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The weather is most definitely hotting up and kiwis up and down the country are planning their summer breaks in anticipation of a summer of relative freedom after the last few months of lockdowns. Carlos Ter Huurne, owner of Ignition Firewood, a Drury-based firewood supplier is also looking forward to a break, but says it’s never too early to stock up on next winter’s wood over these summer months over the summer and he is offering great…

How to expand your lending options when subdividing your section. Banks and mortgages are a maze to navigate through. There are now alternative options that specialise in these construction projects allowing you to maximise financial gain. · Gone are the days when you bought a quarter acre piece of land with one house on it, mortgage it for 35 years with the same bank and voila!- you can retire with enough funds for retirement! · Did you know,…

David Lange is one of the most tragic figures of our modern political history. Highly articulate and entertaining, he was ushered into power in a landslide in 1984 during an economic and financial crisis. Feted as the youngest Prime Minister of the 20th century, he dazzled the nation with his wit and intellect. By the time he resigned in 1989, however, he was seen as a weak and malleable leader who had backed policies he would later regret…

I am back in Auckland and have been out in a few different electorates catching up with small business owners and locals. · In typical Kiwi fashion, the people I meet put on a brave face. However, often after a few minutes of talking about their current reality inevitably tears flow. In my twenty years in politics the only time I have experienced a similar feeling of absolute devastation for New Zealanders was when I was a Minister visiting…

In the middle of October, something astonishing happened: the Government and the National Party held a joint news conference to announce that they had agreed on the way to make housing more affordable. · According to many opinion polls, the ludicrous level to which house prices have risen in New Zealand is the issue which is of greatest concern to the New Zealand public. And that’s hardly surprising. Relative to incomes, New Zealand house…

Further reductions to the speed limits on rural roads around Franklin will only serve to frustrate the vast majority of road users. But will Auckland Transport listen? In 2019, Auckland Transport (AT) introduced a new speed limit bylaw and called for public submissions on the proposed changes. When I posted this news on my Facebook page, more than 53,000 people viewed the post. Many made submissions opposing the wholesale changes. · Did AT…

A Government that ignores reasoned opposition from local government by imposing 50/50 iwi-council co-governance through its Three Waters Plan is yet another step closer to a dictatorship, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today. A Government that ignores reasoned opposition from local government by imposing 50/50 iwi-council co-governance through its Three Waters Plan is yet another step closer to a dictatorship, Hobson’s Pledge…

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans and they have been in existence (as any search will yield) since the origin of Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago or, roughly, since Adam. Given a globally increasing population density, where the current total is 7.9 billions, one ought to anticipate an increase in zoonotic diseases of which coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a typical example. · A characteristic of all viruses…

Communities and councils around the country are starting to make their voices heard around the effects the Government’s proposed Three Waters Reforms will have, with several mayors calling for the programme to be ‘paused’ on the grounds that there has been insufficient public consultation. The Government’s Three Waters Reform Programme was launched in July 2020 and aims to change the way three waters services – for drinking water, stormwater…

I’m anxious waiting to board the ship. I feel my heart beating, trying to explode through my chest. Have I made the right decision? Should I turn back? As I’m waiting, Mum is taking sooooo many photos of me for all her Facebook friends, you know how that goes. Another girl was having photos taken by her dad, so I introduce myself to her. Her name was Georgia from Christchurch, she was the first ever friend I made on the Spirit. We are both so…