Recent legal action against Horizons Regional Council smelled like a sordid strategy to upset the apple-cart on the eve of regional

By now most farmers have all or a good portion of their new season lamb crop on the ground. In the North Island favourable lambing

The UN health agency has recommended countries use tax policies to increase the price of sugary drinks like soft drinks, sport drinks

A weekend in the life of Dom George: fantastic All Blacks, a delectable Tuatara brew, and atrocious social "medea" spelling.

Have you ever been incensed by a badly parked car? Shelley Bridgeman lists her top five parking gripes.

Once again the Hawke's Bay Regional Council is planning to head off to the Courts to enforce their unpopular decisions on a weary

Winston Peters is calling for immigrant employers caught underpaying workers or forcing them to work long hours to be deported.

COMMENT: "Spare me the moral outrage New Zealand", Wayne Perkins reckons Aaron Smith should be left alone after his recent indiscretion.

COMMENT: Environment, drinking water and charges need to be dealt with separately, writes Iain Rabbitts.

What a wet start to the spring we are having. At least it's been warm, grass growth is increasing and our water tables are being replenished. Good

Perverse as it may seem, the Hastings District Council, under scrutiny as possibly culpable in the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak

Electricity is one of those boring basic services that it's easy to take for granted, until suddenly you're without. For anyone with

Whangarei District councillors recently voted unanimously to protect our community and local economy from the risks of outdoor uses

While dairy farmers are cheered by a milk price forecast that's above break even, Fonterra's recent record profit is bittersweet.

Are we losing our regional towns? Dom George investigates rural depopulation.

One of the current Hawke's Bay regional councillors who has strongly opposed the Ruataniwha Dam and, party to many comments regarding

During the recent election debates here in CHB, it was claimed by some that the Ruataniwha Dam was not an issue for the District Council

The Country host Jamie Mackay tackles his detractors in this week's column, but it's not all bad news.

Dairy farmers have started huddling in barns and sheds for the first of DairyNZ's post-calving discussion groups. The well-run, informative

COMMENT: Trump has turned international trade into a political minefield with his opposition to agreements like the TPP.

Dom George looks at both sides of the rural/urban story to try and see if everyone can play nice.

The number of dog-bite patients discharged from hospitals around the country has increased 58 per cent over the past 10 years.

COMMENT: It was Real House Roosters of the Beehive kind of stuff, an A-grade brouhaha.

The host of The Country, Jamie MacKay, promoted it as "The Great Water Quality Debate". He introduced the two protagonists using political

The Country's resident cynic investigates the murky world of social-media one-upmanship.

COMMENT: If the success of the rat-kill on Rakitu Island is anything to go by, NZ is unlikely to be clear of pests by 2050.

Jamie Mackay wades in to the water quality debate

COMMENT: There has been serious attention paid to concussion in sport recently.

Poor Cynthia. Cynthia Bowers has suggested an Environmental Ombudsman for Hawke's Bay. Given the heated debates about water quality

With calving almost over and mating on the horizon it's time to have a review of one of the most significant decisions you will make