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A People’s History of the Broken Heartbreakers
A biographical article on Dunedin, New Zealand music group The Broken Heartbreakers.
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Andrew Spittle’s internal exile
A biographical article on New Zealand musician Andrew Spittle
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Climate science
They say the weather’s changing, tropics moving, loose heat banging on the greenhouse roof, whirlwinds in the western suburbs, as we are blown out to sea on the hot air of an 100% pure clean and green branding campaign, marooned in the shimmer of an Indian summer. A long dry, twenty days until precipitation for…
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Retirement crisis looming
There is a retirement crisis in New Zealand. Experts have made a compelling case for an imminent “zombie apocalypse” of retired Kiwis, stalking the streets and cannibalising the disposable incomes of innocent passers by.
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Palm Lagoon Hotel can save Dunedin
It has been cheering to read recent positive feedback about the proposed grand waterfront hotel situated off Dunedin’s premiere fishing wharf, henceforth to be known as the Palm Lagoon Precinct. The trouble with our small city is the overwhelming negativity we have towards ambitious projects proposed by visionary thinkers. After reading yet another glowing report…
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Advice to mum and dad investors
I was impressed and excited to read a local finance broker’s advice to potential “mum and dad” investors in privatized public assets in the Otago Daily Times (Friday 6 July 2012). Mr Chris Timms of Craigs Investment Partners says any complaints about ordinary Kiwis not being able to get in on the sale of the…
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Book review: Other People’s Wars
Book review: Other People’s Wars by Nicky Hager (Craig Potton Publishing) What are New Zealand soldiers doing in the Middle East? The accepted wisdom is that “we” are there for humanitarian purposes, assisting the rebuilding of a broken society, as part of a wider battle against terrorism and for democracy. Not so.
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Das Phaedrus “Ditch”
Sammys, 1991
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Space out
What does it feel like to fly over Planet Earth?
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Save the Dunedin Metro Postshop and Kiwibank
The following opinion piece appeared in the Otago Daily Times on 17 May 2011 as part of a campaign to prevent the closure of the Dunedin Central post office. The closure by NZ Post management proceeded, despite the collection of thousands of petition signatures, protest actions at local post offices including a rally and a…
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Cocktails and corporate warriors
The following article appeared in the Otago Daily Times on 9 November 2010 in response to reports of private “war games” for businessmen with the SAS in exchange for donations.
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Beyond the sea: New Zealand’s ports at risk?
The following article on New Zealand ports and maritime issues was originally published in Foreign Control Watchdog issue 123 (May 2010), the magazine of CAFCA, and is also available online at their site.
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Broke, Anxious or Seriously flush
The following article appeared in the Otago Daily Times, on Wednesday 3 February 2010, in response to an article by Dr Mathew Zacharias entitled Patients’ rights trampled in drive for equality and ongoing talk about user pays models at the Dunedin Public Hospital.
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Man makes religion; it does not make man
Published Otago Daily Times, 30 October 2009 In a Faith and Reason column, published in the past few months in the Otago Daily Times, the writer – a pastor – started his discourse on religion by quoting Karl Marx as saying “Religion is the opiate of the people”. The problem is this quote is, strictly…