Balancing the books by Susan Grimsdell
Recently I’ve been thinking about Economics, a subject that I’ve never really understood. What got me thinking about it was an announcement from the NZ government in August that we now have a very healthy surplus of $3.7 billion. That sounds great. Let’s go shopping! Surplus and debt However, I had a feeling that at the same time we have a huge national debt, so I looked on the web to find out. Sure enough, I discovered that in 2008 New Zealand’s national debt was 16% of GDP. Now in 2017 it’s… Read More
Poetry please by Angela Caldin
I’m delighted to say that our joint post with three limericks inspired by our feelings about Donald Trump reached our widest audience yet on Facebook (that’s what Facebook told us, so it must be true). Disappointingly though, none of our followers sent in a limerick of their own. This made us a little downcast, but our spirits rose again when we received not a limerick, but a whole poem from Ann Chapman which I’m taking the liberty of publishing here. I was going to add a photo of the leader of the… Read More
Humour to the rescue by all three of us
Donald Trump has certainly attracted more than his fair share of press and media coverage in recent days; to the extent that it’s almost impossible to find any sort of fresh slant on the man. It seems that it has been left to the glitterati of Hollywood to achieve the kind of satire that he deserves. If Alec Baldwin’s impersonation is a jewel, Melissa McCarthy’s turn as Sean Spicer is a sparkling diadem. Inspired by them, we wanted to find our own way to lampoon Trump and his administration and, after a somewhat… Read More
Wallace Stevens* or Nothing by Trevor Plumbly
The Snow Man Relaxation is important and I’m reliably informed by wiser heads that doing nothing is a vital part of taking things easy and indeed it could enhance longevity. I’m always in for a few extra years so I thought I’d dig a bit deeper to see if there was an easy path to delay the last ride in the box. However, I’ve discovered, courtesy of Mr Stevens, that unless you’re a snowman it’s bloody hard to do nothing, though I’ve known some who thought doing nothing was a worthwhile career… Read More
RIP Alf by Trevor Plumbly
The Moving Finger Writes… Tennyson was the pick of the romantics; he always seemed to be able to chuck a bit of mythology and tragedy in the pot and knock up a winner. It’s not generally known to my selective pool of readers, but, as a lad, I did pen the odd verse. Not your dead Sheila’s regatta stuff, more gut wrenching angst. I wasn’t published so those rummaging through second hand bookshops, hoping to stumble across a copy of these gems, are doomed to disappointment. I regarded these early outpourings as… Read More
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