Articles in ‘Editors Note’

At long last, a government has acknowledged what households have been screaming for years: council rates are out of control, and ordinary New Zealanders are paying the price. The National Government’s announcement of a maximum 4% annual rates cap is more than a policy change — it is a badly needed circuit-breaker for a country that has become unaffordable, uncompetitive, and, for many families, simply unlivable. This move, paired with the…

For years, residents living near the Tutaenui Stream have warned the Auckland Council of a growing and entirely preventable problem: a choked, neglected waterway that has become a repeat flooding hazard. The solution is neither complex nor controversial — the stream simply needs proper clearing and ongoing maintenance. Contractors themselves have confirmed it. A similar clearance in 2003 kept the area safe for eight years. Yet today, instead of…

New Zealand today stands in the jaws of a recession deeper and more structural than anything we have seen in decades. Businesses are folding. Workers are fleeing. Families are giving up hope. And yet, somehow, among all the noise, one catastrophic act of economic vandalism continues to escape the national reckoning it deserves: **The deliberate destruction of New Zealand’s only oil refinery at Marsden Point.** Not downgraded. Not mothballed.…

Across Auckland, homeowners are opening their insurance renewal letters only to find shocking premium increases — not because their properties have suddenly sunk, but because a bureaucratic map now says they sit on a “flood plain.” It’s a growing problem created not by nature, but by policy. The latest victim is long-time Pukekohe resident Dave Mills, whose property on Buckland Road has been bone-dry for over 30 years — yet has now been…

The Matariki public holiday, a significant event in the New Zealand calendar, is set to unfold this month on Friday, June 28th, 2024. Established in 2022 to commemorate the Māori new year and recognize the cultural heritage surrounding Matariki, this special day is strategically positioned on the Friday closest to the new moon following the rising of the Matariki star cluster. The decision to institute the Matariki public holiday stemmed from…

Ah, the age-old question: are you “Just like your Mother?” Brace yourselves, dear readers, for a whimsical journey through the marvelous world of motherhood, where one size certainly does not fit all, and the role of Mom evolves faster than a toddler’s mood swings. As Mother’s Day graces us with its presence this month, let’s take a moment to marvel at the wonders of ‘Mums’ worldwide and delve into some eye-opening global motherhood…

Dear Editor, I submit my letter for your consideration to publish in the Elocal magazine, I wholeheartedly support the Coalition Government’s focus on getting New Zealand’s economy back into a healthy state, and this will take time. Unfortunately, not all Government members seem to recognise that their efforts on the economic front are being continually undermined by the disincentivising of race-based preferences and the tribal elite’s…

The first 100 days of the National led ‘3 headed taniwha’ coalition Government have come and gone this month and media and MP’s alike are scrambling to shout from the rooftops about what has been done and blurring the lines of non-achievement on any that appear to have fallen short on the deadline. My own take on the first 100 days comes down to the bewildering shenanigans that was the accommodation supplement that the Prime Minister, was…

2024 is a leap year, a leap year is a year with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years are necessary because the actual length of a year is nearly 365.25 days, not 365 days as commonly stated. Leap years occur every four years, and years that are evenly divisible by four (2020, for example) have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29. However, there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century…

Ever wondered why January starts the new year? It’s safe to say that if you are reading this, the celebrations are all done and dusted for another year, fireworks have been let off, parties enjoyed, and those who indulged just a bit too much are recovering. This time around, New Year’s Eve is Sunday, December 31, 2023, and New Year’s Day is Monday, January 1, 2024. Both the 1st and 2nd are public holidays in New Zealand, but why do we and other…

It’s a song that experts say transcends generations, cultures, even religion. “Silent Night” — first performed in a small Austrian church over 200 years has not only stood the test of time, but found its own place in history. It is structured simply, easy to record, has been translated into over 300 languages and bridges both secular and non-secular Christmas music. But perhaps just as important is the song’s original message of hope and peace…

The election is over and New Zealanders got what they wanted. Change. What Change is yet to be determined, as a coalition is yet to be finalised, but it is change never the less. Will it be enough? Again, that all depends on who you talk to. one of the biggest mistakes leaders make is to view change as an event that happens at a single point in time. Accepting and then embracing change is a process not an event. An election will not bring…

The frosty U.S. and China decoupling talk is getting real as pandas are getting recalled from zoos across the country and across the world. It’s called “panda diplomacy” and it’s thought to have started as early as the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century when Empress Wu Zeitan sent a pair of bears (believed to be pandas) to Japan. This Chinese policy of sending pandas as diplomat gifts was revived in 1941, on the eve of the United States entering…

Don’t Waste Your Vote! If you are thinking about giving your party vote to one of the minor parties at this election, make sure you give some serious thought to if they are actually going to get into parliament. Any political party needs 150,000 votes without an electoral seat win before it gets into Parliament. Every election New Zealanders give their vote to a minor party as a form of protest of they like a particular policy that the party…

Fear Is Ingrained In All Of Us – Just Don’t Let It Take Over! It’s an evolutionary survival tactic known as our fight-or-flight instinct. The purpose of fear is to use adrenaline to tell us to protect ourselves and move out of harm’s way. You’ve probably felt different levels of fear throughout your life — in a dark theater watching a scary movie, dealing with an aggressive person, or a situation where you have no control. In the current…

There is no truth, there is only perception. As I enjoy a new, less crazy-busy season in my life, I’ve taken to switching the TV on early evening. Mostly it’s to give the elderly dog some background noise to distract her from alerting me every time the neighbours come home, but it also reminds me of younger years when the house gathered for the daily 6 o’clock news. Finishing paid work for the day, my ear was drawn to a US news item announcing…

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell Freedom of speech is one of the most precious and important human rights. A free society depends on the free exchange of ideas. Nearly all ideas are inherently capable of giving offence to someone. Many of the most important, profound ideas in human history, such as those of Galileo Galilei and Charles Darwin, caused great…

A friend mentioned to me that other day that if everyone lived by the basics of the Ten Commandments, then we would live in paradise and it got me thinking… Would it really? The 10 Commandments are one of the cornerstones in Christianity having been given to Moses by God to share with all the Israelites after they left captivity in Egypt. Carved in stone, they were confined to physical oblivion when Moses smashed them, however a slab, probably…

I recently had the opportunity to question Chris Luxton and included a question about trust and what he intended to do about increasing the dismal survey results from a December 22 poll that showed only 39.6% of the poll respondents trusted the government. His response will be published next month, but in the meantime, just how important is trust in our Government and its Ministers? We will never I suspect get to a 100% trust rate, but…

I’m writing this in the aftermath of the terrible weather event that saw numerous festivals and concerts cancelled, (Elton John again!), homes flooded, landslips, roads made impassible, slips, crops devasted, our city’s airport terminals swimming in water and tragically four lives lost across Auckland. I’ve seen readings of over 200 mms of rain that all fell in one day and it doesn’t appear to have abated just yet. They are in fact warning of…