A Penny & Old Time Commando Standards:

I have a 1944 New Zealand penny coin that I 'treasure' because it is a nice looking coin that comes from the year that I was born .. well that is of some small importance to ME anyway!

A neat image of a Tui sitting on a flowering Kowhai branch.

1944

But the other side - Heads - is a bit of a revelation as it shows George VI  EMPEROR - when Imperial Great Britain still thought that it was a leading power on our planet and was hanging desperately onto it's Empire.

It seems like a long time ago - but an example of attitudes back then is that I can recall a London newspaper cartoon commenting on post-war African nations daring to think that they might be able to run their own country independent of a white Colonial ruler - the picture was of those nations black independence leaders depicted as monkeys swinging by one hand from the branches of palm trees while scratching themselves with the other hand.

Here's another memory: - My Irish father being quietly outraged and pointing-out a card in the local North-West London news-paper shop window that read:

' ROOM TO LET - NO BLACKS OR IRISH.'

Dad (Irish) had survived TEN YEARS & 214 days in the wartime British army Irish Guards 1934 -1946 including three and a half years in The Commandos (Nos. 1 & 2 ).

- On the surface things may have changed some since those days - but underneath it all I fear that mankind remains a stupid, violent & prejudiced creature that treats others uncaringly and brutally - especially if there's a dollar to be made.

Commando Operation Archery

- Vagsoy Island Norway December 1941

I can fully understand why some people - in countries where they are allowed - feel a need to be armed and able to defend themselves.

Of course here in New Zealand I know that we have such a wonderful safe, law-abiding and civilised, well governed nation - that the only possible use for firearms is for recreation and sporting purposes.

Marty K.
P.S.  I couldn't let Muhammad Ali pass without farewell: He was my all-time hero. When I interviewed for a Civil Service clerical job in London's Whitehall in the early 1960s - the interviewing 'Establishment' Executive Officer asked if I had good health saying: 'You look like you could take-on Cassius Clay' - I laughingly replied that if I kept running backwards I might last a round.

Ali was well loved and respected in England - especially after taking-out 'our Henry Cooper.' His ready smile and quick wit should ensure that his star burns brightly for ever.
M.K.