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Hampered by tightening credit conditions, the housing market continued to cool in February according to the latest data from REINZ. The house price index (HPI) recorded a modest 0.5% gain in the month. However, the data overall paint a picture of a market in decline. Seasonally adjusted, house prices recorded their third consecutive monthly decline. Annual house price growth…

When a serious crime has been committed, the police generally lose no time in their efforts to locate the culprit and bring them to account. In this article we consider our long term prospects and what we need to do to improve them. ###What happened this morning? When you back a sure fire horse with your whole pay packet and it loses, what do you say to your partner and family…

I find myself perplexed that commercial pharmaceutical enterprises, despite huge areas of uncertainty around safety and outcomes, felt that they could launch their experimental mRNA vaccines on the world’s population. I am also confused how public health officials, the medical profession, and politicians became cheerleaders, even when a significant number of highly qualified…

I wrote this newsletter recently to update you on the work the Free Speech Union is doing in our battle for free speech. But following the disturbing scene we saw yesterday at Parliament, I wanted to share some thoughts first. Protest will always highlight contentious issues, that's its role, so I am aware that supporters of the Free Speech Union will have a wide variety of…

Like all amazing aestheticians, the staff at HARLEH Laser Clinic are extremely passionate & truly love their work and work environment. They are especially enthusiastic about the industry and how it is continually evolving which is why they are very excited this January to have launched Cutera Enlighten Tattoo Removal & Skin Rejuvenation Treatment. Some of the treatment…

If you are struggling to fall asleep, the bed you are trying to sleep on might be part of the problem. When it comes to investing in a new bed, it is important that you purchase something that fits will fit your body type, personal taste and unique needs. When your body is allowed to rest in its natural position, muscles are relaxed and sleep is more refreshing. A good mattress…

If the Winter Olympics, this year to be hosted by Beijing (04-20 Feb), were solely about sport then the only logistical issue would be in regard to Covid-19. However, from the one-day event until 684 BC, when the games were extended to three days, the games were always about more than the games otherwise it would have been deemed unnecessary to extended the games to five days…

Genre-blending through subtle jazz intricacies and funky, infectious rhythms – New Zealand’s premiere instrumental act GroovExpress paint an image of optimism and style throughout this superb new collection. Contemplation Nova is the name, ten tracks devoted to the moment with crisp production that allows the natural strength of each performance to shine through on the…

The Prime Minister’s Statement, delivered to the House at the start of the Parliamentary year, was riddled with platitudes, self-congratulation and hyperbole. What wasn’t mentioned or acknowledged was the issue of how divided a society we have become. This is something that has seeped out and spread widely throughout our country. It is insidious, undesirable and unwelcome. The…

In 1923 Elizabeth Welsman Dawson, a Takapuna resident, wrote and sent a humorous poem to the newspaper about the difficulties of travelling on the Takapuna Steam Tram. The noisy, black smoke belching little tram was the main means of public transport on the North Shore between 1910 and 1927. Now almost one hundred years later Elizabeth Dawson’s grandson, writer Terry Carson has…

It was great to say goodbye to 2021 and mark 2022’s beginnings with a couple of great events in Whangamata and Waihi respectively. Hosted by Noddy Watts of Beach Hop fame and his supportive partner Andrea Ross. car and bike enthusiasts were treated to the World’s First Car and Bike Show on New Years Day at the Whangamata Club. Over 100 vehicles travelled from all over to attend…

In a great many ways, New Zealand is an enormously attractive country to live in. We have a temperate climate, largely free of extremes of either heat or cold. We have magnificent mountains, and beautiful and uncrowded beaches. We produce enough food to feed ourselves many times over. In a water-short world, we have more fresh water, per person, than all but two countries in…

The Spanish Flu The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. In the United States, it was first identified in military personnel in spring 1918. It is estimated that about…

WELCOME TO OUR NEW BUSINESSES IN TOWN: National Personnel in O’Shannessey Street Indowestern Fashions in O’Shannessey Street NZ Future Community Trust in Elliot Street Pizza Club on the Great South Road Zaro and Co in Averill Street – inside the Model Room Exit 458 on the Great South Road COMMUNITY PLACES IN PAPAKURA: Are you aware of all the wonderful community facilities…

Across New Zealand, the number of residential property sales decreased 28.6% in January 2022, from 5,135 in January 2021 to 3,665. While market activity is expected to reduce over the holiday period, when we look at the seasonally adjusted figures there is a 5.3% decrease from December to January. Allowing for the usual seasonal trends, this January is weaker than a typical first…

One could say that the events in the Ukraine and the reaction of Russia has removed the topic of Covid-19 from the front page or, in some instances, perhaps from page three as well. As with any matter of significance, the issue is considerably more complicated than a case of freedom and the big bad Ruskies. By way of comparison the situation is not altogether unlike that of China…

A few days ago the liberal New York Times with a two year history of supporting the official US government Covid narratives published an unusual article “The C.D.C. Isn’t Publishing Large Portions of the Covid Data It Collects” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/health/covid-cdc-data.html?searchResultPosition=2 Sound familiar? Here in NZ you have to go through a complicated…

Mat, a Steel Mill worker and father of three talks about vaccine mandates, and making a stand to protect his children's future. Is free-choice free when it jeopardises the life that your family have and the future that you dream of? Trueworks is a collaboration of filmmakers scattered around New Zealand, dedicated to capturing and sharing the true stories of real New Zealanders…

Despite the misinformation spread by the nation's media, the Freedom movement is not an anti-vax movement. It is a pro-choice, anti-authoritarian movement. And as New Zealand's freedom fighters descended on Wellington on December 16, 2021, their message could not have been clearer – It's time the government of our country takes its hands off our freedoms. Trueworks is a…

From our unique perspective in New Zealand there is probably no more twisted tale of the pandemic than the transformation of medical ethics. Due to our closed borders, NZ has so few Covid cases (18,000 at the time of writing) and almost no Covid deaths (53), that our pandemic medical history so far has been largely about isolation, vaccination, and testing. The political history…