My View - Karl du Fresne
Academia hijacks skills and talent
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: Question: Which of the following writers acquired their skill as a result of attending a creative writing course – Shakespeare, Tolstoy or Dickens?
Free speech turns feral on the internet
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: One of the claims made for the internet is that it has opened up public dialogue on a scale never experienced before.
History buff saves family story
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: We grow up in a vacuum, many of us.
Traditions – why some matter
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: I bumped into a friend at the counter in my local Post Shop a few days ago.
Capitalism is still the best
OPINION: Cast your mind back to the 1990s.
From barnstorming to boring
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: Older readers of this column will recall a time when election campaigns were momentous events – part politics, part entertainment spectacle and part sporting contest.
Kiwis unleash their nasty side
KARL DU FRESNE -MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, defines "mania" as a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/or energy levels.
Funeral reveals a life well lived
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: I was privileged last week to attend an unusual funeral in Nelson.
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Musings on the midnight train
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: I am writing this column on a train. This is something I have never done before and probably will never have occasion to do again.
The modern-day war of the words
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: The English language is one of the most precious gifts of our culture. Used properly, it is a precision instrument. There are virtually no ideas or situations for which apposite, accurate words or phrases cannot be found.
Wine-and-sign deal turns sour
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
An unseemly spat broke out recently among the usually genial fraternity of New Zealand wine writers.
A hit to our confidence in police
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: Long-serving Police Association president Greg O'Connor, a man I respect, once said to me – quoting Robert Peel, the father of policing – that police can do their job only with the consent of the community.
The Murdoch paradox explored
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
EXCLUSIVE: The late WP (Bill) Reeves was one of the most distinguished New Zealand journalists of the 20th century
Unhealthy ties blown apart
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
I know it's not right to gloat, but I couldn't help feeling a frisson of pleasure at the discomfort experienced in high places as a result of the News of the World cellphone hacking scandal.
Disappointing fare for most
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: "Appointment viewing" is the television industry term for programmes that people can't bear to miss.
Figuring the key to the prime minister
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: I recently watched Sean Plunket interview Prime Minister John Key on TV3's The Nation.
Pitfalls of picking a winner
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: I'm in two minds about competitions and awards.
Celibacy denies the need for intimacy
KARL DU FRESNE - MY VIEW - © Fairfax NZ News
It is no surprise that Catholic priests commit sexual abuse.
Sympathy for storm-hit farmers
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: The coastal strip of Central Hawke's Bay that was devastated by a freak storm recently is very familiar to me.
Non-accountability costs a fortune
KARL DU FRESNE - © Fairfax NZ News
OPINION: Right now, I'm glad I don't live in Auckland. This, however, has nothing to do with the usual anti-Auckland prejudice exhibited by the rest of us.
