I’m doing research for an upcoming project and spotted this rather striking juxtaposition of the front and back covers of NZ INVESTOR mag — May 2010 edition.

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See the wee picture of Sandy Maier on the cover? It’s illustrating an article:

Corporate fix-it man Sandy Maier is making sweeping changes at South Canterbury Finance …

They say a new broom sweeps clean and corporate recovery specialist Sandy Maier has already made significant changes to South Canterbury Finance since his appointment in December 2009…

Oh dear. Seems like yesterday. Oh, if we ‘knew’ then what ‘know’ now.* (Or even in September 2010.)

As JFK said after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion: “Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan.”

How true.

– P

* The government stepped in to freeze operations a month later, 20 June 2010 and the rest, as they say, is history:
Govt pays $1.7bn to Sth Canterbury Finance