Editorial: Farewell to a year better than last

Raise a glass tonight to the end of a year in which so much turned out to be not as bad as it had threatened to be. The United States did not make an unprovoked attack on Iraq. The world's leading economy did not slide into the double-dip recession predicted since terrorism struck the twin towers. In London at mid-year the Queen had the golden jubilee she deserved.

Here at home, the general election did not produce a Government in which a Green tail could wag the Labour dog. Terrorism came as close as Bali and mercifully few New Zealanders were in the Kuta Beach bars when the bombs went off. The newly appointed chief executive of the yet-to-be-seen Maori Television Service turned out to be a Canadian conman but he went quietly when our reporters discovered his phoney credentials. The baby of a prominent Maori family was kidnapped in broad daylight and safely rescued from a man who had taken good care of her.

Baby Kahu Durie brought the country together for eight tense days. Her adoptive mother, Donna Hall, leading lawyer in the claim for the central North Island forests, publicly appealed to the kidnapper who had seized the baby from her stroller at gunpoint in a Lower Hutt St on a Saturday morning. It threatened to be a crime as terrible as others that were committed or came to trial during 2002.

The year was sadly notable for murder. Pizza parlour attendant Marcus Doig and Mangere Bridge bank teller John Vaughan were shot in cold blood by an armed robber, Ese Junior Falealii. Fielding policeman Duncan Taylor was killed by an armed and lovelorn 17-year-old, Daniel Luff, who was stalking a former girlfriend. Another policeman, Keith Abbott, faced a private prosecution for shooting a Waitara youth in self-defence and was acquitted. Boat raiders who killed Sir Peter Blake were brought to justice in Brazil. In February, with today's DNA matching techniques, the police arrested Jules Mikus for the kidnapping and killing of Teresa Cormack 13 years ago. In December William Bell was convicted of the triple murder in the Mt Wellington RSA a year earlier.

There was much to celebrate, though, especially on film. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings had cinemagoers agog. The first of the trilogy collected four Oscars and by the end of the year we were queuing for the second. Homegrown actor Russell Crowe deserved an Oscar, too, for A Beautiful Mind, but had his troubles off screen, particularly when he encountered the Warriors' owner Eric Watson in a London restaurant. Local actors mourned the death of a colleague, Kevin Smith, and among others we lost this year were Auckland local government leader Phil Warren, Princess Margaret and, not long after her, the Queen Mother. Don Clarke, one of rugby's "immortals", succumbed yesterday.

On sports grounds, Tiger Woods came to the New Zealand Open and left with only his hefty appearance fee. Our cricketers worked out how to beat Australia, having the best of a test series and shutting them out of the one-day finals. The Warriors finished top of the NRL table and went all the way to the grand final. The Crusaders won rugby's Super 12 playing near perfection. The All Blacks, or Canterbury in black, won the Tri-nations and, to northern relief, Auckland and Waikato dominated the domestic championship.

Off the field, though, the Rugby Union was less impressive, falling out with Australian and international administrators and losing a share of next year's World Cup. In between there were the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and, on a larger stage, the soccer World Cup, held for the first time in Asia. Joint hosts Japan and Korea, especially Korea, astonished the world and themselves with their performances. But no team matched the brilliance of Brazil. New Zealand meanwhile was preparing for a second defence of world yachting's richest prize, the America's Cup. When the leading challengers were found, both had New Zealanders at their helm.

Green Lane Hospital disclosed the stored hearts of babies. The Herald banged on about a modern method of construction that causes houses to rot, and the Prime Minister put her head in the sand. A High Court judge was found to have visited a sex site by computer in his chambers. The National Party leader went boxing for charity, and took another hiding when the election was called. New broom Michelle Boag swept MPs away but took the blame for a poor campaign. The Prime Minister apologised to Chinese, Samoans and gays and regretted signing a piece of art, a prima facie forgery, said the police.

The Greens threatened to bring down the Government if a GM moratorium was lifted and the voters, or the television worm, turned instead either to moderate Peter Dunne or the three-fingered campaign of Winston Peters. When the votes were counted Helen Clark was happy to deal with Mr Dunne but not Mr Peters, who went on campaigning against Asian immigration. In response the Government raised a language barrier. The chairman of TVNZ was forced to resign for pointing out the private interest in public-private partnerships, as the Government calls them.

Those are among the events we can look back on tonight. It was a year, like most, of joy and grief, triumph and disappointment, progress and setbacks. Another year in our life. Let it pass tonight happily and safely.