Local Opinion

Online dating and neighbours at war

First of all this week, I would like to mention neighbourliness. In my role I sometimes get asked to assist with neighbourhood disputes. In many cases, disagreements stem from neighbour one becoming irritated at something…

Costs pressure on rates forecast

With inflation running at 5.6%, down from a 30-year high of 7.3% just over a year ago, households and businesses face difficult choices about spending their money – and so do councils, writes Waikato councillor…

Of cones and councils

If all the orange road cones in this country were placed end to end, they would stretch from Cambridge to Timbuktu. Yes….I made that up, but you get my drift, writes Peter Carr. The plethora…

Chancing your arm?

Days ago, I stood on the Northern Coast of Ireland in County Antrim overlooking Dunluce Castle. Atop craggy outcrops of rock with expansive views northward out into the Atlantic Ocean, my mind recalled famous stories…

Facts about calderas

Writing about volcanism in Aotearoa/New Zealand, the term “caldera” pops up frequently. We have a lot of them. For those who have vaguely heard of them, images of “supervolcanoes” and extinction-level eruptions tend to come…

Immigrants exploited

In a new trend for Cambridge, we have had eight cases where people have been the subject of an immigration and employment exploitation. Individuals have paid large sums of money for packages including work visas,…

The mountains around us

While volcanoes can produce stressful and scary events, they are a critical part of our planet’s natural processes and they enhance life on Earth in very important ways. Locally, old volcanic deposits have weathered down…

Help when it’s needed

This column comes to you from the Emerald Isle. That’s right, I’m in Ireland- land of my forbears on my mother’s side. My grandfather’s family business interests were wiped out with the collapse of the…

Time for another shake-up

The major state-sector reforms of the late 1980s gave the New Zealand public sector a huge shake-up. Its size was significantly reduced and its performance significantly improved. The impact of these reforms has gradually faded…

Getting the planning right

Masterplans are an important part of ensuring our town develops in a cohesive and holistic way, writes Cambridge Community Board deputy chair Elise Badger. Masterplans avoid ad hoc development, future proof amenities and hopefully, prevent…

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