The little white boy shouted: "Daddy, Daddy!! Mandela shook my hand."

Nothing pops the bubble of the myth that nuclear power is "clean" like the ongoing struggle to stabilise and decommission the plant at Fukushima, Japan.

On Saturday, December 14, we will publish a story on the person chosen as Hawke's Bay Today's Person of the Year.

It is amazing what a difference a couple of days make at this time of the year.

Modern democracy relies on a social compact between citizens and the government they choose to elect, ostensibly for the common good, writes Bruce Bisset.