Changing the guard without rancour

It was probably a foregone conclusion that Alistair Scott was going to win the National party selection process as the candidate for the upcoming election. Scott signalled his intention to challenge the incumbent at least a year ago. He managed to convince the voting delegates that he was the best option despite being up against three excellent fellow aspirees and won the nomination on the first ballot.I’m not sure why John Hayes felt...

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When the local lads occupied Japan

Upon the surrender of Japan which ended the combat phase of the Second World War the Americans made a request for allied forces including New Zealanders, Australians, Canadians and Indians to supply an occupying force for Japan. In February 1946 a contingent was sent to restore peace, clear up debris from the atomic blast, help rebuild and direct Japan into becoming a democratic society.Prime Minister Peter Fraser wanted the 5000 strong...

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Reflecting on that one life

Easter and the holidays that are related to it are moveable feasts in that they do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars. Instead the date for Easter is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. The First Council of Nicaea in the year 325 established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon following the March equinox. In Western Christianity, using the Gregorian calendar,...

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Cruising the captivating Coromandel

We recently spent a week in that curious section of the country known as the Coromandel Peninsula. We’d been there before, but that was a long time ago and we were keen to see the changes. Actually there were none. Our first stop was Thames. Now this town I would describe as having shown little progress since the last century, but then I remembered that the last century was only fourteen years ago and that’s not going back nearly far enough....

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