Dedicated to democracy, enjoying and restoring the Mahurangi, meaningful climate action, and curiosity—
primarily pre-pandemic content accessible from this page. Go to lastest content…
Changing Times highlights revival
There’s a rumour that it’s really a red wine appreciation society. To allay this misconception, of the Mahurangi Harbour Book Club, I have been asked to do something that I have never done before: Review a book! So I poured a glass of good red and set to work. Changing Times, at first glance is a historical record of…
Electing the mayor of Mahurangi
If the vote is split, the first regional mayor may all too easily be the abrasive John Banks. The risk of vote splitting could have been avoided, had local government embraced preferential voting—ludicrously, its implementation under the Local Electoral Act 2001 was...
Aotearoa has mixed-member proportional half right
Only half know what they are doing. That’s in general elections, where the turnout puts local government elections to shame—in spite of voters needing to travel no further than the mailbox. And not only do a mere 52% understand ‘which of the two votes…
Yes to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
The dream of dredging the Mahurangi River to restore its navigability fills some with hope, some with dread. The vast majority would welcome it, but only if it could be accomplished without further despoiling the already severely stressed benthic…
Bad language but boundary brilliant
The New Zealand Herald story will be very welcome news to friends of the Mahurangi. Particularly those overseas, whose evening television coverage would have struggled to report on the battle of the Pūhoi–Makarau Line, in the absence of actual blood on the floor at...
Rodney didn’t speak, Rodney roared
In spite of the rain and short notice, Ascension’s banquet hall was packed to the rafters. The choice of venue had many pondering his motives, and many a facetious inquiry was fielded as to whether Dr Lockwood Smith would be shouting the first drink. The pressure for...
Key calls for a Pūhoi–Makarau Line uprising
There is nothing sacrosanct about the existing northern boundary of Rodney district. It should possibly be changed. But definitely: not at this time; and never in such a way that it excludes Mahurangi–Matakana–Leigh from the region that it is functionally part of. The...
Notion to exclude Mahurangi uncalled-for
Preposterous—the word Mahurangi Action founder John Male impassionedly used. He was describing a proposal whereby 80 copies of the 416-page Jade River: A History of the Mahurangi be photocopied to nominally discharge the undertaking to publish given to its terminally...