I spent a pleasant hour in Wellington’s Unity Books this week signing copies of my new book Waitangi: A Living Treaty. Book signings are always fun to do; you always meet new people, chat with them about why they’re interested in your book, and that kind of thing.


The concept behind the book is that the Treaty of Waitangi is a living entity, as relevant today as it was in 1840. Why? Because its practical reality is as an idea, shared by society, as that society changes through time. To show this in action, I’ve traced the history of that idea through time from the origins of the Treaty through to the present day.
If you want your copy, head to Unity. If you aren’t in Wellington or Auckland, check out your local bookstore. Or click the cover on the left to buy online.
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019
Did the lady deliberately wear a jumper to match your book cover? Seems rather apt.
Great to see it’s out. I’ll see if I can get a copy here.
There’s a Kiwi lady at my work who’s abandoning the UK (wisely) and moving back to Auckland shortly. Best of luck to her. But she brought some international spirit to the place.
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Oh yes! I should have done that myself, but my sartorial pallet consists largely of Dark Admiralty Grey, alternating with various shades that look like, but aren’t, Feldgrau. I’m not sure what the international distribution might be – but it’s available online here: https://www.wheelers.co.nz/books/9781869539962-waitangi-a-living-treaty-2019/ if you want to grab a copy.
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Awesome, I’ll check it out tonight after work.
I also discovered “kia ora” today, from the NZ lass at work. Which is cool. I’m getting more cultured by the minute.
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Kia ora is an amazing phrase because it is so versatile – hello, goodbye, welcome, I agree etc. My favourite word is urenui: https://mjwrightnz.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/new-zealands-slightly-rude-place-names/
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Well, she used Kia Ora. Capitals or no? I can recommend you use “belting, mate!” or “reet good, geeza!” if you want to be a Manc for a day. Up to you, though.
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It doesn’t need capitalising unless Kia starts a sentence – same rules as English. The punctuation and so forth is identical: te reo Maori was devised by English scholars from the 1820s, though not stabilised in terms of spelling until about the 1880s, because the English alphabet didn’t readily capture the nature of the pronunciation, with the result that even today, occasionally, a place-name is re-spelt to better capture how it should be said. The latest is the Rimutaka range, north of Wellington, now re-spelt Remutaka. I must try Manc slang!
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Well unfortnately I’m totally ignorant on Maori. but Manc slang I’m a fountain of knowledge. Y’oreet, mate? ‘ows it goin’? Rayya (where are you?) etc. Much of it is born of laziness. An elision, if I’ve got that right. But we drop our hs. So you’d be Matt Y’oreet? In a fit of confusion. We’re easily confused here. Just look at Brexit.
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Yes, I have to say I don’t understand Brexit at all. I mean, it hardly seems like any time since Edward Heath’s Britain was banging on Europe’s door to be let in (an act that was going to cause Total Apocalyptic Doom here in New Zealand because Britain was the only country in the world whose people were prepared to contemplate eating the tough slabs of unprocessed and frozen-till-solid mutton half-carcases that constituted our only export product).
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Mutton… yeah, I think we’re happier with fish & chips these days. With a dollop of ketchup. Good old Blighty.
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