Hi and welcome to the 39th edition of Werewolf.
This month’s cover story explores the risks in opening up our marine
and coastal environment to deep water oil and gas
exploration . That’s especially the case when it
involves international oil companies who – judging by the
Texas oil giant, Anadarko – are highly adept at playing
hardball when things go wrong. Our story canvasses the US
court battles that Anadarko is currently facing over its
environmental practices, and asks whether this is the kind
of corporate citizen that the Key government should be
inviting here. Certainly, the government shouldn’t be
restricting the civil rights of New Zealanders (who want to
protest about offshore oil and gas exploration here ) in
order to make the likes of Anadarko feel welcome.
Regular Werewolf feature writer Alison McCulloch
has just published a book called Fighting to Choose :The
Abortion Rights Struggle in New Zealand and we’re
proud to publish in this month’s issue an
abridged chapter from her book. The extract deals
primarily with the controversial opening in 1974 of an
abortion clinic in Auckland that quickly became the
lightning rod for the entire abortion rights issue.
Elsewhere in this edition, we provide chilling US evidence about where
New Zealand’s wrangles over national standards in
education may be likely to end up – namely, in so
called US ‘test pep rallies’ that hype kids to the
maximum about their participation in a regime of
standardized testing that has virtually destroyed the
opportunities for creative teaching and learning. This month
in his film column, Philip Matthews responds to Jane
Campion’s Top of the Lake, salutes Godard and
the late Spanish director Jesus Franco, and discusses the
challenges of making a good film out of The Great
Gatsby. Can it be done?
Thanks to Lyndon Hood and Alastair Thompson for
helping me post this online. And thanks to everyone who’s
shown an interest in reading Werewolf and keeping it going.
Thanks a lot. If you want to be involved and talk over some
story ideas, contact me at gordon@scoop.co.nz
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