Entertainment

There's lots of bad news out there and, conversely, lots of hopeful talk as well. You hear many 'experts' saying things will get worse, and just as many saying things will get better. Who knows which way it'll go.

My friend writer Helen Brown lost her iPhone. Quel bereavement! Because she was on holiday at Byron Bay and was just about to pack up and leave, there was no chance of it turning up under a cushion as might have happened at home.

New Zealand TV channels don't do overseas news until about 25 minutes into the news hour because they're so stuck on the idea that viewers like local news best. The only time that changes is when the world is falling apart.

Lindsey Dawson on sticky summer pleasures.

I was shocked recently to come across a website that could calculate for me in a second how many days I've been alive. For me, it's more than 23 thousand days.

The 'Trillion Dollar Bailout Ride'. I wore shoes like this when I was about 18. I remember red ones with a bow on the front, just like this sketch of mine.

This will be a short editorial because I have swine flu. Well, I probably have a cold, in fact, but I figure the self-diagnosis of swine flu will get me more sympathy.

Are we witnessing the decline and fall of our civilization? Sometimes, when I look at TV, I think so.

It's the time of year for flies and other pesky critters in our homes. But we harbour them in our hearts and minds as well. Here's one to beware of, The Fear Fly.

I'm writing a new novel set around 1880 and the more I read letters from that era that end in flourishing signatures, preceded by phrases like "yours very truly", the harder it is to wrench myself back into today.