Prime Minister Helen Clark today mourned the death of Bishop Manuhuia Bennett, the former Anglican bishop of Aotearoa and a leading figure in Maoridom.

“Manu Bennett was admired in both the church and the wider community. He was a man of great intelligence and wisdom, generosity and compassion. He will be very deeply missed.

“Our thoughts are with his wife, Kaa, and his whanau, hapu, and iwi who have lost a favourite family member and kaumatua. He was a leading community member in Rotorua and a rangatira within Maoridom.

“New Zealand has lost one its most honoured persons. Bishop Bennett was awarded the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), the country’s highest honour limited to twenty living persons at any time, on Waitangi Day in 1989. He was also made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the Queen’s Birthday list in 1981.

“I personally will miss him for his humour and warmth. New Zealand is the poorer for his passing.”

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>