And His Truth goes marching on

Sometimes I have to conclude that New Zealand is a confused little country. According to the 2013 census the number of people who identify as having no religion has reached 1.6 million, an increase of 26 per cent since the last census in 2006. And yet a Massey University survey taken in 2008 found that 72 percent of New Zealander’s believed in God. The survey was of New Zealanders above the age of 18 and was said to have a margin...

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A New Year nightmare in the making

Weston Ten-Green-Bottles settled back on the chair in his office in Martyrdom’s imposing Town Hall and felt somewhat apprehensive. The elections were over, the new lady Laud-Mare, Linley Pattercake, was ensconced in the adjacent office and he ought to have been at peace with the world. But there were potential obstacles on the road ahead. The Regret Theatre owner Brenton Goodloser was back on the town kownsil and was inclined to rattle...

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Tracing the world's money-go-round

According to the oral history of our family, my great-grandfather on my father’s side was a remittance man from England. Remittance men were the ne’er-do-well sons of well-to-do families who were banished to the colonies so not to further disgrace their kin-folk. They were sent a regular remittance to live on and this was maintained as long as they never set foot again in the old country.My great-grandfather’s Achilles’ heel apparently was the demon drink and the final straw came when as a young man he had a night out with...

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