John Scrimgeour Federated Farmers BOP president This last month has been profoundly challenging, with the Rena grounding and the lifting of the Rugby World Cup producing a major trough and peak. Farmers everywhere winced at the prospect of the... Read More

Theresa Wilson DairyNZ Project Manager If an effluent storage pond is built well it can have a great return on investment - but what does 'good' look like? DairyNZ and the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) have answered this... Read More

Barbara Reid of Maison Monique maisonmonique.co.nz Welcome to the November edition and the unpredictable spring weather. The spring/summer collection is showing a wonderful array of bright colourful shades which include coral, hot pink, lime and... Read More

Write Space Literary news, views and reviews http://taurangawriters.org.nz This week's Write Space by Jenny Argante. Do we need to be both shaken and stirred by experiences to write our best poetry? It's a theory that was put harshly to... Read More

Brian Rogers Rogers Rabbits www.sunlive.co.nz The news has been breaking all over the place this week. In fact, there's been so much breaking news that you could say it's broken beyond repair. The two largest pieces of news breaking were that:1.... Read More

News Hound Ady & Flo So here we are; the RWC is over and we collected a cup - very cool - the European invaders have stolen the Melbourne Cup again, the Rena is still out there and we have an election on the way. I thought as it has been a little... Read More

Cr Bill Faulkner Faulkners Corner www.sunlive.co.nz Elected members considered some interesting issues at full council last week. The proposed Waterfront Project Proposal of $20 million has been watered down to a more palatable $625,000. This... Read More

Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz The bastardisation of the word 'community' in local government politics could be the reason for the current dislocation of our communities from our nominal leaders. After my reporting on recession... Read More

Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz Many trees are felled to generate the agendas and reports that are produced by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and sent out to councillors. In the past, my reading has been measured in inches,... Read More

Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor For the last couple of weeks I have been privileged to be working inside the Incident Command Centre for the Rena. I say privileged because it really is amazing to see so many people, from so many... Read More

Ian McLean Green candidate for Tauranga Another boat on our rocks and more of the same prevarication from our government. The Schelde Trader, an 8000 tonne general cargo vessel, hit the North rocks off Mauao last week. Why, given that the pilot... Read More

Daz Switalla Flavour SecretsNo.1 The Strand Chef www.no1thestrand.co.nz Man has had a fascination with flames and grilling meat since prehistoric times. In many different cultures in the world, the flame, smoke and meat from barbecued food is often... Read More