Simon Cunliffe

So the salmon's about to go on the barbie and you discover the wine cupboard is bare.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: riesling is the unsung champion in waiting of New Zealand wines.

It's time we went back to first principles on ACC. Because there's been so much politicking over it, the corporation's original intent tends to be lost in the increasingly acrimonious mists of spin and misinformation.

Deep down, most New Zealanders are environmentalists. It runs in our blood, is laid down in our bones. But many of us seem to have a deep aversion to it being suggested how certain actions might be having an adverse effect upon the natural world around us.

The annual Queen's Birthday Honours list induces in your columnist a case of split personality.

So the Government is going to set up a "working party" to look again at teacher-pupil ratios in schools. I hope it is going to include some educational experts, and not just stack it with "analysts" and economists, because, as we now see, even this supposedly numerate approach to devising educational infrastructure can come up short.

Whatever else you include, don't forget to stock a bottle or two of riesling - any self-respecting summer wine list shouldn't be without one or two.

I recall some time ago having an animated debate with an acquaintance over a policy of the newspaper for which I then worked. It concerned the letters to the editor column, and the rule that anonymous letters would not be published.

Roll up, roll up! Anybody out there, corporations or multinationals want a piece of the action in this country, just sing out. Make yourselves known.

What has the Accident Compensation Corporation got to do with JRR Tolkien?