Contributors

‘I was intrigued to visit Margate because this once down-trodden seaside town has definitely earned itself a reputation as a trendy artistic hub,’ says Katie Burton (page 26). ‘I wanted to discover if the up-tick in the town’s fortunes is benefiting local people or only the Londoners who have moved there, and whether Margate’s story differs from that of Britain’s other traditional holiday spots.’ ‘After starting to learn Portuguese,’ says journalist Marco Magrini, ‘I decided to visit all the former Portuguese colonies, one by one.’ This month he spent time exploring the West African country of Guinea-Bissau (page 34). ‘Slave-hunting began here in the 15th century,’ he says, ‘and I found the deep wounds of a troubling past still endangering this country’s future.’ ‘The controversies around the 250th anniversary of Cook’s landing shows how dramatically Aotearoa/New Zealand has changed over the past half century,’ says Chris Fitch (page 43). ‘From being a distant colony of Britain, the country has evolved into a culturally independent nation with a narrative that extends back centuries before Cook... although there are still many difficult conversations to be had.’