Local Opinion

Hello all. In line with last week’s column, I hope you’ve had a good week, stayed water safe in all the hot weather, while not getting too hot under the collar with the humidity either….

I decided to write my first column for 2024 about the big economic problems New Zealand faces. There are many, and some go beyond big – they are enormous. None have arisen suddenly – they…

Getting back into the swing of things and engaging mental ‘top gear’ at the outset of a new year has had its challenges for me. What doesn’t help, is scanning headlines as media pundits forecast…

Lava flows usually don’t kill people, but they do inflict significant damage infrastructure and homes. Being the focus of my research as I get into the new year, this is adding to my work on…

It’s been a long time between beers. The last edition of this column ran before the Covid lockdown. “I’ll get it up and running soon,” I have regularly told Gary and David between beers. You…

Hello all, this week I have been asked to raise the issue of water safety. Last weekend, a member of the public got themselves into a sticky situation below the Karāpiro dam. An inflatable tube…

Our infrastructure costs are the highest in the developed world. How did this happen?  To fully understand we need to go back to the last significant reforms of the 1980s.  The Ministry of Works was…

Normally I resist departing from Cambridge. I’m happy in our small-town environment but the attraction of three married daughters and off-spring to the south demands a Yuletide pilgrimage. Not, you understand, of The Three Wise…

Many volcanoes we see in images, on the screen, and in person are enormous mountains. Some like the Tongariro Volcanic Complex and Ruapehu are so large that it’s best to train physically before attempting to…

Happy New Year all, I hope you managed to get a good break over the festive season. I, like many in the community, ended up sick for the week before my Christmas leave, so had…