The new British Council collection of essays, Crossing Points, is providing new perspectives on the connections between the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Connections and history that weave us together in multiple ways through politics, science, language, art, architecture, comedy and simple, old-fashioned friendships.
The UK and Australia were recently described to me as ‘the two most distant but closest nations on earth’.
New Zealand, although small and on the other side of the world from the UK, is and will continue to be an important voice on the global stage.
Australia is a country best seen from above. It is in the air that this land truly speaks to me.
Growing up in that time, in that part of England, you were not expected to go to university – let alone leave Britain and set up a life at the other end of the Earth.
Once upon a time, in a place far, far away lived a chief called Āporo Wharekaniwha and his hapū (community), Ngāti Hinemihi.
Today’s global dialogue in the Pacific is not only deafening, it is also defining.
But despite all this bad news, I think we need to avoid a narrative that suggests humanity is on an irrevocable downward slide.
Today it seems as if in many parts of the world that progress is neither linear nor inevitable.
Festivals provide opportunities for rebuilding and healing.
In a global world Pacific islands are no longer remote or isolated. While they do not always speak with one voice, they share common concerns, and numerically, with others, are being heard.
For me it was a no brainer. It was always that I would sing in my language. I came home and I knew what I needed to do.
I'm occasionally asked what the differences are between working as a comedian in the UK and working in Australia, & that’s hard to answer unless you want to talk in sweeping generalisations.