POINTS OF NO RETURN: A Memoir.

• Author: Hoadley, Stephen

POINTS OF NO RETURN: A Memoir

Author: Brian Lynch

Published by: Milne Print, Wellington, 2022, 396pp, $40.

This memoir not only traces Brian Lynch's vigorous career but also presents an illuminating insider view of six decades of New Zealand foreign and commercial policy-making.

The book's title, Points of No Return, refers to Lynch's varied trajectory in public life, rising from oil company sales representative to high school teacher then to official in the Department of External Affairs and its subsequent iterations, culminating in directorship of two divisions (Asia, then South Pacific) and then posting as deputy high commissioner in London. Thereafter, Lynch was shoulder-tapped for top jobs in the Ministry of Transport, then the Ministry of Commerce, and then the New Zealand Meat Industry Association. Lynch lucidly describes from an insider's perspective the challenges that each of these institutions, and he personally, faced during the Muldoon government's tensions and the Lange government's deregulation reforms, and the recurrent waves of strategic reorientations and reorganisations that roiled the public service and the commercial community in succeeding decades.

Readers will not be surprised that the two most controversial prime ministers, Muldoon and Lange, figure prominently in Lynch's narrative. And a count of index entries provides a clue as to which prime ministers made the biggest and smallest impressions on Lynch: Muldoon 22; Lange nine, Clark seven, Kirk six, Rowling four, Bolger three, Holyoake and Key two each, Marshall and English one each and Palmer none. Readers are invited to peruse the text to discover whether these impressions were positive or negative.

Noteworthy is the scope of Lynch's encounters with influential actors of the day, ranging from Queen Elizabeth II and President George W. Bush through to dozens of political leaders from New Zealand and partner countries. Included also are vignettes regarding the behind-the-scenes but legendary luminaries of the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Transport and Commerce, and of a variety of quasi-governmental and commercial agencies and voluntary associations. The evidence of Lynch's career-spanning inter-personal energy is found in the book's comprehensive index, which lists over 1200 persons and institutions that Lynch interacted with from 1960 to the present.

Besides writing lucidly, Lynch has garnished his chronological narrative chapter titles with colourful...