• Is philanthropy just propping up a broken system?

     

    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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  • Here’s to the craftspeople.

     

    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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  • Building homes. Building communities.

     

    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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  • Tax, love and self-preservation

     

    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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  • Banks, financial scams and culpability…

     

    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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  • A good night’s sleep and valuing quality

     

    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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  • Homekill butchery and customer service

     

    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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  • Impact: Top-down or bottom up?

     

    The other day I was out on a run around my rural area and I was a little distressed to see lots of rubbish in the grass by the road verges. Drink cans, McDonalds wrappers (despite being 30kms from…

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  • Societal values and compulsory National Service

     

    Never one to shy away from saying my bit, I’m well aware that for many readers the headline of this article will be triggering. Mention National Service and one risks accusations of neo-Nazism, militaristic command and control and short…

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  • Life is so rich. On interesting conversations and the road less travelled.

     

    I’m an exemplar at very little. I’m not qualified nor feted, rich nor famous. Indeed, probably the only thing I do better than the norm is choosing life paths that fall very much outside of the norm. While the…

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