Recent Entries

• Smoking: there's still more to extinguish

  by Jahn Vannisselroy July 5, 2012
    Five years since a smoking ban was introduced in bars and restaurants to the UK and, unsurprisingly, there’s been plenty of benefits. Asthma and heart attacks have reduced, and meals are no longer ruined by some clown’s face fire.   It seems like the state made the right...

• Let us not forget Queen in this year of the Olympics

  by Jahn Vannisselroy July 5, 2012
    In 1991, Freddie Mercury was chosen to write the official song for the next summer’s Olympics. His offering, Barcelona, named for the city the Games were held in, was a work of majesty, a love song to a beautiful place. In 2011, Matt Bellamy and his band Muse were chosen to write an ...

• Cricket Australia’s rotation policy right move for team

  by Jahn Vannisselroy January 16, 2012
  Decision forces other sides to earn respect, rather than be given itAustralia’s introduction of a formal selection policy allowing top players to be rested from Tests against sides considered inferior opposition created an uncomfortable shuffling in armchairs across the Tasman. New Zealand f...

• Celeb Big Brother ensures the nation’s IQs shrink further

  by Jahn Vannisselroy January 9, 2012
    Another series of desperate houselives is a waste of a TV timeslotAh, Celebrity Big Brother. The last port of call for the has-beens, the wannabes, the never-weres. That sad altar of delusion upon which the fame-addicted place the carcasses of their ‘careers’ for an audience of...

• NZ rugby’s win-win idea takes cash while protecting interests

  by Jahn Vannisselroy December 12, 2011
    For sale: one sports column. Comes with its own magazine. I’ll continue to own the column but the buyer will own the right to promote it how they wish. Ideas will be welcomed. Any advertising generated will remain mine, but the successful bidder can brag to their friends about how th...

• England rugby telltales destroy team from within

  by Jahn Vannisselroy November 28, 2011
    Initially, the reaction to England rugby manager Martin Johnson stepping down was one of surprise, even sympathy. After all, results were in his favour: of the past 13 Tests England have played, they have won 10 – only New Zealand have performed better – and, playing barely any...

• Online reading suggests Kiwis politically flighty

  by Jahn Vannisselroy November 21, 2011
    And overseas, less than 10 per cent interested in electionAmid the extended collective hangover brought on by a group of young men hoisting aloft a gold trophy as a symbol of sporting supremacy, an election is due to take place this weekend in New Zealand.   Simply put, the people w...

• It’s time NZ sport gets more creative with nicknames

  by Jahn Vannisselroy November 14, 2011
    Sporting nicknames seem sillier with each passing year. In December the New Zealand cricket team will play Australia. It should be a fun series. The Kiwis are talking themselves up and Australia are having a tough time of it in South Africa. One thing, though, will irritate me about the s...

• Odd Future's gay slurs a lazy way to gain attention

  by Jahn Vannisselroy November 14, 2011
      It’s hard not to have a fondness for the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All kids.   In an increasingly commercialised world, the subversive, streetwise LA indie rap collective are keeping the punk spirit alive with their blistering live shows and wiseass irony.  ...

• Thanks a lot, Adam King

  by Jahn Vannisselroy November 7, 2011
  Here’s a great big ‘thank you’ to Adam King.   In case you missed it, Adam’s the wonderful guy who organised a flash mob to sing Lovely Day by Bill Withers on the Tube last week. In the middle of it, he got down on one knee and proposed to a shocked Lucy Rogers (who, l...