Weather Eye with John Maunder A sunspot is a relatively dark, sharply defined region on the solar disc - marked by an umbra, dark area, which is 2000 degrees cooler than the effective photospheric temperature. The average... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid Cricket is a game measured in big figures. Since the millennium, the Bay of Plenty has produced two players, in Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, who can stand alongside... Read More

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny You don't achieve a body mass index like mine without being a slave to cake. See cake, want cake, scoff cake. So when 'war cake” cropped up in an Anzac discussion, the antennae twitched,... Read More

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz A lot of new music is being released, and a bunch of old music - today we have both. Nigel Masters, Boatshed Studio boss, Kokomo bass player and multi-instrumentalist,... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid Anzac Day 2025 opens a new chapter at Bay Oval as the international cricket venue becomes a Super Rugby Pacific ground for a day. The Chiefs will be hosting the Western... Read More

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz Easter is here. The jazz festival is in full swing. Let's talk about other things. Oddly, however, I keep running into people who have no idea the jazz festival is... Read More

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny It was one of those 'what if' moments. A sickening one. A cyclist with an excessive belief in their own immortality sailed blithely through a busy Motueka intersection - against the lights,... Read More

Abundant Life with John Arts | abundant.co.nz I've spoken to many farmers whose osteoarthritis started when they came off second best in an incident with livestock. Builders, mechanics, nurses and similar roles are also... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid Following on from last week about the establishment of what is today Racing Tauranga, from the 1870s, there were picnic meetings held outside the bounds of regulation. Unhampered... Read More

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny It all started happening about age 65. That's when some things started falling off, other things stopped working or required chemical intervention, and yet other things needed replacing altogether.... Read More

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz Okay, the Jazz Festival has officially started. There's been jazz at the Mount hot pools, the youth band competition is done, and there have been lunchtime concerts in... Read More

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid A recent story on SunLive about the Monmouth Redoubt restoration grabbed my attention. Work is under way to restore the Monmouth Redoubt, which includes structural... Read More