WERE IT NOT for the thick layer of smog, the view of Beijing from his office window would have been spectacular. The Director sighed, Los Angeles had once been famous for its smog, but the American environmental movement had forced through “clean air” legislation and cleared its skies. Democracy was, of course, no more than a smoke-screen for the dictatorial rule of the bourgeoisie, but around the edges of the system …

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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...