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What is the link between Covid-19 shots, Cancer and HIV? Watch the video to find out more...

Is all water created equal? Dr Sam explores the benefits and harms of water and what you should do to optimise your health.

Most of us will have gone to a beach, found a treasured shell chosen for its vivid colours, amazing markings or uniformity of natural design and kept it in a special hiding place, but not many of us will have gone on to collect in excess of 17,000 of them, from around the world. Local man Doug Snook has done just that, and his house is now a veritable museum of all things…

Groundswell NZ is a volunteer group of farmers and rural professionals advocating for our Grass Roots farmers and rural communities. They recently took to the streets in the biggest protest since Bastion Point and converged on all the main centers nationwide in a convey of tractors – pushed to the limit with the number of regulations and perceived unworkable legislation that they…

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is currently New Zealand’s principal law that governs how people interact with natural resources such as our air, soil, fresh water and the coastal marine environment. The RMA also regulates land use and the provision of infrastructure. It is generally accepted across most of the parties in Parliament that the RMA has passed its use-by date…

One of the most amazing aspects of politics in New Zealand in recent decades is the enduring popularity of a Prime Minister who leads a Government which has failed in almost every major policy area. It is indeed a sad reflection on democracy itself that voters seem more impressed by a pretty smile than by the Government’s ability to deliver on its important policy objectives. Too…

Located in the Bay of Plenty region, Rotorua is a city on the Southern shores of Lake Rotorua which it takes its name. As a city that was built in the 1880’s, Rotorua is unusual in that is was neither a port, nor a farming community and has always been a town built for tourists who visited the lakes. As such, tourism still remains a huge part of Rotorua’s economy both…

If you have ever exclaimed dismay at your amount of monthly power bill and wondered how it could possibly be so high, and what you can do to reduce it, you are not alone. Over the next two months, elocal will examine the different components that go into your power bill, what that means for you the end user and ways to best ensure you are getting the most out of your energy…

An elderly neighbour dropped in to see me today seeking an explanation to an emailed marketing blurb she received from Countdown. The front page of the usual specials advertising was “Celebrate Matariki Maori New Year”. I explained to her the current Government had legislated a new public holiday” as a celebration of Matariki, the Maori New Year”. She wasn’t impressed, raising…

Last month we previewed the Hot Rods & Horsepower Show hosted by Pukekohe Hot Rod Club & Napa Auto Parts Dragway. This month we preview one of the cars which will be displayed at this fantastic show in August. Allow us to introduce the B&M/Brizio Project Car 1932 Ford Tudor direct from the USA and now owned by Ian & Iqbal Taylor of the Pukekohe Hot Rod Club. This car was built…

This year's stories were ‘flash fiction’, 300 words in length, and beginning with “I remember”. “The Blossoming of Minerva Stout” Local Prize, Winner: Wendy Craig, Pukekohe I remember what Mother always said. ‘There’s nothing like a funeral, Min, to make you think about your own life.’ I’ve been reminiscing a lot these last few weeks. It was on the Monday after dinner that Rol…

The Nenet people of Northern Russia are nomadic reindeer herders that have lived in the Siberian Arctic since the 12th century. Through a yearly migration of over a thousand kilometres, these families move herds of up to 7,000 reindeer at a time. It is debated whether it is the reindeer that lead the people or vice versa. In such a challenging environment where temperatures…

WELCOME TO OUR NEW BUSINESSES IN PAPAKURA Tasi Market on the Great South Road Rapid Facility on Porchester Road 24 new businesses have opened in Papakura this year! CHECK OUT OUR AMAZING MURALS AND CHORUS BOXES IN PAPAKURA Go to www.papakura.co.nz and on the home page – hit the tab saying Murals and Art. We have 24 murals now around Papakura from talented local artists…

Whilst the official cash rate remains unchanged at least for now there are predications that the expected increase forecasted for the end of 2022 may have to be bought forward. This is a tricky balancing act for the RBNZ, in trying to pre-empt a rise in inflation without pushing up the exchange rate too much (and hence dampening exports). This directly affects the housing…

Everyone knows someone who has a story about a disastrous build experience. Council delays, contractors that just don’t turn up, building companies that stretch resources and ultimately hand over dates pushed out months further than expected. How then when you making what is arguably the biggest decision you will make in a lifetime do you make sure you are choosing a company that…

Safety: the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury. Everyday, we engage in behaviours to ensure we are kept safe from dangers, risk or injury in our everyday endeavors. We follow rules and adhere to policies like driving on one side of the road, stopping at red lights, refraining from drinking bottles of chlorine bleach. We educate our…

Mark Twain famously said, “it is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled”. Whilst points of view can appear to be paradoxical, both right, sometimes this is illusory, and we need to go back to the basics. Real people live in three dimensions not two and so the solution to the illustration is to flip the number the right way up before interpreting…

New Zealanders are being left out of important decisions by the Labour Government, and National is launching a series of campaigns for Kiwis to ‘Demand the Debate’. The first campaign relates to the Government’s 2019 He Puapua report. Kiwis were never told about it at the time and it was never campaigned on by Labour. It has recently been considered by Cabinet and is being…

Members of three volunteer fire brigades – Tuakau, Pokeno, and Onewhero attended a benefit social night last Saturday (3 July 2021), in time for Matariki when we honour and remember loved ones who are no longer with us. The event was organised for the crews and whānau to acknowledge the impacts associated with the loss of loved ones and colleagues and to raise mental health…

While PCR is an incredibly useful tool for medical research, its use in diagnosing infectious diseases in humans has long been considered inappropriate, and scientifically ignorant. In this video, Dr Sam examines the science of PCR, and explains why this is the case.