Akilisi Pohiva died on September 12, 2019. This tribute was originally published in The Spinoff.
Tongan prime minister ’Akilisi Pohiva will be mainly remembered as the country’s leading democrat.
For four decades he campaigned to reduce the powers of the Tongan King and institute a democratically elected parliament.
The monarchy didn’t take kindly...
Keith Locke was a social issues and environmental activist and former New Zealand Green Party MP, serving in parliament from 1999 until 2011. Keith was born into a politically active family and became an activist and campaigner during New Zealand's first anti-nuclear marches and anti-apartheid protests in the 1960s....
New Zealand’s reputation in Japan has been damaged by revelations that our GCSB has been spying on its government communications. “New Zealand spied on Japan to help US at 2007 whaling confab” read the 26 April headline in the Japan Times.
Failure to properly address the roots of most offending, especially poverty, condemns us to a higher crime rate than we need to have, and poor communities to an alarming rate of incarceration. Tough policies, imprisoning more of the poor, is not the answer.
The evidence now shows that Watson did not kill Olivia Hope and Ben Smart in the Marlborough Sounds on or after New Year’s Day, 1998. Since the trial, the Crown case against Watson has collapsed on all essential points, as demonstrated in books by Mike Kalaugher (The Marlborough Mystery) and Keith Hunter (Trial by Trickery), articles by Mike White, and two major TV documentaries, Murder on the Blade? and another, Doubt: the Scott Watson Case, on TVNZ two months ago.
In the lead-up to the recent Canadian election, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said that if he won it would be the last first-past-the-post election. Let’s hope he keeps his promise now he is Prime Minister.
Passing beneath the radar this month was the signing of
a formal agreement
whereby New Zealand will assist the work of Cuban doctors in Pacific island nations.
New Zealand has agreed to provide an...
The Prime Minister claims there is a growing threat from New Zealanders attracted to Islamic State and he wants to increase state powers to watch such people and take away their passports. I believe there is a better way to discourage would-be jihadists than the state enacting measures that erode the civil liberties of all New Zealanders.
It’s been a long time coming. Electrifying Auckland suburban rail has been talked about ever since Christchurch (1929-1970) and Wellington (1939 to the present) electrified their suburban rail.