The pandemic has wrecked the global supply chains – including the one that gets car parts from Asia to New Zealand.
This column I wrote for the Taranaki Daily News in early September 2021 tells what the outcome can be. Expensive, in a word.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/300400330/how-covid-locks-down-our-cars
Here’s what happened when three expert tree-cutters dealt to an old tree in New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park today.
I’m back – sort of.
I wrote a column for the Taranaki Daily News today (August 21, 2021), coming out of retirement temporarily because of what I found when I went for a walk this week.
I can only conclude we’re in some trouble if the Delta variant of Covid-19 pops up here in Taranaki. Go to Stuff to have a read:
My brother, Rob Tucker, has been a photo-journalist for 56 years. Last week, his work was recognised by New Plymouth District Council and the Taranaki Rugby Football Union.
See how in this video, and then watch the other one to see an extended radio interview done by one of Taranaki’s community stations:
Interview with Rob:
Jim Tucker’s latest photo essay on New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park, a collection of stills showing the park at its most colourful, when everything turns yellow and red.
A bunch of brave fellers lop the top off one of the last old pine trees at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth.
Once one of dozens, this 140-year-old specimen used to towered above the band rotunda at the bottom end of the park’s main lake. A small crowd waited for more than an hour as the tree-fellers removed the top part of the main trunk.
This is a collection of some of my 237 weekly columns written for the Taranaki Daily News/Stuff between 2016 and 2021. The selected columns will have updates telling you what happened after they appeared and some amusing tales of what transpired when I was researching and writing them at the time.
The book will be dedicated to Hospice Taranaki and proceeds from sales will go to the hospice organisation. It will be on sale through their four Taranaki shops.
Watch out for it in the second half of 2021.
Now four years in the writing – too many interruptions and other books – my memoirs might well be out in time for Xmas 2021.
I’m into Part 3, a record of my 25 years as a journalism teacher, and about to write about our seven years in Wellington at the journalists training organisation and Whitireia polytechnic. Part 4 will be about the return to New Plymouth.
I’m interrupted again, of course – the columns collection above is the current focus.
Feedback on my last column
“You’ll be getting lots of good wishes just now, but here’s another set to add to your pile,” wrote author David Hill in an email.
“I’ve relished your columns greatly over the past few years – your balance, clarity, skills of structure and tone. You’ve been such an admirably mature voice on local issues, and you’ve also been that elusive thing, A Good Read, with narrative and register so neatly controlled.”
David was one of a few dozen well-wishers who got in touch. This attached document shows what they had to say. I thank them all for their kind words.
A few people suggested we publish a collection of some of the 239 columns that date back to 2016. That might work if I added background about how the columns came about in each case and what, if anything, eventuated.
Please tell me what you think.
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Final word on my last words
This is my last column, a goodbye and thank you one, the 239th written for Taranaki Daily News/Stuff over the past five years from 2016.
Closing column – January 9, 2021:
He was as famous as Jonah Lomu in his day. Neil Wolfe set the rugby world aflame when he first played for the ABs in 1960. If you want to know the full story, you’ll find it all in my newly published book – Wolfie: The life of an All Black.
To buy a copy ($60), email Raewyn Wolfe at: tnwolfebook@gmail.com
Stuff/Daily News column for December 3, 2020:
Jim Tucker’s latest photo essay on New Plymouth’s Pukekura Park, a collection of stills showing the park at its most colourful, when everything turns yellow and red.
In more-or-less continuous Covid-19 lockdown for nearly a year, Sabrina Dankel – a young German woman with close ties to New Zealand – explains why she and others in Europe view Aotearoa with envy. Read her story of Covid conniptions.
WRITING STYLE GUIDEThe Writing Style Guide is free to anyone interested. Download the pdf here: Style Guide Tucker-Potter 2018
