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editorial
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NZ Hardware Journal is published 11 times per year (monthly except for January)
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2456 • 30/9/2018 www.abc.org.nz
Crisis – what crisis?
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? was the
second album released by the
English rock band Supertramp (Dreamer, Give a little Bit, etc).
Released in 1975, the cover image was a man in togs, relaxing in a deck chair under a bright yellow sun umbrella, in stark contrast with the smoky, filthy, industrial backdrop.
An image of denial? Or hope?
After all, the 70s were the UK’s new “dark ages”, Britain’s gloomiest since WWII, set between Harold Wilson’s “swinging 60s” and Margaret Thatcher’s oh so divisive 80s.
I should know, I was there.
A couple of years later, “CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?” would also be a headline in a populist UK newspaper, accusing the Labour Government of doling out public sector pay rises in economically terrible times – fiddling while Rome burned, so to speak.
Sounds familiar?
Fast forward from my teen years to Godzone today and we find the
general media still pricking the nation’s conscience.
Shortages of timber, plasterboard, disrupted supplies of almost everything else.
And New Zealand desperate to build those 50,000 houses we’ve consented in the last year.
Who’s to blame, ask the media? There must be someone to blame, it’s a crisis!
Really?
Must there be someone to blame? And is it even a crisis?
Cautiously optimistic, better minds than mine have been quietly working away, moderating the more extreme forecasts and reminding us of the strong pipeline of building work that’s still ahead.
Trouble is, their opinions aren’t headline grabbers, they won’t sell newspapers or increase viewers.
So, crisis – what crisis? Maybe I’ll be getting that old yellow sun umbrella out... Talking of history, we say farewell this
issue to Susan Kennedy, one of NZ Hardware Journal’s Account Managers for the last, yes, 14 years.
Something of an institution around here, persistent to a fault, strong on relationships, and always happy to help her customers above and beyond the call of duty, we will miss her tenacity – as I guess her customers will also – and wish Susan well in her new role!
See you next time.
Steve Bohling, editor steveb@mpm.nz
4 NZHJ | AUGUST 2022
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