We’ve set up a Facebook page for The Paepae … visit it here, if that suits you.

I’ve just spent a weekend in the shadow of Mt Taranaki, with family on matters to do with our season of grief, and throughout that time I found myself ‘checking in’ with the mountain from various angles. There’s a kind of ownership — does the mountain belong to the people? … Or, more likely, are the [...]

In New Zealand, there’s been a lot of, umm, ‘debate’ (heat but not much light) about finding a way to tax residential property investors. Much ado about nothing, we hope. Here’s a brilliant ad in support of a proposed UK tax on banks… I have one or two people I would like to question in [...]

Wole Soyinka: On origins of religious strife… In Mr. Soyinka’s view, the origins of the current phase of the world’s religious strife—including all of the bloodshed in Nigeria—lie with Ayatollah Khomeini and his fatwa against Salman Rushdie, in 1989. “It all began when he assumed the power of life and death over the life of [...]

The legacy of W. Eugene Smith… W. Eugene Smith learned the hard way that photography could be too easy, a matter of making expert images of interesting subjects. He set himself to learn the truth – about himself as well as his subjects. In the process, he produced a series of photographic essays, for LIFE [...]