It is unfortunate that the Herald appears to have a bee in it’s bonnet about Brian Tamaki and the Destiny Church. I say unfortunate, because the Herald does not appear to have the tools, understanding or, indeed, the inclination to approach the topic of donations to a church, or to the pecunious “Bishop” in question, [...]

Though many people are highly critical of the columns of Garth George, I often find that, past the general curmudgeonly nature of his columns, he often makes a great deal of sense. Unfortunately, he tends to couch his points in a fashion designed to bring out the worst in the blogosphere. It is not simply [...]

Yes, I know it is almost impossible to fathom such depravity, but some pharmaceutical advertisers make unsubstantiated claims in medical journals! (/SARCASM OFF) Such is the conclusion of Ben Goldacre of the Guardian, writing on the Bad Science Blog. Goldacre is writing about a recent research article in the Netherlands Journal of Medicine “Are claims of [...]

Suppose a German Shepherd had just killed his police handler by mauling him in an unprovoked attack? This dog has a history of previously mauling the dead body of a drunk who fell into the dog’s pen and broke his neck. The same dog had also been involved in the death of another police handler, [...]

I have finally managed to sit down and finish Gareth Morgan’s book, Health Cheque,  on the New Zealand health care system (long international flights are at least good for something). I find most of Morgan’s books a little superficial for my tastes and Health Cheque is certainly no exception, lacking, as it does, any deep [...]

In what has to be the most bizarre over-reaction I have heard in a long time, the Herald reports that a 12-year-old girl was arrested for scrawling on her desk. That is: properly arrested in handcuffs and dragged off to the police station and given eight hours of community service as her sentence.
Wow.
I realise this [...]

An HoS article on the sexual incontinence of famous men and the curerent trend towards “polyamorous relationships” (viz. Sleeping around) opens with the question “Are men naturally monogamous?”
This is a stupid question.
I am well aware that most of the males in animal kingdom do not mate with a single female for life, that they have [...]

I have to say I am amused by the frenzied reaction to the story of the Chinese drug dealer who was drawing a sickness benefit and living in a state house. Does anyone actually think this is an abnormal situation? Judging by the reactions over on Kiwiblog, I would say the answer to that is [...]

Scientists have shown that a patient in a persistent vegetative state can actually understand  and “answer” questions. Use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging has shown very specific brain activity in response to questioning. Activity that can be interpreted in no other way than as a response to a question. This would tend to indicate that [...]

I support strong measures to persuade people to stop smoking. It is a nasty habit with extremely serious health consequences. But I have to say that I find it impossible to approve of the current drive to ban smoking in most outdoor places.
Make no mistake, I hate it when I’m sitting at the beach, enjoying [...]