We Need To Talk About Norman - New Zealand's Lost Leader
Author(s): Denis Welch
NZ Biography & Memoir | Summer Reading Guide
Norman Kirk was Prime Minister for only 90 weeks but in the early 1970s he inspired us by leading a visionary government with a clear moral purpose. His work also defined New Zealand as a progressive small state with a deep internationalism which became central to our national identity. When he died, we lost the man and many believe we lost our way… This book examines the promise of Kirk’s leadership and suggests it might be time to further explore the social contract that is central to a liberal democratic society.
Because although Norman Kirk was prime minister for barely 21 months some 50 years ago, he still speaks to us. His belief in the state as a force for good and his style of leadership could and should be powerful guides for politics in the 21st century.
Kirk was not a supporter of the neoliberalist ideology that has given us widening inequality, rising poverty and the virtual obliteration from public debate and policy-making of the workers who create this country’s wealth.
His idea of a healthy country was, famously, one whose citizens could realistically expect to find “someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work and something to hope for”.
But the social contract central to politics in his day has been broken, and state and society are now run almost exclusively on business lines.
This book, by veteran journalist and political commentator Denis Welch, is aimed at recovering what Norman Kirk stood for – a sense of government with a clear moral purpose, in which there is daylight between public service and the commercial world.
Product Information
Denis Welch was born in Masterton in 1946, and attended Wairarapa College and got his first job with the Wairarapa Times-Age. He has worked as a journalist most of his life, first for newspapers (including The Times of Zambia and The Times of London), then magazines.
He was with the Listener for many years, notably as a political columnist during the 1980s but also at various times as deputy editor (twice), arts & books editor and writer of hundreds of feature articles about everything from sensational crime to spreadable butter. He was also the magazine’s Wellington theatre critic through the 1990s.
His interest in politics led to two attempts to be elected to Parliament, first for the Values Party and then for the Greens. He has had three books published so far – a novel, Human Remains; a biography of Helen Clark; and a collection of poetry, Childwood.
Denis Welch is a long-time lover of Wellington, where he lives with his wife, Robin Cohen. He works as a news bulletin editor for RNZ, writes poems and has been known to sing in the shower. His affection for the pop music of the late 1950s and 1960s remains undimmed with the passing years.
General Fields
- :
- : Quentin Wilson Publishing
- : Quentin Wilson
- : 01 June 2023
- : 23.00 cmmm
- : books
Special Fields
- : Denis Welch
- : paperback
- : en
- : near fine
- : 176
