Taonga

Over the years I’ve written a number of pieces about the political structure of Auckland Province in New Zealand. A study into this was commissioned by the previous parliament and this week the Royal Commisssion released its report. Without going too far into the fine detail the report is a major... Sign in to see full entry.

En resen weks zer haz bin a diskushin abowt maykin tha spullung ov Inglush konsisten wuz itz fonet-tiks. Eye arsk, hoos aksent wull u bayce zis on? Sign in to see full entry.

The Bain retrial has been going on for two weeks. Originally there was a delayed Internet feed but this has been abandoned when it was realised witnesses and jurors could access material that was supposed to be In Camera (or Sub Rosa, it’s all pig latin to me). Having already talked about this case... Sign in to see full entry.

Josef Fritzl is a family man. He loves his family - to death in one case. For those who have never heard of him he is an Austrian who constructed a bunker to imprison his daughter so she could be raped whenever he felt the urge. She bore him seven children. Sadly this isn’t unusual. What makes the... Sign in to see full entry.

Researchers of history have discovered that Robin Hood was probably a thief. In related news Australia has announced it doesn’t want immigrants to take jobs off Australians. It is cutting down on immigrants except for those which are in short supply - these are all well paying jobs, So, apparently,... Sign in to see full entry.

The best answer would be - the leadership of the various Medical Boards. In Government circles New Zealand’s various departments have proved they are not able to work out how to effect a change of system (the Police’s INCIS system and the Education Departments NCEA exam system come immediately to... Sign in to see full entry.

I am dismayed that a study published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” is finding traction among the general media. This study claims to have found the “God” spot in the human brain and speculates that humans are hard-wired to have “religious” experiences. My issue... Sign in to see full entry.

About a week too late Avondale College met with the Press to castigate them for their handling of the stabbing of a teacher by a Korean student. Principal Brent Lewis is quoted as saying, “… there has been much misreporting and inflammatory statements… made about the college… [we] are… distressed at... Sign in to see full entry.

Actually, it’s not. We are better placed than most other Western economies to ride out the current situation (but if, and only if, these other countries don’t regress to infantile trade protectionism - but then they’d go down the gurgler along with us)... but you would think the plug has been pulled... Sign in to see full entry.

No, not the movie but Igor Pananin, Dean at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s school for diplomats. A man who would look good in a g-string - I know, because he’s not afraid to open his mouth and look a fool. To be fair he’s just trying to give academic credibility to the official Kremlin line (and by... Sign in to see full entry.