60 Makers of New Zealand: 1930-1990: is at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery from 24 November 2011 to 12 February 2012. It was curated by Brian Easton. Keywords: Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History; This exhibition is an experiment to see whether a history of New Zealand can be represented by a series of…
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In March 2011 we were invited by the Editor of the Christchurch City Libraries’ Digital Library Web Team, Richard Liddicoat, to write something for the Canterbury Earthquake for the Christchurch Public Library. Keywords: Literature and Culture; Dear Richard, I could not write to anyone in the Christchurch Public Library about what is happening after the…
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I was asked to write for the March 2011 New Zealand Books Month something about my reading. Keywords: Literature and Culture; There are hosts of books which opened up new vistas in my adolescence and the decade after. My reading today could not be possibly offer similar experiences; instead it enriches these landscapes. The exceptions…
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The Great Gatsby recognises the essential role of the economy in human experience. Listener: 8 January 2011 Keywords: Business & Finance; Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History; On occasions, Auckland has outbreaks of Great Gatsby parties. This name alludes to the classic F Scott Fitzgerald novel, narrated by Nick Carraway who lives on New…
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We should be so Lucky. Listener: 25 December, 2010. Keywords: Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History; A country road. A tree. Evening. JOHN: Charming spot. Inspiring prospects. Let’s go. BILL: We can’t. JOHN: Why not? BILL: We’re waiting for economic growth. JOHN: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You’re sure it was these policies? BILL: Which? JOHN:…
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Children’s classic The Wind in the Willows is also a fable for adults. Listener: 9 January, 2010. Keywords: Literature and Culture; Macroeconomics & Money; The “Poop-poop” rang with a brazen shout in their ears, they had a moment’s glimpse of an interior of glittering plate-glass and rich morocco and the magnificent motor-car, immense, breath-snatching, passionate,…
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Launch, Fairfield House, Nelson, 10 October, 2009 Keywords: Literature and Culture; Have you noticed that we launch a book, but open an gallery exhibition? I’m going to open this book, and I invite you to do the same. For, of course, the book is an exhibition of Janice Gill’s paintings – as many…
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Contribution to the catalogue of the Vivian Lynn exhibition at the Adams Art Gallery, VUW (October 2008 – March 2009). Keywords: Literature and Culture; It is said that if you remember the 1960s, you were not there. The 1970s were much more problematic, not least because of the new wave of feminism. What was a…
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Presentation for the “ 3 Books, 3 Scholars” seminar in the J.C. Beaglehole room – 27th May Keywords: Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History; When it was first opened over forty years, this room was a part of the teaching rooms of the university. I guess I am confessing that I am a…
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A Spirited Conversation: 7 April 2008. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Literature and Culture; Political Economy & History; When I began the study which led to my book, Globalisation and the Wealth of Nations, I assumed that ultimately globalisation would destroy nations. I knew that globalisation had created the modern nation-state, which hardly existed…
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Keywords: Literature and Culture; It is hard to talk of Shirley Smith’s final years, when that extraordinary mind left her long before her body did. Layer after layer of her adult life was stripped away leaving her child-like presence. She still received visitors, ever so politely, and with gratitude, in the way a child might….
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Why Doesn’t Our Biggest City Have A More Thriving Cultural Life? Listener: 8 September, 2007. Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Literature and Culture; Asked the difference between Auckland and yoghurt, Wellingtonians are likely to say that the culture is alive in yoghurt. Saying that Wellington has more classical music, more professional theatre and,…
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I was invited to write about a favourite poem by students from Auckland Girls Grammar. It was to be part of a collection “Dear to Me” published in July 2007 by Random House, the royalties going to Amnesty International (New Zealand). I wrote two essays – to give the students a choice. They chose this…
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On Friday, November 17, 2006 the NZSO celebrates Shostakovich’s 100th anniversary in the Wellington Town Hall. Who cares? Listener: 18 November, 2006. I love a live symphony orchestra: the electricity of the concert hall sound; my eye identifying key instruments for my untutored ear; those inelegant sawings, bangings and puffings (harpists aside) that…
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I was invited to write about a favourite poem by students from Auckland Girls Grammar. It was to be part of a collection “Dear to Me” to be published in July 2007 by Random House, the royalties going to Amnesty International (New Zealand). I wrote two essays – to give the students a choice. They…
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Keywords: Literature and Culture;
The first paintings I saw by Janice Gill were at an exhibition at the Gallerie Legard on Kelburn’s Upland Road. I was particularly taken by one based on her previous opening. It looked from across the street through the gallery window at the guests sipping wine, talking to one another, but not looking at the paintings. The exception is the gallery director – presumably the much-loved Kay Roberts, for you can only see her back – looking at the wall with Gill’s paintings across them. Someone is walking through the door: a friend says it was John Drawbridge, although Janice tells me she did not have anyone specifically in mind. Anyway, let’s say it is a fellow artist, who is looking at the street in front, where one of the bag ladies – a painting of another is a part of the exhibition – walks along the pavement. She is oblivious to the ‘beautiful people’ inside, they oblivious to her, or to the painting about her.
Listener: 25 February, 2006
Keywords: Literature and Culture; Statistics;
March 7 is Census Day, the day on which Statistics New Zealand (like Foreskin) asks “Whaddarya?” The Census may not cover all the questions you think important, but a good quality Census response makes the surveys that ask such questions cheaper and you are surveyed less often.
Listener: 31 December, 2005.
Keywords: Literature and Culture;
In the 1950s, Maori, then mainly a rural people, began their great migration into the Pakeha cities. Ans Westra, 21 years old when she arrived from Holland in 1957, photographed it.
A response to a comment by Rosalie Sugrue in Broadsheet: The Newsletter of the Churches’ Agency on Social Issues, December 2005 (Issue 105).
Keywords: Literature and Culture;
In my youth, Guy Fawkes was more explicit on the Fifth of November than today, often with a dummy of the guy being pushed round in a wheelbarrow. We sung jingles like “Please remember/The Fifth of November/With gunpowder treason and plot/I see no reason/Why gunpowder treason/Should ever be forgot’.