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The Press, February 2014. Valentines Day is coming around again this Friday and with it the avalanche of ridiculous retail hype. Every year it becomes more about selling chocolate, flowers and cards, and less about being any real celebration of romantic love. And no, this is not a long-winded excuse for not buying my wife flowers. The same dynamic is…
The Press, December 2013 ‘ You can call me queen Bee. And baby I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule, I’ll rule,’’ sings Lorde, aka Ella Yelich-O’Connor, in her smash-hit Royals. And ruling Lorde is, topping charts all over the world and being labelled ‘‘the least-likely breakout pop star of the year’’ by Rolling Stone magazine. At just 17, Lorde has…
In all the controversy over intelligence gathering by the Government Security Communications Bureau (GCSB), our ‘spy’ agencies come out more ‘Maxwell Smart’ than real smart. Given that less than 90 people have been ‘spied’ on by the GCSB in the last decade, it all seemed like a lot of noise about not much. Where Kiwis could get into a lot…
The Press, September 2013
In all the controversy over intelligence gathering by the Government Security Communications Bureau (GCSB), our ‘spy’ agencies come out more ‘Maxwell Smart’ than real smart.
Growing up in rural New Zealand I had a friend disposed equally to scientific experimentation and torture of innocent beings. This fellow enjoyed trapping a spider in a jar and then using a magnifying glass to focus the sun’s rays on the poor insect until it burned. If he had simply left the spider in the jar the result would…
The Press, August 2013
Growing up in rural New Zealand I had a friend disposed equally to scientific experimentation and torture of innocent beings. This fellow enjoyed trapping a spider in a jar and then using a magnifying glass to focus…
The Press, November 2012 When The Hobbit premieres in Wellington tomorrow, it will not be just a creative triumph for director Sir Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop. It will be a celebration of the fact we can stand out in the biggest, richest and most cut-throat industry in the world. It’s a trail being similarly blazed in the technology sector…
The Press, July 2012 You know you are in trouble when a politician of all people starts criticising you for talking rubbish. That was the case in the UK recently when meaningless bureaucratic jargon came under the spotlight of self-confessed ‘grammar fascist’, and Minister of State, Alan Duncan. While attacking public servants for the use of impenetrable language is a…
The Press, May 2012 The next time one of those bronzed, health-obsessed Californians bites into a delicious fresh apple, they might be enjoying the ‘fruit’ of New Zealand innovation and helping put more ‘commercial’ into the country’s desire for commercialisation. Compac Sorting Equipment, who won the supreme award at Friday’s 2012 New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards, is currently installing a $20…
The Press, April 2012 Bubba Watson is something of an angry bird. Not that he flings himself at unsuspecting pigs, but like the wildly popular online game Watson has become an ‘overnight’ success, after many years of trying. Playing that incredible hook shot on the tenth hole propelled Watson into the US Masters’ green jacket and golfing stardom, but Bubba’s…