Derek Mackie: Coming soon - James Bond in "NEW WORLD ORDER"

M: Ah, there you are 007. 

JB: Apologies, sir. Q was showing me the new modified electric Aston Martin DB5. 

Incredibly quiet. Laser beams instead of machine guns. Electric force-field has replaced the armour plating. Just as well, with all those big heavy batteries in the back. Barely room for my golf clubs. 

Unfortunately, they’ve also done away with the oil slick reservoir - one of my favourite features. Q tells me it’s not compatible with the department’s Net Zero Carbon Policy. 

M: Bloody Home Office mandarins! They’ve got a policy for everything these days. 

Enough of that. What do you know about Klaus Schwabfinger? 

JB: Sounds vaguely familiar. Isn’t he the head of some high-brow economic policy think-tank? 

M: That’s his public persona. Born in Germany in the late 30’s. Graduated as an engineer then got a degree in economics. Served as a director on a number of respected company boards before turning author and dedicating himself to developing his own economic theory. 

Hosts a prestigious annual conference in Switzerland to discuss new economic ideas and promote his particular brand. 

JB: And why would he be of interest to us, sir? 

Karl du Fresne: The new ruling class

Politics in the 21^st century is often characterised as a contest between the elites and the populists.

The elites – often referred to as the metropolitan or inner-city elites – are Leftist idealists who prefer to describe themselves as “progressive”. Leading global figureheads include the two HCs, Hillary Clinton and Helen Clark.

You could almost call the elites the new ruling class, since they have power and influence far beyond their numbers. They predominate in the universities, the media, the arts, schools, the churches, the public service and the not-for-profit sector – that vast and perpetually busy plethora of organisations, mostly taxpayer-subsidised, that lobby for politically correct causes.

Clive Bibby: "I'm all right Jack!" - Really!

Those of you as ancient as me will remember the 1959 British film classic " l'm all right Jack" starring Peter Sellers and a long line of fellow famous British comedy actors in an iconic sendup of the British Industrial scene that had become a battleground between the trade unions and the bosses.

That film was one of the first to expose the British class warfare of the 1960's, 70's and 80's that had virtually brought the nation to its knees. I guess the fact that the film itself was a satirical comedy enabled it to make its point without inflaming the tense standoff that characterised the administrations' of Harold Wilson, Ted Heath and James Callaghan before the advent of Margaret Thatcher almost two decades later.

Clive Bibby: Elitism of another kind

I grew up on a farm just outside the small Central Hawkes Bay town of Waipawa.

   

My forebears had owned sizeable tracts of farming land that had been hacked out of the bush and scrub under the Ruahine Ranges.

   

I am very proud to be a descendant of such pioneering folk who understood what it means to build a business from nothing and see it grow into something that makes a reasonable contribution to the local economy. They also built the first trading general store in CHB. The building still stands.

It is perhaps ironic that much of the farm land in question was in the near vicinity of the catchment area for the now defunct Ruataniwha Fresh Water Dam proposal.