The other day my wife and I happened to be driving through Sheffield in Canterbury en route to Arthur’s Pass. We took the opportunity to visit the establishment that is the Sheffield Pie shop, world famous (or at least…

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My parents were refugees from Eastern Europe who fled communism and the reality of post-Holocaust Eastern Europe. When they came to New Zealand back in the 50s, the path for any immigrant not from the United Kingdom was very…

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I’m a child of the 70s and hence I grew up at the tail end of Monty Python’s popularity. Monty Python is, of course, the epitome of silly but hilarious British humour. To this day I can’t help but…

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I lean a bit to the left when it comes to politics. I’ve always been troubled by the sort of neo-liberal attitudes of the 80s and the “profit at all costs” mantra of Friedman and his ilk. That sort…

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As I write (or more correctly type) this article, I’m sitting at the place that arguably captures the essence of Wellington’s café scene most authentically – Midnight Espresso. My flat white, crafted from the fine beans of Havana Coffee…

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Recently I had an interview with an organisation looking for a new board member. One of the first questions they asked me was how I found serving on boards in so many different sectors. At first glance, the fact…

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I’ve got a newspaper clipping (on real paper, no less) that I’ve been carrying around with me for close to thirty years. The clipping was carefully excised from The Jerusalem Post in September of 1993 when I was busy…

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