According to their website the National Party of New Zealand says, 'The National Party was founded on principles of individual responsibility, private enterprise, and reward for individual effort. These principles are the only sure path to a society... Read More

Most people don't know how the official unemployment rate is calculated and most are surprised when they find out. The government, via Statistics New Zealand, conducts a survey called the Household Labour Force Survey. Citizens are recruited into the... Read More

This weekend sees some big local traditional derbies. The Te Puke Mount clash will be a boomer. If Greerton can knock off the top order of Cadets they could be in with a great show of winning. As for the Black Caps it was great to see three of our... Read More

The boss, needing to unleash the 'Great White Hunter' from deep within, headed for the Sun Media-sponsored fishing tournament, based at Lake Rotoiti Holiday Park, run by Chris and Keith Waddell. That left me at granny's to unleash the 'Great Brown... Read More

Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, Japanese film, Departures, is a character study of a man who finds fulfilment and a depth of human connection in the most unlikely profession. Daigo (Masahiro), a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and... Read More

There comes a time, even in the best of marriages, when the partners need a healthy break away. For some, that time is daily from around 6.45 every morning. For others, it might be a weekend away with the lads once in a while. While that may sound... Read More

The housing bubble went pop a long time ago, and now the dairy bubble is starting to burst. The Crafars are the tip of a $28 billion pyramid of debt - a pyramid propped up by the very assets that have been inflated by all that debt. I blogged... Read More

An interesting article that came across my desk today; I say interesting because this has come out on a day after the RBA increased the official cash rate. It reminds me a little of a comment someone made in a blog I was reading which made me cringe.... Read More

Fast forward to August 1984; I had arrived back in London after travelling around Ireland. Deciding that I'd firmly exhausted my quota of crappy, menial short-term jobs, I remembered a conversation with an Australian girl some six months earlier who... Read More

My first real awareness of Israel occurred as a result of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. I was nine years old and caught up in the magnitude and majesty of the summer Olympics for the first time, which coincided with the event's first significant television... Read More

'Creationist, moralising, hypocrite child sex offender”, would have been a better headline. It really is hard to believe this creep: once a stiffer-sentences, anti-gay, anti-prostitution law reform, and anti-sex-before-marriage preacher/campaigner... Read More

One of the reasons that fans follow sport is the glorious uncertainty of results and the emotions that winning and losing produce. Two sporting events over the recent weekend underline the different emotions that victory and defeat bring. On Friday... Read More