What prompts a school to ban something is usually, I would imagine, a matter of being fed up with a distraction, a noise or a bad look. Or at least it should be, says Andrew Bonallack.

International flights are far from an equal environment, with the class rankings in place on planes. But with our gentle domestic flights, we're all crammed together.

Our flag serves as an emblem of our country in a huge number of settings - from web pages to government buildings. However, the flag we use today wasn't the first one.

The Northland by-election result confirmed Northlanders are fed up with a National Government that they perceive has left the local economy to fend for itself.