Janet Frame helped break down barriers

"Janet Frame was a New Zealand literary icon who helped break down the misconceptions about mental illness," says National Party Leader Don Brash. "She overcame enormous odds to become one of New Zealand's most distinguished writers - her death will be met with great sadness."

The Australian winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Patrick White, once described her as '... the most considerable New Zealand novelist yet'.

"Janet Frame was a gifted writer who endured great hardship.

"Her work undoubtedly helped open doors to those who were suffering from mental illness, at a time when patients were often locked away and forgotten.

"It's clear she'll leave behind a legacy that will live on in the hearts and minds of all New Zealanders," says Dr Brash.

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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>>