To quote from the American situation: “America is egalitarian and snobbish. The city looks down on the countryside, the north on the south, the coastal meccas on the interior – and of course each object of disdain looks back with its own reverse snobbery.”
It is true also of New Zealand.
If Wiggins wishes to redress the situation he should look out a wealthy city dweller or group thereof, sell him/them his farm, having first agreed to lease it back.
He then invests his money in an entrepreneurial city business with good potential, taking care not to fall into the trap of buying himself a mini-mansion in the city.
He can then continue to live happily with his animals in the lovely fresh air and open spaces until, upon retiring as a rich man, he can look down from a multi-million home in a good city suburb on rural dwellers.
In the meantime reverse snobbery can be applied by rural NZ if it keeps reminding urbanites that people sleeping in doorways in sight of tourist hotels gives us all a bad name.
And we should certainly not allow SAFE to call itself a charity.
