Homelessness by Susan Grimsdell
Homelessness is getting a lot of attention in New Zealand nowadays, particularly in Auckland. People who live in so-called leafy suburbs rarely come across it, I imagine, whereas I live in the Central City and have homeless people sleeping outside my building and in doorways and on benches all the way up Queen Street, so I see them every day and it’s hard not to think about and care about their plight. Where has kindness gone? What our society needs is a good helping of kindness. New Zealand used to have kindness… Read More
Oil – the bottom line by Susan Grimsdell
Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, is under pressure to make a decision about whether to allow oil companies to drill off New Zealand’s coast. My attitude is – what’s her problem? We’ve been told time and again over a period of years now that the oil already stockpiled in reserves has to stay where it is, unused, forever. If we use any of it, the climate will be toast. Oil and global warming According to the London School of Economics, with the support of HSBC, Citibank, Standard & Poor, and the International… Read More
The dictates of fashion by Susan Grimsdell
One of the best things about being old is that I no longer care about being fashionable and fitting in with the way my friends dress. As a teenager it was a different story. Whatever was “in” is what I wanted. In my day it was miniskirts, sack dresses, teased hair, crinolines, and like everyone else, I was right in there with it all. Flesh on show Looking back on those days it all seems a bit innocent compared to what’s happening now. We worried about showing bra straps, girls now worry… Read More
Baby gender by Susan Grimsdell
The Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, is going to have a baby. She and her partner Clarke Gayford have known about the baby for four months, but chose not to tell us, the public. I don’t think anyone would question that decision, considering that it’s a private matter for a start, and also that a percentage of pregnancies don’t make it past the first three months. Gender privacy Jacinda and Clarke know the gender of the baby, but have chosen to keep that as a private matter too. I… Read More
But for the grace of God by Susan Grimsdell
Our local paper is doing a series on lost children; those terrible cases where the child goes missing and is never seen again. Today’s story is about a two year old whose parents were visiting a friend. The mother was a former drug addict, the father a gang member. The friend had a house on a lake, very close to the water. There were several kids, the adults were getting a barbecue together, lots of activity going on. The child was seen near the driveway when one of the adults went off… Read More
