Brilliant photos. They bring back a lot of memories.

I supported Ian’s Kickstarter for A Movement, and by some quirk of postal coincidence, the first two books in the series arrived on the same day as the reprint of Ant Sang’s Dharma Punks.

On a sad note, although I recognise a lot of people in that photo here of Disasterradio at Thistle Hall, my eye was immediately drawn to the tall blond fellow standing behind the front row. That’s Peter. If you lived around Te Aro and Mt Cook at the time, you might remember him from his amazing street art and stencils. RIP.

The thing that stands out for me is the almost unanimous framing of the Auckland public transport issue (from people all over the political spectrum) in terms of “pick one type and stick with it”. Thus investment in rail apparently must be at the cost of investment in roads and vice versa. Rail is seen as an alternative to buses, not a complimentary service.

In terms of mental health, this is known as “black and white thinking”, and is a symptom of borderline personality disorder or bipolar.

The reality is that no major city of the size of Auckland and larger can function properly without a diverse range of transport options. Trains, buses, and ferries each have different characteristics, different strengths and weaknesses.