wrote: The late Jim Anderton understood, as did his hero, Norman Kirk, that, at heart, New Zealand was a conservative country. That said, when confronted by profound economic and/or moral challenges New Zealand voters have demonstrated … [Read more...]
What is the role of Ethics, private and public – in a decent society
This book made me think hard about the way our current government operates. The list of projects on the fast-track list smells very fishy. Dead fishy. Next Tuesday Club notes I will look carefully at local projects and how they happened and their costly ramifications for us as local ratepayers. I … [Read more...]
Garry’s thoughts on the Coronial Enquiry
Am I in a frenzied minority when I express disquiet about the Coronial enquiry being undertaken over the recent few months following the two Mosque attacks? I don’t think there was a person I know who didn’t grieve for those poor souls cut down by an extremist’s gun. How we poured out … [Read more...]
Government needs Wisdom and Experience
This government is made up of numpties: This isn’t my description, it was that of a former National PM. They seem to be committed to hacking everybody off. It feels like there is a very limited range of experience around the Cabinet table. Thankfully many for many of us Te Reo is now simply … [Read more...]
Dawn Baxendale has left the building…
In an article in Newsroom David Williams wrote about the CE of CCC, Dawn Baxendale resigning from her position. Here’s the article A new dawn for Christchurch’s council after mystery and mayhem (newsroom.co.nz). I recommend that you read it if you have not already. I found the article useful because … [Read more...]
Election 2023: An open letter to Labour from climate activist Bruce Bisset
Bruce Bisset says "Labour no longer has a transformative bone in its collective body" This opinion piece was in the “Hawkes Bay Today” last Saturday. By Bruce Bisset … [Read more...]
Garry writes 16 August 2023
It has been troubling to watch Council meetings online recently. They appear to be a variation on a very badly run community group. How many times have we been to a meeting and witnessed a chair, who really doesn’t know how to manage a meeting, trying to manage local folks who have all arrived with … [Read more...]
The recent visit by the Commissioner for Future generations from Wales was inspiring:
A couple of weeks ago Christchurch had a visit from Sophie Howe the former Commissioner for Future generations for Wales. This Commissioner position is fascinating. The task for the Commissioner is to ensure that the public service complied with the Future Generations Act which has laid out seven … [Read more...]
Garry Writes 9 August 2023
One of the roles of elected reps is to monitor the Council financially and, shall we call it, the “spirit” of the organisation. It is important to look for signs, like why is the staff annual survey not improving. Christchurch Council Staff Vent Anger On Leadership | Newsroom Or why is the … [Read more...]
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