Commission News & Views with Anne Tolley We live in a world affected by natural hazards - earthquakes, floods, tsunami, landslides and volcanoes are all too common stories in our daily news feeds and unfortunately,... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid I have been guilty of not paying due attention to the Bay of Plenty Steamers in the 2023 NPC competition title race. A hectic top level sporting agenda that included... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder The 19th Century weather disaster - dubbed 'The Year Without a Summer” - happened in 1816, when weather in Europe and North America took a bizarre turn which resulted in widespread... Read More

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny He drew his weapon of choice, a big black felt pen, from a jacket pocket. He looked around sheepishly, guiltily, and then left his ugly scrawl on top of a public rubbish bin on The... Read More

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz Tauranga only occasionally brushes against New Zealand music history but one such convergence came in 1987. It was in 1987 that a Tauranga compilation became the... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder The ‘Maunder Minimum' is the name given to the period from 1645 to 1715 when the number of sunspots - ‘storms' on the sun - became almost zero. The period is named after... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid Kiwi sports fans should salute the New Zealand Warriors in giving fans a season where they finished just one game short of reaching their third NRL Grand Final. Last... Read More

Talking Prorities with Simon Clarke As I reflect on my tenure as chair of Priority One, the Western Bay of Plenty's economic development agency, and my 12 years as a board member, I am filled with a sense of pride around... Read More

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny We aren't perfect. But hey…they're nuts!' Now that's a no-nonsense, shot-to-the-heart political rallying cry. Okay, it's American, but it's a Huntley & Palmers, it's a cracker.... Read More

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz I guess I should have expected that something new might cause a little consternation... And so it's been with the Winston Watusi Playlist on Spotify. There has... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid The New Zealand Davis Cup tie in Invercargill last weekend brought back a blast from the past, when what is now recognised as the 'World Cup of Tennis" played a leg of... Read More

Weather Eye with John Maunder The title of my climate book "Fifteen Shades of Climate" has been changed to "Climate Change: A Realistic Perspective" to better reflect its contents. Note: I was born in Nelson (New Zealand)... Read More