Weather Eye with John Maunder Rainfalls for the month of May have been recorded in Tauranga since 1898 – except for 1904, 1907, 1908, and 1909. The graph shows the range of rainfalls from an extreme high of 634 mm in 2005...

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz For more than a century, the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend was a pinnacle weekend for punters, with the staging of the Great Northern Hurdles and Steeplechase...

Angie Warren-Clark Labour MP After 2 weeks at Alert Level 2 this past week saw our cabinet once again review the alert status at Level 2 and the outcome saw two major announcements come out. The first was that although we remain...

Winston Watusi Music Plus While many things seem almost normal again, the music scene is currently living in limbo. Actually, I think that's true of a lot of Tauranga; this slightly confusing winding down of levels has left...

Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris  If there’s one thing the world could do without these days, it’s politics without compromise. Our political culture is influenced by the...

Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP As we face the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on our economy, New Zealand First’s flagship policy – the Provincial Growth Fund – will be crucial in rebuilding our regions. It...

Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch There’s a song from a guy called Afroman that I think would  be the perfect theme for this  year’s election. Yes, there is a massive health crisis facing the world. Borders...

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz The return of greyhound racing at the start of May became the springboard for a remarkable feat by Palmerston North greyhound trainer Lisa Cole. On Friday, May...

Weather Eye with John Maunder The chart below shows that since 1979, when reliable satellite observations became available, there has been little overall trend in the average tropospheric temperatures, apart from milder/warmer temperatures...

Winston Watusi Music Plus The music scene at the moment reminds me of one of those David Attenborough documentaries. We've all seen them: gorgeous time-lapse photography takes us through the cycles of a waterless dessert, months...

Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch As one of the few white men who has broken the glass ceiling and attained a middle management position, I feel it is time to stand up and be counted on the matter of bigotry and intolerance. It...

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz The retirement of ND and Bay of Plenty Cricket legend Daniel Flynn flew under the radar for many cricket fans with the sudden closure of the 2019/20 cricket season...

Weather Eye with John Maunder The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is a standardized index based on the observed sea level pressure differences between Tahiti and Darwin, Australia. The SOI is a leading measure of the large-scale...

Winston Watusi Music Plus As I write this we are about to end level 3; as you read this we will have just entered level 2. Things are changing. Many of us – including at the Watusi Country Club and Sanitarium - just spent...

Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch There is a little bit of  peer pressure at the moment to take a holiday and ‘explore my own country’. The problem is, who actually feels like going anywhere in the last few weeks...

Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris Councils usually adopt their budgets to determine next year’s rates by June 30. However, this year, several councils are looking at finalising their...

Simon Bridges National Party Leader simonbridges.co.nz New Zealanders have made a lot of sacrifices over the past couple of months and this has led to our country’s health response to COVID-19 being an effective one. We’ve...

Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz The coronavirus shutdown, which has closed down professional sport throughout the world, has seen sports writers and commentators scrambling to find copy to write...

Professor Jens Mueller Good Business After more than 30 years of living in Tauranga, I still see many of the same faces and firms, working hard, enjoying our great lifestyle – and hoping that the next year will be better for...