If the National Party gets its policy of “social investment” right it could stay in power for another generation. So what will Labour and the Greens do about it? Here’s part four of Simon Wilson’s analysis of Labour in 2017. At the National Party’s Northern Regional Conference in May last year, Bill English started his … Read more
Is identity politics destroying the Labour Party or is that just the catchcry of a bunch of old white guys trying to get their own way again? Is Labour really a broad church party? Here’s the third part of Simon Wilson’s analysis of Labour in 2017. Identity politics Shortly before Christmas a senior member of … Read more
If Andrew Little hopes to lead the centre-left to victory in the election later this year, he’s got a lot of work to do. In the second of a six-part series, Simon Wilson sets out the task. Everyone who’s thinking of voting for any of the parties on the centre-left this year faces a central … Read more
Does Andrew Little stand a chance of leading a centre-left government into Christmas 2017? Ahead of Labour’s caucus retreat this weekend, Simon Wilson considers their task in taking on a new prime minister who is a much more formidable figure than many seem to think Bill English went to the Joseph Parker fight on December … Read more
New Auckland mayor Phil Goff wants everyone to know he’s in charge. He’s been laying down the law for council officers, getting offside with some of the councillors, turning himself into the star of his own show. This week, as the new mayor and his council meet for the last time in 2016, Simon Wilson … Read more
Fixing the housing crisis in Auckland is simple, according to Leonie Freeman. She knows how to do it. But, asks Simon Wilson, will anyone let her? Leonie Freeman wears a Fitbit on one wrist and a watch on the other and she talks in the same way as Helen Clark – not the deep voice … Read more
National list MP and Mt Roskill candidate Parmjeet Parmar wins Simon Wilson’s award for the most emotionally unintelligent politician of 2016 as he weighs up the contest in the byelection phoney war. Parmjeet Parmar made a constituent cry at an electorate meeting in a Mt Roskill school hall last Monday evening. It was a bit … Read more
Why is everyone hating on the Council’s latest attempt to sell Auckland to the world? Actually, is it everyone, asks Simon Wilson – or just the Herald and the other usual cynics? No subject is more guaranteed to provoke ridicule than a city slogan. No ridicule is more likely to be attended by outrage than … Read more
So Leonard Cohen has died. It is, says Simon Wilson, the end of the Bacchanal. When I was a boy of 15 I was infatuated with a girl who was perfect in every way except one: she was not infatuated with me. I know. Still, she did like me and she was kind, and she did … Read more
On Wednesday, Simon Wilson said goodbye to Metro, where he had worked for nine years, five as editor, and to the magazine’s publisher Bauer Media, which last month made him redundant. This was his farewell speech. “They all laughed at Christopher Columbus, when he said the world was round. They all laughed when Edison recorded … Read more
Last week Metro editor-at-large Simon Wilson hosted a Spinoff debate at Auckland’s Ika Seafood Restaurant about the future of the Labour Party. But does the party have a future at all? He’s not convinced. The Unitary Plan debate in Auckland opened another faultline in the progressive movement, just in case you didn’t have enough to … Read more
Simon Wilson writes about the October issue of Metro magazine – his last as editor. What’s a magazine for? All the things that any other media are for, of course, but also, to give readers something they can hold in their hands and love. It’s an artefact: a thing you craft with all the skill and … Read more