Killing us softly

Cell phones have been around since the 1980s and since their inception there have been numerous claims as to the health risks linked to their usage. Doomsayers suggest electromagnetic radiation can cause genetic damage, brain dysfunction, brain tumours and other conditions such as sleep disorders and headaches. I’m starting to believe there is more than a grain truth to these dire predictions. Since I’ve had a cell phone my hair has receded,...

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The country of tomorrow

American satirist H. L. Mencken once famously said: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populous alarmed - and hence clamour to be led to safety - by menacing it with and endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” I suspect there are a similar group of Cassandra-like sports journalists eager to do the same.Before the 2016 Summer Olympics we were bombarded with negative comments telling us why the tournament...

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The trans-Tasman enigma

I’ve just spent a couple of week in Aussie where things looked prosperous, however I was assured by those in the know that they are in fact on the cusp of a recession. We spent a few days in a town called Ballina in Northern New South Wales where we have friends. Ballina has an almost identical population to Masterton’s and so I was keen to make comparisons. The town has a main street about as extensive as ours, but it also boasts two...

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