The cynical among us are starting to believe that National Standards and League Tables were concocted by the National Party to divert the popular discourse away from our economy and National's mishandling of it.

Yes, feed the masses with drudge in order that they are no longer challenged to think. This is part of what seems of a concerted campaign to bring NZ public TV down to the lowest common denominator .

When even NZ on Air is part of the jaw-dropping drive to stupidity, you have to ask yourself..... Is this real life in NZ or have we somehow entered an alternate universe which is a parody?

Luckily for those of us with a semblance of cogitation and able to read, there is the internet... increasingly the forum of choice.

I managed to get it to work in Firefox. :)

I absolutely agree.

The people on the East side of Christchurch have been sacrificed in another large corporate welfare scam.

Instead of ensuring that insurers honour their contracts with people affected by disaster... Brownlee has given bankers and insurers more money on a plate.

Firstly, many insurers will keep more of their money now that they do not have to 'replace' many properties. Secondly, the banks will of course profit through poor people driven to apply for mortgages (more toxic debt for NZ) in order to replace their houses.

The gradual release of land information is a tool in the arsenal of the corporates as you point out.

I am wondering if we now have a Corporatocracy instead of a Democracy on our own country?

Thank you for your informative comments. They will be very useful to many Christchurch residents. :)

Yes indeed!!! It is not the quakes that are breaking Cantabrians. It is the Insurers and the Government. We are also in the same situation where our GV will barely cover the cost of a section.

We live where we love. By the sea and a forest - but may be forcibly moved.

My husband and I are currently in a house in the orange zone. We are in a similar position, with a GV that does not reflect the value of our house. The major problem we have is that the damage to our house was caused by the land, so repair is intimately linked to the land and cannot be separated from it.

There must be a number of other people like ourselves who can stand up to insurers and put pressure on for them to honour the spirit of our policies. We have a full replacement policy for our house and thought we were safe from significant financial concerns. How wrong we were!!!