A pair of well-fed kereru, intoxicated on the abundance of feed on the tree lucerne amid the grove of native bush ringing the patch of lawn out front of the house, teetered and preened on the whip-thin upper branches.
Christmas is supposed to be the season of goodwill
If you're a fan of the arts world and support the endeavour that underpins it, then here's a tale to gladden the heart.
There is a great deal to be said about the consent applications for industrial-scale dairying in the upper Waitaki now before Environment Canterbury
Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! OK? I'm sorry if I've offended some readers of this column.
Like many a pilgrim before him Simon Cunliffe finds that travelling by foot can be good for the soul.
What I find irksome about the so-called proponents of "democracy", and their tireless self-promotion in its cause, is the facile appreciation of what democracy actually means
Last Friday afternoon as members of the Bahrain entourage, conspicuous in their red shirts, wandered around the lobby and mezzanine of the Intercontinental Hotel in Wellington, inside one of the conference rooms Matthew Weiner, creator, producer and lead writer on the award-winning TV series Mad Men, was laying out pearls of wisdom for New Zealand writers.
Monday November 9: In which Hone Harawira and Rodney Hide discover it can be a lonely business being in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and find consolation in the most unexpected of places - each other - through an exchange of email.
What is the point of TVNZ? What distinguishes this "state broadcaster" from any other commercial operation?
Humble, gentle, forthright, political, intellectual, honest, seeker of justice, protector of values. Almost to a person the eulogists built their memories on these shared frames of reference. My friend Martyn constructed his life upon them.
Met up with an old schoolmate the other day. Thoughtful bloke. Done well for himself, although he might take issue with that bland commonplace.
Fagaloa Bay is towards the eastern end of Upolu in what back then was known as Western Samoa. It is a few bays to the northern side of Lalomanu, a village which, latterly, had become something of a tourist resort but which now - courtesy of last week's tsunami - barely exists.
At last some light at the end of this particular tunnel; some common sense; a relief valve released on the pent-up parking rage attendant upon the Dunedin City Council's new regime. Finally they have done the decent thing: they have listened and acted.
If Hollywood producers really want to test-market movies effectively, they should arrange to do it on international long-haul flights.
In Singapore, they'd likely as not line up our student "rioters" and shoot them - for the sheer effrontery.
Some things put history and human endeavour in perspective.
Politicians who feel compelled to send young men to war are not to be envied - our own prime minister included.
German film director Wim Wenders once made a movie called The Goal Keeper's Fear of the Penalty.
Let's all take a deep breath. Then let's try to put one or two things into perspective.
