TIM HAZLEDINE: Scraping Paint and the Meaning of Life

TIM HAZLEDINE: Scraping Paint and the Meaning of Life
Raise high the roof beams, carpenter! Ralph Lattimore and Tim Hazledine admire the view from the new barn, Wanaka, February 1995
Tim Hazledine
When I’m down in Wanaka, up on my nifty portable scaffold, scraping loose paint off the weatherboards of my barn, I feel sorry for rich folk who can’t afford to do this. Why can’t they? Because their time is too valuable. An hour on the scaffold is an hour not running your company or billing your law firm’s clients or doing dental implants, and if you are such a person this means your paint scraping is costing you hundreds of dollars an hour in lost income.The ‘opportunity cost’, as economists call it, i...

More Opinion

The recurring nightmare of inflation
Opinion

Cameron Bagrie: The recurring nightmare of inflation

There is a need to keep inflation contained.

Cameron Bagrie 23 Oct 2025
Labour's Future Fund: a shaky policy debut
Opinion

Pattrick Smellie: Labour's Future Fund: a shaky policy debut

Labour's NZ Future Fund is more sizzle than sausage.

Pattrick Smellie 21 Oct 2025
RBNZ and the curious case of prudential stacks
Opinion

Andy Macdonald: RBNZ and the curious case of prudential stacks

The end result of the RBNZ’s capital review will be both revealing and fascinating.

Andy Macdonald 21 Oct 2025