Simon Cunliffe

Excuse me while I have a good old rant. Everyone else is.

So we've become a corpulent mob of Bessie Bunters and Friar Tucks waddling our way up the OECD league tables. And, my, don't we just love those league tables.

A society in which self-betterment is a cherished and ingrained aspiration is surely a good thing - a thing to be sponsored and encouraged and nurtured and recognised, not just for the advantages it bestows on individuals but for the benefits it brings to society as a whole.

Sometimes it's salutary to go back to school. At least that's what it felt like - in the best possible way - in Wellington last Friday.

The Bard got it wrong, I reckon. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," mooned poor love-struck Juliet of her Romeo.

One of the things that came to irritate people about the last Government was the language in which it chose to cloak its intentions.

An acquaintance, by way of a gentle chiding, sent the other day a website link that took issue with the way the global swine flu pandemic was being managed and indeed promoted through various world health agencies and a sensation-hungry - and thus pliable - media.

Now, when the city is faced with rate increases . . . the people of Dunedin have . . . to rethink their position to proceed with the scheme - even if it does mean compromising any undertakings previously given."

How many of us really understand how modern capitalism works?

Small can have its advantages. In a small bar, a small gathering becomes quite a crowd. And so it was the other night when a new film venture - Digital Features South - was launched with the ambition of putting feature-film-making back on the map in Dunedin and Otago.