Do we know it’s Christmas?
Philip Matthews wonders about the missing cheer.
The great 2017 tinsel shortage
It was a couple of days before Christmas and all through the city, people had not really noticed because Christchurch’s decorations looked so tatty and shabby. In previous years we may have counted on a religious intervention of some sort in Latimer Square and, going way back, a seasonal decoration or two proudly embellishing the once splendid Christ Church Cathedral. Believers, atheists, agnostics and people of other faiths are finally united in saying that surely we can do better than this. ‘‘We need nice things in the city. We need music being played and decorations everywhere, and flashing lights,’’ said the city’s Wizard. The Christchurch City Council budget of just $35,000 for Christmas decorations is reportedly a third of the sum spent in the bustling metropolis of Nelson. Highly disappointing.
That green light
But the cathedral’s days of being the spiritual and cultural heart of the city again are slightly closer now that the council has approved the $10 million it offered to put towards restoration and a bill to fast-track that restoration has become law. Expect it to be finished in four or five years, if optimistic. In other Christchurch news, a $900,000 council heritage grant will help restore a Peter Beaven-designed modernist office block that has been a Manchester St eyesore since 2011 and should soon be a hotel. And a new big empty green space has opened in the so-called east frame, almost next door to the existing big empty green space known as Latimer Square. The new one is called Rauora Park.
Recovery positions
The possible retrieval of 29 bodies on the West Coast also came a little closer with the appointment of former Air NZ boss Rob Fyfe as an adviser to the Government’s Pike River Recovery agency and Major General Dave Gawn as its head. Fyfe said his Air NZ experience showed him that ‘‘the interests of family must be the number one priority’’ and ‘‘inclusiveness, open, honest, fast communication and accessibility to key decision makers is essential’’. That should inspire confidence in families who have waited seven long years.
How can we sing Lorde’s songs?
News that Kiwi singer and interpretive dancer Lorde is taking her acclaimed Melodrama tour to Israel in 2018 became a highly politicised talking point. A pro-Palestinian movement called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) has tried to convince performers to stay away from Israel. Musicians Roger Waters and Brian Eno and film-maker Ken Loach have backed the cause but singer Nick Cave dismissed their arguments as bullying and censorship when he played Tel Aviv in November and Radiohead took a similar line. Will online persuasion change Lorde’s mind? After the initial uproar, she told her 7 million Twitter followers and the wider world that she has ‘‘been speaking with many people about this and considering all options’’ and is ‘‘learning all the time’’. In other Israel news, New Zealand is one of the 128 nations to join a United Nations vote that condemned the US for recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, with only nine supporting the provocative US move. Canada and Australia not so bravely abstained.