Far be it from me to say that negotiations are dragging on, but things are slow ! Post-script: Winston, the consumate politician, has been leading all the shots so far – he has renegotiated the negotiating room to Auckland, to a hotel that no doubt the Taxpayer will be ultimately paying the bill, made sure that Luxon and Seymour are coming to him on bended knee…
15
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nemo
4 Min Read
Farewell to the Toomath’s Buildings then. Designed by architect William Crichton, completed by 1901. Survived years of neglect – did not survive a group of vagrant youths setting fire to it. Well and truly gone now, a digger has smashed it into pieces, without a hope of the building ever coming back. Could it have been saved? Well, yes, probably, but not once a fire had…
30
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nemo
1 Min Read
Thanks to Greenwelly for alerting me to the substantial report on the WCC website, which is both exhausting, and fascinating. There will be a book in there somewhere, on how a project could go so wrong and spiral way out of control. So, there is an indication of where the project has been going wrong – but also, it seems there have been so many changes,…
6
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nemo
1 Min Read
I have no idea why, but we appear to have elected someone who likes to use his thumb. Perhaps over-use his thumb. So, i think it only right to feature the Thumb in all its glory. See if you can find a photo of young Christopher without a thumbs up. They’re rare… Don’t believe me? Read on… And if you think I’m barking up the wrong…
8
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nemo
4 Min Read
As I write, and possibly while you read, we are still on Voting Day, although this awful weather will probably keep many people away from the voting stations. I voted, walking to my local school, and there was only 2 others there voting in the seats in front of me – from memory, last time, there were dozens of people. This time: crickets chirped and tumbleweed…
6
2
nemo
2 Min Read
In all the fun and fuss over things like the Election, the country’s love affair / hatred of Winston (there is something very 1984 about Winston being the BiG Brother watching over us / controlling our every move), we (well, me) may have taken our eye off the ball. Well, not the ball, but the Hutt. It seems that the Hutt has fully adopted the MDRS…
25
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nemo
4 Min Read
As far as cost blowouts go, this is a big one, and heads should roll. We here at the Fish have written about the old Town Hall a few times over the years, and last time we wrote we noted that “Since the town hall was closed in 2013 for strengthening, the cost of the project has gone from $43m, to $60m, to $90m. The final…
44
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nemo
4 Min Read
You may have noticed that there is a general election coming up, and the amount of hot air increasing from all sides. Billed as the battle of the Chrises (Chris’s? Chrisis? Crisis?), I’d venture that it is a lot more serious than just a two-way stand-off of Chris H vs Chris L – its actually a Mexican stand-off with Chris B in it as well, and…
20
1
nemo
1 Min Read
Talk about a NewsFlash ! Wow – the Shelly Bay development, that no-one seemed to like or want, has just been cancelled. Not postponed, or sidelined, or put on the backburner for a while – the developer Ian Cassells has sold the site to everyone’s favourite hobbit, Lord Jackson of Underhill. No, seriously folks, that is big news, and I think probably also fantastic news as…
16
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nemo
4 Min Read
(Updated – see more info at end of post). In a recent news story on The Post, which may not have appeared on the Stuff, there was an article on a proposed new building on Customhouse Quay in Wellington. You may (or may not) have seen it, as Post seems to be splitting / abandoning Stuff, as their two websites now become very different beasts –…