Last laugh
Vale PJ
In Fortress New Zealand, faith in Saint Jacinda is starting to fade
Faith in ‘Saint Jacinda’ is starting to fade
Kiwi life
Of the making of many books, the Bible says, ‘there is no end’. It’s starting to feel a bit like…
Kiwi Life
Lorde vs Lana People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t get changed with the lights on. Doubly so, one…
Imagine no ‘Imagine’ (I wonder if you can?)
It’s nearly 50 years since the world’s greatest ‘woke’ anthem was released. But who’s listening to it now?
180,000 people go missing every year in Britain – my father was one of them
What happens to a family when a parent disappears?
Jive talkin’
Now the Isle of Man is claiming the Bee Gees? How dare they!
Kiwi Life
One of my goals over the coming months is to watch an entire rugby game for the first time in…
Kiwi Life
Of the various little stories about the rather wonderful Joni Mitchell in her early years, my favourite concerns Leonard Cohen.…
You’re gonna make us lonesome when you go
It’s Dylan’s 80th birthday
Cave’s cautionary tales
Will rock stars be the next victims of cancel culture?
Kiwi Life
Although it probably won’t, the recent kerfuffle over the brilliant works of Dr Seuss and other creators of children’s books…
Ancestral notes
Being David Cohen The apparent news that Joe Biden tapped me to help lead one of his new administration’s most…
Kiwi Life
When I dice a chilled cucumber along with a couple of tomatoes, toss them together in a bowl with a…
Van & the pandemic
No need for social distancing up on Cyprus Avenue
Musical notes
Trumps like us, baby we were born to run Mr Bruce Springsteen has, depending on how one views these things,…
Kiwi Life
Once upon a time here in New Zealand, when political dinosaurs still roamed the earth, Prime Minister Keith Holyoake startled…
The Jerusalem syndrome
Or why race-faking is all the rage
Remembering the Greatest
It’s 45 years since the Thrilla in Manila
It’s all relative with the Statue of Liberty
She stands in the smoky morning air, her copper lamp held elegantly aloft across the waters from Manhattan. Oh, say…
Rank universities
It’s the restaurant guide to higher learning
Popper, the outsider
New Zealand’s role in great philosophical thinking
I’m wasted in lockdown-land
Pandemic prose and poetry
Self-isolated? Try autism
Coronavirus and autism have surprising similarities
Listening to Leonard when the plague is coming
Coronavirus, death and despair... so plenty to laugh about, then?