Columns by Mike Crowl, from the Dunedin Star Midweeker, Dunedin, New Zealand [Water Matters column]
Column Eight - 5th Oct, 1994
The Taxman Cometh Monthly
It is in the nature of things that columnists must write one out of four columns for the taxman. Every four weeks this leaves the columnist with the agonizing choice: which column belongs to the taxman, the good, the bad, or the ugly? (I mean the good, bad and ugly columns, of course.)
It also means that the columnist has an obvious problem: if he writes
Worse, will the taxman begin to insist that the columns written for
I suppose one way round this problem would be to cast a web of mystery
Does/did Dear Abby exist? More importantly, for our purpose, does
Is Column 8 thrown together at the last minute by the reporter with
Will you ever see Crowl in public, or will you only see a character
Is Crowl merely an urban myth, like the phantom hitchhiker - a
If I harp on this point, it is because I suspect that Crowl is not
There are various clues to the writers' personalities in the title of
Marks is plainly a pun on Marx, which means that one writer has
"Singe" is even more revealing. "Sin," the first part of this cryptic
"Sing" shows that somewhere in one writer's past he (or she) has had a
The "ng" may indicate ing-digenous origins, although perhaps this is a
With both these personalities thus being of mythical status, they
Let me suggest to all readers who have friends in the tax dept, (and I I'll be interested to hear their thoughts on the matter. |
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Some other columns...
Fourth Column and What constitutes a Taxman'sColumn On Artists' responsibilities On Books or Graphology On Beards or Clothes On Dinosaurs On Vicars and belief/doubt - and Nuns On Exercise On Being a Techno-Freak |
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The Ferret is/was the pseudonym of a columnist in the Auckland magazine, Metro [Back]