The other Saturday I followed my usual weekend programme. That is, after my morning run, I made myself a coffee (thanks for the beans, C4 Coffee) and sat down with the Weekend Press to catch up on the news…

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The other weekend I spent a couple of days doing an advanced 4WD driving course. Seems like a fairly random thing to do, but I’ve always been a fan of putting my hand up to volunteer for any opportunity…

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A chap in my local community is one of those salt-of-the-earth types who is a part of every community organisation. Name a community group or local initiative and he’s part of it. We’re only a small community, yet his…

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A few weeks ago I wrote an article about tax. In it, I said that, while I don’t agree with the “Tax is Love” feel-good spin, I do believe that paying tax is in our own interests from a…

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Recently I had the need to drive to a place I don’t often go in Christchurch. As I did so, I was amazed by the amount of development that has gone on. We’re well over a decade past the…

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Recently I’ve been thinking about community. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about our need for company and companionship and how the built environment can add or subtract from that need. The other weekend, my wife went off to do a…

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I always remember when, as a high school student, I learned about the 14th-century religious movement, the Flagellants. Followers aimed to purify their souls by what was termed “mortification of the flesh” – literally whipping their own bodies with…

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For the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic, an incredible thing happened.  All around the world people started looking out for each other. From ad hoc orchestras playing music while perched on various Italian window ledges to wine…

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I’m a big fan of camping generally, and car camping specifically. Given my penchant for running stupid distances in the New Zealand backcountry, perhaps it is unsurprising that I’ve spent many a night curled up in the back of…

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Recently I was home alone while my wife was attending a block course in Auckland. As I sat down to dinner one evening, I looked at the steak on my plate and my mind, as it is wont to…

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