Bloody flight attendants; they have no sympathy for those with time management problems.

Geo-politically, socially, environmentally, economically, financially and spiritually, the world and state of human affairs is in a state of unparalleled flux and change.

Asians are dominating in visitor and international student numbers and in most family-migration categories to New Zealand.

"As a nation do we drink too much?" asks Roger Hall. "Many societies can enjoy themselves without alcohol being involved."

The bars on Ponsonby Rd are pumping when I turn up at the Auckland office of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective, behind an unassuming frosted-glass window at the western end of Karangahape Rd.

How can a second-term government - often distracted by its own blunders - continue to poll around the record levels it was elected on, asks Bryce Edwards.

At yesterday's Palm Sunday service Pa Petera Tipene was causing a few of his female parishioners to run for the back ranks.

The Government's transport safety regulator has finally decided to investigate the train accident that almost killed a young woman in a wheelchair on an Auckland level crossing.

The reaction to the appointment of Susan Devoy as the new Race Relations Commissioner demonstrates NZ's sensitivity on Maori issues, writes Bryce Edwards.

A flying-fox and a lollipop shop were among the first items suggested when the children of Taurus Cres were asked what they wanted in their local park.

Child poverty is not a party political issue; it is a moral and ethical issue, writes Susan St John. "It may have been possible some time ago to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the prevalence of child poverty in NZ."

Welfare benefits will go up by just 0.61 per cent from April 1 because the Government has decided not to give beneficiaries any compensation for higher cigarette prices.

Sweeping changes to the welfare system came closer to passing into law.

The mother of a young woman who was hit by a train when her wheelchair got stuck at an Auckland railway crossing last month says people are culpable for the tragedy and should pay reparation.

The woman, now 22, overcame huge odds to get to where she could get around Auckland unaided in her electric wheelchair.

Two-storey townhouses and stand-alone houses expected to sell from $400,000 to $700,000 have been unveiled in the first stage of redeveloping 156 Housing NZ sites in Glen Innes.

The mother of tortured Rotorua three-year-old Nia Glassie has been denied parole, with the board saying she remained an undue risk to the community.

Opponents of same-sex marriage are being slammed for distributing leaflets saying legalising the move will result in more incidences of AIDS and syphilis, and see the end of titles such as "husband and wife".

A banned poker machine addict slipped through all SkyCity's safety systems to play his way to VIP status in the casino's high-roller room - blowing $500,000 in the process.

Church leaders are making a last-minute appeal to MPs to protect teachers who believe marriage should only be between opposite sexes even if Louisa Wall's gay marriage bill is passed tomorrow.

"Haven't our common concerns bound us more closely together?" asks David Hill. "Both our cricket teams have been thrashed by India."

Kids at Kamo Primary School at the northern end of Whangarei are split down the middle over an offer of free milk from New Zealand's biggest company, Fonterra.

If we've learned anything from recent history, it's that people whose own sex lives are unedifying don't necessarily let that stop them damning others' proclivities.

A UN body's list of concerns shows how much women are being disadvantaged in NZ, writes Debbie Hager.

Let's look at the facts, writes Alan Freeth. Today, a quarter of children live in poverty in New Zealand.