Working with David
Read any good political biographies lately? With the election (the really important one that is) nearly upon us I was thinking about some I have read. It usually takes a while for a polly’s (love that typically irreverent Australian term) real contribution to be assessed and it is only when seen from a distance and in their historical context that we can measure their worth or otherwise. Thus it is that Michael Bassett’s biography of Joseph Ward is one of his best whereas I found his recent book, Working with David; inside the Lange cabinet, is still too recent and smacks of angst and disenchantment. However the latter is really a memoir rather than a biography and political memoirs are some of the most entertaining, for example Gerald Hensley’s immensely readable Final Approaches, which manages to be both a discreet and illumuninating portrait of NZ diplomacy and public service.
There are over eighty biographies and memoirs of and by NZ politicians in the library catalogue. Try some – it might take your mind off the antics of the current election.
