The Republican Party building towards 2040

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The Republican Party will be a major force in New Zealand politics by the year 2040 according to its leader Kerry Bevin.�
The party’s main aim is to sever ties with the United Kingdom and for New Zealand to become a republic. Although it also has a wide spectrum of other policies.
By 2040 Bevin believes this [...]

Editorial: The slogans, soundbites and serious stuff.

So this election is all about trust, or is it about a brighter future?
Party slogans are the new detailed policy. “Vote for me” – say the Greens, lest we cast our vote for someone over the age of eight who owns their own shoes. The Act Party is this election’s A-Team as it has “the [...]

Blackalicious fail to light the fuse

Blackalicious – Zen Bar, 09/10/08
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It’s a quarter past midnight, as DJ Shadow once famously sampled on his track “Midnight”, and Californian hip-hop duo Blackalicious still aren’t on stage.
The crowd are not so much restless as deflated. If the group, known for their intelligent, socially aware lyrics, had come on stage and hour before, the place [...]

Murder Burger: how do they stack up?

Meat has never been such a laughing matter. Or so the owners of Ponsonby Road’s latest fast food offering, Murder Burger, believe.  From the menu to the sign on the door this a joint where every bun is filled with pun.
Yes, I did find myself chuckling at their slick marketing. The new owners were responsible [...]

Editorial: Rebels with a Righteous Cause

Why do I support the actions of the Dominion Post in printing secretly recorded conversations in the so-called Tuhoe “terror” arrests? It’s a long story.
When Alexander Graham Bell sought to raise money for his invention of the telephone he was prosecuted for fraud.
“Who would want to speak to someone over a wire?” they mocked. But [...]

Profile: The man who deflated the Waihopai spy base

The Dominican Friar Peter Murnane wears a white badge that reads, “I have family in Iraq”.
He answers the obvious question quickly. “So do you: fellow human beings.”
More specifically he is referring to the mainly Iraqi Dominican Friars and Sisters who have been forced to flee Mosul in Iraq and now reside as refugees in [...]

Finding Jackie Collins lost in Auckland

A free book from as far away as Abu Dhabi could soon find its way to a bus stop near you.

Bookcrossing, a book sharing concept from America, has arrived in Auckland.

The concept is simple; take a book you don’t want, sign it up to www.bookcrossing.com so it has a unique tracking number [...]

Ethnic minority MPs given boost by party lists

Party lists have enhanced the diversity of Parliament in the face of prejudice against candidates from ethnic minorities, says New Zealand’s first Indian MP, Dr Ashraf Choudhary.
Choudhary, who was elected from the Labour list in 2002, says he believes in principle that candidates who are chosen for the party lists should be judged on the [...]

Diversity key to media’s evolution

AUT University recently hosted a media diversity forum hosting talkers from programmes such as Tagata Pasifika and Asia Downunder among others.
The event was interesting and there was some positive outlooks for the future of minority culture programming as well as some more gloomy moments.
It seems that budgets are being slashed just as attitudes are changing. [...]

‘More pacific voices on air than ever before’

New Zealand media must move with the times and “have a conversation” with the Pacific Islands, according to Taualeo’o Stephen Stehlin, executive producer of Tagata Pasifika.
TVNZ shows such as Tagata Pasifika had been broadcast to the Pacific Islands for a considerable time but there was a general lack of reporting on stories from the area [...]