Do I need to remind you that politics is show business?

It's all about seeming to be the best instead of necessarily being the best.

This is why politicians often say the most ridiculous things and make the most outlandish promises. It’s also why they boil complex issues down to simple catchy slogans which are repeated ad nauseum until they gain their own reality.

But eventually, reality catches up.

Yesterday’s backdown over the Fast-Track legislation is proof of that. Under the coalition’s original proposal Simeon Brown, Shane Jones and Chris Bishop had the power to green-light anything, even if all advice was against it.

This was all in service of the thesis that New Zealand is bogged down in red tape. A slogan hammered time and time again in the election until a significant number of electors believed that giving 3 ministers such power was without risk - and possibly good for the country.

The coalition’s answer was totalitarian. I was flabbergasted when I first read the policy and astounded that there was not more outrage. It was immense power in the hands of 3 men.

Imagine if Michael Wood, Megan Woods, and Willie Jackson had been granted such power in the last Government. You’d be up in arms saying it was undemocratic and dictatorial. It was much more undemocratic than any co-governance plan. But we all heard silence. We’d been well trained and well indoctrinated and no one complained.

Now the National-led coalition has seen sense and now the new Fast-Track legislation means a panel of experts in the field will have more say. Which looks almost the same as Labour introduced before the last election - because it is. So in other words, this Government is no more committed to fast tracking as the last lot. So then you ask yourself - what was all that about?

It's all about politics, it's all about getting your vote.

Meanwhile, the credit agency Fitch came out with their assessment of our credit rating and with it our economy. And despite the widely distributed idea that we’re stuffed for generations - the credit agency called us an advanced and wealthy economy. Excuse me?

They paid credit to macroeconomic corrections that started during Labour’s reign. I beg your pardon?

They said New Zealand has a long-standing commitment of fiscal prudence. This is all running against the popular mantra that the last Government left an economy in tatters. It’s not in good shape but it’s also not in tatters.

Fitch pointed out that the real problem with New Zealand’s economy is our high level of household debt and a high current account deficit. In other words, we save less than we spend and make up the difference by borrowing foreign capital.

That’s on you and me and the long-running housing crisis rather than any crisis in Government spending.

But you know, politics.

Good politics says it’s all the fault of the last lot and the best Government policy is to do less. We’ve become wet, scared, and lacking mojo and confidence.

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The corner has been turned. The 5-year pandemic pandemonium has been tamed.

Inflation is down and we've had the first interest rate cut since the Reserve Bank realised they’d overstimulated everything 5 years ago.

Proof that tax cuts were not inflationary, says the Finance Minister. And that is the case, but it’s not a sign that the cost of living crisis is over. Inflation and cost of living increases are two heads of the same monster.

Tax cuts are not being sucked up by discretionary spending. But they are by increases in charges brought about by a cut in Government spending, a continued housing shortage and its costs, and local Government trying to bridge the infrastructure deficit that’s been growing for decades.

For example, my family's tax cuts are going straight onto increased rates and increased public transport costs now that the subsidies have ended.

But put on your dancing shoes - said Thomas Couglan at the Herald in the weekend. The rock star economy is back. And we can thank Luxon and Willis. This is a nightmare scenario for the opposition.

Well sure. Even though economists have been saying that would happen for a year now.

In fact, Shamubeel Eeaqub has been saying all year that a lot of money has been dormant waiting for a turn in the interest rates as a signal that it’s all back on again. So here we go.

But was the rock star economy really ever a rock star in the first place? And do we want it back?

It was an economy of growth spurred on by high immigration, low interest rates, and big capital gains from a strangled housing market. It was a rock star as long as you had property that you could raise capital on.

Throughout the glory days, many warned that there were no productivity gains, that there was too much reliance on dairy and tourism, that there was too much spending on fripperies, there was too little investment on infrastructure that made us competitive

Can we really say the rock star economy is back when we wait a month for a doctor's appointment? Or 3 months for surgery in a rotting, past its use by hospital? Can we be a rockstar economy if we can't make enough electricity? Can we say we're a rock star economy when half our water is lost in leaks?

The return of a Key Government-style rock star economy will benefit me and I'm grateful. But I want something better than that.

It's time this country put its big boy pants on and fixed the stuff that's been plaguing us for decades and makes us seem like a third-world country.

Then we will be a true rock star. And the people who manage that will be hailed as true masters of an economy.

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The winter solstice was on June 20 and 21. The longest night and the shortest day, but wisdom tells us that the depths of winter does not fall until 6 weeks after the solstice.

It takes a while for actions to provoke a reaction.

So right now is the depths of winter and much is at the worst it has ever been and ever will be.

The All Blacks lost. In front of a disappointing crowd. Many are saying the poor crowd was down to economic hardship in the capital as the Government wages war on the size of the public service.

The public service in Wellington is being slashed to cut the government spending to help the economy. However, this is all happening just as the Reserve Bank tries to fix their Covid mistake. We’re in a double squeeze.

In Covid, the Reserve Bank underestimated how well we’d operate under Covid lockdowns. With the benefit of hindsight, we know they splashed too much virtually free money. So now they have to strangle our economy after setting it on fire.

It’s debatable whether we needed a double squeeze. But here we are. Whipping ourselves big time for future good.

Meanwhile, the country is low on power. A dry winter and our gas reserves running out means that energy-dependent industries are finding it hard to make a buck and some are now on hiatus.

Reality check. We need gas. A fossil fuel and we have no alternative. Labour had a policy but no alternative.

But another reality check. From the discovery of gas to coming online takes at least 10 years, so today’s shortage is on previous governments and gas companies. No matter what Simeon Brown says.

We’re still low on health workers and the cuts on government spending suggest we’re not really going to splash cash on them.

We’re still importing 100,000 people every year and not increasing contingencies to cope with their demands, like housing and health. But we’re more than happy to count whatever money they contribute to the economy. In John Key's years, they were called our rock star economy.

To add to all of that we have one of the most negative governments I can remember who seem to enjoy telling us how bad we are and to blame it all on the past 6 years when the rot set in 30 years ago. They’ve followed a government that told us we had 9 years of neglect.

No wonder we have a generation wanting to leave. Government after government promising the world and making no difference and telling us how rubbish we are.

But then we watch our Olympians and their work ethic and we feel good.

Then we discover that all regions are having an economic recovery. Except for Wellington for obvious reasons.

And we have an OCR statement later this week.

Could it be the long winter of discontent is finally over and we have green shoots and a good spring to come?

New Zealand is where I want to be. We’re not the cot case the Government portrays. We do need to rediscover our mojo. We need to stop saying no to good ideas. We need better public transport, we need more houses, we need more gas. We need to look after ourselves.

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I have always avoided getting into the Treaty principles debate.

It’s just too much of a swamp to get trapped in.

Either you’re for David Seymour's debate on a reset, in which case some will call you a racist.

Or you’re against a select committee debate means the racists will call you a wokester.

Both of which are gross exaggerations of what’s really going down, so it’s best to just avoid it.

However, with the resignation of Dr Anthony Jordan from the Pharmac board, I find myself truly confused.

Dr Jordan quit over the Government's treaty directive. David Seymour told Pharmac it was inappropriate for the agency to keep considering the Treaty of Waitangi in the health sector.

Dr Jordan said he "could not with good conscience" continue to work for the agency following that direction.

But as an outsider, I can’t understand how the treaty was factored into Pharmac’s decisions.

If ever there was an agency that’s work was based on need, it’s Pharmac. Everybody gets sick, everybody needs medicine. Pharmac’s job is to decide what medicines work for New Zealand.

While it’s true that Māori get some illnesses more than others it’s still a need. If that need is great enough it may get funded.

It’s a bit like the belief that the Māori Health Authority and Te Whatu Ora’s setup meant that Māori received priority in healthcare. It’s a factor to be looked out for in identifying need but at the end of the day nobody jumped the queue. Once your need is identified you join a raceless list based on priority.

But Dr Anthony Jordan has now resigned, and I wonder if he’s ever considered that this will have more effect on Māori seeking equitable healthcare results from Māori than David Seymour's war on Treaty principles.

Dr Jordan is, by the way, the partner of a Labour MP and his resignation smacks to me more of political virtue signalling than standing up for Māori in the healthcare system.

The question for Dr Jordan is: Was it better to be fighting for Māori inside the tent or sitting around outside the tent moaning and achieving nothing at all?

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There is only one story in town.

I realised this when I entered the newsroom and everyone was still itching to talk about it.

Firstly, I am so glad the assassin was unsuccessful.

The repercussions from this attempt are already dramatic enough. If Trump had been slaughtered, then the reaction could have been disastrous for the United States.

Imagine January 6 and the insurrection and then multiply that horror by a thousand. Every Trumpist and their dog would be reaching for their guns right now and the chances of an uprising or a civil war would have increased dramatically.

Obviously, there was a failure in the security detail, the assassination was only averted by a chance movement of the president's head, even though he was already in the sights of a Secret Service sniper.

This is disturbing - but also unfortunate in that the rumour mill online now suggests that the Biden camp had deliberately scaled down security for Trump despite obvious signs the whole election race was getting tetchy.

I don't believe this because the sniper had the shooter in his sights. The attempt was preventable, but the Secret Service has lost its edge. This is also understandable, considering this was the first attempt on a President in 40 years.

Meanwhile, the escalating tension has been covered by the MSM for some time now, complete with warnings that it could all get too real. This means that many supporters at the rally believed it was the media's fault. "You wanted political violence well you got it". Or- "the liberal media is responsible", one person said. Warning it's rising is not wishing it would happen.

This shows that many have fallen for the 'look over there' trick played by many politicians and media commentators. Shooting the messenger and not listening to the message is a weakness. When a truth is not liked by a politician they attack the media. They've been doing this for decades.

And then tension in the States is spreading. In my whole life, I have never heard more commentary on the left and the right. There is no left and right in America. Their left is right of our National Party.

But there is a real battle between liberals and conservatives. And it centres on touch paper issues like immigration and abortion and governmental overreach in civic life. And the language used is extreme and exaggerated to drive home the points, and that creates anger and dispute. And we end up with the disunited states of America.

And the real question is whether there can be a return to civil public discourse.

Biden has already expressed this and a desire to bring unity back to the United States in an address from the Oval Office.

And I will ask the question - can the US discover unity, or have we gone too far down a track of division?

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I wasn't here last week because I was attending a funeral.

A dear friend. 58 years old. Gut cancer.

A reminder to us all- live life. Don't put things off.

So, last week I thought I'd talk about the ferry debate and I thought that the issue would be over by now. But it's not. It rumbles on like the stubbed toe it is.

Today, the Government receives a report that will outline some of the options going forward and what cancellation of the ferries will cost.

This is not an insubstantial amount. Industry sources believe it's $200-$300 million dollars. Supporters of the Government say that's a bargain compared to spending billions on unnecessary rail infrastructure.

And that answered a question I'd had all along.

I've been confused at the continual assertion that the ferries were gold plated.

They appear to be a very reasonable price, mostly because they were ordered during the Covid lull and the shipbuilders were grateful for the business.

Yes they were bigger, and yes that means work on the wharves. But these wharves have remained unchanged for 50 years and needed an upgrade. Particularly the Kaiwharawhara port in Wellington. It's seismically vulnerable, so no matter what boats we eventually order, there will be a huge costs in earthquake proofing.

There are no cheaper second hand options, otherwise known as the Corollas of the ferry world.

No the reasons they are gold plated is because they are rail capable and National is no friend of railways. This is the party that sold the railways to Toll, who then asset stripped it to such an extent we bought it back for $1. They stopped the electrification of the Main Trunk line and stood in way of the CRL until they no longer could.

They also gave way to the trucking lobby allowing trucks of more than 44 tonnes on our road. Killing rail freight and causing potholes that they're now spending $4 billion to fix.

It's this sort of difference in opinion between Labour and National that is causing our paralysis in infrastructure, and this example is one of the worse.

Meanwhile, I wonder if anyone has been investigating what the costs will be to convert these ferries into road ferries only. Because frankly, I can't see any better deal anytime soon.

And time is of the essence. The Cook Strait crossing is part of our State Highway 1. Whether it's rail or trucks, tourists or cars, it is a major piece of our supply chain and to have allowed it to get into such disrepair and with no real solution in sight is a pox on both the National and Labour houses.

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On this day 60 years ago, 4 young lads from Liverpool arrived in Wellington on a plane to commence a week long tour of New Zealand. And they changed everything.

It was the Beatles.

It wasn't like we weren't warned. The week before was chaos as they toured Australia. 250,000 youngsters welcomed the band in sleepy old Adelaide. But the older generation were not prepared for the excitement, the hysteria and disorder that followed the band wherever they went. They were agog.

It was the beginning of the generation gap. It was the beginning of the rise of youth culture.

The Beatles opened New Zealand's eyes. The advent of international travel and of television meant they were the world's first international superstars and they were here.

Andrew Dickens chats with listeners who remember the day and the week. The adventures are legendary. Most were extraordinarily young and yet the time is burnt into their memory. Take a trip.

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When We Was Fab: Inside the Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 (Woodland Press). Andy Neill has ticketed book launch events at Unity Books, Wellington, June 21; Hedley’s Books, Masterton, June 22; Big Fan, Auckland. June 25.

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So I went to a party at the weekend. Quite a swanky one. Negronis and burgers and all sorts of people. Judges and doctors and advertising people and even musicians.

An old mate was there, a card-carrying lefty.

We're chatting and he says he's part of an urbanism group. Studying and advocating for urban development, and he says, "you right-wing ZB types would hate it."

So I said, "I beg your pardon?"

What part of having a well-designed and functional city is either left-wing or right-wing? It's not about politics it's about practicality. Who doesn't want a functioning public transport system? Who doesn't want accommodation solutions for the poor and the young so they don't have to leave the cities for a house? By the way right-wingers love trains. Mussolini made them run on time.

The politicisation of city designs is why nothing ever happens anymore and our cities just get worse and worse.

So it was good to open the paper on Sunday and see the Auckland mayor talking about that city's abortive light rail plans.

He said it was good that the Government killed Labour's plan off because it was disastrously handled.

The main problem with it was the cost which had been calculated at 400 million dollars a kilometre. Mayor Brown said he was recently in a town in France, the size of Christchurch, who have built a very successful light rail, at a cost of 50 million a kilometre. Nearly 90 per cent cheaper?

Then he went into all the reasons big projects cost so much in New Zealand. The gold plating of design, the contracts granted to constructors who are also suppliers who have no reason to contain costs, and then there's the politics. What idiot wanted to put a light rail into a tunnel? Michael Wood, that's who.

But the problem with all of this is that a good idea is thrown away because of bad management.

When Labour came in in 2017, AT had a 6 billion dollar light rail plan, ready to go. But Labour and then the New Zealand Superannuation Fund thought they could do it better and suddenly it was 15 billion because of the tunnelling and it stalled and then National killed it.

Much was made of the 228 million spent with no track laid which shows us how little people know of projects. That money was spent on geo-tech reports and surveys and buying land and planning. It's still all valid now and to throw it out is a blatant waste of taxpayers' money.

Light rail is not left wing. Light rail is not a bad idea. Labour was just a bad government that cocked it up.

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