Taonga

Murray McCully felt “humiliated” that his plan was being rejected by Auckland (although it took threats of violence to get it through his thick skull that his grandstanding and posturing with other people’s money and property was not appreciated). The New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, then tried... Sign in to see full entry.

Meanwhile, Murray McCully was appointed Minister of the Rugby World Cup. McCully has a reputation as micro-managing, arrogant and incompetent. None out of three is good enough. To make matters worse his attitude to Auckland has been dictatorial and his ego so fragile he hasn’t behaved well to the... Sign in to see full entry.

Three days ago six scientists and a senior Italian government official went on trial for failing to issue adequate warnings before the April 6, 2009 earthquake that hit L’Aquila killing 309 people and leaving 60 000 homeless. The prosecution are claiming these seven were negligent and “provided an... Sign in to see full entry.

The Third largest sporting event in the world is in New Zealand this year. In fact, its first week of competition is almost over. Ordinarily this would go uncommented upon by me. Sport is something I do, not something I watch. But, as NZ is about 7 weeks away from a General Election, this means the... Sign in to see full entry.

It's been quite a while since I've written anything for this blog. The reawson makes for an interesting story. There I was at work when suddenly I got a migraine headache. This was followed by the left side of my face swelling up and feeling like it was bruised. Next day no bruiing had appeared but... Sign in to see full entry.

Imagine you are at a party. Imagine someone you barely know pours petrol over you and sets you alight. Sadly this isn't a story. The perp is in jail; his lawyer says he did it because he was drunk. He says he did it because he thought it would be funny. He seems to have judged it right. All the... Sign in to see full entry.

It's been snowing in Auckland - hasn't happened since about 1974 (although the TV was saying it was in the eighties: if they're right then it happened while I was living in London. The newspapers said the last time it snowed this heavily was in the early fifties. The snow didn't hang around but it... Sign in to see full entry.

I've recovered from the NZ Film Festival but I still haven't recovered from the knee I twisted early on. Of the two 5 hour sessions I endured I recommend the Portuguese film "Mysteries Of Lisbon" if you can catch it. Meanwhile it's almost Rugby World Cup time.... Adidas sponsor the All Blacks. They... Sign in to see full entry.

Yes, it's that time of the year again. This is the first year EVER that I've managed to be able to both afford to see all the movies I wanted AND there have been no scheduling conflicts (well, there was ONE session where I discovered I would have to get from the North Shore to Central Auckland in 15... Sign in to see full entry.

Anthony Weiner is learning the hard way that, in politics, honesty pays. He is not the first to discover there is no privacy on twitter or other social media (which makes the original posting even less understandable). His real problem was his denials. The next two weiners belong to New Zealand ex... Sign in to see full entry.