tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16365284415339885102024-03-14T07:59:40.345+00:00Matthew Plummer's blogA collection of my articles, essays, speeches, ramblings, etc.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-739233011943849592022-09-24T13:31:00.008+01:002022-12-13T20:38:00.948+00:00Disease, Demolition and DevelopersTyphoid grips a suburb, a prescient planner envisages the pedestrianised harbour we know today, and the Harbour Board's reclamations set the foundations for our commercial heart; fascinating nuggets revealed by some little-known maps from over a century ago.<br /><br /><div><b>Proposed Extension of the City of Wellington</b> (1877)<br /><br />In 1877 Danish architect Conrad Seidelin – working under the pseudonym of 'Mr Darnoc' – drew up plans to transform Wellington’s waterfront. His imagination was fueled by a big reclamation a year earlier, which created 190,000m2 around the northern end of Featherston Street – almost a third of all Wellington’s man-made land.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08RfDDZbc7_oC1LH8_FC8YWqiDZDuj35hNft0OMAMma79YHpsu_Y0UCtq8Ajk4igpoOjrW2rk5jBPuj2PiRIEP7sj2ouJ2L3_nhbsMtc1VSvKpNA5W28X-n_jmTjLRGn03zoYN7YHBeyUf-RxhMYVAb0nsNLax4Sp7K-VljRyN9i2jU8y1Zrc_uH7/s2048/IMG_2945.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1378" data-original-width="2048" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08RfDDZbc7_oC1LH8_FC8YWqiDZDuj35hNft0OMAMma79YHpsu_Y0UCtq8Ajk4igpoOjrW2rk5jBPuj2PiRIEP7sj2ouJ2L3_nhbsMtc1VSvKpNA5W28X-n_jmTjLRGn03zoYN7YHBeyUf-RxhMYVAb0nsNLax4Sp7K-VljRyN9i2jU8y1Zrc_uH7/w400-h269/IMG_2945.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Seidelin’s credentials had been established by his masterplanning the redesign of Copenhagen, where his scheme to demolish the city's walls won Denmark's Medal of Merit two decades earlier. Wellington was an ambitious city, and the Danish architect didn’t hold back, with designs straight out of the Renaissance urban planning playbook. Heavy on symmetry (a challenge given our terrain), the city’s centrepiece was to be a curved waterfront basin where Te Papa is located today, with tree-lined avenues drawing people to the waterfront. <br /><br />The plan was a rejection of the closely packed laneways and squalor that characterized Te Aro. Seidelin's map left the ghostly outline of the recently completed Queens Wharf in his layout as a reminder that his vision was of a modern city, rather than a colonial outpost; public facilities and major businesses would have to make way. Ornamental gardens at Herd Street would have required the demolition of the recently opened Te Aro Baths, and warehouses around the northern end of Taranaki Street were to be replaced by a large piazza – a concept that has never really worked in New Zealand. <br /><br />Wellington's city councillors sensibly considered the design impractical and expensive: curved docks and enormous land reclamation were luxuries the capital could ill-afford. The proposal was rejected, and expansion into the harbour continued piecemeal for the next 50 years – a situation not too dissimilar to Copenhagen's remodeling, where many of the ramparts and lakes Seidelin wanted removed were retained and are popular parts of the Danish capital today.<br /><br />Seidelin’s vision is intriguing because it merges radical urban form with the streets we know today. The map was drawn before the railway arrived in the city, but the Government Building (opened in the previous year) is clearly identifiable the end of Lambton Quay. <div><br /><div>The idea of an accessible waterfront would have seemed fantastical in the latter part of the 19th Century – yet 150 years on visiting cafes at the water’s edge as envisaged is central to the Wellington experience.</div><div><br /><b>Typhoid Area</b> (1892)<br /><br />Wellington’s emergence as a shipping hub facilitated the spread of diseases, with SS England bringing smallpox to the city in 1872. Surges in measles occurred every five years, and Pertussis (whooping cough) killed 24 people in 1891 alone. Typhoid first appeared in New Zealand as an epidemic disease in 1860, and the period between 1886 and 1891 became known as the ‘typhoid years’ with 548 Wellingtonians dying from bacterial infections (including cholera). </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6tMekn1dU_N0f0lWbuiEbyPVCzsfbuEA1uhchCu8nLkVD-hDhQYijudzVCVIr8vaZAZ2iHKDfO1xW7FVf1H7vgnU11o5IHvXpd8LynWNDzDFTAM0vJecqr4k8vZA-B3VdHneSqSuhKOr7JhTXGM4sGW4Hn3JApHZYt9ygbxQ9qfG4rZw_gW_I1Bz/s2500/Typhoid%20map%20layout%20(1).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1767" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp6tMekn1dU_N0f0lWbuiEbyPVCzsfbuEA1uhchCu8nLkVD-hDhQYijudzVCVIr8vaZAZ2iHKDfO1xW7FVf1H7vgnU11o5IHvXpd8LynWNDzDFTAM0vJecqr4k8vZA-B3VdHneSqSuhKOr7JhTXGM4sGW4Hn3JApHZYt9ygbxQ9qfG4rZw_gW_I1Bz/w453-h640/Typhoid%20map%20layout%20(1).jpg" width="453" /></a></div>Meanwhile the city grew from around 15,000 in 1875 to 49,344 in 1901. Densely packed Te Aro was particularly vulnerable, with infrastructure hopelessly unable to keep up. It was hardly surprising that many Wellington families fled to settlements like Karori, including the Beauchamps with their young daughter Kathleen (writer Katherine Mansfield), following the death of their baby Gwen from cholera in 1891.<br /><br />William Chapple, a 28-year-old doctor fresh from his previous practice in Motueka, set about mapping the deaths in the tradition of English physician John Snow, who Chapple would have learned about as a student at King’s College London. Snow (one of the fathers of modern epidemiology) had pinpointed the source of a major cholera outbreak in London four decades previously by plotting the location of cases, and traced them eventually to a contaminated water pump at Broad Street.<br /><br />Chapple quickly identified Holland Street as the centre of the Wellington outbreak, where he found blocked pipes and lavatories causing excrement to flow under the cottages’ floorboards, sewers venting directly into the houses, and residents without plumbed lavatories emptying their ‘night soil’ onto the street. Unsurprisingly an inspection of the hospital’s admission records showed typhoid cases soaring after heavy rainfall, when excrement sluiced into the harbour in rivulets around and under people’s homes. <br /><br />None of this squalor is obvious in Chapple’s deceptively simple map. The colour of the dots reflect cholera’s ‘blue death’ nickname, with the victim’s skin turning bluish-grey from loss of fluids, their distribution reflecting the slums that lined Te Aro’s laneways.<br /><br />Chapple recommended ‘a complete system of sewerage on modern principles’ to empty the city’s waste into Cook Strait, rather than Lambton Harbour, via a sewer tunnel under Mount Victoria. The cost was controversial (£165,000 – $35m today), but the incidence of sewage-related diseases treated at Wellington Hospital fell dramatically once the infrastructure was completed in 1899.</div><div><br />Chapple later became a prominent eugenics advocate (‘habitual drunkards and nocturnal house-breakers’ were included on his list of undesirables). He holds the unusual distinction of being elected to parliament in both New Zealand and the UK, and retained his New Zealand medical registration throughout, returning to work at Wellington Hospital as the Resident Casualty Officer in the 1930s – perhaps he regaled the junior doctors with accounts of the city as he recalled it four decades.<br /><br /><b>Plan of 12 Building Sections on the Te Aro Reclamation </b>(1906)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBsYp7i5kZW6PlVNHkQ4d7CdAHNG4ta51AA9rLmRjNaybCOxYTBdK8ILv8OliHAYeq_ba4hXxB1oI4knuICANKyTNdrKWlCtLCRxGh88DV1iOfksgrSZHSFo-02Q7AL4jNstWxLGA0enrUO3MIJeaT3kX08WjsBLnN_dTA83nhLeyVfW5x_81GJ5NF/s700/mini_magick20220924-1-t7j1qp.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br />Established in 1880, Wellington Harbour Board was tasked with operating and expanding the city’s port. Starting work three years after Seidelin’s master plan was rejected, the Harbour Board embarked on a programme of reclamations driven by Chief Engineer William Ferguson that laid the foundation for the inner city waterfront of today.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Mnu90CfXpdTNr9rVR2rD8Ozv7otXX8CikkE9YaFoBec9BM4LkzVTU6UFgh7K0LOJcyiN7mf3ApSfANz6fXtw2mSS5cTxwKc8NDQXkH8PI8GnLQPU9B86I0njP_OtETtW0GuGOQlHpyEu4JTMB59PM_F3y3RKaT_5-qElw9PVKEu0nFEw6pMdPEca/s1610/V1-FL73794702_crop.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1610" data-original-width="1038" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9Mnu90CfXpdTNr9rVR2rD8Ozv7otXX8CikkE9YaFoBec9BM4LkzVTU6UFgh7K0LOJcyiN7mf3ApSfANz6fXtw2mSS5cTxwKc8NDQXkH8PI8GnLQPU9B86I0njP_OtETtW0GuGOQlHpyEu4JTMB59PM_F3y3RKaT_5-qElw9PVKEu0nFEw6pMdPEca/w412-h640/V1-FL73794702_crop.jpg" width="412" /></a></div>Ferguson aligned the new wharves so that the prevailing winds would help ships manoeuvre, and reduce the requirement for tugs to help vessels berth; he also drove investment in hydraulic cranes. The port was recognised as one of the best equipped in the Southern Hemisphere. Ferguson created a partnership with the government and City Council to deliver a series of new wharves and land reclamations – including the Taranaki Street Wharf development, completed in 1905.<br /><br />The reclaimed land was ‘a magnificent block’, according to auctioneers George Thomas & Co. ahead of its sale in February 1906 – and for once the real estate hyperbole was justified. A flurry of investment had transformed the surrounding area since the turn of the century, with a new fire station (reassuring for commercial building owners) on Lower Cuba Street, opposite the City Council’s impressive new Town Hall which opened on December 7th 1904. Concert-goers arrived on the electric trams that had commenced service in the preceding months, and in the summer rowers in the Star Boating Club’s boathouse enjoyed music from a new bandstand on the Cuba Street side of Jervois Quay.<br /><br />It was all remarkably modern. The map reassured buyers that the land on offer was anything but the Te Aro of the typhoid years; it even shows the Polhill Gully Watercourse (described by the Evening Post as ‘exceedingly offensive’ a decade earlier) now buried in a long culvert under the city’s streets. The map omitted the city’s waste incinerator at Chaffers Park; it was expanded shortly after the Taranaki Street reclamation was auctioned off – caveat emptor.<br /><br />The sale was well attended and two buyers bought all but one of the allotments; the State Coal Department purchased the land south of Cable Street (a new road named after the Harbour Board’s outgoing Chairman William Cable). The modernist John Chambers Building was completed in 1918, and the smaller Inglis Brothers bicycle workshop occupied the Taranaki Street end of the block – the Wakefield Market food stalls was the building's final incarnation prior to its demolition in 2007. <br /><br />The land to the north was purchased by timber merchants C & A Odlin’s. The company completed its eponymous building within 19 months of acquiring the site, with Shed 22 built as a wool store by the Harbour Board when Odlin’s moved its timber yard to Petone in the 1920s. In the mid-1990s there were plans to raze the empty buildings and replace them with a reviled casino-hotel, but resource consent was withheld when the extent of the public opposition became clear. <br /><br />Aside from those replaced by the One Market Lane development, the buildings that sprang up from the 1906 auction remain in situ, historic waterfront buildings that are fully renovated, earthquake strengthened, and home to blue-chip businesses like the Stock Exchange and architects Warren and Mahoney. A magnificent block – just as the auctioneer promised 115 years ago.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><i>First published in Capital (Issue 81).</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-73460642568444801382021-07-29T07:58:00.004+01:002021-10-23T00:36:54.446+01:00 Wellington: an active earthquake engineering laboratoryEarthquakes may be a way of life for Wellingtonians, but the city has been home to cutting edge engineering developments since the 1960s that have helped keep us safe. So here are four buildings that stand out as globally significant seismic engineering designs – with the wider public that see them every day largely unaware of their significance.<br /><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">Jerningham Apartments (1968)</h3><i>First use of ‘capacity design’<br /></i><br />Wellington’s post-war baby boom and predictions of enormous population growth unleashed a new generation of high-rise apartments. To the casual observer these 1960s behemoths look relatively indistinguishable, but in the world of seismic engineering the large block at 20 Oriental Terrace is a global icon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CpKE6jZb-MA/YQJRNWKtKKI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/oBWyXGyORt4WITMZ9geBiezNEaKjB-iXACLcBGAsYHQ/s793/Jerningham%2BApartments%2Bfinal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="595" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CpKE6jZb-MA/YQJRNWKtKKI/AAAAAAAAE7Y/oBWyXGyORt4WITMZ9geBiezNEaKjB-iXACLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/Jerningham%2BApartments%2Bfinal.png" width="300" /></a></div>Design work on Jerningham Apartments started in 1964, with the tall structure stepped back from the street to take maximum advantage of the town plan’s height limits. Developers Wilkins and Davies were experienced hands in the Wellington apartment market, having completed Wharenui further along Oriental Parade in 1960, and Hollings & Ferner (a relatively new Wellington engineering practice) was engaged as the project’s structural engineers.<br /><br />John Hollings was interested in improving the performance of concrete frame buildings in earthquakes, which typically failed in a brittle manner as movement occurred in a single storey low down, ultimately risking a ‘pancake’ collapse. He envisaged the new development as a tall building with movement evenly distributed up the height of the structure, and flexing occurring in carefully specified areas, a concept he described as ‘lead hinges’ protecting the ‘glass-like columns’ from damage. <br /><br />Jerningham’s concrete columns were strengthened considerably relative to the beams so they would not fail. The connection of the concrete beams to the columns including extra steel reinforcement to allow them to flex and dissipate energy without losing integrity during a big shake. The precision of the calculations in the era before calculators or computers was extraordinary, but Hollings was still not fully satisfied as to the performance of the junction between the floors and internal columns. He had his team build a full-scale rig at the building’s base to undertake testing at the start of construction – the design passed with flying colours.<br /><br />Holling’s structure had significantly better seismic performance compared to the conventional approach proposed by the developer; it was also commercially more attractive. The revolutionary design reduced the scale of the foundations required, saving $100,000 on the original cost estimate (around $8 million today). And by opting for a low-profile floor system he had fitted in an extra level of apartments for the developer – all of which helped increase the affordability of the high-rise housing needed to accommodate Wellington’s steep population growth. <br /><br />The strong columns, weak beams design philosophy sounds like common-sense now, but it was a revolutionary concept at the time. It was refined by the University of Canterbury to become known as ‘capacity design’, and is now a fundamental aspect of almost all seismic design codes around the world. Meanwhile recent property listings state Jerningham has been assessed as 84%NBS – better than some apartments a third of the building’s age.<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Beehive (1979)</h3><i>First use of diagonally reinforced coupling beams<br /></i><br />In 1951 a young refugee family arrived in Wellington, sponsored by Catholic students at Victoria University of Wellington. Tom Paulay, 27, had fled Hungary three years earlier, after his two years as a cavalry officer fighting the Red Army on the Eastern Front had put him at odds with the new Communist regime in Budapest. Paulay completed his engineering degree in Christchurch and returned to Wellington, where he spent eight years as a consulting engineer, before taking a 35% pay cut to return to the University of Canterbury as a lecturer on structural design in 1961.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFZWeVSzAl0/YQJRE98zHZI/AAAAAAAAE7U/zI9nLWAn-5IEi5UT6widjX8c4B7JgDc3gCLcBGAsYHQ/s793/Beehive%2Bfinal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="595" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFZWeVSzAl0/YQJRE98zHZI/AAAAAAAAE7U/zI9nLWAn-5IEi5UT6widjX8c4B7JgDc3gCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/Beehive%2Bfinal.png" width="300" /></a></div>1960s New Zealand was a curious mix of forward-thinking confidence and lingering attachment to the Mother Country – epitomised by plans to replace the rat-infested, earthquake-prone 1871 Government Buildings at the southern end of the Parliamentary Estate. The Parliament Building’s incomplete Edwardian design was viewed as old-fashioned, and Britain’s star architect Sir Basil Spence was engaged to make the case for something more progressive. Construction on his circular, modernist tower (quickly dubbed ‘the Beehive’) started in 1969, just as Paulay was completing his doctorate on the vulnerabilities of interlinked shear walls during earthquakes.<br /><br />Paulay’s research was perfectly timed: damage from the 1964 Alaska Earthquake had confirmed his hunch that the existing approach to reinforcing the beams coupling shear walls was inadequate, with the side-to-side rocking of the building stretching these links diagonally, producing large X-shaped cracks that significantly weakened the structure. The improvement Paulay landed on was simple: introduce steel reinforcement in an X-shape to mirror the stress from the building’s movement, and allow ductile steel to take the load, rather than brittle concrete. <br /><br />New Zealand’s reputation for earthquake engineering was growing rapidly – Paulay’s peers would greet him at international conferences by crossing their arms over their heads, imitating his new design. A culture of co-operation between academia, the engineering profession and government was spurred on by the 1968 Inangahua Earthquake on the West Coast, the strongest felt in the capital since 1942, and encouraged by the Ministry of Work’s enthusiasm for seismic design innovation, under Chief Structural Engineer Otto Glogau. <br /><br />It began a new period where we stopped copying what was coming from California and became an innovative world-leading laboratory for seismic design.The Ministry was overseeing the construction of Parliament’s new Executive Wing, and Glogau immediately requested that the new ‘diagonally reinforced coupling beams’ be included for the remainder of the building; the circular concrete lift core was modified to accommodate the new design from Level 5 upwards. <br /><br />Half a century later, Paulay’s coupling beam reinforcement design is global standard practice. Yet with the steelwork encased in concrete it’s invisible to the general public: a hidden witness to the Beehive’s place in earthquake engineering history. </div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">The William Clayton Building (1982)</h3><i>First use of lead rubber bearings<br /></i><br />The Wellington Urban Motorway ripped a long gash though Thorndon when it was built in the 1960s. Whole streets disappeared following the government’s compulsory purchase of properties, leaving awkward slivers of land adjacent to the roaring traffic, and too far from the CBD to be attractive to commercial developers – but the perfect location for the new Ministry of Works headquarters, which was to be named after William Clayton, the architect of the 1876 Government Building at the other end of Molesworth Street.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L6a6tuAKm6E/YQJQ-eywyGI/AAAAAAAAE7Q/dPP6N_C6AOou6-kSiFga9DBZzvPfGREOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s793/William%2BClayton%2Bfinal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="595" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L6a6tuAKm6E/YQJQ-eywyGI/AAAAAAAAE7Q/dPP6N_C6AOou6-kSiFga9DBZzvPfGREOwCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/William%2BClayton%2Bfinal.png" width="300" /></a></div>The building was located on the site of May Street, a cul-de-sac off Tinakori Road lost under the motorway, and would have a long, low form sympathetic to the surrounding houses. It was also 100m away from the Wellington Fault – and an ideal candidate for Otto Glogau’s interest in seismic isolation. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Ivan Skinner devised sacrificial steel dampers: then a conversation in the staff tearoom prompted his metallurgist colleague Bill Robinson to hunt out a metal with better damping qualities. Two hours later Robinson had identified lead: its low melting point could turn pressure from an earthquake into heat, it had the right crystal structure to ensure ductile behaviour at low temperatures, and was cheap to buy at a high purity for consistent performance.<br /><br />Robinson’s genius lay in using the combined properties of simple materials in his revolutionary ‘lead rubber bearing’, where a lead core is contained by a ‘spring’ formed by layers of rubber and steel, which allows lateral movement. The elastic properties of rubber isolate the building from the ground movement and return the bearing to its original position once shaking has stopped, the steel plates maintains the bearing’s shape, and the lead core damps the action.<br /><br />The experimental bearings were tested by a second-hand Ministry of Works Caterpillar bulldozer that was modified to power a rig called ‘MASHER’ – the Machine for Simulating Earthquakes. By 1978 the concept had been proven, and 80 isolators were despatched to the construction site at the top of Molesworth Street. The building was something of a prototype, with an overly-strong structure in case the isolators didn’t work, and too little ‘rattle’ space for the building to move in a major shake (this was later rectified by Beca).<br /><br />Bill Robinson died in 2011 having spent most of his working life in Wellington. Robinson Seismic (still based in Lower Hutt) is a global leader in seismic protection devices, with their lead rubber bearings (like those visible underneath Te Papa) manufactured under licence around the world; their effectiveness has been proven by countless earthquakes. The William Clayton building was refurbished and extended five years ago: one of its 1970s vintage isolators as removed for testing by Robinson Seismic and performed like it’d just rolled off the production line.<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">8 Willis Street (1987 / 2021)</h3><i>Breakthrough in modelling fluid viscous dampers<br /></i><br />Older Wellingtonians will remember the partially completed steelwork of the BNZ Tower (dubbed ‘Darth Vader’s pencil box’ by Ian Athfield) during the late 1970s. The Boilermakers’ Union’s strikes turned a 48 month construction programme into 11 years, and drove up costs fourfold by the time the building was completed in 1984.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ1G72QB0ic/YQJQ3DouWdI/AAAAAAAAE7M/nWTftukrcLsK2yAXc5rYAZRUtJgO9g5LQCLcBGAsYHQ/s793/8%2BWillis%2BStreet%2Bfinal.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="595" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ1G72QB0ic/YQJQ3DouWdI/AAAAAAAAE7M/nWTftukrcLsK2yAXc5rYAZRUtJgO9g5LQCLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/8%2BWillis%2BStreet%2Bfinal.png" width="300" /></a></div>The saga contributed to the Lange Government’s labour market reforms, which in turn fuelled an economic boom. Understandably the 1980s property developers weren’t keen on steel, opting for precast concrete floors made with non-union labour. Quick to install, they were manufactured offsite, lifted into place by crane, and held in situ by the adjacent beams and the building’s structural frame – like very rigid sardines in a tin.<br /><br />Today central Wellington has dozens of buildings with precast concrete floors. The 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake’s long, powerful shaking hit these structures particularly hard, with flexing in the buildings’ frames damaging the edges of the concrete units. Built in 1987 on rock and to higher ‘investment grade’ standards as Trust Bank’s new home, 8 Willis Street – opposite the BNZ Tower (now the Aon Centre) fared better than many of the CBD’s buildings from the 80s and 90s, and came through the shake undamaged.<br /><br />So what makes the building next to Stewart Dawson’s Corner so interesting? Many of the structural upgrades incorporated reflect lessons learned from the Kaikoura shake – more concrete to stiffen the building, and improvements to the floor units’ seating. However the building’s new tenants will quickly spot large pistons running diagonally from floor to ceiling. These ‘fluid viscous dampers’ were first developed for NASA’s Apollo moon landers, and work like giant versions of the shock absorbers in a car, stiffening the building when it starts to move.<br /><br />Compared with the simple concept of base isolation, configuring the optimum damper arrangement in a relatively tall structure like 8 Willis Street is complex. Install too many dampers and you risk creating unwanted forces in the structure; too few will leave the building vulnerable during a large shake.<br /><br />Previously the modelling approach would have been trial-and-error: running different configurations through a range of historical earthquakes, adjusting the damper arrangement, and rerunning the tests. The breakthrough is engineering firm Beca’s work to automate the process to determine the best damper layout – which is then tested against dozens of historic earthquake models. This world-leading approach enables a level of evaluation that would previously have been impracticable.<br /><br />The optimised damper configuration means the building, now rated at 130%NBS (IL2), has significantly increased resilience to shaking than conventional strengthening work, without the complexities of costly retrospective base isolation – unrealistic for many of Wellington’s tightly packed buildings. It has also paid a large sustainability dividend, with the materials used in construction substantially reduced and thousands of tons of concrete retained, rather than sent to landfill – demonstrating a low carbon way of delivering high performance structural retrofits.<br /><br /><i>First published in Capital (Issue 77). Illustrations by Kumiko Matsumoto.</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-60455974977983907682021-04-11T03:42:00.002+01:002021-04-11T03:50:12.638+01:00Concrete dreamsThe rise of private car ownership, the baby-boom and post-war reconstruction were catalysts for drastic urban planning interventions around the world, a fashion that inevitably reached New Zealand. Metropolitan Wellington’s population increased by 63% in the space of two decades from 1945 – and was projected to reach 398,000 in 1981 (wildly inaccurate – this did not happen until 2014). <br /><br />This growth, largely concentrated in the Hutt Valley and Porirua, was a headache for planners, but it also gave the civic leadership confidence to invest. It stimulated a decade of radical proposals for the capital, and came close to destroying much of what Wellingtonians now love about the city.<br /><div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">Comprehensive Transport Plan for Wellington (1963 / 1966)</h4>By the late 1950s rapidly increasing traffic volumes on the Hutt Road (comparable to Adelaide Road today) caused a fear of gridlock, and work on the first part of the Urban Motorway from Ngauranga to Aotea Quay started in 1959.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xcmn_LtCkQc/YHJhrFYANyI/AAAAAAAAE3M/CCAJxcOsM6EFLaikOSFEy7gKO2PporEAwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1468/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B14.01.14.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1468" data-original-width="1084" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xcmn_LtCkQc/YHJhrFYANyI/AAAAAAAAE3M/CCAJxcOsM6EFLaikOSFEy7gKO2PporEAwCLcBGAsYHQ/w295-h400/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B14.01.14.png" width="295" /></a></div>There was bitter debate about the next phase of the road, between a ‘foothills motorway’ route through Thorndon, and one along the waterfront – the latter preferred by the City Engineer and the Ministry of Works. In 1960 American transport consultant De Leuw, Cather & Company was commissioned by the Wellington Regional Planning Authority (a predecessor of the Regional Council) to resolve the matter and create Wellington’s first Transportation Master Plan.<br /><br />Despite its being the cheaper option (at £13,000,000 cost – close to $570 million today) the initial report in 1963 made the waterfront route look as unpalatable as possible. Projected traffic volumes would require ‘a double-decked structure approximately 40 feet [four storeys] in height with three lanes in each direction’. This would have run from Bunny Street to Cable Street, with offramps required at Kings Wharf, Post Office Square and Mercer Street. The report warned of conflict between the motorway and what was still a working inner harbour, and the impact on the amenity of the waterfront, pointing out how quickly San Francisco’s officials had come to regret building their new freeway above the Embarcadero. <br /><br />The foothills route was duly recommended, even though it was projected to cost almost 50% more and need streets of houses demolished, with the Mount Victoria tunnel to be duplicated during the first phase of works. The time required to dig the Terrace Tunnel meant Te Aro would need a one-way system to speed up traffic (half a century later the Council has voted to slow traffic down), with southbound vehicles routed up Cuba Street.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HWiPT07t3Ec/YHJhYoh8YzI/AAAAAAAAE3A/K536DNMYPssRyP469vPVLCC1A8RWMirAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1434/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B14.01.53.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="1102" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HWiPT07t3Ec/YHJhYoh8YzI/AAAAAAAAE3A/K536DNMYPssRyP469vPVLCC1A8RWMirAQCLcBGAsYHQ/w308-h400/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B14.01.53.png" width="308" /></a></div>Public transport was also considered, with a recommendation that once the motorway was completed the railway should be extended in a 3km subway to the end of Courtenay Place – with underground stations at Parliament, Lambton (located under Boulcott Street), Cuba Street and Courtenay Place – all for £11,000,000 ($480 million in 2020).<br /><br />As proposed the complete the motorway would have buried half the Basin Reserve under motorway offramps, a deep trench cut across the top of Te Aro and a ‘full-diamond interchange’ at Taranaki Street – designs familiar to Wellingtonians who successfully defeated the Tunnel Link proposals a quarter of a century later. <br /><br />The focus on roads alarmed Wellington’s retailers. They feared that greater mobility would send shoppers to more convenient destinations outside the city, and commissioned a rival proposal from architects Gabites and Beard. ‘Precinct Planning for Wellington’ (released in 1965) had some bold predictions, with ‘public transport vehicles running on air cushions rather than rails’ and ‘combined air and ground vehicles in general use’ by the year 2000. But the pedestrianisation of large parts of the CBD, rather than a focus on cars, proved popular with Wellingtonians, and this influenced the final version of the Comprehensive Transport Plan in 1966, including retaining the Basin Reserve.<br /></div><div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">Draft Town Plan (1965)</h4>With the transport masterplan complete the City Council was free to focus on transforming the CBD. In 1957 Robert (‘Terry’) Kennedy arrived at University of Auckland to take the first Chair of Town Planning. He was retained as a consultant by Wellington City Council from 1965-75, and the 1965 Draft Town Plan clearly reflected his previous job remodelling Britain’s blitzed cities. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YxTn_onbnME/YHJhCi7kPRI/AAAAAAAAE2w/cpApSnaolv8pSx7-of-_IfEF_NfaJ5k7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1912/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B13.45.51.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1912" height="278" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YxTn_onbnME/YHJhCi7kPRI/AAAAAAAAE2w/cpApSnaolv8pSx7-of-_IfEF_NfaJ5k7QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h278/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B13.45.51.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />Some ideas were developed from the De Leuw report and ‘Precinct Planning’, including Cuba Mall, and the Farish Street Extension which pushed Victoria Street through to the top of Te Aro – to feed a future Western Suburbs motorway running through a tunnel from the top of Aro Street to Karori.<br /><br />The plan was also critical of central Wellington’s small commercial plots and streets laid out for the era of deliveries by horse-drawn vehicles, now resulting in increasing conflict between vehicles and pedestrians. European cities were able to ‘take advantage of’ extensive bomb damage to unleash ambitious redevelopments – and Wellington was to follow suit with the ‘Willis Street redevelopment area’, a three tier ‘superblock’ similar to London’s Barbican, to tackle ‘the bottleneck between Stewart Dawson’s corner and the sea’.<br /><br />The development would have been enormous, stretching between the top of Plimmer Steps and the waterfront. The existing street layout was to be maintained but built over, with garaging and warehouses at ground level, and car parking above them, accessed via ramps from Jervois Quay and a Willis Street flyover connecting Victoria and Boulcott streets. Above that to be a pedestrian deck, with shops, offices and hotels.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_Gh6Q3DyrU0/YHJg5TIZECI/AAAAAAAAE2o/3uSIi7n4S3EiGoBa8j7C8TFaB8btOIbfwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1566/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B13.47.33.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="1566" height="326" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_Gh6Q3DyrU0/YHJg5TIZECI/AAAAAAAAE2o/3uSIi7n4S3EiGoBa8j7C8TFaB8btOIbfwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h326/Screenshot%2B2021-04-11%2Bat%2B13.47.33.png" width="400" /></a></div>The sheer chutzpah of the Town Planning Committee’s report was admirable: the Willis Street superblock was ‘economically feasible’ and would ‘rehabilitate the centre of Wellington’ in combination with the proposed Civic Centre and new Cuba Mall. The City Engineer pointed out to doubters ‘this sort of integrated development is already taking place in larger cities overseas’.<br /><br />The project stumbled at the first hurdle: the population growth projection was criticised as overly optimistic (a failing among Council officials), and the indicative £50,000,000 cost ($2.1bn in 2020) was seen as wildly unaffordable. Councillor Turk called the proposal ‘a Utopian flight of fantasy’ – and by the mid-1970s Kennedy’s departure from WCC’s payroll and the city’s stagnation meant the idea mercifully faded into the long list of municipal what ifs.<div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;">Report and Development Plan for the Wellington City Council Civic Centre (1974)</h4>The idea of a municipal precinct dates back to the 1942 Wairarapa Earthquake, which led to the demolition of the old city library building and technical college buildings on Wakefield Street – now the site of the Council’s closed Civic Administration Building and empty Municipal Office Building (or MOB). Work started on MOB in 1946, and the popular lawn in front of the building was referred to as the Civic Centre.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fbmtbx1p7nI/YHJgBvJ5CxI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/LErDYFPsteQxRTJqvEIgyB-YZ4RyAsDfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/00556%2BCivic%2BCentre%252C%2Bplan%2B1%252C%2Bsurvey%2Bof%2Barea.pdf.00001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1280" height="438" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fbmtbx1p7nI/YHJgBvJ5CxI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/LErDYFPsteQxRTJqvEIgyB-YZ4RyAsDfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h438/00556%2BCivic%2BCentre%252C%2Bplan%2B1%252C%2Bsurvey%2Bof%2Barea.pdf.00001.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />The Council had gradually acquired land at the harbour end of Cuba Street from the 1960s, and the section of Mercer Street between the Town Hall and Central Library was often closed for civic festivities, so it was a small leap of imagination to pedestrianize the space. Terry Kennedy and Ken Clarke (the council’s City Planner) embarked on a scheme to banish vehicles and create a ‘true and pleasant centre of the City of Wellington’.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NzK6_YEpVys/YHJgLz4Y_iI/AAAAAAAAE2c/QXWESZVI8AIsgfwn2ZbYulnakhNB0NiNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/00556%2BCivic%2BCentre%252C%2Belevated%2Bview%2Bfrom%2Bnorth.pdf.00001.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1280" height="324" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NzK6_YEpVys/YHJgLz4Y_iI/AAAAAAAAE2c/QXWESZVI8AIsgfwn2ZbYulnakhNB0NiNQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h324/00556%2BCivic%2BCentre%252C%2Belevated%2Bview%2Bfrom%2Bnorth.pdf.00001.png" width="400" /></a></div>The masterplan that emerged had all the hallmarks of European post-war design. The demolition of the seismically prone Town Hall would clear the way for a decidedly Soviet looking 10,000m² office building; a conference facility was to be built on the corner of Harris Street and Jervois Quay; and pedestrian subways would give access to the waterfront and the new shopping arcade that was to be built over Mercer Street through to Willis Street. Kennedy realised changes in opinion and finances would alter the plan, but he suggested a 15 year development programme – the new library and conference centre were to have been completed by 1986.<br /><br />Instead Mayor Michael Fowler championed the construction of the new concert hall: it was commissioned in 1975, but the challenging ground conditions delayed work. The building was opened in 1983, by which time campaigns to promote the heritage and acoustic value of the old Town Hall had made its removal untenantable, leaving the two buildings uncomfortably close to each other. The waterfront had been transformed from potential motorway route to an increasingly popular open public space – and a rethink for the precinct was required.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lQ6jHJz2-GQ/YHJgrhfdZsI/AAAAAAAAE2k/J5rg2ALeVlIWFwE9ZvYtyiz1XKA6Lu5yQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/00556%2BCivic%2BCentre%252C%2Bplan%2B6%252C%2Bview%2Bto%2Bwest%2Bfrom%2BCivic%2BPlace.pdf.00001.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1280" height="413" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lQ6jHJz2-GQ/YHJgrhfdZsI/AAAAAAAAE2k/J5rg2ALeVlIWFwE9ZvYtyiz1XKA6Lu5yQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h413/00556%2BCivic%2BCentre%252C%2Bplan%2B6%252C%2Bview%2Bto%2Bwest%2Bfrom%2BCivic%2BPlace.pdf.00001.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />While the development Kennedy proposed would have been built at the height of Brutalism in New Zealand, some of the core ideas from the 1974 masterplan shaped today’s Civic Square, including turning the 1937 library building into a ‘City Gallery’. This stimulated the council in 1980 to create exhibition space at 65 Victoria Street, before demolishing the building and using the site for the new Central Library (another Kennedy recommendation). Interconnected elevated walkways linked the library and council buildings – until they were deemed seismic risks earlier this decade – and the space enjoys good sunlight. <br /><br />Kennedy died in 1997, with his superblock vision for Wellington’s civic precinct largely realised, and especially the underground parking and wide pedestrian expanses. With the Civic Administration Building likely to be demolished, perhaps the lawn in front of the municipal offices which coined the precinct’s name could be restored – bringing the Civic Centre concept full-circle?<br /><br /><i>First published in the Summer 2021 issue of <a href="https://capitalmag.co.nz" target="_blank">Capital</a>.</i></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-20556803782176266512020-08-04T10:05:00.030+01:002022-08-04T12:34:45.661+01:00The lost and forgotten fountains of Wellington<div class="separator"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2-WPoAGDna8/Xyknyde-R8I/AAAAAAAAEuQ/yGY7XXvC12IVhAQAucitQ2mqTu-GaGDdACLcBGAsYHQ/s1244/MA_I061869_TePapa_John-Martins-Fountain_full.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><br /><br /></a></div><div>Our public fountains are part of Wellington’s visual identity. The Bucket Fountain is top of many visitors’ bucket lists. Oriental Bay’s Carter Fountain lends magic to a walk around the waterfront. And the Water Whirler is fascinating – when it’s not broken. <br /><br />But some of the city’s most interesting water features have been demolished, recycled, or overlooked; as the memory of their benefactors has faded, they are increasingly obscure footnotes to our city’s history. Which is a pity, because they all help tell the story of how our city was shaped. So here are four fountains that you probably hadn’t heard of, and all but one still exist in some form.</div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RnL64UHr4NQ/Xyk0fgQnNnI/AAAAAAAAEv8/55zJXxbAI8stfO7gv8MKDDd0wdtQ5Ox4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1244/MA_I061869_TePapa_John-Martins-Fountain_full.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1244" height="306" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RnL64UHr4NQ/Xyk0fgQnNnI/AAAAAAAAEv8/55zJXxbAI8stfO7gv8MKDDd0wdtQ5Ox4QCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h306/MA_I061869_TePapa_John-Martins-Fountain_full.jpeg" width="410" /></a></div>John Martin's Fountain</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">Lambton Quay & Featherston Street / Oriental Parade</h4><div><i>Built 1875; moved circa 1909; scrapped 1938 </i></div><div><br /></div>The Martin fountain on Lambton Quay was built by one of Wellington’s rags-to-riches millionaires, Irishman John Martin, who arrived in Wellington in 1841 aged 21. He quickly progressed from manual labour to property development: his projects included the second Government House (on the site of the Beehive) and the creation in the 1880s of Martinborough – one of New Zealand’s few ‘squire towns’ founded by private developers.<br /><br />Most of all, Martin craved recognition by the establishment. Naming places after his family was one way he sought inclusion – hence the eponymous Martin Square, with Marion Square and Jessie Street nearby for his wife and youngest daughter. The drinking fountain he presented Wellingtonians with was another, conspicuously located amid the imposing bank buildings that had sprung up on the recently reclaimed land at the Willis Street end of Lambton Quay.<br /><br />Martin’s Fountain became a Wellington landmark. It was around six metres tall, crowned by three large gas lights (a recent innovation). The water spouts supplied safe drinking water – real philanthropy when the Government’s principal scientific advisor had recently warned that ‘no water collected from within the crowded part Wellington, from either wells or house taps, is safe or proper for human consumption’. <br /><br />True to Martin’s roots, the drinking fountain’s water was laced with whiskey the day it was unveiled in 1875. The roll-out of reticulated water and electric lighting, however, meant the fountain was soon viewed as an anachronism. The magnificent gas lanterns were removed shorty after Martin’s death in 1890, and the fountain was moved to Oriental Bay just before World War One. It was sold for scrap iron in 1938 after being irreparably corroded from salt spray – today the Oriental Terrace bus stop stands in its place.<br /><div><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SpIENy74_0E/Xykt516BZ2I/AAAAAAAAEvY/Vb2C2AnjOMsGeAaFqP1juiJ4CHARgAdSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1277/Centennial%2BFountain%2B1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="973" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SpIENy74_0E/Xykt516BZ2I/AAAAAAAAEvY/Vb2C2AnjOMsGeAaFqP1juiJ4CHARgAdSwCLcBGAsYHQ/w312-h410/Centennial%2BFountain%2B1.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>Centennial Fountain</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">Centennial Exhibition, Rongotai / Kelburn Park</h4><div><i>1939-1940; rebuilt in 1955<br /></i><br />The highlight of New Zealand’s 100th anniversary was the Centennial Exhibition in Rongotai. Financed by share purchases from government and local businesses, the 22-hectare site, with shows and pavilions from across the Empire, took two years to build.<br /><br />At the heart of the exhibition grounds was the magnificent Centennial Fountain, which cost an extraordinary £246,735 ($26 million today). Set in a 30m-diameter pool, the main bowl featured classical figures and towered over the throngs of visitors. Water was pumped high into the air – always risky with Wellington’s wind – with lighting adding to the drama. Architect Edmund Anscombe leaned heavily on the Art Deco look – his Post and Telegraph Building (now the Chaffers Dock Apartments) was completed at the same time in a similar style.<br /><br />Advertised as ‘six months of fun and pageantry’, the worthy exhibits from around the Empire were overshadowed by rollercoasters and miniature ride-on versions of Britain’s famous steam trains at ‘Playland’, a freakshow with ‘Mexican Rose’ (billed 'the world's fattest girl' at 343kg) and a Shark Pool that boasted ‘a dozen large man-eaters caught off the coast of Australia’ (how this was determined was unclear).<br /><br />The show attracted over 17,000 people a day, and traffic volumes forced the Council to ban bicycles and horses from the recently opened Mount Victoria tunnel. Gates closed in May 1940, with numbers falling far short of the 4,200,000 expected; anger from shareholders left out of pocket was hushed up as the war situation was looking increasingly bleak. The exhibition buildings burnt down in 1946 after wartime use by the air force; by then the fountain’s motor had been carefully packed up, and was revived in 1955 as the slightly less grand Kelburn Park fountain.</div><div><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UnaTNHDivI0/Xykt_ZzptYI/AAAAAAAAEvc/E0H5j62JdgAaJ7ZNbVFgJQMovC9LzazrwCLcBGAsYHQ/s664/Gibbs.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="664" height="311" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UnaTNHDivI0/Xykt_ZzptYI/AAAAAAAAEvc/E0H5j62JdgAaJ7ZNbVFgJQMovC9LzazrwCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h311/Gibbs.png" width="410" /></a></div>Gibbs Memorial Fountain</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">Mercer Street / Harris Street</h4></div><div><i>1956-1991; relocated 1990s<br /></i><br />Nestled behind the City Art Gallery, and away from the dull roar of Civic Square’s infinity-edge water features, are the charming gargoyles of the Gibbs Memorial Fountain. </div><div><br /></div><div>Relatively little is known about David John Gibbs, whose £1,000 bequest funded the fountain. There is a tantalisingly brief glimpse of 25-year-old Lieutenant Gibbs marching his troops down Lambton Quay in archive film of the 1908 Dominion Day parade. He survived the trenches of the Western Front, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the 1918 New Year Honours list. After the war he served as Secretary to the Harbour Board in the 1920s and died in 1946.<br /><br />The Gibbs Memorial was an early commission by sculptor Jim Allen (whose enormous marble panels were removed from 61 Molesworth Street during its demolition in 2017). It features Neptune with a pair of dolphins similar to those on our city’s coat of arms. Older Wellingtonians will remember the hemispherical pool with underwater lighting in front of the City Council’s 1951 Municipal Office Building, and the adjacent lawn that was a popular spot for lunch on sunny days.<br /><br />The fountain’s construction predated the renaming of Mercer Street as the ‘Civic Centre’ by a year, but its inscription ‘On becoming soldiers we have not ceased to be citizens’ perfectly anticipated the precinct. The 1974 masterplan for the area retained the pool in situ (the Town Hall was to be demolished and replaced by a brutalist office block); sadly the 1987 Athfield master-plan bolted the ghastly curved Civic Administration Building onto the front of the Municipal Offices, so the fountain had to go. The gargoyles were saved, but their new brick setting, hidden off Harris Street, is a serious downgrade for a generous gift to the city.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h53WdTLA-yo/XykuFJIt8VI/AAAAAAAAEvk/sHC__OJuv-4TL5CgUaZ4R5qeFIw9DxPzACLcBGAsYHQ/s700/nathan.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="650" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h53WdTLA-yo/XykuFJIt8VI/AAAAAAAAEvk/sHC__OJuv-4TL5CgUaZ4R5qeFIw9DxPzACLcBGAsYHQ/w380-h410/nathan.png" width="380" /></a></div>Nathan Memorial Fountain</h3><h4 style="text-align: left;">Hobson Street / Queen’s Park</h4><div><i>Cast in the 1880s; moved in 1904 & 1951<br /></i><br />Alfred de Bathe Brandon, a 31-year-old lawyer, arrived at the New Zealand Company’s fledgling Wellington settlement on the <i>London</i> in December 1840. His practice flourished, despite the challenges of looking after a young family following the death of his first wife shortly after they reached Wellington, and he was made the Provincial Solicitor in 1853.<br /><br />Thirty years later Brandon’s law firm was passed onto his son (also called Alfred), and Alfred senior turned his focus to building a large family home on Hobson Street, completed in 1880. While settlers could buy luxuries like silver cutlery by mail order from the Mother Country, Alfred de Bathe Brandon’s wealth let him return to England to hunt out the finest garden ornaments from Coalbrookdale. One was a fine romanesque fountain featuring cherubs and a partially robed goddess, which was duly installed in his garden.<br /><br />The fountain was moved to another Brandon family home on Hobson Street in 1904, where it remained until 1942 when the third Alfred Brandon sold the property and moved to Heretaunga. The Brandons were friendly with the Nathans, who were mourning their son Benson, killed the previous year in a friendly-fire incident during the Battle for Crete, and the fountain was given to George Nathan (Benson’s father) for use as a memorial. Lady Katherine Macalister, the Mayor’s wife, was sympathetic to locating the Nathan Memorial Fountain in Queen’s Park, and the fountain was unveiled in its new setting at the foot of Grant Road in 1951.<br /><br />The fountain was restored in 2014 – dismantled, water blasted, and given seven coats of paint. Today it is in immaculate condition, as it would have been when Alfred de Bathe Brandon saw it in England 140 years ago.<br /><br /><i>First published in the April 2020 issue of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Capital </a>magazine</i><br /></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-81872527014072418562019-12-23T06:32:00.000+00:002020-05-03T12:23:52.483+01:00Cutting shapes: the three infrastructure projects that made modern Wellington<i>“God made New Zealand,” said Sir John-Pearce Luke (Mayor of Wellington from 1913-1921). “But engineers made Wellington”.</i><br />
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Wellington's steep terrain, regular earthquakes and ferocious weather have been constant challenges, and Sir John knew good infrastructure was critical to making our city a success. Modern sewers helped rid the city of typhoid in the 1890s, trams and tunnels opened up new suburbs after the 1900s, and the urban motorway catered for the boom in car ownership in the 1960s. But three infrastructure projects – above all others – stand out as pivotal in shaping our city.<br />
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<b>Queens Wharf (1860s)</b><br />
<i>The wharf enables the government to move to the city after two devastating earthquakes</i><br />
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As SS Airedale steamed into Lambton Harbour late in the summer of 1863 the noise of is engines subsided, and sailors high in the rigging furled the canvas. Passengers eagerly lined the handrails for their first glimpse of Wellington, and the brand new Government Wharf – its reddish brown timber yet to be bleached by the sun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration by Suzanne Lustig</td></tr>
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Eight years earlier the Wairarapa earthquake had created a three-metre tsunami, which smashed ships onto the harbour floor and washed out low-lying properties along Lambton Quay. When the waves subsided, the seabed had risen two metres, ruining access to the quays. Tectonic uplift and the destruction of wharves meant goods had to be ferried ashore by lighters – very time consuming, and the rapidly increasing size of ships visiting Wellington meant they had to anchor further and further out.<br />
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So Queens Wharf was driven by a desire to play down Wellington’s shaky start. The devastating earthquakes of 1848 and 1855 could have been fatal for the young city’s reputation, particularly given Britannia, the New Zealand Company’s original settlement at Petone had been abandoned 14 years previously because of the Hutt River’s tendency to flood. The Chamber of Commerce (then as now an advocate for infrastructure spending) campaigned for a new deepwater wharf – considered ‘a universally recognised want’, with the surviving private jetties hopelessly too small.<br />
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The new 122m-long ‘double T’ Government Wharf was a mixture of ironwork imported from Britain and totara from Foxton. Storms delayed the supply of timber and the wharf opened three months late. Stretching out from the city’s first major land reclamation around what is now Post Office Square, it quickly became known as ‘Queens Wharf’ – not in celebration of Queen Victoria’s 25 years as monarch (the first silver jubilee celebrated Kaiser Wilhelm I and was in 1886), but more likely because of its location adjacent to Queens Bond Store. <br />
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Queens Wharf was a huge vote of confidence in the 6,000-strong settlement, and a shot in the arm for business, as commercial developments rapidly filled the reclamation. It was seen as ‘a symbol that Wellington was becoming a port rather than merely a harbour,’ said Wellington Maritime Trust D Johnson, and proved so popular the ‘T’s were immediately extended to cope with the explosion of traffic. <br />
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The new wharf impressed the Australian Commissioners who visited Wellington in 1864 searching for Parliament’s new home. MPs travelled to their electorates by steamship, and our central location and modern infrastructure proved compelling: the capital moved a year later.<br />
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<b>Tawa Flat Deviation (1930s)</b><br />
<i>Modern electric trains opened up the northern suburbs to created metropolitan 'Greater Wellington’</i><br />
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In the 1920s Wellingtonians enjoyed a comprehensive electric tram network connecting the city’s inner suburbs, but access from the north was far more challenging. Settlements at Johnsonville and Tawa were served by the Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company’s steep single-track railway, with steam engines wheezing through numerous tunnels as they hauled passengers up the gradients on the mainline north.<br />
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For a nation with more than 28 million railway journeys each year (according to Te Ara) the trip into Wellington must have been an embarrassment. There had been little progress since the line’s construction in 1885, and the railway was a chronic bottleneck in the capital’s growth. Rail travel was critical to New Zealanders wishing to travel around the country, and arriving in the capital via a steep single track mixed up with livestock movements did not send the right signals.<br />
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The Public Works Department formed a team in 1927 under railway surveyor Arnold Downer to build an express railway over 13km long, with 5.6km of double track tunnels. Downer later led the Mt Victoria tunnel project – his name lives on in the eponymous construction company.<br />
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The Tawa Flat Deviation was completed in 1935, and allowed a major overhaul of the Johnsonville line, where cutting-edge English Electric trains were launched with fanfare (and ten speeches from the dignitaries assembled) in July 1938. The ‘delightfully smooth’ journey was completed in 16 minutes – considerably faster than today’s scheduled services. Tawa got its electric trains a couple of years later.<br />
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Eyes were firmly on the Mother Country, and the electric railway bears strikingly similarities to the ‘Metroland’ developments that turned the countryside north-west of London into prime commuter belt. Tawa’s new station offered a heated waiting room, and male and female lavatories. It was a big improvement for the passengers, and was the catalyst for the suburb’s population growth from a few hundred in 1930 to just over 3,000 shortly after the war. Johnsonville was transformed from a sleepy agricultural centre nicknamed ‘Cowtown’ to a suburb with booming property prices and a population growing at double the city’s average. Meanwhile Wellington’s neo-Georgian station, opened in 1937, bustled with passengers obtaining news from press-the-button information machines, vying for pies at the highspeed cafeteria and taking nicely-framed pictures of themselves at a shilling a shot. News, pies and selfies – nothing changes.<br />
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Enormous pride was taken in showing we could match the Empire’s best, and the Tawa Flat Deviation, track electrification, new rolling stock and the gigantic Gray Young terminus were ambitious undertakings that laid the foundation for today’s Greater Wellington conurbation.<br />
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<b>Rongotai airport (1950s)</b><br />
<i>International connections direct to the heart of the city after removing a hill</i><br />
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Charles Kingsford Smith's first view of Wellington was from the cockpit of ‘Southern Cross’, his Fokker Trimotor aeroplane. The Australian circled above the city at dawn on September 11th 1928, having left Sydney 13 hours earlier, but ended his trailblazing journey in Christchurch: Wellington had nowhere suitable to land.<br />
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Kingsford Smith secured his place in history by making the first international flight to New Zealand. Aged 31, he told the crowds his ambition was simply to become the world’s oldest aviator. When he finally made it to Wellington (by ship) he advised Mayor Troup – another aviation enthusiast – that Lyall Bay would be perfect for Wellington’s main aerodrome. A basic airstrip opened in 1929, which often closed over winter when the grass runway became too boggy.</div>
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Rongotai was talked about as the ideal location for our city’s main airport for years after Kingsford Smith’s untimely death in 1935, but nearby facilities proved more popular: Trentham’s airstrip handled early mail flights, the Air Force operated seaplanes from its base at Shelly Bay, and by the late 1930s Imperial Airways’ Empire flying boats were a regular sight at Evans Bay. These were the height of luxury, and passengers were often warned not to rush to the lavatories at the rear to plunder the toiletries lest the plane slid backwards out of the sky. <br />
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Meanwhile Paraparaumu became New Zealand’s busiest airport in 1949: Rongotai airport had been forced to close two years earlier as the grass runway didn’t comply with safety standards. And Tasman Empire Airways Ltd flew flying boats a four days a week to Sydney from Evans Bay in the early 1950s. The airline’s terminal at Greta Point was decidedly ad-hoc, with garages under the Casa Del Mar apartments on Evans Bay Parade used by Customs to process passengers.<br />
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Wellington was missing out. Prime Minister Peter Fraser announced in 1948 that a modern airport would be built at Rongotai, but construction took 11 long years. Passengers onboard the flying boats attempting to land when Evans Bay was choppy must have looked at the building work with longing – waves under two metres high were acceptable landing conditions. <br />
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The new Rongotai Airport necessitated moving 3,000,000m3 of earth, and reclaiming 55 hectares of land to create Cobham Drive and the new runway (which was further extended in the 1970s to accommodate passenger jets). The earthworks were impressive, but the new facilities weren’t: the 1937 De Havilland factory was repurposed as a stopgap terminal, which was intended to be replaced by the 1960s. Inevitably the corrugated shed served Wellingtonians until 1999. But the building didn’t matter – we finally had a sealed runway capable of handling the latest aircraft like the Lockheed Electra that flew the Beatles in from Sydney.<br />
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Today the decision to build a modern airport 15 minutes from the heart of the city plays a big part in the compact urban form loved by locals and visitors alike – and is every bit as transformational as the Queens Wharf and railway upgrades in previous decades.</div>
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<i>First published in the December 2019 issue of <a href="http://www.capitalmag.co.nz/">Capital </a>magazine</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-68886969497097384092018-11-24T11:00:00.000+00:002018-11-24T11:00:25.137+00:00Post master: A H Fullwood visits WellingtonIn the spring of 1906 a middle-aged artist sat halfway up Thompson Street with a small board balanced on his knees and a palette of oils at his side. The shades of greens he used for the quiet residential street gave way to the purples and grey of industrial Te Aro, and a skyline dominated by brick chimneys belching black smoke into a clear blue sky.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXWkJIgWeaE/W9gijdlsJEI/AAAAAAAAEdg/Cj16Fm9n-v8JwMWLcLyMSJoJ6Qy9LoT6ACLcBGAs/s1600/img237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="800" height="251" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXWkJIgWeaE/W9gijdlsJEI/AAAAAAAAEdg/Cj16Fm9n-v8JwMWLcLyMSJoJ6Qy9LoT6ACLcBGAs/s400/img237.jpg" width="400" /></a>He paused to exchange some words with the driver of a horse and trap slowly clip-clopping up to Brooklyn. Decades of painting landscapes under the unrelenting Southern Hemisphere sun meant Albert Henry Fullwood’s skin was leathery and wrinkled, and thick black hair and beard added a certain wildness to his demeanour. But the speed at which Wellington materialised on the canvas was evidence of a master commercial artist working on a tight schedule to feed the first truly global craze: collecting postcards.<br />
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The city Fullwood arrived in was the bustling, confident capital of a young country that had rejected joining the Commonwealth of Australia five years earlier – and Lambton Harbour was its focal point. Ocean liners carried passengers to the far reaches of the empire, while tramp steamers and barques worked their way around the coast – the ascendancy of fire over wind not yet complete. The yachts must have caught the publisher’s eye back in London, with an approving caption on the card’s back stating the number of boat clubs meant ‘like true Britons, all the inhabitants love the sport’. And the elegantly dressed women walking their dogs unaccompanied around the Government Buildings and Molesworth Street were good material for postcard sales in Europe, with the small print reminding the world of our universal suffrage: <i>‘Measures that have only been talked of in other countries have been in existence in New Zealand for years’</i>.<br />
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Fullwood’s streetscapes show the city (population 60,000) in the final year or so before the inexorable rise of automobiles – with pedestrians and cyclists mixing with horse-drawn carts. Wellington City Corporation had just taken ownership of the tram network, and the odd choice of Thompson Street for a city panorama was likely because of its proximity to the newly-opened route to Brooklyn. The electric tram would have passed hundreds of workers’ cottages packed into Te Aro Flat’s lanes – the harsh conditions of inner-city living were only a decade after the typhoid epidemics that ravaged Wellington and drove people to the safety of neighbouring boroughs like Karori. The Kelburn cable car and the Town Hall (opened in 1902 and 1904 respectively) didn’t interest him – a cynic would note the abundance of harbour and waterfront scenes were easier pickings for someone arriving by ship with little time to spare.<br />
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Fullwood was born in Birmingham in 1863 and emigrated to Australia aged 20. He spent his next three years travelling as a staff artist for the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, and the range of places he visited during his early career was extraordinary: Thursday Island, Torres Strait, Port Moresby, New Guinea, and later New Zealand. He married Clyda Newman in 1896. By then two of his paintings had been purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales.<br />
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The economic downturn and collapse of the Sydney art market at the end of the 1890s was a catalyst for travels further afield. Fullwood took his wife and their two small boys to New York, Europe and Cape Town in 1900 before setting up home in London (and having another child; a daughter) – just as the world-wide postcard craze was hitting full swing.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tteyH5MZgzQ/W9gklxf4ECI/AAAAAAAAEeI/TFBScjrzDb8kL6ItkBhVVlY3eGfmb9KSACLcBGAs/s1600/img241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="800" height="252" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tteyH5MZgzQ/W9gklxf4ECI/AAAAAAAAEeI/TFBScjrzDb8kL6ItkBhVVlY3eGfmb9KSACLcBGAs/s400/img241.jpg" width="400" /></a>Collecting cards was a phenomenon in the decade before the First World War, and Raphael Tuck &amp; Sons – a postcard publisher owned by a London-based Prussian Jewish-émigré family – were one of the biggest names in the business. In 1899 the company persuaded the British Postmaster-General that cards should be a standard size with both message and address on one side and the other side free for artwork, creating the postcard we are familiar with today – and the first truly mass media. Tuck’s ‘Wide-Wide-World’ series was launched in 1905, with bright, colourful ‘Oilette’ cards printed in Bavaria (the Tucks didn’t rate British colour printing) and exotic themes like ‘The Arctic Regions’, ‘Pleasure Resorts of Sydney’ and ‘Native Types of India’. The Oilettes were sold in sets of six scenes (half a shilling a pack) and promptly became highly collectable.<br />
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The extension of ‘Imperial Penny Post’ rates to New Zealand in 1905 helped Wellingtonians swap cards and news with friends and relatives back in the Mother Country for the equivalent of about $2 at today’s rates. Cheaper than telegrams and more widely available than telephones, the volume of mail exploded, with our post service handling 7,500,000 cards in 1909, a figure dwarfed by the estimated 1,000,000,000 cards posted in America at the same time. The General Post Office on Customhouse Quay must have been a hive of activity.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1WoiJIfdlMg/W9gijR6FxFI/AAAAAAAAEdk/UIubClMUacUzQFCDzewMpUnuD2EO7ilFwCLcBGAs/s1600/img232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="800" height="252" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1WoiJIfdlMg/W9gijR6FxFI/AAAAAAAAEdk/UIubClMUacUzQFCDzewMpUnuD2EO7ilFwCLcBGAs/s400/img232.jpg" width="400" /></a>Like any rage there were detractors – Punch magazine said letter writing was being killed, mail carriers complained of exhaustion, and religious leaders condemned the ‘plague’ of cards. But it was good business for artists: the interest in collecting cards meant Tuck’s range had extended to a staggering 80,000 different cards by the time Fullwood settled his family in London. The postcard company promptly sent him back to the Antipodes to capture more scenes for the ravenous trade: the range of Fullwood’s scenes published in the 1907/08 series suggests he worked to a tight schedule in each of the cities he visited across Australasia, possibly staying in each city for two days or less. Ultimately he completed 130 Oilette scenes for Tuck. </div>
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Postcard mania carried on unabated until war broke out with Germany in 1914. Fullwood – by now in his 50s – served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and ended up as Official War Artist to the Australian Imperial Force. His wife Clyda spent time in mental asylums before her death in 1918, and two of their children died at a young age – but Fullwood remained prolific until he succumbed to pneumonia in 1930. While never critically rated, his work was exhibited extensively during his lifetime (with multiple showings at London’s Royal Academy) and numerous paintings are held in Australia’s major state galleries. Raphael Tuck & Sons’ final hurrah was printing cards with secret escape maps for POWs during World War Two, with the destruction of the head office and artwork archive during the Blitz additional motivation for their work. The family sold the business in the late 1950s.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KmAsx41QCqY/W9gikcX9mPI/AAAAAAAAEds/ZFlw_S9x8LcdlDUFNq5atpg_yZ5FhIvJACLcBGAs/s1600/img240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="800" height="252" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KmAsx41QCqY/W9gikcX9mPI/AAAAAAAAEds/ZFlw_S9x8LcdlDUFNq5atpg_yZ5FhIvJACLcBGAs/s400/img240.jpg" width="400" /></a>Fullwood’s depiction of Wellington didn’t last long. The fire that engulfed much of the Parliament Buildings in December 1907 would have happened months after Tuck published the set of Wellington cards. One card in my collection has the message <i>‘The houses here shown were burned four weeks ago, at present we have no Parliament House’</i>. </div>
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The spectacular General Post Office that towered over the adjacent masts and funnels was demolished in the 1970s, with the InterContinental Hotel building taking its place – progress, apparently. The waterfront scenes that caught the artist’s eye are a tantalising glimpse of the commercial bustle on Queens Wharf’s ‘inner T’ (now lost under the TSB Arena) that ebbed away with the rise in air travel and containerisation in the 1960s. But Fullwood’s talent for capturing cityscapes means the Wellington shared by postcard collectors over a century ago is still recognisable today – most of all, we are still a city of walkers.</div>
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<i>First published in the November 2018 issue of </i><i><a href="http://www.capitalmag.co.nz/" target="_blank">Capital </a>magazine</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-41027372320538515002016-12-05T23:03:00.000+00:002016-12-12T21:11:04.627+00:00John Key’s real legacy is his lack of blundersImagine a Tory Prime Minister chosen to lead his party in 2006, and stepping down in 2016 on his own terms with a long spell of successful leadership in government. The books had been bought back into surplus, troublesome referenda results quickly forgotten, he's still overwhelmingly picked as the 'most popular leader' – and his party is sitting on around 50% in the polls. Not, not the restless dreams of David Cameron, but the record of John Key, New Zealand's soon-to-be ex-PM, who unexpectedly announced his resignation earlier today.<br />
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Arguably one of the world's most successful centre-right leaders since the Thatcher era, Key has dominated New Zealand politics in the past decade. His National party has held near-majority government despite a proportional electoral system that was meant to make such an occurrence impossible, and his departure has given Labour (currently polling worse than its British sister party) a sliver of hope – Andrew Little, the sixth opposition leader to be thrown into the amphitheatre to face Key, looked visibly relieved heaping praise on the man who'd devoured his predecessors.<br />
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Yet for Key's electoral success there isn't much that screams 'legacy' about his time in office – nothing like Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl, or even Blair. His Labour predecessor Helen Clark created the KiwiSaver compulsory superannuation scheme, and renationalised New Zealand's railways. Key's triumph has been playing the hand fate dealt exceptionally well. He's delivered stable, business-friendly government against a backdrop of the global credit crunch, and ran deficits to shield New Zealand, a country heavily reliant on international trade, from the worst of the economic slowdown. There's been massive investment in transport infrastructure, welfare has been reformed, and the hard work of getting Christchurch back on its feet after the 2011 earthquake is underway – imagine demolishing the bulk of Central London and you get a sense of the task's enormity.<br />
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Key's goofy moments – <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67949918/prime-minister-john-key-pulled-waitress-ponytail" target="_blank">memorably pulling a waitress's pony tail</a> – sent the Left into meltdown, but my gut feeling is his <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11760789" target="_blank">'embarrassing uncle' antics</a> quietly endeared him to the majority of New Zealanders. He's the son of a single mother who grew up in a council flat, married his childhood sweetheart and <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11281699" target="_blank">became a self-made millionaire</a>, yet enjoys popularity comparable to pre-Brexit Boris. <br />
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So why step down when he's on top, with another term beckoning? Key (who turned 55 in August) said he had 'left nothing in the tank'; he's a workaholic, not a chillaxer, and three decades of punishing work hours as one of Merrill Lynch's top currency traders and at the top of politics are enough. He's served his country, he's estimated to be worth £30 million – and wants to spend time with the family he's clearly devoted to, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MaxKeyNZ/videos/506562099514026/" target="_blank">judging by the social media insights care of his now celebrity children</a>. He says his decision to step down was made in September, and as his helicopter swooped over the shattered roads and railway tracks on his way to visit communities hit by last month's 7.8 earthquake I wouldn't blame him if he quietly felt relieved knowing someone else was going to shoulder responsibility for the rebuild. <br />
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The big shake almost certainly delayed his resignation announcement until today. New Zealand's three year parliamentary terms means resigning before Christmas gives his successor a clear run into the General Election. Key said he'd 'taken the knife to myself to allow others to come through', but the 19 (out of 60) National MPs elected by the list will need refreshing too – a messy job more easily accomplished by a new leader. There will be some nervous members in the party's caucus, keenly trying to ensure they back the right horse in next week's leadership ballot.<br />
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And for all the sense that New Zealand is doing well, with the government back to running a surplus, there remain some big challenges that Key has avoided tackling. Auckland's dysfunctional housing market is beginning to make London look like good value. The pension age remains unsustainably low at 65. Immigration levels are increasingly worrying some of the National Party's base. And while Key's government signed free-trade deals with Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, years of work into the Trans-Pacific Partnership went up in flames during the US election campaign – so salvaging something out of the wreckage will be a priority for the next Prime Minister.<br />
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The collapse of the TPP ranks second to Key's biggest regret – failing to persuade New Zealanders to <a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/why-im-voting-to-keep-new-zealands-flag.html" target="_blank">ditch our Union Jack-based flag</a> in a $22 million, two referenda consultation. But in the scheme of things it's hardly an illegal invasion of Iraq, or making the wrong call in a Brexit referendum. Not a bad disappointment to have after eight years at the top.<br />
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<i>First published by <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/john-keys-real-legacy-lack-blunders/" target="_blank">Coffee House</a> on December 5th, 2016</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-85993659638555971272016-06-19T10:43:00.000+01:002017-03-06T10:56:57.020+00:00Why I've voted to leave the European UnionThe EU referendum is the biggest question British voters (myself included) will have to wrestle with in a generation. General elections come and go, but deciding on our EU membership transcends the electoral cycle and normal political allegiances. As a postal voter in New Zealand I've already voted 'Leave', so I thought it’d be helpful to explain why I think membership of the European Union is bad for Britain.<br />
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Both sides have have used 'facts' to underline their positions – but in both instances 'facts' are often tosh. The Treasury's claims that households will be poorer if Britain doesn't vote to remain in the EU are nonsense: back in 2010 the Treasury 'predicted' the Government would be in surplus by now, yet here we are after six year of Conservative government still very much in the red. Likewise, Britain pays £350 million a week to Brussels, but it does get some of that back in return investment – the real figure is more like £180 million a week (still an enormous amount of money).</div>
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<i><b>You can use 'facts' to make the case for a vote each way – little wonder people are sick of politicians!</b></i></div>
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So for me the referendum debate isn't a game of Top Trumps. There isn't an EU referendum statistic that beats another stat, but there are parallels that resonate – and this is what I've based my vote on. The big issues that swayed me are as follows:</div>
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<b>1) Accountability</b> – This is one of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/voteleave?source=note">#VoteLeave</a>'s big arguments: the European Commission is responsible for setting a decent chunk of British law (around 30%, depending on who you listen to) yet of the 28 Commissioners only five have any commercial experience – the rest are career politicians, academics, lawyers, and so on. As someone who enjoys election campaigns the idea of people making the rules without being answerable to the country appals me (and yes, I support reform of the House of Lords). The European Parliament is merely an advisory body, and besides – no-one knows what Members of the European Parliament do. Can you even name your MEPs?</div>
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Oh – and there’s the small problem of the EU <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworldnews%2Feurope%2F11209248%2FEU-auditors-refuse-to-sign-off-more-than-100billion-of-its-own-spending.html&h=ATNeEOLYqWMlaA8EVSkzCkfH7AHVkgu-4okU54eBpiHZLrBO8IlHhxeeYUEJBp7243jYBdfD-0V_98amDBkeYAN8spi5KVmgrlknlK49HeLKgRXh9RnUKjy0vklYPoziaoejhLfFpw&s=1">failing to sign off its accounts for almost two decades</a>. It’s estimated that over £5 billion of the annual EU’s budget is lost to fraud. If this was the record of an elected government the politicians would be out of office – but the EU Commissioners are appointed, so they aren’t exactly sweating on this.</div>
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<b>2) Eurozone integration</b> – It's clear that the Eurozone will need to consolidate if the Euro is to be viable in the coming decades. Britain – outside the Eurozone – won't be part of this, so regardless of whether we vote 'In' or 'Leave' we'll be on the periphery of the next phase of the EU. Second class European citizens, yet still paying in more than we get out. If the referendum is won by ‘Remain’ then polling suggests it will be by a tiny margin, with debate in the UK and with our European partners dominated in the years ahead by a sense that almost half the population wants out. Let’s pull off the plaster and start building a new relationship with the Eurozone countries, and let them take the necessary steps towards integration that are desperately needed to get their economies back into real growth.</div>
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<b>3) Trade</b> – Britain is tied to the EU when negotiating trade agreements. The 'Remain' camp say the EU's size helps during trade negotiations, but this isn't true. As a half-New Zealander I've seen how successive governments in Wellington have been able to secure trade deals with the world's major economies. Smaller is better – which explains why New Zealand has secured trade deals with China, the US, Japan and almost all the major economies in Asia. The larger the block, the more vested interests there are to slow down trade talks – and Europe’s arms are regularly tied by French farmers, Romanian leather manufacturers, and so on. The EU trumpets its deals with Mexico and South Korea (New Zealand has also signed deals with these countries) but on a global level they are small fry. Where is the EU trade deal with China? The US? Brazil? These crucial agreements won’t be signed anytime soon, and that’s a real financial loss for the British economy. </div>
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<b><i>Put simply, the EU is millstone for the UK's global trade ambitions – disastrous given that we're in the era of the container ship and digital trade.</i></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">New Zealand's Free Trade Agreements (2016)</td></tr>
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<b>4) Less government</b> – The EU's enormous bureaucratic machine is well known to Britain. <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworldnews%2Feurope%2Feu%2F10847979%2F10000-European-Union-officials-better-paid-than-David-Cameron.html&h=ATOPMfXgBYL_Fvwoo3_zyKnU4XC23YKFR5-EC6WqEMHI_xZTbzM5_9P32mXEo52g4KXVb_dvaLAP1N_zmUGWy8984whm0vqbDStQT4QS1kFc5_Yv7GFLVaugnlIBkWRxDMrIMvBlKw&s=1">10,000 people working for the EU in Brussels take home more pay than David Cameron</a>. And when all the member states were tightening their belts in recent years it was a major struggle to get the EU to reign in its spending. Totally out of touch – so a vote to leave the EU frees Britain from this awful culture of waste.</div>
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<b>5) An outward looking Britain</b> – I’d argue that Britain is the most globally engaged European country. I remember organising a fundraiser at one my local curry houses in Tooting – I'd managed to get a junior minister along, and the owner of the restaurant grabbed him by the lapels and told him the government was stopping him from bringing in the talented chefs he wanted to help his business thrive, while the Italian restaurant up the road had no such barriers to contend with. “How is this fair?” the restaurant owner asked.</div>
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Likewise <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fmen%2Fthinking-man%2Fsir-james-dyson-so-if-we-leave-the-eu-no-one-will-trade-with-us%2F&h=ATPAeos1XvzNGalLvxcB0U69T9WbHpALtyS22XnF2mCCoxfx2jPfLIsq-iwD1XmYi1RPkpDd0y8sE_1t5rtAV90KhfrOucotE7SJeFgkqQMtNiVad9aRSJhdi0wAYUPQT_gyjdN3uw&s=1">James Dyson wants to bring the best engineers to help make his amazing vacuum cleaners</a> – but the Government's clampdown on non-EU migrants makes this impossible. Not cool. I want Britain to be open to the brightest and best in the world, and I simply note that New Zealand (where my family is from) has a net immigration level three times higher than the UK, yet people are relatively comfortable with this because they know the government has the ultimate say on the numbers, and can match skills to the needs of the labour force. </div>
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Blanket freedom of movement has seen wages stagnate, and zero hours contracts are being promoted under EU Flexible Labour Market rules. Millions of Britons are being undercut by workers who are happy to share rooms and send their pay packets home to to their families in countries where the cost of living is substantially lower. High levels of immigration have also pushed up the cost of housing, both in terms of rent, and the overall cost of property – and put enormous pressure to build on yet more of the British countryside.</div>
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<i><b>Migrants should be celebrated, but the EU's open-door freedom of movement means this often isn't the case.</b></i></div>
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The perceived lack of control on immigration is utterly toxic for politics in the UK – particularly when politicians shut down anyone who disagrees by calling them ‘bigoted’. But it’s also toxic for anyone coming to the UK and bringing their skills to help make the country a better place to be.</div>
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As a sovereign nation Britain can adopt an immigration policy in line with the population's wishes. Current polling suggests freedom of movement agreements with countries like New Zealand, Australia and Canada would be popular, but we could extend these to Poland, the Netherlands, and so on – if that was judged to be in Britain's interest.</div>
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<b>6) Progressive values</b> – The 'In' camp suggest Brexit will lead to a bonfire of worker's rights, and so on. This simply isn't true – <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnext.ft.com%2Fcontent%2F7067d5e0-fa4e-11e5-b3f6-11d5706b613b&h=ATN7geYycyOb1R_30l1Jz_btDdISVTqkhU5sKR-_za21QJw8VAgGueSeJBhEcsKV_1MaKZB505kN_cIMhgL46DWqGjNSBDTvXhQP3KpXmghZjdCn6caaztvjjn21Q0KlG07hzwv1mg&s=1">important UK legislation like the Equal Pay Act came into force before Britain joined the (then) EEC</a>, and British values are based on 800 years of common law, Magna Carta, parliamentary democracy, and so on. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, Britain was one of a handful of European countries during the early 1940s that remained open and tolerant, while much of Europe was up in flames. All of which predated the EU. The Labour Leave campaign has a lot to say about <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.labourleave.org%2F&h=ATOHGOx3rj0snIaJm6CB1XLmvmfUNIT1hA2Ep34QYi2zqLDrvSOlhOxh-lYscqr0dPoI8TmqAHZN7TjUAs8kigMEr23O0OWgkFOpkgcQ8I15EK3lE8YyPFrQxLK87uFA6rohriV99Q&s=1">how the EU is bad news for the progressive agenda</a>. </div>
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A Brexit vote won't suddenly turn the country into a Nigel Farage theme park. Blighty will still be home to generous, tolerant people who want a country that's open to the world. New Zealand is a modern, progressive country – and we’ve done this without being EU members. What is so inherently wrong in Britain that you need to be in the EU to remain ‘decent’? It’s a nonsense argument.<br />
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<b>7) Security</b> – Supposedly the crowning triumph of the European Union is a lack of war on the Continent since 1945. This is nonsense, of course – it is NATO that has secured peace since 1945, and regardless of next Thursday's vote the UK will still be one of its leading members. Britain will also remain in the ‘<a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFive_Eyes&h=ATMDh568ilt4tNpY9PJMMkBZC5CTuhmpzEmX78LjeiNM0rIt1Btr0WgM_a3LWQx2sDgeGCKLCEXGJJA6CINs-kTPzOKGRk0EukffB9k-AXiMljq0E5Q6QKvrogq6rieChBsdq29VTA&s=1">Five Eyes</a>’ intelligence network – it’s the most powerful intelligence organisation in the world (with the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). Our European partners rely on intelligence we pass onto them, so any suggestion that we may be punished if we leave the EU is utterly ridiculous.</div>
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<a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2F2016%2F06%2F17%2Ffield-marshal-lord-guthrie-why-i-now-back-the-leave-campaign%2F&h=ATMlgnO_fRihEJit1BnQT5xCTQweh1Rtos0uno4DCLNuLn1HggFv4CloVex8djt3_2FnLdAC4Z6HiHnz1rSDwnh6QF76R1P8BVp2ApOVNVFAuVJviu1HkB8rUSGE3I_laV0L3P3Scg&s=1">Field Marshal Guthrie’s recent endorsement of the Leave campaign</a> pointed to the importance of building relationships with reliable allies that are willing to act. Lord Guthrie felt German attitudes to Croatia during the 1990s Balkan crisis created a sort of paralysis that led to the unnecessary loss of thousands of lives. “To get 28 people sitting round a table being decisive is very, very difficult. If you have a European Army, you will find that lots of those taking part will see it as a way of getting a seat at the top table as cheaply as they possibly can. Then they can actually do less, and the equipment programmes and the size of the forces suffer. When it comes to leading, you want a very clear chain of command, capable of making quick decisions.”<br />
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The 'EU gives us peace' argument also overlooks the war currently raging between Russia and the Ukraine. The latter would love to join the EU, but this is impossible given its corrupt public sector is wholly incapable of administering government in a manner acceptable to EU members. Ukraine remains outside the EU, and won't be joining for a generation. The EU in its current form is focused on government, rather than trade, and that's deeply destabilising for countries around Europe's periphery that are decades away from having the sort of administration capabilities that would enable them to join the EU. Greece's government is barely able to administer EU law – and look where they are now.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LTkrAY_m4nw/WL07SmiQ7gI/AAAAAAAAEQs/FJOe_P4BEishAqQgg_BBdnb-ql4IgPm9ACEw/s1600/13423936_491904654346544_6181980147858176389_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LTkrAY_m4nw/WL07SmiQ7gI/AAAAAAAAEQs/FJOe_P4BEishAqQgg_BBdnb-ql4IgPm9ACEw/s320/13423936_491904654346544_6181980147858176389_n.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Times (Feb 3rd, 2016)</td></tr>
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<b>8) EU reform is impossible</b> – Brussels desperately needs to drive a genuine reform agenda, given that the Euro has destroyed the Greek economy (it hasn't been great for Spain or Italy either) and with the far right currently surging upwards in the polls across Germany, Austria, Poland, and so on. These are fully-blown fascist parties, by the way, the likes of which we haven't seen in the UK – yet.</div>
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But David Cameron's failure to secure meaningful concessions demonstrated just how incapable of reform the EU, and the idea that by staying in Europe we'll bring about change is naive. Besides, what do you think the EU will look like in two decades time? Will it even exist? Will Greece have finally been booted out? Will the 'passport free' Schengen Zone have been wound up? And will the Eurozone have integrated its tax system to try and make the single currency work? A vote to remain in Europe is a huge political gamble, but all the more so when the EU's leadership has demonstrated time after time its unwillingness to cast a critical eye on itself.</div>
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<b><i>So that's why I've voted to leave the EU.</i></b><br />
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I'm optimistic about Britain's future – there's not a smidgeon of 'Little Englander' in me – and a vote to leave the EU will mean a Britain that is more progressive, tolerant, and prosperous than at the moment. If the likes of Dyson and JCB want Britain out of the EU, then I’ll listen to them any day over the faceless bankers and career politicians like George Osborne. It won’t be an easy transition, but likewise it won’t be the disaster some on the ‘In’ camp have suggested. Leaving the EU is a decision that will benefit Britain and Europe for decades to come – and will allow us to re-engage with the world.</div>
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<b>Please <a href="https://www.facebook.com/voteleave">Vote Leave</a> on Thursday.</b><br />
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<i>First published on my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/matthew-plummer/why-ive-voted-to-leave-the-european-union/491898447680498" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> on June 19th, 2016</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-29175780131389877072016-05-08T00:52:00.001+01:002017-03-07T08:38:44.786+00:00Does Wellington need a 12,000 seat indoor arena?It's the start of city council election season in Wellington, and I thought I'd look at the detail behind some of the big campaign ideas doing the rounds.<br />
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First up: beware any politician who pledges to build a new 10,000-12,000 seat indoor stadium in Wellington in the run up to the City Council elections this October. It sounds like a great idea, until you ask some difficult questions. For example: </div>
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<i>Q: Has Wellington City Council finished paying off debt for building the Westpac Stadium?</i><br />
A: WCC hasn't started paying back the $15 million debt incurred in 1998 – it was added to the City Council’s general debt, which currently sits around the $500 million mark. The interest payments for WCC’s stadium debt are now around $1 million a year. The Regional Council's $25 million stadium loan will be paid off in 2018. <br />
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<i>Q: What happens to the Westpac Stadium if we move the Wellington Lions and Phoenix to the new 10,000 stadium?</i><br />
A: The Westpac becomes a white elephant, with only half a dozen Super Rugby games and an All Blacks test match if we're lucky. Plus the occasional extravaganza like the Edinburgh Tattoo. Less use doesn't equate to lower maintenance – the grass still has to be mown and the building still has to be looked after. </div>
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<i>Q: Okay, so let's leave the sports at the Westpac. But a covered 10,000-12,000 seat arena would be a great asset for big gigs. Let's build it!</i><br />
A: Not so fast. The TSB Arena (another WCC asset) has a capacity of 5,655. I agree it's not the greatest venue in the world, but how many events is Wellington going to host where the TSB Arena isn't big enough, and that need to be under cover? How many times a year do the likes of Guns’n’Roses come to town – maybe half a dozen? Are we seriously talking about building a venue that will get such limited use? <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stuff.co.nz%2Fentertainment%2Fmusic%2F72141245%2Fwellington-promoter-warns-proposed-indoor-stadium-could-be-a-white-elephant.html&h=tAQG7MGCz&s=1">Even band promoters think it's a bad idea</a>. </div>
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<i>Q: But it'd be cool to have an awesome indoor arena for big music acts, and we'd miss out if we don't build one!</i><br />
A: Yes it would be great, and yes we might miss out. But while there are many advantages with living in a small city, there are also some downsides. This is one of them. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marge vs the Monorail (1993)</td></tr>
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<i>Q: Aren't ratepayers already already spending quite a bit to upgrade the Basin Reserve?</i><br />
A: Correct. The City Council has just signed off $21.2 million over the next decade for the Basin's redevelopment. Did I mention we haven't started paying off our late 1990s debt on the stadium? </div>
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<i>Q: Any idea of how much the new arena would cost</i><br />
A: Figures haven't been worked up yet, but as a comparison <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwellington.govt.nz%2Frecreation%2Fget-active-indoors%2Fasb-sports-centre%2Fabout-the-sports-centre%2Fhistory&h=kAQHp5d2u&s=1">the ASB Centre in Kilbirnie cost $47.5 million back in 2007</a>, and <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwestpacstadium.co.nz%2Fabout-us%2Fhistory%2F&h=cAQFJMyaJ&s=1">the Westpac Stadium cost $130 million</a> in the mid-1990s. A rough ball park figure would put the cost of a new 10,000-12,000 arena at around $60-85 million - around half the cost of the $134.4 million for the <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stuff.co.nz%2Fbusiness%2F74838599%2FWellington-movie-museum-convention-centre-to-get-green-light-from-council&h=KAQHqYwSD&s=1">new convention centre and film museum</a>.<br />
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<i>Q: Could we have a monorail running between the railway station and the new mini-stadium?</i><br />
A: That's an excellent idea – <a href="https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FtaJ4MFCxiuo&h=HAQEYNx1T&s=1">already covered in The Simpsons</a>. Because there are definitely no similarities between Wellington and Springfield when it comes to wasteful spending.</div>
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The City Council's overriding objective for sports venues should be to work with our regional partners across government, sport and the to ensure we have a stadium with the capacity to host the major events we're likely to get in Wellington. </div>
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Yes it'd be lovely to have a dedicated mini-stadium for the Phoenix and Lions, with the ability to host large events for artists like Madonna, but as a city of 200,000 (and a region of 500,000) the reality is it'd be a financial millstone round every Wellingtonian's neck. We need to develop other tourist infrastructure first: major Wellington events see our existing accommodation stretched to the limits, and friends working in Wellington's tourism sector say the city needs two more large hotels if we're serious about economic growth from tourism. Besides, shouldn't we make some progress on getting our outstanding Town Hall back into operation before we chase after the next hare-brained idea? </div>
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So I think we're better to start thinking long term about what the eventual replacement for the Westpac Stadium will look like. That might seem like a long way off, but in the competitive world of hosting major sporting events a lack of roof and inflexible capacity will make the Westpac less attractive as other stadia across Australasia are upgraded: the New South Wales Government has just signed off <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2016-04-14%2Fsydney-football-stadium-refurbished-instead-of-demolished%2F7326466&h=9AQFqi70t&s=1">a major refurbishment of Sydney’s Olympic stadium</a> (with demolition of the 17 year old building seriously considered). Athletic Park hosted our major sporting events for a century – no-one seriously believes the same will be true for the Westpac.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PrSfm6nD1M8/V9EhK7IJGnI/AAAAAAAAEMk/fOBzBL-tPZINH_KHDtQcTXRoh1-TGRD6QCEw/s1600/13095889_473767049493638_6550526565622424587_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PrSfm6nD1M8/V9EhK7IJGnI/AAAAAAAAEMk/fOBzBL-tPZINH_KHDtQcTXRoh1-TGRD6QCEw/s400/13095889_473767049493638_6550526565622424587_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cardiff's Millennium Stadium – configured for concerts</td></tr>
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So the eventual replacement will probably be built for a rectangular pitch. Everyone prefers watching cricket at the Basin, and there have only been barely a dozen games where attendance has been higher than the Basin’s 13,000 capacity. Building a multipurpose stadium round an oval pitch is a huge design compromise – so we’re much better to cement the Basin’s reputation as one of the world’s great cricket venues with an extra 5,000 seats.<br />
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And a new stadium in Wellington will have a roof. The total capacity will be a little higher than Athletic Park's 39,000 (and definitely more than the Westpac's 35,000 seats), with a layout that avoids the notorious 'sea of yellow' evident for less attended events – perhaps with tiers that can be blocked off for smaller fixtures, or by using drapes. The Welsh have done this successfully with Cardiff's Millennium Stadium – and scaled down version of this would work well in Wellington. </div>
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But this is a conversation to be had in the 2020s. We get one chance every generation to build a major sports facility that adds to the city. Until then we need to make the most of what we've got – and avoid pouring money into 'great Wellington assets' that'll be operational and financial disasters from the outset. </div>
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In the meantime, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fnbr-radio%2Ftim-hunter-tells-nbrradio-the-stadium-virus-has-returned&h=5AQFOUc3y&s=1">here's the NBR's Tim Hunter discussing the latest outbreak of the 'stadium virus' in New Zealand</a>. And do try and track down the Monorail episode of the Simpsons, as it didn’t end happily for Springfield. You’ve been warned, Wellington.</div>
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<i>First published by <a href="http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=88388">Scoop</a> on April 28th, 2016</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-2761088510058176972016-04-03T04:05:00.000+01:002019-02-18T10:40:59.783+00:00Putting Wellington on the map<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="400" src="https://scontent.fpmr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/1909873_461801000690243_7762141109745959650_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent.fpmr1-1.fna&oh=f2e7525e7ad1ebd867c3292a747b4006&oe=5CA2C75D" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="323" /></td></tr>
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Barnett’s 1826 marine survey of Port Nicholson</div>
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Wellington has a rich history of maps for a young city, although our location – tucked away at the back of the harbour – meant early explorers left the bottom of the North Island as a blank. The oldest Maori geographical record on paper, a 1769 map by Tuki Te Terenui Whare Pirau’s had little detail south of Taranaki; James Cook’s famous chart of New Zealand (drafted just months later) showed Wellington’s south coast but nothing beyond the harbour entrance.<br />
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Maps are first and foremost tools; so logically enough the first paper representations of Wellington were nautical charts. Captain Thomas Barnett’s 1826 marine survey of Port Nicholson showed invaluable details for early settlers: not just latitude and longitude, suitable anchorages and water depth, but also information like the pa sites (at what’s now called Palmer Head), the Maori village (Worser Bay), and locations of fresh water (Miramar, Evan’s Bay, Petone and Ngauranga) – crucial information for survival after months at sea.<br />
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New Zealand’s hinterland was uncharted until the late 1830s, when the arrival of Wellington’s first European settlers resulted in an explosion of mapping, driven by the pressing need to divvy up the land. The weather was challenging, with the New Zealand Company’s Surveyor-General William Mein Smith complaining “I have not the means of protecting either my instruments or plans from the wet”. It was tough work, with Māori employed as survey hands to help determine the size of the parcels of land being sold.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="320" src="https://scontent.fpmr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10599209_461808567356153_1569163195168787630_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent.fpmr1-1.fna&oh=c0cf71e7df1582d4e225c19bdf83dea1&oe=5CCF5F10" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: center;">Cobham's 1839 plan for 'Britannia'</td></tr>
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An alternative approach was to draw up plans for the settlement in the comfort of distant London, away from Wellington’s testing climate. Which explains why Samuel Cobham’s beautiful 1839 plan for ‘Britannia’ (now Petone) straddling the Hutt River looks so ludicrous: the carefully drawn locations of government offices, public baths, museum, barracks and a college of surgeons had missed one important detail: the extent of the river’s flooding. </div>
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So in 1840 the settlers decamped to Te Aro, keeping the grid layout of streets, although plans to use familiar London names like Covent Garden and Billingsgate Fish Market didn’t survive the move. </div>
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Surveyor-general Mein Smith drafted the settlement’s first maps, which the New Zealand Company quickly turned into advertising tools for driving interest in colonial life back in the ‘Mother Country’. Its ‘Plan of the Town of Wellington’ – printed in London in 1840 – was deceptively elaborate: most streets were still covered in bush, and the legal title of the land hadn’t been secured from the locals – when surveyors marked out the new town at Te Aro the local Māori pulled up survey pegs, protesting they hadn’t actually sold the land.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="289" src="https://scontent.fpmr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/q84/p720x720/12496134_461803160690027_6925802921817596348_o.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent.fpmr1-1.fna&oh=d938920645e3fb6f2f960a91fab5ddb4&oe=5CA03E02" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: center;">The New Zealand Company's 1840 map of Wellington</td></tr>
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Prospective settlers were led to believe otherwise, bewitched by the combination of bold colours, clear street layout and the company’s crest – along with the assurance settlers would be moving to the “first and principal settlement of the New Zealand Company”. It was a moderately successful tactic, but sowed the seeds of the company’s downfall: London speculators bought parcels of Wellington land, without any intention of migrating. Fortunately 15,000 (mainly labourers) did make the voyage from London, before the company went bust in 1858.<br />
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Wellington’s maps are easy to date because of the slow creep of land reclamation into Port Nicholson harbour. The city’s growth soon demanded larger wharves, and land reclamation became a priority, made all the more pressing by the 1855 earthquake that left the jetties unusable. Queen’s Wharf was the first to be built (1864), and it was long; around three times today’s length, stretching over to Customhouse Quay. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seidelin's 1877 proposed redesign of Wellington's waterfront</td></tr>
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The incorporation of Wellington City Council in 1870 heralded a huge increase in land reclamations, but the most dramatic planned alteration never materialised. In 1877 Danish architect Conrad Seidelin – working under the pseudonym of ‘Mr Darnoc’ – drew up plans to transform the waterfront. Seidelin’s credentials had been established in the redesign of Copenhagen, where his proposal to demolish the city’s walls won Denmark’s Medal of Merit two decades earlier. </div>
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Alas Wellington’s city councillors considered Seidelin’s suggestions impractical and expensive: curved docks and enormous land reclamation were luxuries the capital could ill-afford. Seidelin died in Dunedin a year later; long forgotten in New Zealand, although his impact on Copenhagen’s design can still be seen today.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-88703597400870774532016-03-02T10:25:00.001+00:002016-03-03T03:24:37.479+00:00Some thoughts on New Zealand’s flag referendaWhen I was little my godmother gave me a book about flags. The cool kids were into Dungeons and Dragons (look who's laughing now!) but I loved reading about how Old Glory got its 50 stars, and how the Soviets and Left had adopted blood red as their colour. Some of the best flags were the simplest, especially France’s Tricolour, but I felt sorry for kids in Brazil trying to draw their flag’s complicated depiction of the stars, which also includes the Southern Cross. Nepal’s double triangle-shaped pennant just seemed weird – and definitely not a proper flag, to my eight year old eyes.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yV1KkliLQAA/Vta_POdC37I/AAAAAAAAD8A/037FtkKcAtE/s1600/Nordic%2Bflags%2B1a.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yV1KkliLQAA/Vta_POdC37I/AAAAAAAAD8A/037FtkKcAtE/s400/Nordic%2Bflags%2B1a.png" width="291" /></a></div>
The shared history of nations also means many countries have similar designs: Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the other Nordic countries all seem to have conquered each other at various times, but today are happy with flags that many foreigners struggle to tell apart – a similarity that also reflects their common values of progressive democratic society, and strong relationships between their people and governments. The flags of the six nations and one autonomous region are on the right – can you identify them all?<br />
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I’ve really enjoyed the debate about changing New Zealand’s flag. I think the government got the process terribly wrong – a committee stacked with Olympic medal winners and rugby players manifestly didn’t understand the complexities of visual communication, and it was little surprise that the shortlisted designs looked very similar to some of the kit they’d worn when representing the country on the sports pitch. My favourite moment was when an academic from Massey University explained that the population ‘<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/71761419/Fifth-flag-not-an-option-for-referendum" target="_blank">struggled with abstract designs</a>’ and reassured us that ‘the best national flags featured two colours and one symbol’. Try telling that to an American, Frenchman or Brit.<br />
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There were some good flag designs in the long list, and I’d have been torn had Red Peak made the final referendum, but Aaron Dustin's design came a distant third in the shortlist ballot. New Zealanders wanted 'familiar' and voted for designs that incorporated the silver fern, which is a pity because <a href="http://aotearoaflag.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Red Peak</a>’s success was built on the idea that a flag design had to have a story, rather than just replicating a symbol and running it up a pole. So one of the worthwhile parts of the debate has been coming to understand what I like about New Zealand’s flag – I suspect most of us haven’t really thought about out national flag in any great detail until the referenda kicked off.<br />
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New Zealand’s current flag is based on a 19th Century British colonial template, but looking at it with fresh eyes I see a powerful symbol of the relationship between the Crown and Maori, with the Union flag in the top left, and the stars on the right representing <i>taonga</i> guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi many generations ago. The colour range is also pleasing – again, something Red Peak got right, yet a real weakness of the proposed Kyle Lockwood alternative with its lurid blue set against black.<br />
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But it’s the message of our existing flag that makes me passionate about keeping it as our national emblem. Partnership is an inherent component of modern New Zealand – the era of grievance settlement is drawing to a close, and Maori and Pakeha are building a country where we recognise our rights and responsibilities because we have come to terms with our history. None of the finalists came close to New Zealand’s current flag in communicating that to me, and while my interpretation of the flag is very different to that which my grandfather would have had, it remains a symbol that has bound our nation together for generations.<br />
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So I’ll be voting to keep the current flag. It is a pity the referendum has been portrayed as a $26 million pet project of the Prime Minister, and even more so that people might choose to vote along party lines. But that is their decision – it’ll be a generation before they have the same chance again. I agree ours is similar to the Australian flag, but as a country we’re pretty similar too. Same head of state, same legal system, same frigates, and so on. We’re just better at rugby than them. Besides, count your lucky stars you’re not Norwegian, or Icelandic, or whichever one it is that has the yellow cross on the blue background!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-14732902078522533982016-01-03T07:56:00.003+00:002016-01-03T08:02:42.170+00:00Electoral reform means change for our local associationsBoundary reforms don’t normally make for gripping political news: they’re the stuff of the Conservative Association stalwart or eagle-eyed agent, and definitely not for people with healthy social lives. But whether we like it or not, the Boundary Commission’s regular redrawing of the electoral landscape from 2018 onwards will revolutionise the culture of our local associations.<br />
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Many constituencies have retained the same basic shape for decades. Tooting – my patch – has been essentially been the same since it replaced Wandsworth Central in 1974. Yet the reforms likely to be in place for 2020 will require the number of electors in constituencies to adhere to a much tighter variation from the national average, and for this to be reviewed every five years. The difference in the two proposals for Tooting during the 2013 Sixth Periodic Review shows the level of change that is likely to be in store for constituencies across the country under the new rules.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="text-align: center;">First proposal for the Tooting area</span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;">in the Sixth Periodic Review (2013)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Second proposal for the Tooting area<br />
in the Sixth Periodic Review (2013)</td></tr>
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Throw in the renaissance of our cities, and you can see how the electoral map will need to be drawn from scratch with each review. London’s expected growth of 100,000 people a year up to 2030 is the equivalent of seven new constituencies between each general election. Manchester will expand by an extra 100,000 people by 2025 – considerably faster than projections for the surrounding urban area, which are also expected to grow. On the other hand, Birmingham’s forecast growth of 12.2 per cent by 2032 is forecast to be below the national average of 13.5 per cent.<br />
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Our electoral boundaries will behave like an electoral isobar map, with areas of high population growth seeing constituencies created at the expense of places where the population increase is slower, or in decline – and Individual Electoral Registration will finally give the Boundary Commissions <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2015/12/individual-electoral-registration-will-remove-an-unfair-advantage-for-the-labour-party.html">accurate data</a>, cleansed of ghost voters who have moved elsewhere years previously.<br />
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The post-2018 landscape will see constituency associations with five year lifespans, thrown together across municipal boundaries, with the aim of winning the next general election. And after the returning officer’s declaration the focus will be on preparing the ground for the following election – although no-one will have any idea what cards the Boundary Commission for England will deal!<br />
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As a result, our traditional constituency identities will be much more fluid. Indeed, referring to constituency associations as ‘Tooting’ and so on will soon be archaic. Geographic identities are less easily accommodated by the new reforms (remember the outcry over the proposed Devonwall constituency when the Prime Minister <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8045901/David-Cameron-angers-Cornwall-with-Tamar-comment.html">pointed out </a>that “It’s the Tamar, not the Amazon, for Heaven’s sake,”?), and our local leadership will be shaken up between every election, with association officers, star volunteers and local party bores suddenly finding themselves in different patches, with new relationships to forge.<br />
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Stable geographic identities are important for building teams of activists. The need to organise campaigns for county, borough and PCC elections on well-established boundaries will remain, and bringing associations together is sensible, since constituencies will change radically with every boundary review. Andrew Kennedy is a tireless advocate <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2015/08/andrew-kennedy-now-is-the-time-for-local-associations-to-merge-into-county-or-city-groups.html">for groupings such as West Kent</a>, which has demonstrated many of the benefits of campaigning as a larger unit.<br />
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We in Wandsworth have operated as a group for many years, and consequently the Wandsworth Conservatives brand is very strong in our community. Our office supports local associations in five constituencies across Wandsworth and Merton, and it is perhaps time for us to bring neighbouring Lambeth into the fold, since ‘Tooting’ is highly likely to include parts of Lambeth in the coming years.<br />
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Some association officers will take the view that forming groupings is a long term objective. I believe that this is misguided. The Boundary Commission’s consultation timelines will see <a href="http://constitution-unit.com/2015/11/03/50-fewer-mps-challenges-for-the-constituency-boundary-review/">the 2020 electoral map</a> finalised in late 2018, leaving a year and a half to select candidates for all 600 seats and build campaign momentum – a sprint compared to the two-and-a-half years that many of our 40/40 candidates enjoyed (or suffered). This shorter campaign period will also help reduce the costs of standing for parliament – an unintentional positive – but the creation of new boundaries from scratch will make reselection of sitting MPs more competitive, as many of Labour’s Blairite wing are all too aware.<br />
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The combination of major changes to a constituency and relatively little time to execute a campaign will put a huge emphasis on best practice in both modern campaign techniques and old-fashioned organisation. Working together as a larger group of Conservatives means having the resources to deploy up-to-date campaign tools: professionally designed literature for council campaigns, digital campaigning (such as <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2016/01/www.BalhamOrTooting.org.uk">the Crossrail 2 campaign </a>we’ve run in Tooting this autumn) and modern membership engagement. And active ward teams will be even more important, as a safe ward in a safe seat might become a safe ward in a battleground seat within the space of five years.<br />
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We are about to enter a dynamic electoral landscape where incumbency counts for less, and finally rid of the bias towards Labour and the Liberal Democrats that made majority government seem impossible before May 7th. Our party has pushed for these reforms – now we need to make sure we’re ready for the challenge in 2020, and beyond.<br />
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<i>First published by <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2016/01/matthew-plummer-why-the-coming-boundary-reforms-spell-the-end-of-our-local-conservative-associations.html" target="_blank">Conservative Home</a> on January 3rd, 2016</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-52618260755543006992015-12-18T08:54:00.000+00:002016-01-27T10:10:08.703+00:00Masons LaneThis is some campaign material I've organised for my mum, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NicolaYoungWellington/" target="_blank">who is running for the Wellington mayoralty</a> in October 2016. She's championed the regeneration of Wellington's urban lanes, some of which were frankly terrifying examples of brutalism in what is meant to be a beautiful city. I took some before and after photos of Masons Lane, and put them into a short video, which you can see below. It's a fantastic project – Mum leant heavily on the building owner to cover the cost of removing the canopy, which was a real blight on the laneway (and over half of the project's cost).<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="441" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yox9ovWU03s" width="784"></iframe>
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I also designed an A5 leaflet, which we delivered to local residents, and gave to pedestrians around Masons Lane.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wlovKD5WLRk/VnJroVwxjlI/AAAAAAAADzU/F5rF8As968k/s1600/Laneways%2BA5%2Bleaflet%2Bblog%2B1.png"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wlovKD5WLRk/VnJroVwxjlI/AAAAAAAADzU/F5rF8As968k/s640/Laneways%2BA5%2Bleaflet%2Bblog%2B1.png" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wlovKD5WLRk/VnJroVwxjlI/AAAAAAAADzU/F5rF8As968k/s1600/Laneways%2BA5%2Bleaflet%2Bblog%2B1.png"></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb11LOloruU/VnJroX3DxAI/AAAAAAAADzQ/sUMpnlrnAro/s1600/Laneways%2BA5%2Bleaflet%2Bblog%2B2.png"><br /></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb11LOloruU/VnJroX3DxAI/AAAAAAAADzQ/sUMpnlrnAro/s1600/Laneways%2BA5%2Bleaflet%2Bblog%2B2.png"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb11LOloruU/VnJroX3DxAI/AAAAAAAADzQ/sUMpnlrnAro/s640/Laneways%2BA5%2Bleaflet%2Bblog%2B2.png" /></a><br />
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And I created some GIF files for her Twitter timeline – this was something I hadn't done before, but they worked rather well...<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-14913897913435222622015-11-27T04:22:00.000+00:002016-05-07T23:50:38.105+01:00#BalhamOrTooting – a consultation exercise<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ng3fL8F4fsc/VlT0fR8wn8I/AAAAAAAADvc/v5S0L_aqEn8/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-22%2Bat%2B12.55.53.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ng3fL8F4fsc/VlT0fR8wn8I/AAAAAAAADvc/v5S0L_aqEn8/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-22%2Bat%2B12.55.53.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.balhamortooting.org.uk/">www.BalhamOrTooting.org.uk</a><br />
(see bottom of this post for the full website)</td></tr>
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Crossrail 2 is the next of London's infrastructure megaprojects – it's a new underground railway line that will run north/south across the city, and relieve the Northern line and railways running though Clapham Junction. It'll take nearly 20 years to deliver, with the first trains estimated to be running around 2030. But it will transform large parts of London – including my patch, Wandsworth, which despite being in Zones 2 & 3 has poor connections into Central London (and partly explains why we have such high levels of cyclists).<br />
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The new line has included a station at Tooting Broadway since the route was initially put out to consultation in 2013. A station in Tooting makes a lot of sense as it's at the bottom of the Northern Line, and the area is ripe for regeneration: improving transport connections will unlock new housing.<br />
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My friend Dan Watkins – the Conservative candidate in the 2015 General Election – has led a strong campaign to put Tooting on the Crossrail 2 map, so when we found out last month that Transport for London was considering moving the station to Balham we decided to launch a campaign to engage the local population and see if there was support for a campaign to keep the dream of Crossrail 2 at Tooting Broadway alive.<br />
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Normally the Wandsworth modus operandi would be to do a combination of door-to-door petitions and email out a link to a Survey Monkey site. This time I suggested we did something different, so my friend <a href="mailto:chat@origins.digital" target="_blank">Ben Guerin</a> (an ace web developer) got to work on building a website aimed at raising awareness that there was <a href="http://www.balhamortooting.org.uk/" target="_blank">a choice between the Balham and Tooting routes</a>. I designed the graphics and finessed the text. We haven't spent any money on social media advertising.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sLUHdGNAZLs/VlEERlJw7HI/AAAAAAAADs0/t9xd8B35AI8/s1600/pablo.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sLUHdGNAZLs/VlEERlJw7HI/AAAAAAAADs0/t9xd8B35AI8/s400/pablo.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First social media graphic</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NzvkIY8jWGk/VlEFd10GaEI/AAAAAAAADtA/oefR6Df90lM/s1600/Crossrail%2B2%2Bcomparison1c.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NzvkIY8jWGk/VlEFd10GaEI/AAAAAAAADtA/oefR6Df90lM/s400/Crossrail%2B2%2Bcomparison1c.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Second social media graphic</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">TfL produced a great map for the consultation</td></tr>
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I also designed a leaflet that was delivered to all homes within walking distance of the stations – and at early morning raids on our local tube stations. The effort to get tens of thousands of leaflets delivered in the space of a week was immense – so well done Dan and team on the ground.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LJZG86OlNjM/VlT0TfPU1UI/AAAAAAAADvM/NznOryWJqSY/s1600/Crossrail%2B2%2Bliterature%2Btest%2Ba.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LJZG86OlNjM/VlT0TfPU1UI/AAAAAAAADvM/NznOryWJqSY/s640/Crossrail%2B2%2Bliterature%2Btest%2Ba.png" width="640" /></a><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EqRb0oN7EJQ/VlT0TZk_4lI/AAAAAAAADvQ/uq3uuBWJ34Y/s1600/Crossrail%2B2%2Bliterature%2Btest%2Bb.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EqRb0oN7EJQ/VlT0TZk_4lI/AAAAAAAADvQ/uq3uuBWJ34Y/s640/Crossrail%2B2%2Bliterature%2Btest%2Bb.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">DL-sized leaflet</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lngTyk2zvYI/VlfZt9PmFSI/AAAAAAAADww/FeEwgY4tjt4/s1600/CS3yBG6WcAA-XgH.jpg-large.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lngTyk2zvYI/VlfZt9PmFSI/AAAAAAAADww/FeEwgY4tjt4/s640/CS3yBG6WcAA-XgH.jpg-large.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan's dodgy photography – something I can't do from the other side of the world!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HlJQqJc_3KA/VlfO-8k5voI/AAAAAAAADwQ/tWohWwo2BKc/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-27%2Bat%2B16.23.56%2B%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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And of course Dan followed up with local residents who signed the petition.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ir2pdh5rr24/VlEhQWCps7I/AAAAAAAADtY/_1Vxlx7qN5I/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-22%2Bat%2B14.58.05.png"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ir2pdh5rr24/VlEhQWCps7I/AAAAAAAADtY/_1Vxlx7qN5I/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-22%2Bat%2B14.58.05.png" /></a><br />
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The results have shown strong support for the station at Tooting Broadway – which is unsurprising given that Balham is a lot more gentrified, and two stops closer to Central London on the Northern Line. Tooting will have to endure a more intrusive construction phase, but the benefits are much, much greater.<br />
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What I did find interesting is how support for Tooting Broadway extended in the areas close to Balham station – I used to live in the Heaver Estate area and would walk to Balham if I was catching the tube into town. A station at Tooting Broadway will see some people from Balham and Tooting Bec travel southwards, so perhaps these results are not that surprising after all.<br />
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Here's the infographic I produced which summarised the results. I also produced a version for social media (this required slightly different formatting). I love data – so laying this out was a real treat.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lk9YOKvXEQs/VlEENVZrq6I/AAAAAAAADss/rZIxul1PAGE/s1600/geographic%2Bresults%2BFINAL.png"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lk9YOKvXEQs/VlEENVZrq6I/AAAAAAAADss/rZIxul1PAGE/s640/geographic%2Bresults%2BFINAL.png" /></a><br />
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The campaign also helped raise the profile of Dan's work in the community, particularly around Tooting Broadway, where Labour has been historically strongest. I was surprised that local MP Sadiq Khan was so slow off the mark – after all, it's a crucial issue for the future of Tooting. Others noticed this too...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zrNURR5PtAc/VlfTsuUDGEI/AAAAAAAADwg/pv5kZ_RuFnc/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zrNURR5PtAc/VlfTsuUDGEI/AAAAAAAADwg/pv5kZ_RuFnc/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="238" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E3TmVNEOJ54/VlUQuUv_eSI/AAAAAAAADvs/l4ma3olQxpE/s1600/Evening%2BStandard%2Bletter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E3TmVNEOJ54/VlUQuUv_eSI/AAAAAAAADvs/l4ma3olQxpE/s400/Evening%2BStandard%2Bletter.png" width="240" /></a></div>
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We're thrilled with the results, with a substantial majority of the 2500 people signing the survey living in Tooting. It's helped engage people with Crossrail 2's more detailed consultation – having filled out a number of these I know they're usually the domain of the more determined. And that's the point about politics, right? Yes we need politicians to champion causes, but change happens when whole communities are engaged and mobilised.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CTJsBHShsSQ/VlfOGXcq7CI/AAAAAAAADwE/JlYMvLtKeMU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-27%2Bat%2B16.27.03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CTJsBHShsSQ/VlfOGXcq7CI/AAAAAAAADwE/JlYMvLtKeMU/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-11-27%2Bat%2B16.27.03.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tooting responses</td></tr>
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Here's the full website:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MLXq1dZ_Nr4/VlEg6bgx97I/AAAAAAAADtQ/fj_LX--6Yy0/s1600/BalhamOrTooting.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MLXq1dZ_Nr4/VlEg6bgx97I/AAAAAAAADtQ/fj_LX--6Yy0/s1600/BalhamOrTooting.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">The full website (background image stretched to render entire length of page)</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-32862023715582496742015-09-30T03:00:00.001+01:002015-11-09T10:10:32.725+00:00Nicola Young 2015 Spring newsletterI'm back in New Zealand giving my mum a hand with her campaign to win the Wellington mayoral election next year. It's a fascinating change in political culture – I think the country's proportional representation for national parliament has made politics far more charged. Municipal politics is less party political, with the Greens and Labour the only parties to stand candidates in recent elections. Mum is an independent, so doesn't have a party machine behind her.<br />
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I much prefer the community focus of electorate voting, but also the way Britain's two dominant parties are coalitions themselves and debate is far more civil. I do realise Corbyn's Labour movement might not feel like that much of a coalition at the moment!<br />
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So here's the newsletter we've just sent out to 16,000 households in mum's ward. She's worked bloody hard since she was first elected in 2013, and I think that's reflected in her report to voters. A4 folded to DL, and printed on decent paper!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-53446629827107390332015-07-20T13:26:00.000+01:002015-08-01T01:03:54.433+01:00#ToriesForLiz – a letter to Labour's party members and registered supportersLife since our epic victory on May 8th has been a bit like recovering from Christmas lunch – having gorged myself on christmas pudding, goose (of course) and canvassing I've been struggling to find the enthusiasm for things like charades, EVEL and reform of the Human Rights Act. But I was jolted out of the obligatory post-election / Queen’s Speech snooze when my local MP Sadiq Khan livened things up by nominating Jeremy Corbyn for your leadership contest.
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Not voting 4 <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn">@jeremycorbyn</a> - but parts of Labour family share his views. I'm nominating him so we can debate them <a href="https://t.co/ERiBNPfZvs">https://t.co/ERiBNPfZvs</a></div>
— Sadiq Khan MP (@SadiqKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/610195055333220352">June 14, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Corbyn's opposition to PFI and the Iraq War always struck me as principled and decent, but politically he makes Ed Miliband look like pure box-office. So when the midday deadline for nominations passed tribalism duly kicked in: I downloaded my 'Corbyn for Leader' twibbon (apparently that's how you lefties do things) and began to tweet excitedly about Brother Jeremy. Although being really honest I can't say I had any intention of parting with the £3 needed to become a registered supporter of the Labour Party – #JezWeCan and your open primary didn't seem like my business.<br />
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And your leadership options aren't exactly inspiring. Andy Burnham was in charge of the nation's purse strings when the public finances started to run out of control and – uncomfortably for him – he failed to act over the Mid-Staffs abuse scandal when he was Secretary of State for Health. His schtick is scaremongering about Tory privatisation of the NHS. Good luck with that: we are pro-market because we believe that is the way to drive up care standards, which is perhaps why <a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/britain-was-built-by-private-enterprise.html" target="_blank">Burnham himself oversaw the privatisation of Hinchinbrooke Hospital</a>.<br />
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Yvette, on the other hand, is too.... bleugh. She's been at the frontline of British politics for so long I suspect she's running because there's a weight of incumbency as a competent shadow frontbencher, with the Balls / Cooper leadership dilemma conveniently resolved <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11768761/Ed-Balls-first-interview-since-labour-shadow-chancellors-shock-general-election-defeat.html" target="_blank">courtesy of Lynton Crosby</a>. <a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/yvette-cooper-needs-to-do-more-than.html" target="_blank">There's an unthinking machine politics about Yvette's leadership bid that just seems so dull</a>. Having spent months pounding the streets and towerblocks of Battersea and Tooting I'm pretty confident neither she nor Andy will be PM come 2020.<br />
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So Liz Kendall strikes me as the only candidate who can steer Labour back in the direction of sanity. Yet the rank and file of the Labour movement seems hell-bent on monstering a woman who believes we need to invest in our defences at a time when ISIL and Putin are turning up the heat, and who acknowledges that the last Labour government left a welfare system that was unsustainable – views (may I diplomatically add) that were endorsed by the electorate a couple of months ago. Tony Blair is your only leader to have won two full terms in office, yet Liz is made to wear the term 'Blairite' like a badge of shame.<br />
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To us Tories this flirtation with the political wilderness is utter madness. If you want to feel radical and unelectable book Owen Jones for a fundraiser – or join the Greens. Liz (currently tanking at 11/1 with the bookies) is the one we think will give us the biggest run for our money. She is a decent woman and has been honest about the importance of the markets in improving our public services. Kendall will bring a voice to opposition that Britain needs, and my decision to cough up three quid and vote was driven by a desire for healthy debate across the political divide at a time when a worrying number of your movement seem more comfortable ranting about the bedroom tax and wishing Charlotte Church was running for leader.<br />
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Liz probably won't win, but your AV ballot means I get to express a second preference, which will go to Jeremy Corbyn. Choosing anyone other than Kendall means the Labour party really does need euthanising – and we Tories are a compassionate lot these days. Far better to rip off the plaster with one quick movement than spend years peeling it inch by inch. And don't blame me – just have a good look at Sadiq, who wanted your lunatic element to have a voice (<a href="http://news.channel4.com/election2015/05/10/update-5826/" target="_blank">no voice for Tristram Hunt's aspirational John Lewis set, mind</a>). With judgement like that it's safe to say I won't be giving him my vote for the London Mayoralty.<br />
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Of course there is another option: the Tories are a broad church. We 'invented' modern state education in the way you 'invented' the NHS, not all of us eat babies for breakfast, and we don't talk about Europe – much. And as a bonus, there's almost certainly a literature delivery round waiting for you at your local Conservative Association!<br />
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<i>First published by <a href="http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2015/07/20/the-conservative-view-theres-no-doubt-liz-kendall-is-the-candidate-that-tories-fear/" target="_blank">Labour Uncut</a> on July 20th, 2015</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-30826475818015704082015-06-18T14:14:00.001+01:002015-06-18T22:17:58.238+01:00'Thank you' literatureI haven't posted anything about general election literature in the last year because I've had relatively little to do with the design, and if you want to see some of the photos I've done you can just <a href="https://www.blogger.com/">look here</a>. But this is something I've knocked up for <a href="http://www.danwatkins.org.uk/">Dan Watkins</a> which will be appearing through letterboxes in Tooting in the next week or so (with an address on the postage side).<br />
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I'm happy to share the InDesign template (and it can easily be adapted for ward use). Just <a href="mailto:matthew.plummer@gmail.com" target="_blank">email me</a> and let me know which Association you're from, etc.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-34132241874113761312015-06-09T14:21:00.000+01:002015-07-26T23:21:08.907+01:00Yvette Cooper needs to do more than just talk about Nordic modelsBritain’s Left has been indulging in worship of Scandinavian social democracy ever since the tide started ebbing on the New Labour project, most recently on <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/dec/11/uk-nordic-model-prostitution-clients-buyer-sex" target="_blank">prostitution reform</a> and the SNP’s <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/nordic-council-membership-offers-us-a-real-alternative-1-778444" target="_blank">vision for an independent Scotland</a>. Thinking wistfully of Borgen beats the hard work of actually reinventing socialism, but I haven’t heard so much excited talk about the ‘Nordic Model’ since I was at school and Helena Christensen was practically everywhere. Happy memories indeed.<br />
<br />
Last month Yvette Cooper <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-want-the-labour-party-to-lead-a-revolution-in-family-support-10275005.html">announced</a> that one of the pillars of her leadership bid would be childcare:<br />
<br />
<i>campaign[ing] for universal childcare – as other countries, including Scandinavia, have. That means breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, holiday clubs and free nursery places and childcare available full-time not just for three- and four-year-olds but two-year-olds too.</i><br />
<br />
More details were promised, but I’ve waited… and waited. And to be honest if she has a hope in hell of becoming Labour’s leader she’ll keep shtum on her vision of Scandinavian childcare: a big part of the Nordic early years model is deregulation of politically sensitive things like childcare standards, and it would be a bold leadership bid that argued for loosening staff-to-child ratios. Indeed Nick Clegg engineered <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/06/nick-clegg-childcare-standards-liz-truss" target="_blank">a high-profile coalition feud</a> over this very issue in 2013.<br />
<br />
Back then Labour <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/06/how-labour-plans-exploit-coalition-divisions-over-childcare-ratios">criticised</a> Liz Truss for putting ‘quality and safety at risk’ with her plans to allow greater flexibility in childcare ratios. Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/labour-plans-force-commons-vote-childcare-ratios">said</a> that ‘a childminder can have the very best qualifications, [but] they still only have one pair of hands’. The attack was clumsy and ideological; the government's <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/parents-to-have-more-choice-of-high-quality-childcare">proposals</a> were ‘to allow nurseries to relax ratios only where they hire highly-qualified staff’ and bring us more in line with the northern European countries so admired by Cooper, where childminders cope perfectly well with more children than currently allowed in the UK.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9r-jUZNUOS0/VXbnqs4bPkI/AAAAAAAADWs/nMvWMUCcDto/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-06-04%2Bat%2B15.20.48.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9r-jUZNUOS0/VXbnqs4bPkI/AAAAAAAADWs/nMvWMUCcDto/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-06-04%2Bat%2B15.20.48.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">International comparisons of national mandatory minimum staff:<br />
child ratios for childminder care by child age (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/212614/DFE-RR285.pdf" target="_blank">Gov.uk</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
What Cooper has missed is that Nordic social democracy is distinctly pragmatic, with privatised railways, free schools and <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/culturehousedaily/2015/05/its-time-to-let-itv-choose-britains-eurovision-entry/">competitive selection </a>for the Eurovision song contest. And the Scandinavian approach of light touch regulation with more children per adult allows people with better qualifications to be employed: the Institute of Education’s research unit <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4642/1/RR320.pdf">describes</a> Sweden and Denmark’s childcare provision as ‘characterised by high levels of staff training, involving at least 3 years education at a post-18 level’.<br />
<br />
With parents empowered and free from government edicts, there can be innovation in childcare – another hallmark of the sector in the Nordic countries. Increased resources are needed, but UK expenditure on childcare is well above the OECD average and comparable to Holland. And most metrics suggest Dutch childcare is pretty good.<br />
<br />
So if Yvette Cooper wants to lead her party back from the political wasteland she needs to engage with the nuts and bolts of childcare reform. Simply hoping her party members lap up talk of Scandinavia as a justification for spending money was an approach that was tested to destruction by Labour in the 2015 general election – and Cooper is no Birgitte Nyborg.<br />
<br />
<i>First published by <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/06/yvette-cooper-needs-to-do-more-than-just-talk-about-nordic-models/" target="_blank">Coffee House</a> on June 9th, 2015</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-64870820003247053972015-05-30T11:17:00.000+01:002015-05-30T13:36:10.178+01:00Bikes v StrikesI was riding my bike home from central London earlier this week when I noticed there were a lot of black cabs snarling things up in rather a big way. ‘Ahh,’ I thought to myself. ‘That’ll be the strike over the iPhone app thing’. I pulled over to talk to a couple of friendly-looking cabbies, who filled me in as we talked about competition from Uber in the early Summer sun.<br />
<br />
Surely <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9421234/Taxi-drivers-and-the-importance-of-The-Knowledge.html">The Knowledge</a> gives them an edge over some silly piece of software, I asked the cabbies. They were adamant that they were indeed cheaper and more reliable. But apparently that wasn’t the point, as it turned out that their beef is less with Uber – which you can download at <a href="https://www.uber.com/cities/london">https://www.uber.com/cities/london</a> – and more with Transport for London for allowing new entrants into the metered cab market.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0QVy_5EjKIU/VWmNnGsQ23I/AAAAAAAADVw/z1YqnDeUx94/s1600/Google%2BMaps%2B%2528central%2BLondon%2Btraffic%2529%2BCROPPED.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0QVy_5EjKIU/VWmNnGsQ23I/AAAAAAAADVw/z1YqnDeUx94/s400/Google%2BMaps%2B%2528central%2BLondon%2Btraffic%2529%2BCROPPED.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Google Maps reporting traffic flows at the height of London's taxi strike</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like last year, the taxi drivers’ brief period of holding London hostage was the <a href="http://order-order.com/2015/05/26/black-cab-protest-blocks-ambulance-and-fire-brigade/">mother-of-all PR cock-ups</a>. Unlike black cabs Uber drivers don’t go on strike – everyone knows that now – and making central London even tetchier by honking horns and clogging up the roads is a novel way to endear yourself to the population. <br />
<br />
Yet as I weaved my way home on my bicycle I realised that here we had the political spectrum reduced to a single event: a monopoly administered by the Public Carriage Office snarling up London’s streets for everyone apart from those of us on two wheels, who are bound only by the Highway Code and a sense of survival (and coincidentally my closest shave in years was with a psychotic black cab a few months ago). That the police had promised arrests if the street blockades continued for any duration seemed a wonderful example of how cack-handed the state can be in resolving problems it has created.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it is time for the Public Carriage Office’s operation to be reformed. Perhaps it is too late – Uber has joined the ranks of Google and Hoover as companies that now double up as verbs.<br />
<br />
I haven’t taken a black cab in years, and the expense of a return trip into town on the tube still makes me wince. But here I was pedalling through Pimlico and enjoying the glorious weather with my progress unfettered by cost or regulation, while others suffered because of people getting grumpy about losing a monopoly licensed by the state.<br />
<br />
And I pondered why cycling is associated with the lefty beard and sandals brigade. London’s Mayor and our PM both ride bikes, yet cycling is still regarded as distinctly… <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Huppert" target="_blank"><i>Huppertesque</i></a>, some might say. Indeed the entire Liberal Democrat parliamentary party could ride to work on four tandems.<br />
<br />
But cycling is a mode of transport that allows total freedom of movement, requires little government intervention and has ubiquitous vehicle ownership – all solid right wing values. The advent of the modern ‘safety cycle’ in the 1890s played a key part in the <a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/everybody-rides-now-most-fashionable.html">emancipation of the working class</a>. And travel by Boris Bike spikes over Christmas and during tube strikes, occasions when state-controlled public transport fails Londoners. Tuesday’s action by black cab drivers rammed home just how inherently Tory the humble bicycle really is.<br />
<br />
<i>First published by <a href="http://www.platform10.org/2015/05/why-cyclists-are-conservatives/" target="_blank">Platform 10</a> on May 30th, 2015</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-1292326762924781732015-04-10T12:54:00.001+01:002015-06-05T15:04:47.604+01:002015 General Election image dumpI've spent the past two years running around London and the South East helping friends standing in the General Election on May 7th. Lots of fun as I've been able to see campaigns outside my home patch (Wandsworth) – and meet some lovely people too. Ministerial visits are always a bit of a pain, because you're aware that the photography part really mustn't take more than a minute. Other things are much more laid back – I've had enormous fun biking around Tooting with Dan Watkins, and jumping on the train to help Caroline Ansell down in Eastbourne.<br />
<br />
So fingers crossed for Caroline, Paul, Jane, Tom, Maria, Dan, Kim and Anna. All are decent, conscientious people who believe in a just, more equal Britain where people can be their best – and I'm proud to have played a very small part in helping their campaigns. Roll on polling day!<br />
<br />
<i>Caveat – I've tried to remember what the photos were for in the captions, but I could well be wrong – any error in this regard is mine and mine alone.</i><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PQaezl-Eo3A/VSemkaOQ4xI/AAAAAAAADNI/7lptFPKAGeI/s1600/IMG_0321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PQaezl-Eo3A/VSemkaOQ4xI/AAAAAAAADNI/7lptFPKAGeI/s1600/IMG_0321.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">File (Eastbourne)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p4TD_Ntm5Iw/VSemyQyGMlI/AAAAAAAADQI/Ctq9HQJAg_4/s1600/IMG_6878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p4TD_Ntm5Iw/VSemyQyGMlI/AAAAAAAADQI/Ctq9HQJAg_4/s1600/IMG_6878.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Boris visits Sutton (Sutton & Cheam)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuVnVrCyXPI/VSemjhOV8qI/AAAAAAAADMs/mgIpWzdnMC4/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kuVnVrCyXPI/VSemjhOV8qI/AAAAAAAADMs/mgIpWzdnMC4/s1600/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Endorsement literature (Battersea)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rQv6_VhtudM/VSemkxiNM2I/AAAAAAAADNA/N1XL7me36Bc/s1600/IMG_0330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rQv6_VhtudM/VSemkxiNM2I/AAAAAAAADNA/N1XL7me36Bc/s1600/IMG_0330.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Eastbourne)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dRc-BcLJu3k/VSeml7ZD3TI/AAAAAAAADNQ/CyZ-cIaGbL4/s1600/IMG_1471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dRc-BcLJu3k/VSeml7ZD3TI/AAAAAAAADNQ/CyZ-cIaGbL4/s1600/IMG_1471.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open Primary (Tonbridge & Malling)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XyqikjvTs34/VSemmLYePiI/AAAAAAAADNc/OxRoq1m-7O8/s1600/IMG_1612%2B-%2BVersion%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XyqikjvTs34/VSemmLYePiI/AAAAAAAADNc/OxRoq1m-7O8/s1600/IMG_1612%2B-%2BVersion%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open Primary (Tonbridge & Malling)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koxR9SgUMks/VSemmnCXEJI/AAAAAAAADNU/hCH0wmEj9_A/s1600/IMG_1873%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koxR9SgUMks/VSemmnCXEJI/AAAAAAAADNU/hCH0wmEj9_A/s1600/IMG_1873%2B(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newsletter header (Lewes)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jXJZtdfS0wI/VSemnJsty3I/AAAAAAAADN4/Dihg8_ybRCw/s1600/IMG_2511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jXJZtdfS0wI/VSemnJsty3I/AAAAAAAADN4/Dihg8_ybRCw/s1600/IMG_2511.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A27 campaign (Hastings & Rye, Eastbourne and Bexhill & Battle)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hmyBb5u3QRA/VSemnaPGdoI/AAAAAAAADNg/TVtZJHNTw0I/s1600/IMG_2517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hmyBb5u3QRA/VSemnaPGdoI/AAAAAAAADNg/TVtZJHNTw0I/s1600/IMG_2517.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A27 campaign (Eastbourne)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IGeXXv_sMpM/VSemn5bWwPI/AAAAAAAADOU/MKCjWeyGAsg/s1600/IMG_2626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IGeXXv_sMpM/VSemn5bWwPI/AAAAAAAADOU/MKCjWeyGAsg/s1600/IMG_2626.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Lewes)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEoY12Epouo/VSemofsKKsI/AAAAAAAADN0/EI5CUirfSIc/s1600/IMG_3090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pEoY12Epouo/VSemofsKKsI/AAAAAAAADN0/EI5CUirfSIc/s1600/IMG_3090.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Save The Wheatsheaf (Tooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNO-iGSxHyM/VSempV_eA8I/AAAAAAAADOA/X6PBwjD6aX4/s1600/IMG_3120%2B-%2BVersion%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gNO-iGSxHyM/VSempV_eA8I/AAAAAAAADOA/X6PBwjD6aX4/s1600/IMG_3120%2B-%2BVersion%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PM visits Asda (Battersea)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l4LSqycQgkw/VSemplsO9aI/AAAAAAAADOQ/srTW16UqUFw/s1600/IMG_3148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l4LSqycQgkw/VSemplsO9aI/AAAAAAAADOQ/srTW16UqUFw/s1600/IMG_3148.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PM visits Asda (Battersea)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTP9xBaak1U/VSemsWn_3bI/AAAAAAAADOo/LWjzCajjUpU/s1600/IMG_3962.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KTP9xBaak1U/VSemsWn_3bI/AAAAAAAADOo/LWjzCajjUpU/s1600/IMG_3962.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Tonbridge & Malling)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rIazirOMKBE/VSemrTlPXRI/AAAAAAAADO8/0_LoCZmwTQA/s1600/IMG_3740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rIazirOMKBE/VSemrTlPXRI/AAAAAAAADO8/0_LoCZmwTQA/s1600/IMG_3740.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Save The Romany (Tooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVEdwV8KLVI/VSemqpDB0CI/AAAAAAAADOM/qs0PdW3zb9A/s1600/IMG_3375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVEdwV8KLVI/VSemqpDB0CI/AAAAAAAADOM/qs0PdW3zb9A/s1600/IMG_3375.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Save Eastbourne DGH (Eastbourne)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SvC8HHBImic/VSems7GNpcI/AAAAAAAADO4/n434DBiwDeU/s1600/IMG_4937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SvC8HHBImic/VSems7GNpcI/AAAAAAAADO4/n434DBiwDeU/s1600/IMG_4937.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chancellor visits Nu-Flame (Sutton & Cheam)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kGV6SQNgBP4/VSemtMeowlI/AAAAAAAADO0/xGPsrmNClc4/s1600/IMG_4990.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kGV6SQNgBP4/VSemtMeowlI/AAAAAAAADO0/xGPsrmNClc4/s1600/IMG_4990.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Orangery open day (Streatham)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ggp_hZyf288/VSemuIo4Z7I/AAAAAAAADPM/wIP2G0zqIGQ/s1600/IMG_5172.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ggp_hZyf288/VSemuIo4Z7I/AAAAAAAADPM/wIP2G0zqIGQ/s1600/IMG_5172.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Streatham)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o0HkYwENVik/VSemulJMofI/AAAAAAAADPc/IBt2B5-unwE/s1600/IMG_6404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o0HkYwENVik/VSemulJMofI/AAAAAAAADPc/IBt2B5-unwE/s1600/IMG_6404.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Tooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GjZpt5VgZBE/VSemvF96BdI/AAAAAAAADPY/ZPUcl_wy-W0/s1600/IMG_6488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GjZpt5VgZBE/VSemvF96BdI/AAAAAAAADPY/ZPUcl_wy-W0/s1600/IMG_6488.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern Line upgrade (Tooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HSIY6DCaq-w/VSemwEicMcI/AAAAAAAADP0/hv0ij7pnqTU/s1600/IMG_6611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HSIY6DCaq-w/VSemwEicMcI/AAAAAAAADP0/hv0ij7pnqTU/s1600/IMG_6611.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Erith & Thamesmead)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J0LOZVidMyA/VSemxJcZuzI/AAAAAAAADPs/GZ7PA3y9y1s/s1600/IMG_6701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J0LOZVidMyA/VSemxJcZuzI/AAAAAAAADPs/GZ7PA3y9y1s/s1600/IMG_6701.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southeastern trains campaign (Erith & Thamesmead)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwXIH-YtKsw/VSemxeB47TI/AAAAAAAADPo/OKiTH2r3A5E/s1600/IMG_6744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwXIH-YtKsw/VSemxeB47TI/AAAAAAAADPo/OKiTH2r3A5E/s1600/IMG_6744.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love Your Local (Tooting and Battersea)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qUQ5spVQDVE/VSemyLywkOI/AAAAAAAADQc/pXpVG9Oym8Y/s1600/IMG_6782.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qUQ5spVQDVE/VSemyLywkOI/AAAAAAAADQc/pXpVG9Oym8Y/s1600/IMG_6782.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love Your Local (Tooting and Battersea)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qSJR5bz1WmU/VSem0RMdmBI/AAAAAAAADQU/IMwyrVo540w/s1600/IMG_9967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qSJR5bz1WmU/VSem0RMdmBI/AAAAAAAADQU/IMwyrVo540w/s1600/IMG_9967.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">File (Tooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ik4ad4NK4Ww/VSemjguXdhI/AAAAAAAADMw/oJzneEQj8CU/s1600/1%2B(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ik4ad4NK4Ww/VSemjguXdhI/AAAAAAAADMw/oJzneEQj8CU/s1600/1%2B(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Endorsement literature (Battersea)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rNNH6DBZaTc/VSemzOs3uiI/AAAAAAAADQE/s2Q2JFwR9MQ/s1600/IMG_9576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rNNH6DBZaTc/VSemzOs3uiI/AAAAAAAADQE/s2Q2JFwR9MQ/s1600/IMG_9576.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Save The Wheatsheaf (Tooting)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-50861265460949623032015-04-02T10:52:00.000+01:002015-04-02T11:55:05.526+01:00East Coast showed us what a renationalised railways would be likeTwo years ago, I was on my way back to London from my first Party conference in Manchester. The train carriage was rammed, with the heating inexplicably on full blast. This situation was made worse by the buffet being closed, so with no water for the two hours we were stuck in oven-like conditions.<br />
<br />
Not fun – but not exactly life-endangering, and Virgin Trains offered me two first class tickets to any part of their network as compensation.<br />
<br />
I mention this merely because it is a good example of how, under privatisation, our railways now ‘do’ customer service. Yes, there is still enormous room for improvement. And, yes, train travel can be utterly maddening – as anyone stuck at Finsbury Park after Christmas knows only too well. But the upshot of my trip back from conference was that I thought Virgin Trains were actually bothered about whether or not I’d want to travel with them again.<br />
<br />
Why, then, is renationalising the railways so bizarrely popular – <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/11/04/nationalise-energy-and-rail-companies-say-public/">even with Conservative voters</a>? People almost willingly ignore how much better our trains are than the squalid service that state-owned SNCF runs to <a href="http://www.raildeliverygroup.com/media-centre/press-releases/uks-rail-passengers-most-satisfied-in-europe-says-new-research/">some loose timetable</a> on the other side of the Channel.<br />
<br />
Yet you don’t have to go to France to see what a renationalised railways would be like for the travelling public: look no further than our own East Coast service, which was run by the Department for Transport for five years. The chaos at King’s Cross last Christmas <a href="http://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-kings-cross-problems/">was caused by state-owned Network Rail</a>, but compounded by the customer service of then nationalised East Coast trains, whose operation propped up<a href="http://www.networkrail.co.uk/about/performance/"> the bottom of the national railways performance tables</a> before the company was returned to the private sector a month ago.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g3tKN-TEe18/VRhcBKAVgxI/AAAAAAAADLQ/4QV4DAlisHQ/s1600/mallard-record_2606942k.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g3tKN-TEe18/VRhcBKAVgxI/AAAAAAAADLQ/4QV4DAlisHQ/s1600/mallard-record_2606942k.jpg" height="248" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="text-align: center;">
'Privatisation' gave Britain the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/10156679/The-Mallard-in-pictures-The-worlds-fastest-steam-locomotives-75th-anniversary.html?frame=2606909">world's fastest steam locomotive</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(Telegraph)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Let me explain it another way.<br />
<br />
Remember how privatised Virgin Trains made up for my poor travelling experience? Well, in early January my cousin was travelling from Aberdeen to Kings Cross on ‘nationalised’ East Coast. My cousin has muscular dystrophy and is stuck in a wheelchair. Alas, the train’s disabled lavatory was out of service for the entire seven hours of the journey – and his request for help via the disabled assistance button was ignored.<br />
<br />
Not unreasonably, he wrote to East Coast. The state-owned company replied – two months later – by sending him a voucher for £10. A tenner! I can’t imagine Richard Branson would regard ten quid as anything other than a slap in the face of a disabled man ignored by the train staff, and unable to pee for the best part of a public sector working day.<br />
<br />
Many people remember British Rail as a proxy for a halcyonic Britain that never existed. But it was free enterprise that gave us our railway glory days, with ‘privatised’ LNER’s Mallard breaking the speed record and Glasgow’s ‘privatised’ North British dominant as the world’s largest locomotive builder, selling to all corners of the globe.<br />
<br />
Nationalisation in 1948 put a stop to all that: British Rail was an introspective operation that closed down railway lines, treated passengers badly and built locomotives that we couldn’t export. Its head office was nicknamed ‘The Kremlin’ – and with good reason.<br />
<br />
Miliband’s lot would put the faceless apparatchiks at the Department for Transport back in charge of our trains; leaves on the line would be the least of our worries. The East Coast franchise was a timely reminder of what renationalised railways would be like – and my cousin has the £10 voucher to prove it.<br />
<br />
<div>
<i>First published by <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2015/04/matthew-plummer-yearn-for-the-days-of-british-rail-think-again-nationalised-railways-are-a-nightmare.html" target="_blank">Conservative Home</a> on April 2nd, 2015</i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-24684569052983404732015-03-25T23:44:00.001+00:002015-06-05T15:05:10.974+01:00(Only) three reasons to vote Conservative in MayThe polls say the election’s outcome is up in the air, but one thing is clear – the Tories are close to passing the 36.1% share of the vote won in 2010. No mean feat given the perils and challenges of five years in office. Of course there have been a few facepalm moments (ask me after May and I’ll give you my list) but overall David Cameron’s government has been one of innovation and reform – not a bad record when the books left by Labour offered little room to breathe.<br />
<br />
That I’ll be voting for the Tories on May 7th is hardly a revelation given that <a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/2014%20Borough%20Elections">I stood for council on the blue ticket last May</a>, enjoyed (rather than endured) my first party conference a couple of years ago and have traipsed off to all sorts of by-elections around the country. But forget the slightly tame election promises and #LongTermEconomicPlan – here are three concrete reasons why I’ll be out pounding the pavements for the Tories in the run-up to May 7th – and why you should consider voting for Conservative too.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Apprenticeships</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
It is the Conservatives who are the party of opportunity – not Labour – and if you want proof of that just look at the how we’ve revitalised apprenticeships. I’m not sure whether it’s healthy to have a favourite graph, but here’s mine. Note how women have been doing better under the Conservatives then under Labour.<br />
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCMgbCkFqzo/VQbQnsdnDrI/AAAAAAAADJU/95lHotyvj18/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-14%2Bat%2B21.57.47.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCMgbCkFqzo/VQbQnsdnDrI/AAAAAAAADJU/95lHotyvj18/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-14%2Bat%2B21.57.47.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1636528441533988510"></a><br />
In 2010 the Conservatives committed to creating 400,000 apprenticeships. Here we are five years on and we’ve created 2,000,000 apprentices. In comparison Labour’s idea of opportunity was telling everyone to go to university: ‘why do an apprenticeship when you can have a degree?’ This was a betrayal of the idea that some people might actually be able to enter the workforce and secure skilled, well-paid employment by in-work training, paid for by the employer.<br />
<br />
Apprenticeships were a massive part of Britain when we made things and exported to the world, but cruelly Blair and Brown saw them simply in the context of their inept class war. Besides, who needs skilled British workers when you’re one of three EU countries not to put in place freedom-of-labour controls when the EU expanded eastwards? Much easier to bring over the cream of the Accession States’ workforce.<br />
<br />
And note how quickly Labour have forgotten their disgraceful record on apprenticeships:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en-gb">
Guaranteed with a Labour govt → 80,000 more high quality apprenticeships so every school leaver with the grades has the chance to get on.<br />
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) <a href="https://twitter.com/UKLabour/status/567748315064705026">February 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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Wow, 80,000 apprentices. That’s 80% fewer than the Tories promised in 2010, and 4% of the apprentices created during the five years of this Tory government. It is David Cameron’s government that has done the hard work of rebuilding apprenticeships, which are so important in the fight to upskill our workforce, improve productivity – and transform people’s lives.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en-gb">
RT to let friends know we've delivered 2 million apprenticeships since 2010 - helping young people get on in life.
<a href="https://t.co/n6PdgpNsd5">https://t.co/n6PdgpNsd5</a><br />
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) <a href="https://twitter.com/Conservatives/status/547052501699010561">December 22, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<u> Public Transport</u><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ucknXBNlrsM/VQe21h3h8cI/AAAAAAAADJo/Cf7mOjvGhXU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-17%2Bat%2B18.06.34.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ucknXBNlrsM/VQe21h3h8cI/AAAAAAAADJo/Cf7mOjvGhXU/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-03-17%2Bat%2B18.06.34.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="text-align: center;">
Crossrail tunnels (<a href="http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2014/12/04/in-pictures-crossrail-tunnels-still-look-like-an-awesome-sci-fi-movie/">John Zammit</a>) </div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like most people in the South East travelling on the railways and underground is a big part of my life, and the good news is that this government has poured enormous amounts of money into future-proofing the transport network.<br />
<br />
Labour electrified 13 miles of railway under Blair and Brown. One poxy mile per year in government. In comparison we’ve just about finished electrifying the entire railway from London to Wales in five years. Work on Crossrail (London’s new East-West underground line) is on target for completion in 2018, by which point Crossrail 2 will be well underway – much to the relief of Northern Line commuters. <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/george-osborne-i-ignored-advice-to-axe-crossrail-9838481.html">George Osborne was under pressure to cancel these projects</a>, but he recognised how vital it was to have transport that was worthy of London’s position as one of the world’s great cities. Likewise hundreds of railway platforms across the country have been lengthened to accommodate longer trains that are being brought into service – why we’re not shouting about this I have no idea.<br />
<br />
And an enormous overhaul of railways in the North-West is being delivered – new electric trains through Manchester on the new Ordsall viaduct, with big service improvements – like Chester to Manchester in under 40 minutes (over an hour at present). Labour likes to think the North is its home turf, but what did they do for commuters in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Preston, and so on? The Conservatives have made the investment that is helping increase the reliability and capacity of the railways, and helping more people get a seat in the morning.<br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Leadership</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
Perhaps the most contentious of the three points, but I really do think David Cameron has shown genuine leadership as Prime Minister in the past five years. He has held together a government with the Liberal Democrats, our most despised opponents. I was on the officer team of a rock solid Tory Association outside the M25 for much of this parliament, and vividly recall our Chairman announcing his defection to UKIP as the first item on our AGM – so I have some insight into how difficult his position must have been.<br />
<br />
Yet look at the alternatives. Wind up the government half way though? We’d have been slaughtered in the polls. Avoid addressing gay marriage? Labour would have introduced it from the opposition benches and caused all sorts of havoc. Cameron didn’t bow to UKIP’s agenda, the wisdom of which can be seen as the latter’s credibility disintegrates in the run-up to May 7th. It’s easy to bag Ed Miliband, but has he demonstrated the qualities needed to lead a government as Leader of the Opposition? I – and seemingly many others – think not. And Clegg’s lot has found coalition politics to be as comfortable as snuggling up to a boa constrictor, with single figure poll ratings since 2011. This May will see seats turning blue that have been yellow for decades.<br />
<br />
There’s also the issue of the European Union referendum. I’ve always felt our EU membership is like an unhappy marriage: we need to try counselling before we divorce, and that’s what Cameron’s renegotiation is all about. Let’s see how serious Brussels is about changing. The EU is a political construction for wealth redistribution and regulation generation completely at odds with European project’s founding aim of <a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/the-ryanair-generation-knows-that-eu.html">building peace through economic activity</a>, and I’d almost certainly vote to leave. But I want a proper national debate before any decision, and my gut instinct says that rushing a referendum makes a vote to stay in more likely – and then where will we be? Confirmed members of an EU that has little incentive to reform. So the Prime Minister is spot on: 2017 is the right date to hold the referendum.<br />
<br />
Perhaps David Cameron will never be held in the same affection as our party’s great leaders, but I can’t imagine he’s particularly bothered. What I imagine he does worry about is getting Britain heading in the right direction after the precarious position that Labour left us in 2010 – and he’s done a pretty good job of that.<br />
<br />
—<br />
<br />
Which brings me back to my starting point. Back in the depths of 2013 I bet a particularly recalcitrant district councillor £20 that we’d be ahead in the polls in the run-up to the general election – and here we are, ahead in the polls and ready for the heat of the final weeks before polling day. Apprenticeships, transport and leadership are small fry in the bigger picture of rescuing the nation’s economy. But they’re indicative of a government that has taken tough decisions, improved people’s lives, and put us on the right course for the years ahead. That’s a record I’m proud to campaign on – and one that appeals to the heart as much as the head.<br />
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<i>First published by <a href="http://www.platform10.org/2015/03/only-three-reasons-to-vote-conservative/" target="_blank">Platform 10</a> on March 25th, 2015</i></div>
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This conveniently ignores the Blair and Brown government’s enthusiasm for market – rather than state – solutions. Some people know about Hinchingbrooke, the NHS hospital so ineptly run by the state that Andy Burnham ‘privatised’ it <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/8522684.stm">when he was Secretary of State</a>. Fewer know that Circle – the private sector company that took control of Hinchingbrooke along with a 50 per cent staff mutual – has done a decent job of turning around something that was – if you’ll excuse the pun – a real hospital pass.*<br />
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Just why is privatisation seen as so politically toxic, when much of what we love in Britain has been shaped by private enterprise? Take tertiary education, where students attend the privately run institution of their choice. Our universities have always been ‘privatised’, with the model of academics and faculties competing for research funding well established. Yet the idea of such a system for our primary and secondary schools would currently be politically unacceptable, even though universities like Cambridge and UCL are world beaters – <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2014#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search">just look at the latest QS rankings</a>, where four out of the world’s top six institutions are British.<br />
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And that’s the whole point of privatisation: creating a market where competition drives improvements in quality and efficiencies in price. Try telling that to the British public, who overwhelmingly want to see the railways renationalised – <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/05/11/why-do-people-support-rail-nationalisation/">including a majority of Conservative voters</a>. People dislike their trains being run by foreign state operators, but isn’t the point of the railways to move people around, rather than be some sort of national bauble?<br />
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<a href="http://mwyplummer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lets-celebrate-20-years-of-rail.html">Competition has been fantastic for train passengers</a> in the post-British Rail era. This is hardly surprising given that the great triumphs of Britain’s railways were the product of healthy rivalries between private companies – from the Rainhill Trials through to the speed wars in the 1930s that resulted in Mallard, the world’s fastest locomotive. Our railway infrastructure was delivered by companies not wanting to miss out on market share, but today the government is desperately playing catchup after decades of neglect under state ownership – and building HS2 at a pace that would have appalled our Victorian ancestors.<br />
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The 2015 General Election campaign is already well underway, and perhaps you’ll hear someone talking about the evils of privatisation in a queue at the Post Office, only to realise that you’ve never had to endure a 40 minute wait at Sainsbury’s or Tesco. That’s because the supermarkets are in competition, and if they made their customers wait that long they know they’d be out of business. They’re also fairly good at keeping down costs for their users – something that we desperately need in our NHS if the principle of free healthcare for all is to survive the challenges of an ageing population and increasing treatment costs. So that’s the sort of privatisation we should be talking about: driving up quality of service, bringing down costs – and no lengthy waits before the automated voice directs you to ‘Till Number Three’.<br />
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<i>First published by <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/12/private-enterprise-has-shaped-britain-so-why-is-privatisation-thought-to-be-politically-toxic/">Coffee House</a> on December 17th, 2014</i><br />
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* About two weeks after this was published Circle announced that it was handing back its operation of Hinchingbrooke to the state. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/20/circle-failure-hinchingbrooke-hospital-poor-nhs-contract" target="_blank">Writing in the Guardian</a>, former Labour MP Tom Levitt said that 'the failure of Circle at Hinchingbrooke hospital, in Huntingdon, where the company very nearly managed to remove an operating loss inherited from the public sector, was due to the failure of the NHS to deliver its side of the bargain, not least the over-demand on A&E which was well above what the company was told to expect.'Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-54454669940047006012014-12-08T11:24:00.000+00:002016-06-22T21:57:11.936+01:00David Cameron and the Pope as bosom eurobuddies? I didn’t see that one coming.Did you miss the big speech on Europe? Fresh from pushing his followers towards a more liberal line on gay rights, it was David Cam – actually it was <i>Pope Francis</i> who made the most telling intervention on the future of the EU, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30180667" target="_blank">warning MEPs in Strasbourg</a> that the European project was ‘no longer fertile and vibrant’ and ‘slowly losing its own soul’.<br />
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He is right. Millions of British small businesses already know that the EU’s appetite for regulation is denting their competitive advantage – Brussels-approved oven gloves being the most recent example of a regulatory mindset that is at odds with the founding vision of creating wealth and security through trade between nations. Everyone in business has their own examples of how Europe’s bureaucrats have given them the benefit of their limited wisdom: vacuum-cleaner manufacturer James Dyson is critical of <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e3d51d42-ecce-11e3-a57e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3KlljK6n5">‘sustainability legislation that rewards sustained mediocrity and waste’</a> and is taking the European Commission to court over its latest efficiency regulations. I know who I’d trust to make decent domestic products – and it isn’t Jean-Claude Juncker.<br />
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That the European Commission is so blind to the realities of commerce is hardly surprising. Only a handful of the 28 commissioners have any meaningful commercial experience running the sorts of businesses that ultimately pay their bills. The vast majority come from the law, academia and professional political careers, which perhaps explains their surprise that an unexpected bill for £1.7bn might piss off the unfortunate people having to cough up the readies. Likewise a shortfall to the tune of €259bn would prompt a fairly robust internal efficiency drive in the business world.<br />
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There is an arrogant culture of command economics, and you know we’re in deep trouble when the <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-2128_en.htm">Commission President says</a> ‘If Europe invests more, Europe will be more prosperous and create more jobs – it’s as simple as that’. Pope Francis’s description of the ‘bureaucratic technicalities’ of the EU’s institutions is spot on.<br />
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Over to the other speech on Europe: David Cameron was very good. Immigration is a big concern for people – I certainly found that canvassing back before the last general election. The UK’s system for redistributing wealth does throw up some clear incentives to up sticks from countries less well off than the UK. But remember that freedom of movement can also equate to asset stripping of nations, and in the past decade we’ve undoubtedly benefitted from harvesting some of the brightest, most laborious and entrepreneurial people from the EU’s newest members – and what their home country has gained in remittances, it has certainly lost in people with energy and innovation to drive their domestic economies forward. Tighter immigration controls may well be more palatable to scrapping tax credits for migrants (which I worry risks creating an underclass of migrants living on very, very little) but the depth of EU reform needed to restore controls over movement might require divine intervention.<br />
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So the battle to shape the future of the EU was laid out by two very different voices. One rooted in pragmatic politics, with <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11202976/Cheap-immigrant-labour-has-cost-blue-collar-Britain-dear.html">a tougher line on immigration pitching to Labour’s blue collar voters</a> as much as it is aimed at neutering, if not shooting, Nigel Farage’s fox. But it was the man from the Vatican whose critique resonated strongest with me, given the immense challenge of reforming the EU in the face of inertia from beneficiary states, not to mention the 23,000 people employed in Brussels’ ivory towers. Cardinal Bergoglio’s career was built on humble service and <a href="http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/2074/cardinal_dolan_pope_francis_took_the_bus_back_from_st_peters_too.aspx">fiscal discipline with the Church’s resources</a>, which sounds like something that the lawyers and professors of the Commission should be up for. But David Cameron and the Pope as bosom eurobuddies? I didn’t see that one coming.<br />
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<i>First published by <a href="http://www.platform10.org/2014/12/that-big-europe-speech/">Platform 10</a> on December 8th, 2014</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636528441533988510.post-48277517530116073812014-09-24T14:07:00.003+01:002014-12-23T01:28:11.577+00:00My letter to Professor Arthur, Provost at UCLDear Professor Arthur,<br />
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I am a UCL Geography graduate, and loved my time at University College. London is an expensive place to be a student, but the biggest single help in managing my finances was riding my bicycle to university every day, rather than being stung by public transport costs.<br />
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You may have seen that the Mayor has launched <a href="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/cycle-superhighway-consultations?intcmp=20883&intcmp=21251" target="_blank">an ambitious programme of segregated cycle lanes</a> in Central London. This has been opposed by a few powerful business groups, and UCL is a member of one of these – London First. However if you've followed the issue you'll also have noticed that top graduate employers are backing the new cycle infrastructure. Deloitte says "cycle highways will help us attract & retain the people our business needs to thrive", while Simon & Schuster says "a growing number of our employees cycle to work. More would if they felt safer on the road".<br />
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I realise UCL's membership of London First goes way beyond cycling infrastructure, but I know I speak for my classmates in encouraging you to distance UCL from their hostility towards the new bike lanes. Will you publicly throw UCL's weight behind the Mayor's plans for improving the lot of London's cyclists – many of whom are your students and staff?<br />
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Best wishes,<br />
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Matthew Plummer</div>
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<i>POSTSCRIPT (6th November, 2014) Success! UCL has just announced full support for the Mayor's new bike infrastructure – see <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/greenucl/greenucl-news-publication/ucl-backs-proposed-cycle-superhighway">https://www.ucl.ac.uk/greenucl/greenucl-news-publication/ucl-backs-proposed-cycle-superhighway</a></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com