"A UN-sponsored report has called for urgent changes to the way food is produced, as soaring food prices risk driving millions of people to poverty.

The Unesco study recommends better safeguards to protect resources and more sustainable farming practices, such as producing food locally.

More natural and ecological farming techniques should be used, it says.

Haiti, Egypt, the Philippines and parts of West Africa have seen riots recently over the costs of rice, wheat and soya.

Unesco, a UN educational body, says increased demand for food in India and China, the growing market for biofuel crops, and rising oil prices are some of the factors behind the rising prices."

Pic left: Food price rises threaten millions more people with poverty

I often feel sorry for today's police force and the men and women who work in it with diligence. In an age of increasing lawlessness and lack of respect, no, make that lack of just plain old courtesy, their job has become more difficult, frustrating and, I fear, unrewarding... ...then I found this item in today's early morning news - "Police admit they bungled an emergency 111 call by failing to send patrol cars to a violent knifepoint attack in the Bay of Plenty. A senior officer says an inexperienced operator at the Auckland- based northern communications..." ?? Inexperienced operators on duty to handle emergency situations ??

Located on the cnr of Ruataniwha and Kitchener Street is your local friendly second hand books store. We have a large variety of quality books available for you to look through. Bring with you any quality books you have at home that you wish to exchange and I can issue you a credit towards your next purchase. If however you can not find anything that day I am happy to hold your credit for you for up to six months. We also have a loyalty card system in place that you can take advantage of. Look forward to seeing you.

We are pleased to announce the establishment of a new company whose objective is to promote golf tours within New Zealand. We have two web sites devoted to different markets - Paradise Golf Tours and Big Boys Golf . Do visit.

January 2008 - I have been working on the idea of this site, talking about it with others, and building prototypes since 2005. I have finally settled on an open-source framework known as Drupal (currently using v5.5). To all those all around the world who have generously contributed to the Drupal project I extend my sincere thanks and kudos.