A sparkling occasion
This is our Diamond Anniversary issue - No.60 in its present format.

Twenty-three years ago, the Party’s Guardian publication was changed from a newspaper-style broadsheet into the more compact A4 size Guardian Bulletin. This was at the instigation of Don Bethune, who edited the first issue in February 1988. In November 1988 the editorial baton was passed to the current editor. Five years later, the Bulletin suffix was dropped and in 2004 its changing style was reflected by the use of the present name.

The Guardian Political Review covers a wide spectrum of political material from New Zealand and overseas. In this issue we highlight the problems in Christchurch – and the solutions. Katherine Ransom shows how “Christchurch can be rebuilt without impoverishing the rest of us.”

Overseas, US President Barack Obama expresses concern about the level of US debt and declares: “doing nothing is not an option”.

Meanwhile, New Zealand continues to borrow and hope, and there are “clearly vast gaps in Prime Minister John Key’s experience” to deal with the situation.

John Pemberton hits the nail on the head: “Tried and tired Budgets such as Bill English presented shore up a global financial system that is no longer sustainable.”

But there is good news. DSC leader Stephnie de Ruyter calls for a programme of new economics that would benefit everyone. “The debt crisis will be averted, we will be free to determine our own destiny, and our nation’s sovereignty will be secured.”