Growing pains Over recent years I’ve noticed an increase in the number of ‘street people’ in my area of Auckland. Most (including me) either avoid them where possible or buy our way out with a couple of coins. In one form or another they’ve always been with us, but the recent increase in numbers should raise greater concern. In the past, they were dismissed as ‘deadbeats’, ‘addicts’ and ‘alkies’; thus the authors of their own misfortune, best left to the Salvation Army or, if things got out of hand, the Police. The… Read More

When we moved to our small new home, I vowed that we would never again buy any flat pack furniture. Absolutely no need as we had all the furniture we could possibly want. The days of puzzling and sweating and getting short tempered over bits of white MDF were behind us. Shoe problems Everything was going well under the new regime until I got exasperated with the large pile of shoes which had accumulated in my wardrobe. What was needed, I felt, was some shoe shelving which could live in the (admittedly… Read More

Muslims have been getting a bad rap lately, fanned by the illustrious President of the USA. Concerned citizens with generous hearts speak up against this negativity and are distressed to hear criticism of the refugee influx into Western countries of people from Syria and other Muslim countries.  Their argument centres on the fact that these people are not terrorists, not dangerous, just ordinary people wanting a better life for their families. Inequality on show I too don’t consider Muslim people to be terrorists in the sense that they do not wish to… Read More

The silly season The English get into trouble when they take things seriously, but happily, a sense of the ridiculous helps them cope. Elections are a serious business to the Brits so they lighten things up with odd characters like Lord Buckethead who received 239 votes at the last election when he stood against Theresa May in Maidenhead; he hailed that as a triumph, so like they say, ‘it’s not the winning……’ God only knows what motivates the man; maybe he just wants to illustrate what a pantomime the whole system has… Read More

It is accepted wisdom that on 23 June 2016, the people of the UK ‘spoke’ in the referendum on whether to leave the EU or to remain. The verdict was in and there was nothing to do but abide by it.  However, it’s now becoming increasingly clear that the people probably didn’t know what they were talking about. Clear cut issues 72% of those eligible spoke, which means that 28% didn’t speak which amounts to quite a lot of people – 10 million or so by my calculation. The margin of difference in… Read More