grubsheet

Regular readers of Grubsheet will be aware of our continuing campaign to restore Suva to its former glory, and especially the so-called “Golden Half-Mile”, the area bounded by Government Buildings, the Grand Pacific Hotel, Government House, the Fiji Museum and Thurston Gardens. We derive a huge amount of satisfaction from the power of our pen, or … [Read more...] about # CHIMING IN A NEW ERA

The latest and arguably most important phase of the Government’s Fijian Made campaign – Fijian Crafted – is being launched by the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, in Nadi on Friday. Why is a crafted object more significant than an industrially manufactured item, however excellent or desirable? Because more than anything else, it represents … [Read more...] about # FIJIAN CRAFTED, FIJIAN MADE

Relations between Fiji and Australia have taken yet another turn for the worse with the revelation that Canberra has been secretly blocking Fiji’s access to hundreds of millions of dollars for development projects. A senior Australian academic – Professor Stephen Howes – told The Australian newspaper that the Government had used its muscle to veto … [Read more...] about # AUSTRALIA’S UNHEALTHY OBSESSION

In a striking act of philanthropy, the family of the founder of Fiji Airways, Harold Gatty, is making two big donations to local institutions, including $1-million to build a new wing at the Fiji Museum to celebrate the late aviator’s achievements. The money is coming from Harold Gatty’s son, the Wainadoi spice farmer and author, Dr Ronald Gatty, … [Read more...] about # GATTY’S $2-MILLION GIVEAWAY

The 26th anniversary of the first 1987 Coup has revived some traumatic memories for many of us who lived through it – the shock, the air of menace, the violence, the feeling that Fiji would never be the same again. Tens of thousands of our best and smartest people simply decided there and then that there was no future for themselves and their … [Read more...] about # THE NATIONAL TRAUMA OF MAY 1987

The Government’s cyber critics have been blindsided by the announcement that all three former major political parties – Labour, the National Federation Party and SODELPA, the former SDL – have been cleared to contest the 2014 election. The declaration by the Registrar of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, that all three entities had cleared the hurdle … [Read more...] about # ECONOMIES WITH THE TRUTH (UPDATED 12/5)