Nice piece Graham. I haven't read Somerset Maugham in ages, but recently picked up a Wordsworth edition of some of Kipling's short stories for about $3. Having great fun reading 'The Man Who Would Be King', 'Only a Subaltern' and other stories of the Raj.

The big government departments have a lot of staff outside Wellington, doing practical things. For example, Internal Affairs has regional staff who work with communities on community development, and assist community groups to apply for funding for various projects, along with regional civil defence staff. DoC is another obvious example, and the fisheries protection officers of MFish.

Of course, you don't hear about that side of things from the National Party.

Key's comments about faceless paper shuffling bureaucrats, while crass, are par for the course and rolled out at every election.

Once people like Key get into power, they quickly realise that they need the "bureaucrats" to get things done. The ultimate aphrodisiac for ministers is having officials who provide them with reports, Cabinet papers and verbal briefings, and run around arranging things.

For better or worse we have a concept of active government in New Zealand. That applies to National as much as Labour.