News 
The Press – Yardley column. March 9
Fanfare Artwork. The feisty flap that has erupted over the installation of Neil Dawson’s Fanfare is a welcome sign that normal transmission is resuming in Christchurch. It’s a classic Christchurch dust-up. Leading the charge sheet of objections is its location. Could there be a more desolate, dishevelled setting , aside from Birdlings Flat, than… Read More ›
The Press – Yardley column. March 2
Embracing the cycleway network. A fortnight ago in this column, I entreated the city council to stop peddling lip-service and lofty 30 year strategies about cycleways. I challenged the council to grasp the nettle and elevate the citywide cycling network into the draft Three Year Plan. Well, blow me down, the mayor and councillors have… Read More ›
The Press – Yardley column. Feb 16
A cycling city. Cr Aaron Keown’s propensity for kite-flying defies all limits, but the free-ranging councillor might have finally stumbled on a nugget of common sense. Keown is right. The $69 million package of 13 city-wide cycleways is a stirring proposition that should be actioned. Enough of the lip-service and the lofty 30-year strategic plans…. Read More ›
The Press- Yardley column. Feb 9
Saleyards Site Ripe for the Picking. If ever there is a site that exemplifies the buttock-clench of civic embarrassment, the Addington Saleyards wins hands down. Every time I drive past this Deans Ave abomination, I have a Tourette’s-like impulse to discharge a few expletives. It’s been well over a decade since the absentee Taiwanese owner,… Read More ›
The Press – Yardley Column. Feb 2
THE SCHOOL RUN. Did you know that a third of British primary school children have no idea where they live? It’s particularly bleak in Wales, where a staggering 57% of school kids are driven to school. Consequently, only 41% of Welsh kids know their home address. I suspect Christchurch wouldn’t fare much better, given our… Read More ›
The Press, Yardley column. Jan 26
SAFEGUARDS NEEDED FOR WRITTEN-OFF HOMES. Browse through the Christchurch property listings on Trade Me and you’ll soon stumble upon a slew of written-off homes, on the market. It’s actually been the case for months. Prior to Christmas, real estate agents flagged their concerns with CERA about munted homes contaminating the market, but the government hasn’t… Read More ›
The Press, Yardley column. Jan 12
Mike Yardley, The Press, Current Affairs column. THE CALL FOR A CRACKDOWN ON FARM QUAD BIKES. Quad bike carnage has eclipsed beach drownings in the holiday season headlines, firing up calls for mandatory safety practises. Within hours of the Boxing Day death of a Southland teenager, who lost control and went over a cliff… Read More ›
Vandals deserve spell behind bars
THE WEEKEND PRESS COLUMN, JAN 5,2013. Few things in life trigger such instant blood-boiling infuriation than discovering your property has been vandalised by taggers, under their cowardly canvas of darkness. Spare a thought for those residents returning home from the holiday season, to find their fence, garage or house has been mindlessly defaced. My surrounding… Read More ›
Shake free amid signs of recovery
THE WEEKEND PRESS COLUMN – 29/12/12 How sweet it has been to revel in the Christmas season in Christchurch, without it being marred by one of Mother Nature’s mad crackers. With the seismic sequence continuing to taper off, CERA’s Roger Sutton has declared 2013 the Year of the Rebuild. The year in which reconstruction and… Read More ›
Council cannot ignore partial asset sales
Published Christchurch Press, 23 December 2012 Austerity. The very word holds about as much appeal as a curdled rice pudding on a hot December day. Financial restraint is not a sexy political slogan that aspiring council representatives dream about at night, heading into an election year. But it is the policy mantra that needs… Read More ›
Mike Yardley News and Travel 