City Lights

Fanfare for the Commons man

Fanfare for the Commons man

Jeremy Com­mons used to put on draw­ing-room oper­as. He doesn’t now, but for 14 years he ensured that these intim­ate dra­mas were reg­u­larly re-enacted, for a small audi­ence of the […]

The cat guardian

The cat guardian

One day last year, when I was pok­ing around the grounds of the big semi-derel­ict house on the corner of Abel Smith and Wil­lis Street, I noticed a sign that […]

Every machine is different

Every machine is different

Simon Hax­ton was once an oper­at­or. If you played a pin­ball machine in Wel­ling­ton any time up until about 2008, there’s a good chance it was one of his. You […]

Here for an iconoclastic time, not a long time

Here for an iconoclastic time, not a long time

Most of my friends”, says Nic­ola Young, “are scream­ing lefties.” This is apro­pos of the view in some parts that the city’s new­est coun­cil­lor — one who hap­pens to have […]

Secrets and ties

Secrets and ties

On the wall behind me, a long-hid­den secret is being brought into the light. The secret is a tiled mur­al of Māui fish­ing up the North Island, and it was […]

Life in counterpoint

Life in counterpoint

I like art,” Robert Leonard says, “that plays coun­ter­point with me.” Partly this is the love of con­trasts, of hav­ing two melod­ic lines that play at once, but fit together: […]

Getting over the whoopsie

Getting over the whoopsie

At age 60, when most people are con­tem­plat­ing retire­ment, Mark Peck flung him­self back into the arena of con­flict that we call polit­ics. The decision to run for Wel­ling­ton City […]