What to do?

After reading what I had written last night, I found myself wondering how the government would try to wriggle out of this quandary. And the answer was clear: They would drastically cut down the number of network reviews, and slow the whole process up.

This way they wouldn't be annoying so many people, and they wouldn't be admitting defeat...

So I was guiltily delighted with my political entrail reading when I saw the following in the New Zealand Herald this morning:

But the intensity of the process appears to have taken its toll on Mr Mallard and education officials to the extent that he said he did not want to undertake the same number of reviews in the next batch - due to be announced around June or July.

"It stretched officials - and me."

It looks like the ground work is being done. But what does this excuse do for the Ministry's planning and managerial capabilities? If they have been stretched, can we trust their decisions to date?

And a minute's silence for the affected communities that have been stretched further than any Ministry official.

10:57:16 PM