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Nick Bryant reflects on New Zealand's mix of controlled fury, subtle charm and social harmony, and asks why the rest of the world can't be more like it.
What can you tell about a country from the people you encounter at its point of entry?
It was the first country to grant women the vote, and the first nation to see females occupy every high office of state.
It's just about to launch the world's most comprehensive emissions trading scheme to curb greenhouse gases, and some of its most senior civil servants are so with it, they look like they should be running organic supermarkets rather than the country.
Best of all, perhaps, is how non-indigenous New Zealanders live in such harmony with their indigenous compatriots.
Maori is taught in schools, a Maori chieftain adorns the country's coat of arms, and the indigenous heritage is a shared national heritage.
This about sums up everything wrong with this country.
Sounds to me like the sort of article one would write based on what they had heard about NZ as opposed to living in NZ any length of time.
Sure there are lots of positives, but perhaps he'd like to reflect on the low wages, the high cost of living, the poorly constructed houses, the roaring 40s climate, and the scores of skilled Kiwis leaving and never returning. Plus the high social welfare dependency and the gravy train a.k.a the Treaty of Waitangi grievence settlements.....
I can see the relaxed lifestyle and outdoors opportunities appealing, but NZ IMO is the sort of country that is excellent to visit, maybe retire (if you are financially secure) but not the easiest place to grow both from a career and financial point of view.
To be fair, NZ's climate is very mild compared to that of the UK, Canada or northern Europe. But I don't think it quite lives up to the image of the sun-drenched subtropical island paradise that you see in all the tourist brochures.
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