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Latest FromRachel Stewart

This is how Rachel Stewart will be spending next month. Sober and on the banjo strings. Photo / 123RF

LIFESTYLE

Rachel Stewart: Time for dry July

27 Jun, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: The more I drank the more I could handle it. Time to give it a break.

The writer and television presenter Anthony Bourdain, who died last week. Photo / AP

LIFESTYLE

Rachel Stewart: We cannot bury our heads in the silence

13 Jun, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Our approach to suicide isn't working very well.

Cows are highly individualised animals with a range of emotions. Photo / Supplied

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Why I've come to love those cows

30 May, 2018 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Studies show cows have personalities and emotions, just like cats and dogs.

Farmers are desperate for MPI guidance on M. bovis. Photo / Duncan Brown

BUSINESS

Rachel Stewart: Farmers angry with MPI over Mycoplasma bovis

24 May, 2018 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: MPI chief fighting Mycoplasma bovis says previous column hit close to bone.

Farmers can always change and adapt, given decent leadership and scientific guidance they trust. Photo / Sarah Ivey

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Ministry's cunning plan fails again

16 May, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Farmers should have acted sooner but MPI should have too.

The Whanganui River, with its 'H', stretches away to the far horizon. Photo / Beryl Cowan

WANGANUI CHRONICLE

Rachel Stewart: Why the 'h' do they bother?

3 May, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Councils have perfected pretending they're doing something meaningful about water quality

The slow-flowing Whanganui River. Picture / Supplied

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Why the 'h' do they bother?

2 May, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Some of dullest minds in the country found at local government tables.

Why lock in further reliance on fossil fuels - more jobs and infrastructure - that are likely to be left stranded as the world shifts away from them? Photo / 123RF

BUSINESS

Rachel Stewart: The sun has already set on oil

18 Apr, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Industry anger with Govt baseless given global shift away from fossil fuels.

Since youth, I've been aware that death is sitting on my shoulder every minute of every day. Photo / Getty Images

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Death part of the cycle of life

4 Apr, 2018 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Death notification app is not for all tastes but it keeps things in perspective.

Jacinda Ardern makes a surprise appearance to receive the End Oil petition. Photo / Mark Mitchell

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Journos, feel heat on warming

21 Mar, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: As weather gets worse, writers need to step up.

There's nothing better for your soul than experiencing nature - much healthier than reading about men in nappies. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Breaking free from addictive web

7 Mar, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Online technology is hugely important but too much can be detrimental.

Frances McDormand stars in the Oscar nominated movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Photo / AP

ENTERTAINMENT

Rachel Stewart: Carping at movie deeply misguided in flawed world

21 Feb, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Three Billboards film has drawn flak for lack of neat ending — but that's life.

Rodeo is on the way out. It's on the wrong side of history. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Yee-ha! Rodeo is doomed

7 Feb, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: So, we all know in our hearts that rodeo is wrong.

Enforcing the legal exhaust noise limit as part of WOF checks might remove some of the headache caused by boy racers. Photo / Wairarapa Times Age

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Boy racer noise drowns quiet country life

24 Jan, 2018 7:07am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Why do we have to put up with these stupid antics?

We've pushed our planet not to an environmental and ecological crossroad but to a precipice. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: I got end-of-humanity blues

10 Jan, 2018 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Hard to feel jazzed about 2018 knowing Earth and its denizens are on brink.

Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy. Photo / Dean Purcell

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Media gorging on racist, sexist views

29 Nov, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: We shouldn't be publishing opinions which are based on racist or sexist attacks.

Wouldn't it be great to see Fonterra using their expensive legal teams to demand higher standards from the environmental regulators rather than such things as the Ruataniwha Dam project. Photo / Duncan Brown

BUSINESS

Fonterra's spin makes me want to throw up

22 Nov, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Fonterra's waterways plan requires a bucket, writes Rachel Stewart.

Greer Hutton of the Navy's amphibious beach team, signals the driver of an Army vehicle to prepare to leave a landing craft. Photo / NZDF

NEW ZEALAND

Climate of change for the Defence Force

15 Nov, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

OPINION: Climate change is likely the biggest threat to national security we face.

Synthetic milk tastes like the real thing and ingredients can be fine-tuned to be lower in cholesterol. Photo / Getty Images

BUSINESS

Rachel Stewart: BigAg must wake up to synthetic threat

1 Nov, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Artificial milk and meat pose huge risk to farming industry.

Let's hope more people can focus on Jacinda Ardern's political skills and not just her looks. Photo / Mark Mitchell

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Basking in glow of bright Ardern era

25 Oct, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: What's it going to be like while writing under the influence of optimism?

We are on track to have our fourth consecutive rise in the road toll this year. Photo / Alan Gibson

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Why is our road toll such a disgrace?

18 Oct, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: I have a strong suspicion that another dynamic is at play.

The world is in a bad shape and getting worse - if there is a solution, we probably won't find it on social media. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: We're all feeling the squeeze

11 Oct, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

Opinion: Perfect potpourri of planetary problems is upon us.

Lucy Lawless plays a diva with issues. Photo / Brett Phibbs

ENTERTAINMENT

Rachel Stewart: Life-affirming jaunt feels good

4 Oct, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Attending gala opening night of Pleauredome mattered to me on a number of levels.

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: I'm not afraid of big bad Winston

27 Sep, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Peters has always demonstrated a willingness to do a deal, says Rachel Stewart.

Jacinda Ardern is drawing women away from National. Photo / Jason Oxenham

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Why women will decide this election

20 Sep, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Labour's leader is aspirational for women and won't pull ponytails.

Dairy farming and nature in perfect harmony... if only. Photo / Mark Mitchell

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Don't feel sorry for farmers

13 Sep, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: National is talking up the urban-rural divide to get votes, says Rachel Stewart.

Men in suits bear a different kind of gang patch - one symbolising power. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Men in suits scariest gang of all

6 Sep, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Out here in the real world things are not so black and white.

Time will tell if the Farming Leaders Group will honour their

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: That's right polluters, it's time to pay

30 Aug, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: There is overwhelming public support for a water royalty, says Rachel Stewart.

Jacinda Ardern's intellect and eloquence have got even the most jaded of cynics fired up again. Photo / Getty Images

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Ardern oasis in political desert

23 Aug, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Labour leader's magnetism has not been seen since Clark and Lange.

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Hysteria over water policy pitiful

16 Aug, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Labour's water policy is not as difficult to understand as you might think.

Green Party co-leaders Metiria Turei and James Shaw are questioned by the media at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Greens can't blame media

9 Aug, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Comment: Turning Turei's pronouncement into a virtuous act of heroism is way off the mark.

Festival-goers enjoy the mud during the annual Boryeong Mud Festival in Boryeong, South Korea. Picture/ Getty

NEW ZEALAND

Let's hope the mud festival is clean

2 Aug, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: NZ is importing mud from South Korea where foot and mouth disease has occurred.

The only way to navigate this Christchurch street is by an inflatable canoe. Photo/supplied

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Councils must walk climate talk

26 Jul, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Is your local council doing enough about mitigating effects of climate change?

This election will be a dirty battle which will strain families and friendships. Photo / NZME

NEW ZEALAND

Ugly and brutal: this election could be a killer

19 Jul, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Will New Zealanders emotionally survive the campaign, let alone the result?

President Donald Trump has been the subject of many articles which suggest he has some form of impairment. Photo / AP

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Dad's illness and Trump

12 Jul, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Experience of father's gradual decline has parallels with unstable behaviour of Trump.

The state of our waterways is an election issue. Photo / NZME

NEW ZEALAND

One party has guts to tackle water

5 Jul, 2017 9:33pm
6 minutes to read

COMMENT: Opportunities Party has policy that makes sense.

Which leader would you trust to save your child? File photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Let's play 'who will save the baby'

28 Jun, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: If a child was about to drown, would any of our political leaders act?

Nothing seems to move our politicians. It's all about votes and deals. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: I need my nihilism

21 Jun, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: How to make sense of a world that no longer makes any sense.

NEW ZEALAND

Doomsday clock ticking for birds

7 Jun, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Tourist boss is silly to say visitors come for scenery, not wildlife.

Those who pipe fearful racket into their places of business may be able to ignore it but heaven help rest of us. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Stewart: Beaten down by radio ads nauseam

31 May, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Could you live without advertising? Oh, dear God, how I could.

Zsa Zsa Gabor is the only one who could wear the slippers. Photo / supplied

NEW ZEALAND

Stewart: Tax scattered on the floor

26 May, 2017 5:00am
2 minutes to read

COMMENT: In summation, it's a dud. It's squarely aimed at the looming election.

As the Pixar movie Inside Out showed, sadness is often an underrated emotion.

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Why I'm not positive

24 May, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Rachel Stewart explains why she's not going to be positive just to please chirpy men.

DoC's plan includes developing a display of moa and Haast's eagles at Oparara Caves, north of Karamea. Photo / Jim Eagles

BUSINESS

Rachel Stewart: How to tarnish tourism glow

17 May, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Quantity over quality will turn round to bite tourism industry.

Bad blood appears to be thicker than bad water. Photo / Richard Cosgrove

NEW ZEALAND

Fighting until cows come home

10 May, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Dairy farmers and industry mouthpieces love to say they are environmental angels.

Elderly, white males are as pesky, autumnal flies for this columnist. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Stewart: Sour old men love bitter whine

3 May, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

Comment: Elderly, white males are as pesky, autumnal flies for Rachel Stewart.

So, democracy devotees, you can dress up to the nines, all Soprano-esque, on the cover of a glossy magazine if you want. I won't be swimming with your fishes.

NEW ZEALAND

Are we in the final days of democracy?

26 Apr, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Democratic values appear to have entered a death spiral, writes Rachel Stewart.

I've been flying somewhere my whole life, and the thrill of it never leaves me. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Stewart: Thrill of flight never leaves

19 Apr, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: The sense of wonder, of rising above it all, never gets old, says Rachel Stewart.

John Clark did satire like no other. Photo / Supplied

ENTERTAINMENT

Clarke made us appreciate ourselves

12 Apr, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: John Clarke's genius was what made him distinct, writes Rachel Stewart.

A lack of regulatory enforcement around our dairy an tourism industries should deeply worry us as a nation. Photo / Sarah Ivey

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Make the polluters pay

5 Apr, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: I've always suspected NZ's scarcity of environmental enforcement was willful.

As for midwives, who are overworked, under-resourced and under-paid, they're leaving the profession in droves. Photo / 123RF

LIFESTYLE

Midwives - overworked and underpaid

29 Mar, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Women taking care of women challenges the status quo, writes Rachel Stewart.

'Our own white-centric narratives are failing', says Rachel Stewart. Photo / File

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: I'm with the river

21 Mar, 2017 1:39pm
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: The Te Awa Tupua Bill is a unique approach which we need more of.

The Fearless Girl statue apeared opposite Wall Street's bull in time for International Women's Day. Photo / AP

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Girls can do anything

15 Mar, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

OPINION: They'd never had a woman on the footplate so I needed to be under 'supervision', says Rachel Stewart.

It is an honour to observe birds of prey hunting their food. Photo / Getty Images

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Beast friends?

8 Mar, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

OPINION: Human capacity for animal cruelty never-ending, writes Rachel Stewart.

Cattle in the early morning sun. Photo / Brett Phibbs

THE COUNTRY | Opinion

The ethics of sustainable water quality

1 Mar, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: Moral implications seem a bridge too far in decisions on management of key resource, opines Rachel Stewart.

Synthetic milk will be a much easier public sell. Photo / Supplied

BUSINESS

Rachel Stewart: Fake food is our future

22 Feb, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: There's something about animal farming and meat-eating that defies rational gravity.

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Fighting the good fight

15 Feb, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Personal battles are waste of energy when tackling climate change requires us all.

NEW ZEALAND

Rachel Stewart: Let racist oafs be minority

8 Feb, 2017 5:00am
4 minutes to read

COMMENT: If risible views heard on plane above Godzone are pakeha norm then help us all.

America. Such a great idea at the time - you know, once they got the mass genocide of Native Americans, and slavery out of the way. Photo / 123RF

WORLD

Rachel Stewart: First love hard to forget

1 Feb, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: The US has the best raptors for falconry - eagles, falcons, hawks. I go often. The thought of not going breaks my heart. Yet, here we are.

Mary Thoma marches and chants during the Women's March outside the Caddo Parish Courthouse in Shreveport. Photo / AP

WORLD

Rachel Stewart: Stage set for worse to come

25 Jan, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Not even a week into Trump's presidency, it's crystal clear that US citizens are now dealing with a fascist regime, writes Rachel Stewart.

To block someone is not censorship. It's just that I don't want to hear you, or more to the point, for you to hear me. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Unwanted male attention? Use the block

18 Jan, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: To block someone is not censorship. It's just that I don't want to hear you, or more to the point, for you to hear me, writes Rachel Stewart.

It's intricate but be assured of one thing. DairyNZ's anti-nitrogen limits stance is black and white. Photo / 123RF

NEW ZEALAND

Put your money where your mouth is

11 Jan, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Reliable as clockwork, and right on cue, DairyNZ stepped up to the microphone and shot themselves in the head.

WORLD

Why we should all pray for world peace

4 Jan, 2017 5:00am
5 minutes to read

COMMENT: Over a summer beer, someone casually asked me what I wanted for 2017. I just as casually said "world peace."