Category: imported_weekly

Emily, like 180,000 or so other New Zealanders, is on a hospital waiting list.

To be successful, political movements need effective long-term strategies. This week observers would have witnessed two tactical steps in long-term march of New Zealand towards Maori sovereignty and a separate Maori nation.

In a sense, New Zealand is one of the richest countries on earth. We have a great climate, beautiful countryside, and a more leisurely pace of life. Our people are friendly, hard working and caring. We are close to each other in a way that comes from being a small country remote from the rest of the world.

When governments become embroiled in scandal, there comes a point where the confidence of the public, begins to wane. If the scandals continue, a “tipping point” approaches whereby voters begin to question the capability of an administration to govern effectively.

New Zealand is a property owning democracy. As Kiwis, we subscribe to the belief that our home is our castle. Property rights play an integral part in our common law tradition and are enshrined in Article II of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Like most New Zealanders I was appalled last weekend to read that the killer of Lillybing had enjoyed a life of P and porn in prison. In a media interview she explained that prison “is not as hard as people make out”.

Next Tuesday is census day. Once every five years we are required by law to fill in a detailed questionnaire about ourselves and our households. The information gathered provides a snapshot of New Zealand and is used in a wide variety of different ways to determine such things as whether we have enough hospitals and schools, where new roads should be built, how many police will be needed, whether a planned shopping centre is viable, or whether an airport needs to be extended.

The publication of the Mohammed cartoons and the screening of South Park's bleeding Madonna episode has again exposed how tenuous the right of free speech really is.

Most New Zealanders believe that we live in one of the most wonderful places on earth remote from the world's trouble spots and, with our stunning landscapes and natural beauty, many claim that we, not Australia, are the “lucky” country.

Jamie is 20. He has never had a job. He didn’t really have an education either: because his mother never bothered with preschool, he always lagged behind the other kids, and so right from the beginning started playing truant whenever he could.