HERE are the “CityNews” writers’ most-clicked columns of 2022 by citynews.com.au readers.

IAN MEIKLE – SEVEN DAYS / “Lights out as Pretty Woman drops into the dumpster”

MAY: “Pretty Woman seemed never to recover from the last covid lockdown and the signature scarlet neon sign went dark,” writes Ian Meikle in “Seven Days”. “Now the lights are long gone, so too the concrete lions that stood either side of its front door. What was it like inside? Who knows? I can’t find anyone who admits to having ever been there.”
See Meikle’s column here.

PAUL COSTIGAN – CANBERRA MATTERS / “How muddle-heads messed up a playground”

NOVEMBER: “On the weekend, immediate and nearby streets are packed with cars crammed into any available space… Then there’s the obvious question – where’s the toilets? There aren’t any,” writes “Canberra Matters” columnist Paul Costigan. Welcome to the new Coombs playground.
See Costigan’s column here.

MICHAEL MOORE – POLITICS / “Anti-mandate protestors picked the wrong city”

FEBRUARY: “Interfering with human rights through sensible regulation has always been a part of history. A range of mandates have been applied across all societies with the intention of protecting the vulnerable,” writes columnist Michael Moore.
See Moore’s column here.

ROBERT MACKLIN – THE GADFLY / “Canberra’s cooked, the Barr-becue has to end”

FEBRUARY: “It’s this pathetic attachment to ‘growth’ as the economic miracle-maker that Barr is using to destroy the quality of life that made living here such a pleasure,” writes “The Gadfly” columnist Robert Macklin.

JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED – POLITICS / “Why Canberra can’t repay its borrowed billions”

JUNE: “We have previously written about the astronomical increase in the ACT’s Net Debt from the territory having a $736 million surplus in 2011 to a debt of $4.4 billion in 2021,” writes Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed. “The 2021-22 Budget Review, released in February, forecasts an increase in Net Debt to $9.1 billion by 2024-25”
See Stanhope and Ahmed’s column here.

CLIVE WILLIAMS – WHIMSY / “To ‘aitch’ or ‘haitch’ and what it tells about you”

FEBRUARY: “Aversion to the way others speak or pronounce words seldom has any linguistic rationale; it is usually an excuse to typecast others as socially inferior,” writes “Whimsy” columnist Clive Williams. “People who say ‘aitch’ for the letter H invariably look down on people who say ‘haitch’.”
See Williams’ column here.

ANTONIO DI DIO – KINDNESS / “How brave Uncle Rocco became a big stupido”

FEBRUARY: In his latest “Kindness” column, Antonio Di Dio explains the unspoken intricacies of the International Conspiracy of the Ladies. “A strange knock at the door followed by Mrs D framed in the evening sun towering over us. Mum answered the door and told me to run off and help papa while she and Mrs D talked.”
See Di Dio’s column here.

HUGH SELBY – LEGAL OPINION / “Avoidable jury problems become all too clear”

NOVEMBER: “I have never found that one person who is knowledgeable in the law is a better judge of evidence than a dozen fellow citizens working together,” writes retired barrister Hugh Selby. “After the jury was discharged in the Lehrmann trial some key problems in our ACT approach to jury trials are now all too clear.”
See Selby’s column here.