Dear Mr. Sharples I judge from your recent remarks that you are not aware of the definition of the word racist. In the interests of helping you understand your colleague Hone Harawira, I thought I might help you out: racism Pronunciation:/ˈreɪsɪz(ə)m/ noun [mass noun] the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or [...]

Turns out that I was right about the Left-wing blogs and the media continuing to rabbit on about John Key’s “cannibalism” joke. And, yes, it does make them look like complete prats. The editor of the Herald on Sunday even goes as far as to suggest that the coalition between Maori and National is falling [...]

Paul Holmes talks about the disturbing double standard in the way Hone Harawira’s outburst has been treated. He does not add a lot to what has already been said in the blogosphere but he does make one intriguing remark. Could it be, in fact, that they cannot refute what he says because they share his [...]

It is seldom that I agree with Hone Harawira, but I have to agree with his comment about the suggestion that he becomes an independent MP as the “Silliest idea I’ve heard“. For starters, Hone cast loose as an independent is just going to make him more of a nuisance than now. Currently, we only [...]

I know I am showing my age a bit here, but I can remember the days when newspapers used to report actual news. This is in direct contrast to this morning’s Herald (it certainly is “the weak-end” Herald). We have the mercurial Hone Harawira admitting to skipping official meetings (the ones we paid for him [...]

Audrey Young today blogs about TVNZ’s counter offer for the Rugby World Cup coverage. She spends most of her post describing the gutted feeling of Maori and, in particular Pita Sharples. Though I do feel sorry for Maori TV, I remain puzzled over John Key’s tactics in this. He has basically encouraged a snub of [...]

Garth George broaches the issue of Maori seats in local government and comes to this conclusion: But now, after pondering the question at length and reading all the arguments for and against, I believe that the Maori seats in Parliament should stay for as long as Maori want them, and that at least two seats [...]

Tuku Morgan voices his opinion that: The Government’s denial of Maori representation on the Auckland Super City Council is a stark sign of the lowly status accorded to Maori in New Zealand. It strike me that one could view this the other way round as well – that National and Act think well enough of [...]

As controversial as ever, Dr. Pita Sharples’ remarks always generate interesting debate and his remarks on open university access for Maori are no different. Dr. Sharples is now modifying his remarks a little by adding that Maori would still need to meet education standards. His suggestion of some sort of bridging course meets with no [...]

Pita Sharples calls for universities to grant open access to all Maori. He thinks this will improve the percentage of Maoris with bachelors degrees, currently 7.1% as compared to 17.6% for Europeans. I think he is making a number of fundamental errors. Firstly, as David Farrar points out over at Kiwiblog, giving open access to [...]