My name is Susan and I’m rich-ist by Susan Grimsdell
I really don’t think I’m racist. As a feminist, I’m definitely not sexist, and I’m not age-ist or ??? (what else is there?). But I have now come to realise that I suffer from a different kind of -ist. The other night just as I was getting ready to go to bed, fireworks started up outside my window, which looks out over Auckland Harbour. It wasn’t New Year’s Eve or Waitangi Day or any other special public day, but it was quite a spectacular display that went on for about ten minutes…. Read More
Anzac Day 25 April by Susan Grimsdell
The airwaves here in New Zealand are full of war. Remembrance of war, that is. 25 April marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. When I listen, I always get an uneasy feeling. I hear that it’s all about “honouring” those who were killed, but when I think of all those sad, sad white crosses in the European war cemeteries, I have to wonder if the young men and women there would find any comfort from knowing that people… Read More
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
