This morning on National Radio, I heard Tim Shadbolt, Invercargill Mayor, stating that National were more compassionate about school closures than Labour is turning out to be. This is a point that has struck me - the rationalisation of education by Labour seems in some ways to be very similar to a corporate restructuring and downsizing exercise.

Trevor Mallard was then given the last word. I was rushing to get to work, so I couldn't pay him the attention he deserved, but I understood him to be claiming that rural areas were hardly affected by the school closures, and that roll decline was occurring mainly in the cities. So I was more that a little surprised to find that school enrolments have increased by 1.8 percent nationally. Go figure – surely Trevor Mallard must have known about this before he gave the morning wrap up?

8:48:05 PM