The aural island idyll of gentle breezes wafting through swaying palms and waves softly breaking onto pristine shores is taking a real battering in Fiji. You can’t go anywhere without being assailed by rock music played at the highest decibels and Grubsheet, for one, has had enough. We want paradise restored - to not only be able to smell the … [Read more...] about # CRAVING THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE
#TESTING TIMES
Scandalising the judicial system has come at a heavy price for the venerable Fiji Times, its former publisher, Brian O’Flaherty, and the current publisher and editor, Fred Wesley. Sentence was passed on the paper today after it was found guilty of contempt for republishing comments about Fiji’s judiciary made to the New Zealand media by Tai … [Read more...] about #TESTING TIMES
# GETTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER
What is the appropriate size for Fiji’s new parliament? How many MPs can the country sustain? How many do we need to adequately represent us and provide the nucleus for an effective government? All these questions are currently being considered as the Government’s legal officers put the finishing touches to the new Draft Constitution that will be … [Read more...] about # GETTING OUR HOUSE IN ORDER
# CREATING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
Any political party that aspires to contest the 2014 election should have one imperative in mind above all others – the need to provide Fiji’s young people with jobs and viable, sustainable futures. There are disturbing signs – not least in the escalating suicide rate – that many young people have lost hope that they can ever “make it” in the way … [Read more...] about # CREATING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
# AT LAST, A DOLLOP OF SENSE
The mainstream Australian media has been woefully blind to the real situation in Fiji, dazzled, as it is, by the constant bleat of the Bainimarama Government's opponents. Pitifully few Australian journalists ever visit Fiji, even from media organisations such as the ABC which broadcasts its message of doom into Fijian homes on a 24/7 basis. All of … [Read more...] about # AT LAST, A DOLLOP OF SENSE
# GLOVES OFF OVER USP JOURNALISM
UPDATED FEBRUARY 4TH AS DAVID ROBIE BRANDS MARC EDGE A LIAR: Grubsheet is bored to distraction with the antics of Marc Edge, the academic poseur who was forced to resign as head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific after repeated complaints of misconduct. But we're returning to the vomit - the only apt description for Edge's … [Read more...] about # GLOVES OFF OVER USP JOURNALISM