A dangerous thought for New Zealanders: cheer up!

Fresh from a European break, Smellie seeks to slay the Beast of Gloom. (Image: Pattrick Smellie)

Mon, 09 Sep 2024

Is anyone more irritating than someone who returns from a long holiday to tell everyone: “For God’s sake, cheer up!”? Well, that’s me.Scanning the headlines during a four-month northern hemisphere sabbatical, I found that New Zealand seemed as economically and politically dyspeptic as it had been since the Ruth Richardson recession of the early 1990s.The headlines from home were full of deteriorating economic conditions, increasingly polarised race relations, violent crimes, failing infrastructure, overuse of the word &l...

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