More Top Stories
Charlie-Puna admits to café visit, loses prison privileges
10 September 2024
Browne calls for investigation into prison work release programme
11 September 2024
Anxiety on the rise: Cook Islands faces mental health challenge
7 September 2024
Cook Islands deep sea mining poll sparks controversy
7 September 2024
11 months jail for man caught smuggling 1.176kg of cannabis
13 August 2024
Helmet safety concerns raised amid enforcement challenges
2 September 2024
MCI rejects ‘dark fleet’ label
3 August 2024
STI cases on the rise
2 September 2024
Accused rapist admits to 47 charges, suppression lifted
31 August 2024
Rising seas, rising costs: Climate impacts on Cook Islands economy
2 September 2024
Inflation eases but concerns remain
31 August 2024
Prime Minister defends $659,000 MPs travel bill
23 August 2024
Taxpayers foot $659,000 bill for MPs travel and allowance
22 August 2024
Corruption report exposes ‘bribe and sexual favours’
17 January 2023
PM Brown eager to hand over Forum chair role to Tonga
13 August 2024
ICI explains road works delay in front of old Sheraton site
10 August 2024
Diaspora dismayed over lack of Te Maeva Nui livestream
8 August 2024
Everyone is a winner, says Culture
7 August 2024
Local women outshine global peers in business leadership
8 August 2024
Housing crisis hits tourism industry
27 July 2024
MCI rejects ‘dark fleet’ label
3 August 2024
Tapaitau appeal dismissed
17 July 2024
Challenging ‘rape culture’
8 July 2024
TB cases detected
1 June 2024
Opinion
Letter: ‘It’s time we listened to the science’
I write with a heavy heart, disappointed by the narrow-mindedness I see in some of my fellow Cook Islanders when it comes to seabed minerals exploration.
Letter: SBMA ‘losing control’
I would like to speak as an environmentally concerned Cook Islander, hearing concerns raised by Dr Teina Rongo on Temu Okotai’s radio show yesterday morning (Monday).
Power for change lies within us all
THE OTHER day, a local islander said to me about the American presidential election, “I thought it was a joke. Now it’s serious.”
Why are we a divided nation?
WE ARE polite, kindly, refined, affable, polished and courteous, yet capable of unleashing ruthless cruelty and savagery beyond measure!
Where to for Demos after Teina Bishop?
RIGHT NOW, I am in extreme anguish over the guilty finding the jury returned for my dear friend Teina Bishop.
More to decluttering than meets the eye...
Can you imagine becoming a millionaire by teaching people how to fold their underwear in a new way?
Working together on suicide issue
Guest columnist Thomas Wynne takes a look at a conference on suicide prevention, held in Japan in May this year, and the contribution made by Cook Islander Eliza Puna, who gave a presentation on her Phd on Suicide Prevention amongst Cook Islands Youth in New Zealand; Eliza Puna. The conference was attended by a number of service providers in the Pacific.
Demos seem bent on self-destruction
Occasional columnist Mata-Atua McNair casts her eye over the current political situation in the Cook Islands and tries to make sense of some strange and bewildering events.
A warning every parent should read
ONE DAY, when I was helping my 13-year-old son pack to visit family for the summer, I took a break and sat back on the bed.
Political deadlock - the winners and losers
SOME PEOPLE are treating the current political impasse as the agony without end.
Rule of law should govern the nation
The RULE of law is more than just some quaint phrase that is trotted out from time to time to sound impressive.
Mindfulness makes all the difference...
I WAS amazed while eating a salad at a restaurant in Rarotonga, when the owner stopped by and asked, “Is your salad a little dry?”
A festival of mistakes and bad habits
The LAST few days have brought to a climax all the bad decision-making by the Speaker and Clerk of Parliament.
Big on promises, short on delivery
DESPITE THE last minute flurry as to whether parliament was correctly adjourned, (which, with the doors firmly locked, provided camera opportunities but not much more), the June sitting of parliament came and went with an opposition promising much, but delivering little.
Freebies take priority over parliament
TIME AND time again, the self-serving needs of the prime minister and his cabinet have brought the Appropriation Bill to a sudden halt.
The reluctant Solicitor General
READERS will recall that in April this year, I sent for publication the copy of a letter I forwarded to the Solicitor General, David James, asking him to review the decision of the Cook Islands Police Force not to prosecute Henry Puna for careless driving causing injury after an accident on October 4, 2014.
Handicraft export made much easier
COMPREHENSIVE information about biosecurity regulations for transporting handicrafts across borders in the Pacific region is now more accessible following the launch of a manual at the recently-completed 12th Festival of Pacific Arts in Hagatna, Guam.
A tribute to Muhammad Ali, 1942-2016
MUHAMMAD Ali was a great athlete, civil rights leader, linguist, showman, philanthropist, world citizen – and a man who left some memorable quotes:
Family unity fulfills a divine convenant
I WALKED into the large carpeted meeting room of an apartment complex where our family reunion was being held. Gradually the room filled, with five generations of Kavelins, my dad’s relatives.
Cook Islands devoid of critical thinking
Last week, a Tongan academic claimed that the Pacific is at a critical stage where there is a noticeable lack of “critical thinking.”
Can't wait for 'Aoteoroazhou'
I would like to live long enough to see the day when people of Chinese or Asian descent are in the majority in New Zealand, and I would like Mike Hosking and the racist citizenary of New Plymouth to be around then too.
The language of love important one to learn
Araura College Counsellor Thomas Wynne and I were recently talking about the needs of youth, and he shared some fascinating information. Thomas discovered what students at Araura are craving as ways to feel loved.