The Queen cut a sad and lonely figure at her husband’s funeral last April. Bound by the rules around COVID restrictions, she had been forced to grieve away from her family and was also required to sit alone in the chapel at Westminster Abbey because none of her family
Over the years, I have done a large number of applications to IRD on behalf of clients for payment arrangements for unpaid tax. IRD would inevitably ask for copies of bank statements (3 months, or even 6 months), even though we had filled in an application form, giving details of
There comes a point at which even the most fervent Ardernista must start to wonder what is going on. That day was Friday 22 October, the start of the holiday weekend, when Jacinda Ardern dashed the hopes of all New Zealanders, except her crew of naysaying health ‘experts’: Wiles, Hendy
When even the Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios is defending Novak Djokovic, you know the Australians have got this whole sorry saga badly wrong. Kyrgios has never hidden his contempt for the world number 1 tennis player. While rival Rafael Nadal has struggled to hide his glee at the misfortune
The Trans-Tasman bubble was designed to reunite ourselves with our Aussie neighbours, and the many family members of Kiwis who live over there. Prior to the pandemic, many of us would visit several times a year, and their family members and friends would travel here too. This happy arrangement was
It started with bus drivers. We couldn’t get bus drivers for love or money. Most people saw bus driving as an undesirable job; poor pay, split shifts and unsociable hours. People don’t want to be bus drivers, but they do want buses. Therein lies the problem. Then along
What do the couple who broke the rules and went to Wanaka, the teenager who worked for KFC, Brian Tamaki, Steve Oliver and the owners of the Lotus Heart restaurant in Christchurch have in common? Yes, they have all broken the COVID rules, (inadvertently in the case of the KFC
This movie had so many terrible reviews, I had almost decided not to watch it. But over Christmas, with not much to do, the movie beckoned and with its star-studded cast, including Leonardo di Caprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett (not to mention the very brilliant Mark Rylance)
The most balanced and moderate newspaper, The Guardian, has outdone itself this time. Disagreeing with Time for choosing Elon Musk as its Person of the Year, The Guardian decided to run a competition of its own. It asked its readers who they would like to see as their own Person
It is very strange the way the whole world seems to be having exactly the same problems at the moment. There’s the pandemic obviously, but also, all countries seem to be struggling with inflation, shortages of various items, supply chain issues and staff shortages. Inflation is easy to explain;
Grant Robertson has announced that the 2022 budget, due in May next year, will include an additional $6 billion in new operational spending, mainly aimed at funding the government’s proposed health sector changes and also at tackling climate change. More money that we don’t have. More quantitative easing.
I have now been back in Wellington for two weeks, after a fairly lengthy stay in the South Island. One of the things I desperately wanted to do was catch up with family, friends and a few clients. Some of these are the clients who like to meet up in
I do not want to punish local businesses like bars and restaurants who are doing it tough under this government. They are mandated to check COVID passes, so it is not their fault. I have to admit, I can’t always be bothered though. Struggling on Sunday at a café
Walking through the Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt on Saturday, I realised that I was the only person without a mask. I don’t mean in the shops, I mean walking the aisles. Yes, you read that right. I did not see another person without a mask walking the halls
I came back to Wellington last week, having been in the South Island for a while. In Westport life is mostly fairly normal: people wear masks in the supermarket, and they are required to wear them in restaurants (until seated and then, somehow, everyone forgets after that) but there are
I am becoming increasingly horrified at the state of our society. While we do not yet have the draconian rules for travel and vaccines that they have in Germany and Austria, somehow we seem to have become a totally divided nation. These divisions are not along racial lines, although the
