Opinion
Monday 10: TOP SHOW
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Te Hiva Nui dance team, one of the hit groups at the Billingham International Folklore Festival in the UK that wrapped up this weekend, featured in a news article with the playful title ‘Dancers go nuts as stage bras show up’. “The girls from the Cook Islands thought their traditional coconut bras must have been […]
Monday 10: Bear the badge of shame
Wednesday 12 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Those supposedly responsible for the progress of sports in the Cook Islands are “individually dumb and collectively dumber”, a smoke signaller writes. “The vote to amend the SPG charter was taken right here in Rarotonga, and was passed UNANIMOUSLY. That means that each and every representative from the Cooks was there and voted …so no […]
3 August: BRRRRR!
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
You know it’s getting cold on our little Pacific island when a store in Rarotonga has room heaters for sale!
1 August: Get it right
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I see a copy-error in my Churchtalk article in yesterday’s Cook Islands News. A few words were left out of the last paragraph which should have read: “While I applaud this nation’s desire this week, to celebrate the coming of the Christian gospel to its shores, I appeal to our orometua to challenge […]
3 August: ONE LETTER
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
In reference to the article about the new synthetic track at Tereora, a sharp reader from Aitutaki asks: Were the tonnes of used motor vehicle tyres palletised, or where they in fact pelletised? Smokies: Probably both – made into pellets and then loaded onto pallets.
1 August: Make the right choice
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Last week on Tuesday 14 July 2009, my friends and I were reading the article “Terrible price to pay”. After we had read this article we decided to write to you about our opinion. It sounds like the teenage girls just wanted to have fun, drinking, smoking and speeding. This is a problem […]
3 August: TOP JOB
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Nice to see the DPM’s office engaged in employing an office/finance manager, a smoke signaller writes. “But what about advertising the CEO position? Or has someone already been earmarked?!”
1 August: When will they ever learn?
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, We are fast moving down the same track which led to the country becoming bankrupt in 1995/96. The causes are the same and have nothing to do with the current world economic depression. Our problems are all self-made. Through a fortunate set of circumstances, tourism is going very well at the moment and […]
3 August: PR QUESTIONS
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller says: “So, a few athletes may get their PR awarded so they can ‘legally’ compete in the Mini Games for a couple of weeks! What about those responsible, hardworking, honest individuals that have been law abiding citizens of this wonderful country for over five years? Not only were their applications ignored last […]
1 August: Where's Jake & Wolfgang?
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, My attention was understandingly drawn to the report on the Air New Zealand Tourism Awards in the Cook Islands News of Thursday, July 30. Looking at the list of award winners I was not pleasantly surprised to note that at least two peoples names were conspicuous by their absence. The first name that […]
3 August: LOCKED COURTS
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader writes: “Recently, the tennis courts at Tereora College were upgraded, a very good job, they look spiffy. So now someone has padlocked the gates and passed the word that the gates will be opened only for ‘authorised persons’. And all these years, I thought the courts were owned by the taxpayers and all […]
1 August: Room for improvement
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Had the Tourism Industry Council Awards been all about a big night out, then yes, I would have been able to say I totally enjoyed my evening. But the awards part, the main reason I was at the event, left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes I was an entrant. The application […]
3 August: LAGOON FIX
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader says: “Apparently there is aid money in the pot now to get a sewage system up and running in Muri. Why is yet another environmental report being done? Is this to line the pockets of a few again? We all know that our lagoon is a disaster area. Just fix it before it’s […]
Thursday 30: Congratulations
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, To the Tourism Industry Council and everyone who took part in Friday night’s inaugural Air New Zealand Tourism Awards — congratulations! What a wonderful evening. To everyone who was nominated and to those who won an award, well done. To the organising committee of Vaka Eiva, you rock. Congratulations on winning the Supreme […]
3 August: BIG DEBT
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader who says he’s a Cook Islander living overseas writes: “I read with great concern and alarm at the debt currently imposed on the CIs people by a government who at best can only be described as totalitarian with no regard for the long term welfare of its people. Who will pay back this […]
3 August: PAPER PASSING
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
About further public service cuts, a smoke signaller writes: “The first place to start cuts is the over bloated ministerial support offices. Fifteen years ago it was one staff with abudget of $25,000. Now it’s over 10 staff with an average budget of $235,000 each! That’s a whopping $1.6 million spent on passing paper around […]
3 August: Something about July?
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller suggests an interesting political study would be to investigate why over the past 25 years or so, the majority of attempts to topple a prime minister or government – apart from a general election – have come a week or two before the annual celebration of self government. Maybe some people want […]
5 August: King or the People?
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Who should rule, the King or the People? Not long ago, the right to rule in the Tinomana Family was decided by the “Court” and the title is to rotate between the descendents of the three wives of the King. A current controversy exists today with the Makea Family. The “Court” has said […]
5 August: Who's to blame for the utu?
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Through your esteemed paper, I’d like to ask a couple of questions which I hope some brilliant legal mind out there can answer for me: Who is responsible for paying for the damage caused by an utu seed falling on the windscreen of my car and completely shattering it, whilst I was travelling […]
5 August: POLITICAL REFORM?
Wednesday 5 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
What’s going on with Government’s promise after receiving the Electoral Reform Committee’s report over four years ago, a smoke signaller asks. “It goes to show that the two mainstream parties cannot be trusted and both parties have failed. People Power, where are you?”