THE POSTCARD says it all. There stands Auckland’s Mt Albert/Owairaka, circa 1910, gloriously naked. Not a single tree in evidence. None. If the Tupuna Maunga Authority (TMA) truly wishes to restore Owairaka to its original condition, then it will not limit itself to cutting down 345 trees, it will cut down every last tree on the mountain!

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Known principally for his political commentaries in The Dominion Post, The ODT, The Press and the late, lamented Independent, and for "No Left Turn", his 2007 history of the Left/Right struggle in New...