I GOT the ol' royal wave going last Saturday, taking part in the annual Santa parade down Victoria Ave. Before we even turned the

IT'S a sickly cliche advertisement for Air New Zealand. But oh, how well it works. Go watch the viral video doing the rounds on

SATIRE is meant to have some bite but it seems to have become completely truthless and unable to leave a mark on the hard hide of

Gallery shortfall "The district council has agreed to underwrite any cost over-runs or shortfall in funding ..." Such a simple statement

WELL, it's been a funny old week in Parliament. I made the announcement that I was stepping down at the next election and was flattered

DID it cross your mind occasionally, in the past week, to wonder where all of the "250,000 civilians trapped in eastern Aleppo" have

JOHN Key has surprised everyone and pulled the plug. But it's probably a pretty good time to do it. With a workable consensus forming

WHEN Ole Romer determined that light has a finite speed it was 1676. Putting the year in perspective, it was 10 years after the

IT'S A funny thing, but after every election someone finds a reason to explain why "their" candidate failed to make it. Of recent

Von Clausewitz's aphorism that "war is the continuation of politics by other means" may well apply today, with reversal of the two

There has always been a philosophical debate in politics - should governments/councils be in business? More specifically, should

System is sick I would suggest Mr Benfell (Chronicle letters, December 5) look up Greg Palast's website for the complex reasoning

You won't remember me," a fellow retiree said in town the other day. He was wrong. Vague memories surfaced of learning to swim and

The death of Ray Columbus on Wednesday has added another music icon to what many see as a swingeing cull on pop stars in 2016. David

Separate dux Again, I wonder whether New Zealand is a country of equality or are racial distinctions still seen as necessary? We

As I write my final contribution for the year (and - as I am about to leave Whanganui - for the foreseeable future), I am thinking

Care confusion Re: The lovely independent 91-year-old and her troubles with Mid Central District Health Board and its home care policy. I

YOU will be amazed by this satirical take on conspiracy theories and clickbait. Did you realise that there are untruths everywhere;

Last month's Whanganui Science Forum talk featured Doug Armstrong from Massey University. A professor of conservation biology, he

IT'S been a funny old week, and readers will have no doubt seen the news that this will be my last term in Parliament. I appreciate

How quickly fortunes can change on the cricket field. After returning home from an arduous - and losing - tour of India, New Zealand's

I'm a woman on the edge people. Pushed to breaking point and finally ready to push back. Sick to bloody death of being bullied

LIKE Green Party member Chris Cresswell, I, too, was in Auckland last week for the Royal New Zealand Navy's 75th anniversary. Unlike

THE worst-kept secret in town is now official - Whanganui is to be the nation's new capital city. Any day now, following extensive

Guy McPherson is nothing, if not controversial. His human extinction within 10 years prediction polarises people. And attracts large

WE HAD a bit of a Guy Fawkes evening the other night. It was all very low key. I brought home a large old washing machine drum and

EVENTS over the past two weeks in the rest of the country and now, with the vandalism and attempted arson of Whanganui's surf lifesaving

The news that Kerry James Borrows - aka Chester - is stepping away from politics prior to next year's General Election is not a great

Another White Ribbon Day last Friday, and another good crowd supporting the cause of ending domestic violence against women. It is

Looking back I realise I have had a privileged art education. At Parakino Maori School I was a day one student in the new modernist