If, as Clive James said, a sense of humour is just common sense dancing, Joe Bennett’s a ball. Doggone, the fifth collection of his columns, overflows with the delicious prose, the puncturing of pretension, the wisdom and the wit that marked the bestsellers Just Walking the Dogs, Sleeping Dogs and Other Lies, So Help Me Dog and Sit. As Bennett fans have come to expect – indeed to rely on - the subject matter in these pages is gloriously and absurdly varied, from gym bunnies to bishops, from financial advisers to redundant roosters.

Joe Bennett’s columns are syndicated to newspapers throughout New Zealand. He has twice been voted columnist of the year, has had two collections of his work published worldwide by Simon & Schuster, is a regular pundit on television and lives in a steep bit of Lyttelton with a little black mongrel called Jess.