I was in my teens when a sudden rush of sexual publications became available, thanks to a change in censorship law. The Left-wing bookshop where I worked bought boxes of them, mostly lurid black and yellow-covered paperbacks of Robert Burns’ jaunty poems about fornication, The Kama Sutra, and The Perfumed Garden. We possibly made a profit for Read more
Rosemary McLeod referred to Bishop Justin Duckworth’s week in a monastic cell in front of Saint Paul’s Cathedral as a “performance piece” (Opinion, October 17). Justice Minister Judith Collins implied it was ridiculous and suggested this “sort of display” is “why people are leaving the Anglican Church”. Perhaps the symbol of a fenced in cell is Read more
There is no delusion more surprising than that human beings are rational. You need only consider the position the ghastly Kardashians occupy in the hearts and minds of millions of television viewers for evidence of that. We wreck the world through overpopulation, squander resources and exterminate species far lovelier than ourselves. Climate change looks to Read more
I loathe practical jokes. They’re bullying in disguise, they’re always hurtful and they’re sometimes criminal. Think of the recent trial of the teenager who set fire to a guest at his birthday party and thought it was hilarious. He doesn’t now. Worse, you’re supposed to be jolly about being humiliated because of some dim, ancient Read more
So help me, Hone Harawira is right. It’s not the display gangs make of themselves that matters, but the reasons why gangs exist in the first place. That a blue-eyed, pink-skinned, blonde MP, Todd McClay, tagging along after ex-Whanganui mayor Michael Laws, wants gang patches banned, illustrates the ignorance of even intelligent people when they Read more
A 12-year-old boy in Cannons Creek recently rescued a dog from being held down, kicked and hit with a cricket bat. In her weekly column, Rosemary McLeod reflects on what is likely to happen later in life to young people who are cruel to animals. McLeod contends that cruelty to animals “as a child is Read more
Bert Potter died without expressing sorrow for the ways in which he damaged many young people. Rosemary McLeod describes him as “a warning to whoever seeks a personal sage – and avoidance of reality – that you’ll most likely end up knee-deep in something disgusting”. As McLeod sees it, giving such people guru status means Read more
Labour MP Maryan Street says that there is “massive support” for her proposed bill to make euthanasia legal, and to set up a bureaucratic system to monitor the bill’s application. In her weekly column Rosemary McLeod contends that euthanasia is none of the Government’s business. She says that the case of the man who assisted his Read more
I’m sorry we upset the British with our antics in London on Waitangi Day. They’re not used to this sort of thing. The British are known for their abstemious ways with alcohol, and the respectful way they behave on, for example, soccer grounds. They may be known for their steady drinking at neighbourhood pubs, their Read more
The last thing you need is cruisy police when there’s random violence on the streets of your city. Cruisy is not comforting; it doesn’t make the violence go away and it doesn’t make anyone feel safe. Only John Key can get away with it. What I want from the police and the mayor when people Read more