This was too priceless to share only with my Tumblr readers. It’s an excerpt from a review of Ryanair, sent to my friend Nadine Isler, who has since published (with permission) on her site: Entering the cabin, I was greeted by a blindingly bright yellow ceiling that would be more at home on the back […]
Read More… from The dystopian future has arrived, and it’s called Ryanair
In 2002, I did something really stupid. I bought a brand-new, 750 Mbyte Zip drive. After all, I had had three years of use out of my 100 Mbyte one, and since 750s looked like the way of the future, I had one installed. I can still count the number of times […]
Read More… from Why do the major parties insist on holding us back?
In 2011, the issues that I spoke about during my campaign remain as pressing as they always did. We still need better, wider and earlier consultation, whether we streamline current processes or create new ones for citizen engagement. We still need to build a city-wide wifi network, one which exists but needs a […]
Read More… from One year on, the same issues remain pressing
As jobs are vital to any economy, there is, at least, a glimmer of good news from Christchurch’s manufacturing sector. Tait, Sanitarium, and Steel & Tube appear to have escaped major damage, says The New Zealand Herald. It’s not much solace to those who have lost everything from homes to limbs to family […]
Read More… from Glimmers of hope for the people of Christchurch
In the Fairfax Press today, this story: ‘Food shop protest “racist”’. From what I can make out from this story, New Plymouth District Councillor Sherril George (her address, telephone number and email are here) has been urging people to boycott a Waitara food outlet run by some folks of Cambodian ethnicity. This business, […]
Read More… from Taranaki food shop must be a front for international finance
During the campaign trail, people tended to ask me if I was left or right. While I cheekily said, ‘Forward,’ many a time (and had at least one imitator), there’s something to be said for abandoning what are, effectively, nineteenth-century constructs. And unless you are DI Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes, you need […]
With the first billboard going up in town, I’ve been asked about whether my free wifi programme will cost ratepayers. In a word, no. The wifi programme will be supported by selling the space on the home page. Upkeep of such a service, and I am looking at several alternatives, is in the […]
Read More… from Making free wifi pay—at no cost to ratepayers
In plain English, when a city is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt—depending on who you believe, the figure is between $200 million and $400 million—how do you get out of the hole? 1. You can sell the family jewels, and there’s water left. We tried this in the 1980s, and now so […]
Read More… from Getting Wellington out of debt—by growing the right businesses
Funny how a media article can inspire you to send out a release, especially when you’re a ratepayer and you wonder if our City Council of élites understands how hard it was for us to make that money. In today’s case, it was Lindsay Shelton’s Scoop Wellington op-ed about Wellington City Council going nuts with […]
Read More… from Wellington needs free wifi and jobs, not a council that goes nuts with spending
Next year marks the centenary of the founding of the Chinese republic. We got rid of our rather hopeless Ching Dynasty, and ushered in Asia’s first democracy. Both the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China see 1911 as an important year, and Dr Sun Yat-sen as the founder of the nation […]
Read More… from How could the Chinese republic celebrate its centenary?