Paging/numbering

[Churchy]

This document has two sections: first eight pages of front matter, a second section of thirty-two pages of images (some to come), two pages of endmatter. Yet it is a total of thirty-four pages total. Am i going mad? I am admittedly innumerate, but even I can add these figures up to get 42. When i count them in the pages panel there are only 34, which is what the Affinity numbering indicates.

Also note that the PDF does not include blank pages, which it should. I will ask a separate question about that.

Standing Stone sans E.pdf Standing Stone sans E.afpub

[Lee D]

In reviewing your .afpub file Pages 1-8 (I'm assuming is what you refer to as "front matter"). Pages 9-32 (numbering begins at 1) 24 pages of images in total. Pages 33-34 ("end matter") making for a total of 34 pages as indicated by the Pages panel. Also if you export the file out to PDF it appears exactly a laid out in Publisher.

[Churchy]

Yes, I was mistaken about the number of images. But now it is not including the first section in the PDF. 

Standing Stone sans E.pdf

[Lee D]

The screenshot shows your file opened in Publisher and exported to PDF for a side by side comparison. As you can see, any text displayed on the page in Publisher is visible in the exported PDF.

So what is missing? Try doing the same on your system to illustrate the issue to get a better understanding.