Stadium chickens are clucking very loudly
The sound being heard close to Logan Park are the chickens coming home to roost in the rafters of the Forsyth Barr stadium.
Let me remind Dunedin ratepayers of the breathless claims that the stadium was going to host.
Visits by the Dalai Lama. The hosting of the World Swimming Championships. Speedway Championships. The staging of the Edinburgh Tattoo. And concerts by all of the world's leading musical entertainers on a regular basis.
As a consequence the stadium was going to provide a steady, constant profit to the city.
These claims were made at the time by a group numbering less than 20 who had the ability to influence all of the decision making around the project.
Actuality was the bailing out of the Otago Rugby Football Union through the intriguing sale of Carisbrook, loans advanced to the union, the direction by the DCC to Aurora Energy to provide unsustainable dividends or borrowing to pay dividends to pay for the ever-increasing costs of the project, the decision of the Otago Regional Council to borrow nearly $40m to pay for the roof without any explanation of why an entity looking after water and air quality in the region should even contemplate such expenditure, the decision by the university to donate $10m, and the failure in large part to attract any of the vaunted events.
Artists would only agree to come to the stadium if they were paid to do so. Actuality is now not a constant profit, but a constant loss.
I don't believe anyone today could provide an accurate cost-benefit analysis of the project — either to the DCC or the community.
Of course many people have enjoyed events here but the main use has been professional rugby and whether they pay adequately for that privilege is not known.
Today's reality is that just up the road in a much larger city with an international airport and many accommodation options is a new covered stadium.
As Percy Bysshe Shelly said in his wonderful poem Ozymandias: "Look on my works ye mighty and despair."
Train in vain
It is no wonder our stadium is in debt, we haven't had any concerts in it for zonks. With students back we should be having one or more shows, now.
No doubt the top bands are expensive, but can't you budget for that in ticket sales? Also trains are running now from Christchurch and Invercargill and could be parked up for fans outside the stadium, couldn't they?
One way street
I was puzzled when reading Tracey Martin on health infrastructure (Opinion ODT 25.2.26). I had the impression that aged residential care homes were basically a one-way street to the end of life. According to the article residential care is a bridge back to a person’s home.
At the rest-home they apparently receive specialist geriatric support, get stabilised and transition home with appropriate community supports. What parallel universe does she live in? It is harrowing visiting family or friends in some of these places.
Fresh faces
When will we see King Charles on bank notes? It looks like he may get a 10c piece: I guess everything moves slow these days. Also, will the Reserve Bank put some different famous New Zealanders on the money? Maybe we don't have many to choose from?
Some wise words on the current world situation
Cutting through the appalling avalanche of predictable Western minority world propaganda justifying this latest US/Israeli atrocity, two quotes are apt.
1. "Every 10 years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." Michael Ledeen, consultant to the US National Security Council, State Department and Department of Defence.
2. "One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." Omar El Akkad, Canadian author and journalist commenting on the Palestine conflict.
God help us all.
Faster hooves
If Lee Vandervis wishes to retain the title of the most time-wasting and review-costing and annoyance-making councillor, flogging every dead horse, then he better up his game. Benedict Ong is in the game. And he is better at it.
Bringing Trump debate to an end
I would like to comment on the large amount of correspondence generated by my strong support for the actions of US President Donald Trump.
There were several salient points which emerged from this contest of ideology.
It was obvious that the overwhelming majority of letters critical of my stance came from university academics. What was also obvious was the lack of objectivity and balance displayed in those letters.
There was a high degree of dislike and hatred displayed by all the correspondents directed at Trump and his executive team.
I would suggest that had the actions of the Trump administration been undertaken by a Democrat administration they would have largely been applauded by those same academics.
This lack of objectivity and balance and the ideological bias shown is extremely worrying considering that these same academics are charged with teaching young and impressionable students.
I would suggest that any psychology student who wished to write a thesis on the modern phenomenon of "Trump derangement syndrome" would only have to look at the members of the lecturers’ common room to find worthy subjects to affirm its existence.
Because of the number of letters, I was denied the ability to answer their criticisms effectively as most of the points that the critics raised were easily countered if given the ability to respond, so it ended up as a bit of an uncontested pile on.
The conservative viewpoint is common among the ordinary non-academic people of this country. Unfortunately many do not have the time or willingness to put their head above the parapet and put their views in the public domain.
This however does not worry the liberal socialists who are very organised and keen to show off their supposed intellectual and moral superiority.
[While letters about President Trump will still be considered, this particular correspondence is now closed. Editor.]
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