Marie Colvin died on Tuesday in Homs, Syria. She was a war correspondent for the London Sunday Times. She was an iconic figure in war correspondence looking rather like a female version of Israeli war hero Moshe Dayan: strong, compelled, an irrepressible spirit. She continued to pursue her vocation even though she had lost an eye to shrapnel in war torn Sri Lanka in 2001. Her black eye patch became trademark.  Read More...

I am still reading the Herald on an iPad, and still missing some interesting articles. In particular they seem to publish less of the opinion pieces, both from their regular columnists and from others. One in particular caught my eye when I turned to the print edition of 8 February. It was entitled “Public nakedness an altogether good idea.” It was written by one Kevin Sampson who, according to the Herald, is with his wife Joan, owner of Katikati Naturist Park, “a Tourism Industry Award winning holiday park.” I have never been to the said park to assess whether the body issuing such awards is doing good work. It is called a naturist park not because people go there to do nature study (as we knew it when I went to primary school); rather, “naturist” is a euphemism for people who like to disrobe and play tennis and bowls etc, in their “natural state.” I have never been too interested in such pursuits, not least because I am one of the 99% of people in the world who look better with clothes on.  Read More...

This blog-piece is written by Graeme McNae, Tongan Programme Coordinator, School of Theology, Mission and Ministry. Graeme is an avid mountain biker and is combining his love of cycling and the Bible, here is why… Read More...

What is going on in NZ Local Councils? First, according to reports, the Christchurch Council award CEO Tony Maryatt a $68,000 pay rise (14%) taking his annual income to just over half a million dollars per year. While he turned it down, the damage was done with a strong reaction from the people including recent protests. Now we have the Kapiti Council giving an 18% pay rise of $44,000 to CEO Pat Dougherty. This is setting off a similar strong reaction from the people of Kapiti. After the pay rise, this took Dougherty’s salary to a tidy 285,000, nice! Mind you, if I were Pat I might be querying why I don’t get as much as Tony? Poor Pat?  Read More...

There was a time when I was a primary school teacher. I started back as a young man in the mid 80s and spent some years teaching in a South Auckland Intermediate School. In my first year I taught Year 8 (Form 2) and from day one had 36 in my class. As a pretty green young fellow straight out of school and tertiary study it was rather a shock to the system. That first year of teaching was a stunning introduction to the realities of NZ society. It almost killed me and was a critical factor in my seeking answers to the problems of the world, a journey that ended with me finding Jesus. Over the next few years I continued to teach classes of about 35 students. I also got to know other teachers, and, despite what is being claimed, without doubt class size affects teaching quality – the more students you have to work with, the harder it is to maintain educative quality.  Read More...