Are we failing our mentally impaired?

When I was a youngster I had my appendix taken out, and then my tonsils and my adenoids. My sister satirically mocked that I was “not all there.” Not being “all there” was a euphemism for insanity. Another crude expression was “not being the full quid.” After decimal currency was introduced not being the “full dollar” didn’t have the same impact so this expression was mercifully discontinued. Back then local people considered to be...

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Year one standard economics

I was looking at a two dollar coin the other day and remembered that it was once a pound note. As a pound note it was much coveted, held in high regard and usually spent wisely. It bought a huge array of goods when it was in vogue. Today, organisations staging events will often ask for a gold coin donation and we’ll throw a two dollar coin into a plastic bucket without so much as a by your leave. It’s the same with the term ‘a million...

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The great mysteries of Easter

Easter came and went and was preceded by the important questions of our time: should shops be allowed to open on religious holidays, can Sonny Bill Williams play footy sans the bank logos and did Jesus really rise from the dead? And sadly, probably in that order.The three Wairarapa district councils debated the shop trading issue with great fervour and despite overwhelming submissions to the contrary decided that shops could indeed be...

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Freedom comes, freedom goes

Last week Professor Paul Moon penned an “open letter” rejecting the forceful silencing of dissenting or unpopular views on university campuses. He managed to get 27 prominent New Zealanders to sign the document and these included Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Sir Bob Jones, Dr Brian Edwards the late Sir Douglas Myers and even two unlikely bedfellows, Dame Tariana Turia and Don Brash. This glittering array of luminaries certainly gave the epistle...

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Life in the land of the free

The American civil war of 1861 to 1865 could loosely be described as a conflict between America’s liberals and conservatives. The conservative slave owners in the south wanted their privileged lifestyles to be maintained whereas the liberals in the North sought to abolish slavery.The liberal north were led by their president Abraham Lincoln who was a Republican. In American politics the Republicans are the conservatives and the Democrats...

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