I began this Blog 3 years back with the onset of Covid and the lockdown. But as I’ve advised for some time now, I’m pulling stumps with tomorrow’s election.
One reason is I spend half the year abroad and it causes me some inconvenience maintaining it in those circumstances.
Another is I sometimes feel there’s far too many opinion pieces these days thus we all end up talking in an echo chamber solely to those who share similar opinions.
Some final thoughts.
There’s an old Chinese saying, “May you live in interesting times”.
I suspect we’d all very much wish to live in less interesting times than currently. The world is in an alarming state nearly everywhere and as I’ve often said, thank God for sport and its easy television access providing the bright spot in our lives.
Finally, I’d like to sincerely thank the many kind readers who have cheered me on and expressed their appreciation for my efforts to date.
92 Comments
Thankyou Sir for your insights and humour. I wish you well.
Go well Bob, I’ve enjoyed your thoughts for decades.
I will miss these columns which have brightened my days over the last three years. Thank you for all the effort to write these, and best wishes for a happy retirement.
Thank you for brightening my day with your words and your links to Tremain. The reality of you no longer appearing randomly in my inbox will be sad. I may have to bring your novels to the office and read for a few minutes each day to fill the gap. (I have six of your books, so at, say, 10 minutes twice a day that should get me through a couple of years!)
Cheers!
Thanks Robert, I for one will miss your insightful commentary
Your close friend Chris G will undoubtedly keep me informed of your opinions
All the best
LR
Sad day – And one of the last bastions of common sense, erudite writing and observation is lost to us – damn!
Go the ABs!
Well done Sir Bob and many thanks. I have enjoyed your columns over the years and wish you all the very best.
You will be missed by many, thanks for the many thought provoking articles.
Best Regards
Keith.
Would you please consider keeping the blog operational and doing cameo appearances when it takes your fancy Sir Bob? Your erudite observations are the only thing I look forward to when coming to work…
All the best for your future either way,
Grant
So sad, Sir Bob. I have really enjoyed the messages especially the cartoons. Your best and most memorable for me was the story about the woman prisoner who beat the former NZ Champion at chess. I have often wondered whether she realized her potential. I doubt it and it is one of the major issues facing NZ. Far too many moaners and prisoners who could be contributing so much more to society and their own wellbeing. All the best. Bruce
Sad to see you go after so many years of your wit and very good articles,always a much better read than the verbal diahorah that comes out of politions mouths.
Good luck to you Bob ,safe journey and happy life.
Bob, a simple ‘thanks’ from me. I have enjoyed your comments etc. since the early 1970’s and still remember your radio talk- back shows in Wellington ( when you replaced the lazy Mike Moore, when a traffic cop caught you for speeding to the studio and deliberately delayed you to make you late etc)…. ah, the good old days. Best wishes Bob.
Your contributions have been greatly appreciated, they will be missed. Best of luck, hopefully you might see fit to occasionally make comment in a readily noticeable forum.
Best regards, Neil Parker.
Yup, Thanks Bob for your always interesting, enjoyable, informative and fecund commentary over the past 3 years. Go well and have fun. I will miss your blog.
Stuart
I have laughed out loud, reflected, enjoyed and pondered many of the blogs, I will sorely miss seeing the heading in my in box. All the best Bob.
Don’t know about that. I don’t read anyone else with good sentiments like the ones expressed here and with such brevity.
Sir Bob,
I can see why you are ending the blog, and it is a good final, maybe a few final comments after the election result. I am certainly hoping that your prediction comes true and that the opinion polls are wrong. I dread the thought of a Labour/Green/Maori Party/NZ First coalition.
I, for one, have sincerely enjoyed your blog and will miss it. Take care and keep well …
I add to the appreciation of many for the blog posts. My in box is filled with incoming mail, but I always open and read your posts. Very sorry to see you go. Thanks for everything. By the way, I still have the 1984 NZ Party Manifesto tucked away!
I’m with the rest of these guys Bob, thanks, it’s been great
I will sorely miss your insightfulness and clarity of thought when you put pen to paper. All the very best.
Respectfully David
Bob, as indeed sport provides us with a bright spot, so does your enlightened view.
Please consider a less frequent offering that suits your agenda.
It would be a shame to think that your contributions wouldn’t be available in any shape or form.
Thank you for enlightening the journey.
Thank you Sir Bob,been following you since I was at your meeting in Taupo when on the Muldoon year campaign,Really appreciate your well thought out comments, your saying that’s it,how about the occasional update as I have a feeling that your not one that really retires
So Au Renoir not goodbye
Paul
It’s been wonderful Sir Bob. To quote Dave Allen, “May your God go with you.”
p.s. can your books still be purchased?
Nooooooo Sir BobbyJ! Say it isn’t so!
If I were superstitious I would say Friday the 13th always comes with bad news… and the end of the blog is pretty bad.
Thanks for all the excellent thoughts and some good laughs along the way.
All the best where ever you wind up.
Thank you. I’ve always enjoyed and looked forward to reading your columns. Enjoy some time away from the keyboard.
How about an occasional blog covering your travels and thoughts rather than a complete shutdown.
Have enjoyed your opinions and thoughts over many years.
Go well
I add my best wishes to an outstanding NewZealander who has brightened the lives of so many people from all walks of life with your fearless commentary that exposes the nation’s soft underbelly that is responsible for so much pain.
As one who has watched your career through the ages, l am able to offer a small glimpse of what might have been in a different time.
I refer of course to your stella performance in the 1984 election when you led your party to an unprecedented 11% of the popular vote.
It is interesting in hindsight to wonder what might have been had the current MMP voting model been in place.
Who knows, you may have become at least deputy Prime Minister or even PM with your significant share of the vote.
And you would have assumed that role legitimately without having to endure the childish bargaining that is likely after this election.
Thanks for the memories.
Sir Bob.
I class you as a living legend!
Reading your posts has been a daily pleasure.
I have long admired your expertise with the English language.
Stay well & be happy
Many thanks for your comments and sense of humour over many years (in my case from your first book)
Any chance of more appearances on the Platform with Sean Plunket in the future?
My only other problem is who is going to sort out these bloody roadcones now you are stepping down.lol
Look after yourself Sir Bob and may your God go with you.
You’ll be missed – but I’ll remember the many insights you have given us all. Thanks…
Haven’t always agreed with you but a great read none the less.
All the best.
You may yet need to come back to avoid the radiation, but that’s another story.
Its been a pleasure to read your sensible posts on here Sir Bob. Your thoughtful analysis mixed with some wicked humour will be sorely missed by us all.
I’ve been an avid follower of you for many years, have most of your books & vividly remember attending your NZP meetings in Wellington in 1984 with the ‘Rocky’ theme playing! A great interview with Sean yesterday as well.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the future.
You depart with my grateful thanks, Sir Robert. If xat times you again feel the need to comment on life, the universe and everything, we’ll be listening.
Regards
JJ
As a Greenie I have read your posts to get a better appreciation of how the other half thinks. I have enjoyed your insights into the human condition and the way that you take the piss out of stupidity. All the best for the future. Time to reread your novels then, they always make me laugh.
Thank you Sir Bob, this blog has been a breath of fresh air. When I thought this country was over run by the woke brigade it’s been a relief to find some common sense thinking. All the best to you.
Ditto all the above. Please don’t go.
My wife and I will miss your posts Sir Bob!
Thank you Sir Bob for all the insights, the wisdom, making me think and look at things differently at times, the laugh out loud humour, and the skewering of those who need to feel the sharp end of the stick occasionally. Often a much-needed bright spot and return to perspective in crazy days. Respect.
An inspirational man , still traveling the world in his 80s and very much involved in life. Bon Votage!
Sad to see this excellent blog end Sir Bob, may travels and business dealing continue to excite and provide the stimulus for your fulfillment. Stay well.
Bob, I will miss your daily reports, your humour, your common sense. I will miss Tremain. Can I add one more comment… I was about to head to vote yesterday morning, but read your message of the day before leaving home. I was all set to vote National, as I nearly always have, but on the strength of you column I Party voted ACT. And am very pleased that I did. Good luck and good health. Regards
Thanks Sir Bob. Like many other readers of your blog I look forward every day to your comments, be they an insightful commentary on a current issue, a bit of humour or even sharing a cartoon that Stuffed chooses not to publish. Thanks and go well!
Sir Bob, Thank you for everything you have contributed – go well.
It’s a sad day Sir Bob; you have brightened up every day henceforth
Thank you.
Thankyou SB, and stay well.
Thank you Sir Bob, travel well. Best regards. Steve
I wish you all the best for the future. Laughter is the best medicine and you’ve dished out a few chuckles.
I first paid to listen to your excellent advice back in 1982 at a Christchurch property seminar and became a foundation shareholder in RJI at that time.
Decades later I’ve enjoyed reading your blog and your refreshing honesty about various topics.
I hope there is some way of hearing your thoughts during the US Presidential election next year.
I’m excited to see Kennedy running as a Independent.
It seems anything can happen and at the age of 61, I’ve recently had my first UFO sighting.
Last Friday night I witnessed a large V shaped lighted craft flying silently and slowly right over the top of me in North Phoenix at night.
The lights were non blinking, white and round and evenly spaced and after slowly cruising in a perfect V formation, they sped up dramatically and moved in different directions before becoming invisible.
I’ve seen nothing reported about it in the News but apparently 26 years ago in Phoenix there was a mass sighting of 5 or 6 lights hovering in a triangle shape over Phoenix. What I saw was 11 lights with 1 light at the apex.
Laugh at this if you want, I don’t give two brass razooz
Whatever it they is, it they is back or they it never went?