Recently I read an article by a well known property expert who stated recently that you should not be investing in real estate unless it had a 10 per cent net yield. - forget about anything at the Mount then. Another very well known author stated that... Read More

In 1985, New Zealand's Attorney General, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, launched the ‘great quango hunt'. He threatened to strangle many of the useless ‘quasi autonomous national government organisations'. According to political reporter Jane Clifton,... Read More

It looks as if there will be an attempt to revisit the bus station decision at council. With seven elected members present, Willow Street was chosen by majority vote 4 to 2 with one abstention. This was one occasion when abstaining from voting was... Read More

As the Strand has been a little quiet this week, I thought I would share this story with you, and since it concerns a ‘furry feline' - all the better. Down in Te Kuiti, the home of the living legend ‘Tree', a certain household was not finding... Read More

The brilliant Audrey Tautou plays the headstrong, self-sufficient designer who, in pre-First World War France, was one of the first women to assert herself in a man's world. Born poor in 1883 in rural France, Gabrielle ‘Coco' Chanel overcame... Read More

It's been a huge week of sporting highs and lows. 1. First up is Mike Delany's call up for the All Blacks squad. It's great to see another Bay of Plenty player making the grade. Delany has had AB written all over him and has steamed into the line up... Read More

There is too much wrong with Tim Hazeldine's defence of ACC's viability (New Zealand Herald, October 20) to take any comfort from his ‘she'll-be-right' reassurances. First, he likens the cost of funding the results of accidents to the costs of... Read More

It's a big week in Microsoft world; over in Vegas they are holding their big Sharepoint event, getting ready for the release of Sharepoint 2010, which will also see a whole load of new goodies, including Office 2010, and (project managers take note)... Read More

With a justifiable finger waving at the Grammar boys' larrikinism at the Auckland museum, it gives a chance to ponder who, or which, of history's tyrannical regimes should be condemned as evil. I say all of them should be condemned, although that... Read More

Saluting Nazis is not okay! But get caught carrying pictures of Chairman Mao (death toll around 70 million), have a poster of mass-murderer Che Guevara on your wall, wear a Che Guevara T-shirt from Hallensteins or go sipping revolutionary coffee in... Read More

What a great weekend it turned out to be for Bay of Plenty Rugby. A narrow win over Manawatu and two players selected for the All Blacks. While the Steamers had slipped off the pace in recent weeks prior to the Manawatu win - the team in the blue and... Read More

There are some dates you don't forget. For me, Tuesday 17 October 1989 is one of them. It was a funny day right from the start. I'd gone into San Francisco to finalise some travel details. I had to go downtown and found a car park straight away, which... Read More