Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch  It is one of life’s great mysteries: why are we so drawn to the water? Like tens of thousands of others in the Bay this year I have jostled with other humans on the roads, parked up...... Read More

Simon Bridges National Party MP simonbridges.co.nz It has been an amazing summer so far in the Bay.   The sun has shone and the beaches and cafes have been heaving, but a couple of things have got my goat. The first is...... Read More

Democracy HQ A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris  The first rule in politics is don’t tell lies. But that is precisely what some elected representatives around New Zealand are accusing Jacinda Ardern, Nanaia...... Read More

Winston Watusi Music Plus  Meet the new year – same as the old year? ...And here we are on the other side. Welcome to 2022: brace yourself... If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from the past couple of years...... Read More

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz Cricket grabbed Sideline Sid's attention from the opening ball of the Ashes Boxing Day test across the ditch, along with all the continual New Zealand Cricket...... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder The graph below shows the range of Tauranga's December rainfalls, from an extreme high of 447 mm in 1962 to a low of only 4 mm in 1930. The second wettest December was 2018, when 278 mm was recorded The...... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder Temperatures have been recorded in the Tauranga area at several sites during the last 100 years, including the current Tauranga Airport site from June 1990. The average afternoon temperature in December...... Read More

Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch   ‘Tis the night before Christmas and noisy as heck, the sun is still shining and we’re out on the deck. Stockings are hung by the aircon with care – a sweaty Saint Nick...... Read More

Winston Watusi Music Plus A lot of writers are deadline junkies. Perhaps it is just the pleasure of procrastination, but it requires the impending rush of a deadline to unleash their creative energy, to get them writing. That’s...... Read More

Tamati Coffey Labour List MP  The past year has hit Aotearoa hard and New Zealanders have thankfully risen to the challenge, because it could have been so much worse. Thanks to the mandate you gave us, this Labour government...... Read More

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz Christmas 1976 brought Sideline Sid a present that he still delights in today, when he received the "DB Sporting Records of New Zealand" from under the...... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder In the bleak mid-winter, Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone, Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter, Long ago. These words, from...... Read More

Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch  I’m not sure where the fear of heights came from. Since I was a child I’ve been scrambling around rocks and tramping in the mountains, hopping across swing bridges without thinking...... Read More

Angie Warren-Clark Labour MP  Last week in Pāpāmoa we opened Te Ākau, the new Oranga Tamariki building on the new Ngā Parirau site. This beautiful building represents a change in the way Oranga Tamariki operate, moving...... Read More

Simon Bridges National Party MP simonbridges.co.nz  I want to touch on the government’s handling of Covid-19, since its re-emergence in the community in August in the form of the Delta variant. While the government...... Read More

Pick a number - any number - and see how it applies to your weekend just gone by. Numbers, when they are grouped together or put side by side usually paint a picture, and my numbers for the first few days of December lined up better than they have for...... Read More

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz Sideline Sid believes that "Career on the line for Joseph Parker" is a perpetual headline that New Zealand sporting media pull out each time the Kiwi boxer...... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder The following data sets and comments are from the climate4you.com website developed by Professor Ole Humlum who is a Danish Professor Emeritus of Physical Geography at the University of Oslo, and Adjunct...... Read More

Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch Christmas presents can be placed into three main categories – heartfelt, practical and minimal. Heartfelt gifts are obviously the most time consuming, requiring hours of browsing and a good...... Read More