25 September 2023
This week I listened to a segment on Radio New Zealand about Near Death Experiences. It was an interesting listen, but ultimately a one-sided presentation of a Massey University assistant professor's research. I take a look at NDEs and how the research was presented.
11 September 2023
At the prompting of Mark and Bronwyn during last week's podcast episode, I attended a church meeting last evening. This was an event called “Lean In: Christianity and Politics - Meet the Candidates”. This was held at the Windsor Park Baptist Church - only a few kilometres away from my home. The venue itself was pretty un-chuchlike, in that it was previously the Windsor Park Tavern.
14 August 2023
Most kiwis will be aware that it's election year, with the general election only a few months away, scheduled for Saturday 14th October.
10 October 2022
With local council elections closing this week, there was concern that Voices for Freedom's efforts to have their members run for office without disclosing their affiliation would result in councils being stuffed with conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Thankfully that appears to not be the case, as a Stuff article claims that fewer than a dozen VfF aligned candidates were voted in.
3 October 2022
In my last newsletter I mentioned the local body elections which are currently underway. The elections have some candidates standing who are aligned with various “freedom” and anti-vax groups. The media has done a fairly good job of identifying at least some of the candidates representing dodgy positions.
19 September 2022
Finally this week, I received my local body elections pack. I have the opportunity to vote for candidates for the Mayor of Auckland, and members of the Auckland Council, for a local board, and also a liquor licensing trust (where I live in Auckland, we're a “dry” area - where we can only purchase alcohol from licensing-trust-run businesses).
5 September 2022
This last week has been pretty astounding on the topic of conspiracy theorists.
22 August 2022
So in a couple of months we're all going to have the opportunity of voting in the local body elections, for our city, district and regional councils. And in some areas, there are elections for local and community boards too.
25 September 2016
There is currently a bill working its way through parliament which proposes moving the decision to fluoridate water supplies away from local councils and into the hands of DHBs. This appears to be a very good move, as fluoridation is a health issue and DHBs are much better suited to weighing up the pros and cons than local councils are. Councils in NZ have historically been bamboozled by Fluoride Free NZ, our local anti fluoride group, and have in some cases made decisions to remove fluoride.