Herald on Sunday editorial: Here in NZ at least, it is a Happy New Year

Today is for celebrating the good things that allow us to wish you a Happy New Year. Photo / Richard Robinson

Happy New Year. Those three words never fail to spread good cheer no matter what the state of the world. There's something about New Year's Day that is fresh and bright no matter what the state of the weather.

A new year is a new bite of time, about as much time as the mind can absorb realistically. We can make plans for a year, beyond that our intentions are tentative, but a year can be definite. We can foresee work schedules, holidays, trips with reasonable certainty, make firm dates with relatives and friends for a visit at Easter or concert, or a weekend away to take in a rugby test.

It's all on the new calendar named 2017.

Say it again, 2017. Does it seem real yet?

It does when you think of last year. What happened to the world last year? Watching the mood take such an ugly turn in Europe and the US brought home how lucky we have been in New Zealand. Just about every other developed country has been in the doldrums since the global financial crisis, or a few years after in the case of Australia.

We are lucky to be a long way from the incidents of terrorism so far, and illegal migrants do not press at our borders as they do in Europe and the United States. We have had record numbers of legal migrants arriving over the past few years, contributing to the house price inflation that has made many of us millionaires on paper and others of us facing a possible lifetime of rent.

But low interest rates, not immigration, were the main cause of the bubble and interest rates are about to rise. The hardship that may bring could make us long for last year's problems. But this is not a day to worry. What might happen, equally might not.

This is a day to relish the good things of life, our good fortune to live where we do, in a community small enough to care for all its members and sensible enough to sustain two moderate opposing political parties that can each govern well.

It is the quality of government, not luck or natural resources, that ultimately determines a country's wealth. Most English speaking countries have been well governed for nearly four decades now, which is why last year is a worry.

But worry tomorrow. Today is for celebrating the good things that allow us to wish you a Happy New Year.