Kim Hill interviewed Dale Williams, Mayor of Otorohanga, on Radio NZ's "Saturday" this morning. Dale Williams, known to many Henwood Trust supporters, has had quiet but very spectacular success in addressing the related problems of youth unemployment and youth crime over a long period in a very practical, hands-on manner.

Its a great interview! I killed myself laughing when Williams said he had just received the town's latest youth unemployment statistics for April, and there were 4. Hill - always the aggressor - noted that this represented a 100% increase, to which Williams countered that he thought he knew who they were.

This is local government at its very best, and a wonderful answer to the shrill cries of  "lock them all up". We need more - far more - of this kind of initiative.