Joan Holland looks at the issues raised by the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. Signed by New Zealand's Maori and whites in 1840, the treaty has never been fully honoured.

Australia's Minister of Justice, Senator Michael Tate, outlined some of the problems posed by environmental degradation, by warfare and by attitudes towards embryo research and abortion.

The company that is doing the conversions employs, among others, alcoholics, drug-addicts, former prisoners - people who are generally considered unemployable.

`We members of the public are tired of sitting back and expecting the politicians to do everything. It's up to us Queenslanders to do something as well.'

Reviewed by Charis Waddy, author of `The Muslim Mind'.

The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland Edited by RF Foster Oxford University PressDr Roddy Evans