Ian McLeanSpokesperson for the Green Party Jeanette Fitzsimons, retired co-leader of the Green Party, was in town this week. Her themes: coal exploitation, how New Zealand is contributing to global warming, and the failings of the RMA. The RMA... Read More

Jane NeesBOP Regional Councillorwww.janenees.co.nz On a glorious day last week, on my way home from a meeting, I took a detour and visited the Papamoa Hills Regional Park - one of two properties owned by Bay of Plenty Regional Council which provide... Read More

Paula ThompsonBOP Regional Councillorwww.envbop.govt.nz The reform of local government will get underway later this year with some legislative change and work being done on how to get local government working better. Let's not forget that many... Read More

Biting Back in the Baywith Pinky Green Western Bay of Plenty recreational fishing the last week and weekend was in general a bit patchy or mixed. Beach fishers catches were down. Early last week our Papamoa veteran kontiki operator... Read More

Weather Eyewith John Maunder Global annual temperatures for various areas including global (land-ocean), global (meteorological stations), three latitude bands, and hemispheric, are prepared by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies of NASA. The... Read More

Sideline SidSports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz The Bay of Plenty links with Dutch cricket took another step forward in the last few days when a young Dutch player, who has spent the recent summer playing for Greerton, was called... Read More

Daz SwitallaFlavour SecretsNo.1 The Strand Chef www.no1thestrand.co.nz Feijoas are everywhere at the moment and they have attracted lots of attention from food producers, sweet makers, even beer has been given the feijoa makeover. This popular... Read More

Brent TrailManaging DirectorSurveying Services Ltd It has now been eighteen months since Hauraki District Council publically notified their Proposed District Plan and we are still largely working under the old rules. This is good news for those... Read More

Clever dogs and crazy peoplewith Wendy Graydon The Dog Trainer In all the years that I have trained dogs, I have noticed that a dog's diet has a strong correlation to their ability to concentrate and learn new behaviours' in training as well as... Read More

Gardening GuruBy Peter Wayman of Palmers Bethlehem May already, the last month of autumn, and it is only six weeks to the shortest day of the year. That means it is time to plant the garlic and shallots. You can do this any time during May, June... Read More

Financewith Don Fraser Fraser Farm Finance 'Be responsible for your actions'' is another of my simple messages and related to last month's philosophy called 'A rural handshake no longer means enough”. We often think that things are covered... Read More

Biting Back in the Baywith Pinky Green Last weekend Western Bay anglers had difficulty finding fish in the inshore fishery, but out wide fish remained plentiful. At Papamoa Beach last weekend kontiki fishers and surfcasters found very few fish.... Read More