'The Knowledge' about Fiji comes by various routes...

Thanks to everyone who asked me if I'd seen A Cabbie Abroad on BBC 2. It's the series where London cabbie Mason McQueen has a go at taxi driving in different cities of the world, and this week it was the turn of Fiji's capital, Suva. For a programme which is essentially popular entertainment (nothing wrong with that) combined with documentary, it was a useful watch and didn't avoid the big issues. Conversations in and out of the cab ranged around local government, community life, housing, the daily takings of a Suva cabbie (not enough for survival it would appear), and featured insights from iTaukei (indigenous Fijians) and Indo-Fijians. With a media analyst's 'hat' on I'd like to question some of the editing choices - what we were shown and spun and what we were steered away from, but that's so often the case with 'global' documentaries. There were one or two squirm making moments in terms of language and stereotyping but Mason McQueen came across as chirpy, upbeat, thoughtful and appreciative, especially of his host and taxi-driver guide Dhamendra Kumar and family with whom he stayed. Suva, according to the stats wheeled out, has around 5000 taxi cabs - 4 times more per head than in London. Dhamendra rents his cab at 60 Fijian Dollars per day (£20) and needs to spend 80-90FD daily on fuel. So, about £50 to cover costs before any hope of a profit. 17 hour shifts, 7am-1am are not unusual and it's a constant battle to pay the rent. Here's what McQueen says to camera at the end of day one as a Suva cabbie. 

What a day! I'm absolutely shattered. They're crazy shifts, crazy long hours. They can destroy people, them sort of hours, you know, but he just gets on with it. He didn't want to come home tonight - he wanted to carry on working and I'm shattered. He's such an honest, gentle guy, really - his whole family are. They're lovely. Argh (yawning)  - time for some sleep...'