Articles by Utopia Support

The people speak:

Saturday 11 September 2010 | Published in Features

From humorous to angry, to some who had one too many at the pub, our staff pollsters got them all while doing an election survey over the last few days and nights. While some just wanted to rant without giving any constructive comments, many were insightful and offered some excellent suggestions and thoughts. Our staff […]

Mitiaro 'not supporting'

Saturday 11 September 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Mitiaro is one of the outer- islands recommended to fall into the proposed referendum on “Seat Reduction”. Mitiaro candidate (we await his corroboration on this) may have exposed his support to GPC ( Letter to the Editor Tuesday September 7), but we still see Mitiaro being represented not as a combined but an […]

Feeble excuses

Saturday 11 September 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, This government’s feeble excuses for the lack of effort to improve the dreadful state of the two main roads that encircle the main island of Rarotonga is pathetic to say the least. If anything, the continued failure of Ministry of Works to budget for the full maintenance costs of Rarotonga’s roads year after […]

Pa Ariki: It's time for change

Saturday 11 September 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, As we move towards the forthcoming elections, all Cook Islanders must seriously take stock of the path we have travelled and the successive governments we have had to live under before choosing who they wish to lead them into the future. I say lead because if the last 10 years is anything to […]

Kata - September 11, 2010

Saturday 11 September 2010 | Published in Kata

Main road ramp danger

Saturday 11 September 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

A smoke signaller writes: “The new-look Tupapa Nui-o-Ou meeting house looks good, but some questions need to be asked about the brainiacs behind the construction of the wheelchair ramp in the front of the building. My 10-year-old son pointed out to me that someone on a wheelchair can end up in the middle of the […]

Biblical spiritual warfare

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Church Talk

It seems a common practice among churches nowadays is to be involved in spiritual warfare. There are a lot of parts to this from binding and loosing demons, to screaming at the devil and his minions, praying against the elements, attributing every bad (and inconvenient) thing to the devil, and much more. Many churches carry […]

We will reap what we sow

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Church Talk

The following article was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on one of the CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees, Christmas […]

Fuel runs out

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Local

Motorists yesterday were struggling to find fuel to fill their petrol tanks as supplies on Rarotonga began to dry up. Outlets all over the island had empty pumps yesterday afternoon and had to turn customers away. Wigmore’s in Vaimaanga, Tex Mart in Arorangi, and the Triad Petrol station in Panama had all run out yesterday […]

Election special report

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Local

Would you like to know the mood of the nation as we head towards the General Election? Then don’t miss tomorrow’s Cook Islands News where we will bring you an election poll special report. Over the last few days staff at the newspaper have been calling hundreds of homes around the country to find out […]

Run-off a triumph

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Local

Mann Short describes the agreement reached with Ngatangiia MP Sir Terepai Maoate for a run-off is a triumph for the village as voters will finally be able to exercise their freedom of choice. Short says common sense and democracy have finally prevailed. The issue of who will be the Democratic Party candidate for the election […]

Referendum is on!

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Local

Cabinet agrees to national vote on reduction of MPs A binding referendum on whether there should be a reduction in the number of seats in Parliament is going ahead. Prime Minister Jim Marurai made a formal announcement of this yesterday. Cabinet made the commitment on Tuesday to stage the referendum at the general election on […]

Apology over name

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Cook Islands News wishes to apologise for misspelling Sir Terepai Maoate’s surname in the page one headline in yesterday’s newspaper. This occurred due to a typographical error which wasn’t picked up in the proofing process. Cook Islands News apologises to Sir Terepai, his family, the Democratic Party and everyone affected by this error. We have […]

Fed up with 'political poison'

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I don’t expect you to do anything with this letter but I have a secret desire that this gets printed word for word. Wait till you read it. I was going to explore the acceptable newspaper grammar etiquette but if MPs can exercise their ability to “speak before they think” so can I. […]

Kata - September 10, 2010

Friday 10 September 2010 | Published in Kata

Billboards go up

Thursday 9 September 2010 | Published in Local

The first candidate billboards for the election have been put up this week — Murienua Independent candidate Angeline Tuara now has one in each of the three villages – Aroa, Rutaki and Kavera. Tuara is using an acronym – ARKfrom the initials of the villages in her campaign for more women in parliament. The 49 […]

Suicide prevention awareness

Thursday 9 September 2010 | Published in Local

Anyone who can sympathise with the damage suicide leaves in its wake is invited to light a candle tomorrow in honour of World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day. The International Association for Suicide Prevention encourages you to light a candle near a window at 8pm tomorrow to show support for suicide prevention, to remember a lost […]

Keen on elimination

Thursday 9 September 2010 | Published in Local

Democratic Party president Sean Willis says he agrees a national day of elimination could help clean up the selection process for election candidates. “We could have had a national run-off but there is no time now. I wanted to do that after the conference which we had planned for early in the year.” Willis says […]

Get real Smart Voter

Thursday 9 September 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I read “Smart Voter’s” letter in yesterday’s paper. Luckily for “Smart Voter” he has not supplied his name. “Smart voter” obviously has no idea what he’s talking about – if we knew who he was we’d all be laughing at him as he drives down the potholed, patched, roads of Rarotonga. Get real […]

Kata - September 9, 2010

Thursday 9 September 2010 | Published in Kata