AGAIN, I have been privileged to be part of a group welcomed to Ratana Pa for the annual celebrations -- an occasion made more special

EVERY four-and-a-half days, planet Earth's population goes up by a million. Whoa! Yes, we're well and truly in a new age. Some call

By Paul Dawson AS A PROUD Englishman and a historian, I am often struck by the European desire to give lessons to the rest of the

THIS wind can just bugger off. Bugger off, I say. Weeks and weeks of endless gusts is enough to drive a fellow quite mad. The kids

AS Donald Trump took the oath of office, promising to defend and protect the United States Constitution, at least half the nation

Palestine impasse Neither Fred Frederikse's (Chronicle, Jan 10) or Jay Kuten's response (letters, Jan 18) is as dispassionate, thoughtful

millisphere, n. a discrete region populated by roughly one thousandth of the total world population; a bit over seven million people

" I CAN'T wait to see how the incoming administration deals with AI [artificial intelligence]," said US Secretary of State John Kerry

IN YEARS past, one of Vintage Weekend's most enthusiastic fans was my mum. Weeks beforehand, she would rummage through boxes of fabrics

Basic income Heather Marion Smith is weighing in on the Universal Basic Income debate, being touted as a need for people who can't

It is a matter of some disappointment for me that a cough-laden lurgy of the past few weeks means I will not be performing during

When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, he took more than half a million troops with him, and he still lost. When Hitler invaded the

QUITE apart from the weather (enough said!), the topic of conversation over the summer break often turns to friends and family and

Bilingual in the '40s I am informed by a Chronicle correspondent that a teacher at Maxwell School in the 1920s was obeying the law

I'M SORRY. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your private conversation. Nor did all the other people who felt compelled to listen in. In

THE new year seems to have started out with not so much a hiss and a roar as an eerie post-Keyxit lassitude. After so many years

Xmas cheers On behalf of Birthright, I would like to thank the Wanganui Chronicle very much for their support to the annual Birthright

THERE'S been a lot written about the so-called unexpected result of this year's United States presidential election. The ruminations

SHOULD there be a fireworks season? I think so. Consider Helen from Whanganui East. It's Sunday. She has had a big weekend, spent

Universal income "The main political task for the next generation ... will be to ensure that those without work have an income they

I WROTE of the disappointing headline that "Fish and Game felt blindsided" it had not known the Government was going to overhaul the

FOOTPATHS ... maybe not the most inspirational topic to write about, so bear with me as I endeavour to turn a sometimes dangerous

IN AN ANNOUNCEMENT sure to cause widespread grief verging on hysteria, 2017 will be my final year writing the Secret Diary. It's

Time to save planet Very few people will heed Professor Guy McPherson's warning that a total collapse of our environment is in the

LOVE comes to us in many ways ... family, friends, partners, lovers. Love provides most of the stuff of poetry, literature and song

THE Chronicle gave front-page coverage in October to my criticism of our council's management of plantings in Forres St. My wife

WHEN A Fox News reporter asked Donald Trump about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange back in 2010, just after Assange had released a

QUAKES have made us stronger, but are we any wiser? It's around two months since the Kaikoura Earthquake, magnitude 7.8, hit. Strong

THE main message of 2016 was that we are entering a period of economic and political upheaval comparable to the Industrial Revolution

My world has been taken over by rocks. Painted bloody rocks. Over the holidays my kids discovered Wanganui Rocks -- a Facebook-based