Rudman: Talk of urban agency bright spot in horror week for PM
COMMENT: At last, Prime Minister John Key is flirting with the concept of a one-stop shop urban development agency.
COMMENT: At last, Prime Minister John Key is flirting with the concept of a one-stop shop urban development agency.
COMMENT: Sometimes it really is embarrassing to be a baby-boomer.
COMMENT: Instead of all the whining about property developers making profits at the expense of the rest of us, why don't we do something about it?
COMMENT: Affordable seems a dirty word in PM John Key and Nick Smith's housing plans for Auckland, writes Brian Rudman.
COMMENT: That the battle to preserve the volcanic cones viewshafts in Auckland rages on highlights just how bad we are at protecting our heritage.
COMMENT: This refusal to confront the obesity-diabetes epidemic is like a replay of the global warming crisis fiasco, writes Brian Rudman
I suspect The Nation's attempts to topple Governor George Grey and Colonel Marmaduke Nixon from their pedestals will die a rapid death, writes Brian Rudman.
Following the rolling brawl in Auckland's Britomart club-lands, heavyweights from the police and Auckland Council squared off over who was to blame, writes Brian Rudman.
COMMENT: Would it be rude to suggest that Warriors owner Eric Watson should concentrate on building a team before a showcase arena.
Key's City Rail Link "dance of the seven veils" almost breached the R18 barrier when he performed at the recent Auckland Chamber of Commerce breakfast, writes Brian Rudman.
Centenary walkway options are irkingly tied to 21st century, ego and bi-culturalism, writes Brian Rudman.
To attack your rival for being experienced, and to claim your biggest asset is being ignorant of the political process, is perverse, writes Brian Rudman.
For a city striving to be "world class", forcing the inter-city rail service out of Britomart to a jerry-built shipping container "kiosk", 1.4km away in the old shunting yards, is bizarre, writes Brian Rudman.
Len Brown would have us believe that nothing happened pre-Super City and that advances since then were all his doing.
It's rare for politicians to admit their mistakes. Particularly one as recent as Auckland Council's unelected Maori Statutory Board, writes Brian Rudman.
It bemuses me the way the major political parties go to so much trouble to disguise their interest in running Auckland Council, Brian Rudman writes.
Many have spent most of their lives in Australia. They're now starting to end up dumped at Auckland Airport, separated from family and friends, and expected to survive as best they can, writes Brian Rudman.
Health Minister Jonathan Coleman's newly released magic pill to cure childhood obesity is so sugar-coated even those fuelling the epidemic are falling over each other to praise him.
The Department of Conservation is grossly under-funded and is expected to seek sponsors and volunteers to assist it in its vital work, writes Brian Rudman.
Auckland's point of difference is not the glories or supremacy of one ethnicity over another, but our place in the Pacific as a smorgasbord of cultures and ethnicities, writes Brian Rudman.
It's as though there's no institutional memory of the stranglehold giant British meat companies had on the industry stretching back through to 1882, writes Brian Rudman.
We don't need the bureaucrats' religiosity to get things opened.
Energy trust would be more loveable if its annual payout wasn't used to benefit individuals ... or to promote re-election of trustees, writes Brian Rudman.
Since 2009 DoC staffing has been slashed by 323. Funding cuts continue, writes Brian Rudman. In the last Budget, operational funding was cut by $8.7 million and natural heritage management by $7 million.
Why don't Auckland councillors jump on a bus and take a study trip south to the People's Project's Garden Place headquarters in Hamilton, asks Brian Rudman.
Forget the hikoi and library training, the answer the council needs is in Utah - and it's quite straightforward, writes Brian Rudman.
Accident Compensation Commission claims have long revealed a steady rise in claims, reaching 12,406 in 2013, writes Brian Rudman. Dog apologists have hidden behind the ACC's definition of dog bite.
The street of restaurants is already famous, it doesn't need to be tagged with an inaccurate brand, writes Brian Rudman.
How naive can our political masters be. They let a private prison operator self-report on how well they're doing, then act surprised when it all turns to custard, writes Brian Rudman.
City's quest for more money is nothing new...but a better answer would be to stop throwing it around.