Winding down after a busy, post-campaign 24 hours

At our campaign after-party: self, Karen King, and Chloe Oldfield and Aaron Hape. It is perhaps no surprise that the last 24 hours saw more Tweets to me than any other period in my life, as the results from the local body elections came in.    I was overwhelmed by the messages, which were very […]

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Paul Henry is only the tip of the redneck iceberg

Yesterday, I began watching the Indian media get hold of the Paul Henry story. Indians are, rightly, up in arms with the TV host’s insult of Chief Minister Smt. Sheila Dikshit’s name—this, plus the incident questioning whether Governor-General HE Sir Anand Satyanand was a New Zealander, shows a pattern where Henry thinks poorly of people […]

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By all means, enforce parking, but it’s not a licence to write fiction

Today was a good reminder why we cannot trust a foreign company to look after our parking, and why things need to be brought back under council control.    Parking enforcement is not about profit. Karen was unduly issued with a parking ticket in a P5 space after hours. And I received one today. You […]

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The other time Paul Henry had it in for someone with Indian heritage

Paul Henry isn’t alone on this: a lot of New Zealand media have been making fun of Delhi Chief Minister Smt. Sheila Dikshit’s surname, purposely mispronouncing it as dick-shit and then giggling away. (For the record, the pronunciation is close to dixit.) Though after his comments about HE Sir Anand Satyanand earlier this week, it’s […]

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Endorsements from Sir Michael Fowler and others—and why the Paul Henry débâcle matters

Yesterday, as some of you know, Sir Michael Fowler endorsed me, saying that I am the ‘intelligent’ mayoral candidate and he likes the programme I have outlined for our city. It goes beyond what is on my campaign site, of course—the programme includes plans to bring Waterfront Ltd. back under council control, increased transparency through […]

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A tribute to Bernard Schwartz—that’s Tony Curtis to most of us

I can’t let the passing of Bernard Schwartz—a.k.a. Tony Curtis—go without some sort of tribute.    I’ve bitten my tongue a few times this year on writing what I wanted to on this website. And with hindsight, I really should have just gone for it, as someone who preaches transparency. Yes, I do indeed have […]

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Explaining to Lucire readers about my political ads

[Cross-posted at Lucire] New Zealand readers will be seeing a few advertisements around this site relating to the local body election in Wellington. And perhaps, thanks to programming not always being precise, a few more readers outside New Zealand will notice them, too, although we have targeted them for this country alone. I think it’s […]

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Creative or reactive? Your choice

The Fairfax Press has been very interesting in its coverage since the beginning of my mayoral campaign. A Miramar Wharf hotel–training centre development that I pushed for missed any quotes from myself, while today’s announcement of wifi for the waterfront by the incumbent and the Fairfax Press itself again does the same.    But, you […]

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What’s possible with open government

When I go on about free wifi, it’s not just some vague election promise. Someone mentioned that I should have put the reason behind the message on my first billboard, but the reasons are too plentiful.    It’s not just about giving businesses and tourists the access they expect in a modern society. It’s also […]

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Just one clause, and I’m out of there

A contact of mine kindly sent me an invitation to a Chinese business networking site, called Ushi. All seemed well till I looked at the terms and conditions, which have, inter alia: You agree to abide by any and all the related Chinese laws and regulations of the Contract Law of the People’s Republic of […]

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