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1 week ago | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
In Wellington and even Christchurch the mayoral races are heating up and I love it. What you want to see are new faces, new ideas and the possibility, no matter how delusional it might seem, that competent and efficient councils could emerge. Here in Hawke’s Bay is seems that few want the job and that’s disappointing. I hear rumours of a couple who are fearful of the poison chalice.
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2 months ago | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
[As published in March/April BayBuzz magazine.]“I think the business community have lost their confidence,” a local entrepreneur recently said to me. Well, I’m not surprised. Covid was brutal and if you don’t know one person whose business failed because of it … you know two or more. For my apple industry this was followed up by the Ukraine war in early 2022. Poland is the biggest apple producer in the EU and their biggest customer was Russia.
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Feb 2, 2025 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
[As published in January/February BayBuzz magazine.] I like to ignore local and central government as best I can. They are infuriating, inefficient and bureaucratic. I can’t fix them and I wouldn’t fancy the job if I could. Frustratingly, I’ve been forced to conclude that NZ will continue its inexorable moral and economic deterioration unless we start getting the underpinning governmental functions right.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
[As published in November/December Baybuzz magazine.]Run this thought experiment for me. You’re trapped on a desert island and can choose just one person to be marooned with. Who would they be? If it’s a make-believe person, what is their age, gender, nationality, etc? I’ve asked a few people and a reassuring number have chosen their spouse. My wife rolled her eyes when I declared my interest in Kate Beckinsale, but I’ve seen her in movies and she’s tough and resourceful.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
His name was John. I never knew that. To me he was always Doctor Masterson, our family doctor. He passed away a few week’s ago, aged 98 years, but I can’t let him go quietly. My childhood experiences were the antithesis of the beige, corporate efficiencies of modern medical centres. Shortly after my big brother was born, my father ran into Dr Masterson on the street and he enquired after my mother. “She didn’t think much of childbirth and doesn’t think she’ll have any more,” my father said.
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Jun 25, 2024 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
“Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin,” said Sir Josiah Stamp, a long-ago director of the Bank of England. A good deal of the animus towards banks comes from their history of corruption. You may have seen some ancient coins where the edges have been clipped off. This ‘bankers share’ was melted down to make new money, which they mostly pocketed.
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May 9, 2024 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
My computer password is HelpM3Please. OK, I know I shouldn’t publish such things, but I promise to change it before this goes to print. IT support selected that password, in reference to my tech woes, but somehow it seems more broadly appropriate. The last few years have been traumatic with Covid, Gabrielle, inflation, an increasingly poor mainstream media, and deteriorating law & order, social cohesion, levels of educational attainment. I’m stressed, angry, disillusioned and not sleeping again.
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Mar 20, 2024 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
[As published in March/April BayBuzz magazine.]I didn’t vote for David Seymour. Jacinda Ardern may be right in that he’s “an arrogant prick”, but at least he has courage. Seymour’s End of Life Choice Act was a remarkable achievement. It’s the sort of issue that upsets a lot of people, me included. To confront difficult issues requires you to put your political capital on the line. And so it is with any discussion about the Treaty of Waitangi. Seymour has the cojones and Luxon doesn’t.
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Nov 9, 2023 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
[As published in Nov/Dec BayBuzz magazine.]It was election night and I went down to National’s party to congratulate Catherine Wedd on her victory. “I really like your moustache,” declared a chunky 11-year-old. “Thanks,” I replied warmly; grateful for any compliment. “Yeah, you look like the Pringles guy.” I googled him, hoping a debonair gentleman represents Pringles. Nope, he was referring to the goofy cartoon on the packaging. I didn’t stay long.
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Sep 18, 2023 | 
baybuzz.co.nz | Paul Paynter
[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]“If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I can’t see it yet.” said apple grower Stu Kilmeister in the HB Today recently. That sentiment perfectly encapsulates the mood that pervades our rural community. Cyclone Gabrielle is yesterday’s news but it’s still the most important news for our region. The economic engine of Hawke’s Bay has suffered significant damage and it will affect every café and nail salon for years to come.
