John Lewis

Three Otago primary schools that are part of a pilot programme aimed at accelerating maths learning are already proving the project delivers significant improvements for struggling pupils - and quickly.

When you are passionate about your work, it no longer seems like work.

Less than a month after it was closed, Dunedin's High Street School might be reopened - this time with pupils and teachers from Te Kura Kaupapa o Otepoti.

When it came down to choosing whether to continue his medical degree at the University of Otago or take up a $100,000-per-year scholarship to study languages at Cambridge University in England, the choice was easy for Will Coleman.

"Half of our future leaders appear to be idiots. The other half appear to be sheep." Those were the words of Willowbank station officer Grant Clarkson yesterday.

Shunya Yago has been somewhat distracted of late. Since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, his thoughts have been on the plight of his family, particularly his grandparents, who live in Miyagi prefecture near the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Dunedin will almost certainly gain an extra Rugby World Cup match following the decision to move fixtures from Christchurch.

As with all 27 other Gang Shows held in Dunedin since 1956, the cast of this year's production are again keeping tight-lipped about the show's theme.

Otago Anniversary Day is once again providing the annual dose of confusion about what will be open, and what will not.

What should I be? These days, it is a $200,000 question.

Proposed plans for stage two of the Caversham Valley Safety Improvement Project have been revealed by the New Zealand Transport Agency before a consultation meeting in Dunedin tomorrow night.

Jack Malcolm can not understand what all the fuss is about.

Making public drunkenness an offence, banning repeat offenders from parts of Dunedin city, and reviewing alcohol licensing laws are just some of the options to be investigated by the Dunedin City Council in a bid to stamp out "repugnant" street violence.

Hundreds of commercial buildings in the South could be left without insurance as insurers toughen their stance on who they will cover in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake, a nationwide commercial building insurance broker says.