Is Patriotism Flagging?

Is Patriotism Flagging?

Paul Thomas2016-04-01 History, they say, is written by the victors and few victors have relished the opportunity as much as Sir Paul Beresford, MP. The parliament in question is in Westminster, not Wellington; Sir Paul left this country in the 1970s and now sits on...
Choice is not a Matter of Taste

Choice is not a Matter of Taste

Paul Thomas2016-03-04 It seems most Kiwis fit into at least one of the following categories on the question of whether to stick with the current flag or replace it with the Lockwood design. Well-known people who think it’s time for a change. Well-known people who want...
Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton

Paul Thomas2015-01-30 Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker-prize winning novel The Luminaries shows she knows a thing or two about astrology, but I doubt she foresaw the stoush triggered by her remarks at an Indian literary festival. It was a heavyweight clash: in Catton’s...
Royal Tour

Royal Tour

Paul Thomas2014-04-19 I think we can all agree the royal tour went rather well. A Herald editorialist had to de-mothball the words “glorious” and “triumph” to do it justice, and went on to suggest that it surpassed all previous House of Windsor forays to this distant...
Sir Don McKinnon

Sir Don McKinnon

Paul Thomas2014-04-12 That Sir Don McKinnon must be feeling pretty silly right now. No sooner had the former Deputy Prime Minister asserted the inevitability of New Zealand ditching the monarchy than Kiwis of all ages, stages, shoe sizes, star signs, income brackets,...