More than 100 New Zealand children who died last year would probably have survived had they lived in Japan, Sweden or the Czech Republic, a new documentary shows. In Inside Child Poverty: A Special Report, set to air this week, Wellington documentary maker Bryan Bruce shows a Swedish doctor footage of sick, scab-ridden schoolchildren suffering Read more
A group of 15 leaders of church related organisations in New Zealand have expressed support for the nationwide Occupy movement and disagreement with moves towards eviction. According to the statement, religious leaders around the country are “troubled by the moves to have these people forcibly evicted from the sites that they are occupying”. Rather than attempting to Read more
The Sisters of St Francis are finally getting their due, in the pages of the New York Times, for demonstrating another way to occupy Wall St. Not long ago, an unusual visitor arrived at the sleek headquarters of Goldman Sachs in Lower Manhattan. It wasn’t some C.E.O., or a pol from Athens or Washington, or even a sign-waving occupier Read more
All is connected – a vast intricate web of relationships in three dimensions. If one strand or knot is disturbed or damaged, the repercussions spread out in every direction, in time and space. Do we have the wisdom, the knowledge, the experience even to understand what we have set in motion, much less how to Read more
Food banks around the country have empty shelves and no back-up as a wave of need hits New Zealand. Foodbanks from Auckland to Dunedin are reporting empty shelves and with Christmas looming they are asking for food donations – specifically canned soup, fruit and spreads. The Auckland City Mission said their food parcel statistics were Read more
The All Blacks are heroes but the Black Caps are zeroes – isn’t it time the NZC showed some true leadership, asks Tony Smith. Close to half a million people turned out to parades in the three main centres after the All Blacks’ broke their 24-year Rugby World Cup drought. They basked not only in Read more
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have asked New Zealanders and especially Catholics to consider the common good of all when they vote in the November general election. In a statement being distributed to Catholic parishes throughout the country, the bishops emphasise that politics is not a private affair and that the election is an opportunity to help secure Read more