10 April 2019
In the year ending March 2018 New Zealand exported goods worth $15 billion to China and $14b to Australia, making them our biggest export trading partners.
The China exports included $4b of dairy products, $3b of logs and wood and $2b of meat products.
1 April 2019
This time of the year is farming awards season.
Tonight, I’m off to the Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Awards, which are one of the biggest non-dairy farming awards in the country. I think more than 350 folk attend.
25 March 2019
The 44 minutes of appalling hatred and evil by one individual will have profound and long-lasting impacts on the families, friends, community, Christchurch and this country for a long, long time into the future.
19 March 2019
A column of a more personal nature this week, I think.
This year is a big one for our family.
12 March 2019
From the Ridge (FTR): Prime Minister May, thank you for taking the time for the interview. I know you have a lot on your plate.
Theresa May (TM); My pleasure. Always delighted to talk to people from our colonies.
6 March 2019
The recommendations from the Tax Working Group came out a couple of weeks ago.
Possibly the worst kept secret or else unsurprising recommendations were the result. And the resulting furore and objections was equally unsurprising.
25 February 2019
I attended a small function in Napier where European Union Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan spoke.
He and his delegation were briefly in the country negotiating with our own officials over a trade deal between the EU and New Zealand, which sounds promising. Later, when I asked when this might happen, he said it could be early in 2020.
18 February 2019
I'm going to vent my spleen.
But first, this term deserves some consideration.
In European medicine from medieval times until the 19th century it was believed the spleen was the source of anger and, therefore, anger could be expelled by venting the spleen.
12 February 2019
It's been a funny type of season but no one is complaining in this part of the world.
August was benign for lambing and calving then that nasty early September storm hit the North Island’s east coast and a big dent was put into folk’s lambing percentages.
5 February 2019
The sound of cicada song is such an integral part of summer proper that their chirping becomes a backdrop to the day and often just becomes part of the background.
But I like them a lot and suspect most others do as well.
