After talking about Sue Grey's threat to sue the government last week, I found out that Sue was planning to give a talk on the steps of parliament the next day. So during my lunch break last Thursday ... (395 words)

On Thursday evening last week I visited Parliament to pray for the future of our country. Now I'm not a Christian, so I'm pretty sure my prayers aren't going to make a difference, but it's ... (383 words)

I've been keeping a close eye on some of the more fringe political parties in New Zealand's election, and it's been great to see that not many kiwis have been swayed by their radical ideas. In case ... (1451 words)

As part of the US presidential election circus, and given that both candidates are two of the oldest candidates ever, health records have become a part of the debate. In an attempt to allay fears ... (189 words)

Someone has put Mr Trump forward for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Supporters said in the submission that Mr. Trump deserved the prize for: "his vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a ... (135 words)

There was a Republican candidate debate on Wednesday, and I thought it would be good to look at the wrong-headed thinking of some of the candidates regarding vaccines. Trump Thinks vaccinations cause ... (464 words)

In George W Bush's America, it's okay to throw human embryos in the trash, but not to use them as a source of stem cells. A political question on the minds of scientists in the United States is: How ... (754 words)

This is the text of a letter sent to new Minister of Health Pete Hodgson in November 2005 by Keith Garratt, as a follow-up to his submission to the MACCAH committee in 2003. Dear Minister In ... (887 words)

The Green Party does not have a good record when it comes to scepticism. In 2002, party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons was an ungracious winner of our bent spoon award for her support of "etheralised ... (799 words)

It is with sadness that I see that the Skeptic is still accepting articles and letters with political bias. I would like to spend much of this letter countering some of Owen McShane's arguments from ... (1521 words)

Environmental issues have played an increasing role in skeptical subject matter over recent years, ranging from calls for biodynamic possum peppering earning Jeanette Fitzsimons the Bent Spoon last ... (834 words)

Skeptics Blown It? Prior to attending the NZ Skeptics conference in Wellington this year, I read the discussion paper on the role of science in environmental policy and decision making, Illuminated ... (1149 words)

Justice Minister Phil Goff has won the first-ever Bent Can Opener Award from the New Zealand Skeptics, for "refusing to open the can of worms that is the Christchurch Civic Creche case". For the past ... (377 words)

A Washington think-tank has announced a breakthrough in the search for a pattern in the seemingly random episodes of US military aggression since the war. "We think they are spelling out a message," ... (77 words)

True Home of Father Christmas Discovered! I am always astonished that famous mystical persons, such as the Virgin Mary (who was transubstantiated into an Australian fencepost in February) reveal ... (580 words)

Sources of Poverty Peter Hansen is confident that, "blame for the world's starving millions belongs [to] greedy corporate giants, environmental exploiters, warmongers and corrupt officials". He ... (941 words)

This article is based on an address to the Skeptics Conference 2002. A condensed version has also been produced for the NZ Listener. I've just received my first bad review of A City Possessed. It was ... (3181 words)

Owen McShane examines last year's Great Soya Sauce Scare There's a lot of Budget Science going on. Budget Science is not low cost science. It's certainly not amateur science driven solely by the ... (786 words)

It was a Ngatea farmer who finally got to Doug Edmeades on an Autumn day in 1985. Then employed as a scientist for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) Dr Edmeades had amassed a ... (263 words)

John Riddell looks at a costly alternative to glue sniffing. This being an election year, we are going to hear a lot more from the Natural Law Party. I don't know if it is the same here, but in the ... (1116 words)

Jim Ring takes a look at canonisation and finds the lives of the saints less than miraculous. THERE may soon be a New Zealand saint -- so should we be excited? Canonisation is a process making ... (1353 words)

Creationist Tactics I am sure Jim Ring is correct when he says we are on the winning side of the creationist battle [Forum, Summer 1997], but there is no room for complacency. As he says, the ... (1298 words)

A skeptical look at the Natural Law Party provided to journalists in preparation for the election. Dear Journalist, The Natural Law Party, the political party that makes McGillicuddy look really ... (1085 words)

NZCSICOP Politics As a subscriber to your magazine, I am concerned by the general trends evident in the statements made by a number of your contributors. For example, in the last issue Mr Wyant ... (1373 words)

PC for Me, See? "US Universities, cringing under a wave of Political Correctness and an extreme form of "multi-culturalism" are abandoning programmes which present the history of Western Civilisation ... (1509 words)