Speculation
I know many of the liberal left don’t like or can’t accept the thought that banning non-residents from speculating on residential property in […]
Bill
Come in Houston…
Story of a 111 response time.
Irony? Nah.
Nigel Farage went to Scotland to promote UKIP. What the hell was he thinking?
And in Good News
Research published today in the journal Nature Climate Change looked at 50,000 globally widespread and common species and found that more than one half of the plants and one third of the animals will lose more than half of their climatic range by 2080 if nothing is done to reduce the amount of global warming and slow it down.
Smokefree? Then Cut the Crap!
Apparently the government is concerned for the general health of people in New Zealand. Apparently, an expression of this concern is the roll out of policy initiatives that will result in New Zealand being smoke free by 2025.
Welcome to the Burdigalian
Last year, in the Arctic, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were measured at 400ppm. If you search on line for historical CO2 levels, you’ll find a lot of comments that are of the opinion that 400ppm CO2 last occurred about 800 000 years ago…or maybe just a bit longer. The implication is that since that’s well within the span of human existence it doesn’t really matter too much. It’s fine; we’ve been here before.
Halting Dynamics and Shifting Inertias
Like many, I’ve been somewhat bemused and not a little angered that austerity is touted as a pathway to economic recovery. Like many, I’ve come to view both austerity and bail outs simply as means to put public monies and the control of public institutions into private hands – all the while diminishing the power of citizens on both an individual and collective basis.
But why consciously destroy or abandon real economic activity in a quest for power? Why not continue to build on whatever ‘real economy’ bases of power you posses? Idle speculation might suggest a lust for power, y’know… power for power’s sake. Or a reaction to, or recognition of impending peak resources in a world of growing population.
Gimme sense!
It’s nothing but ardent colonial nonsense to be celebrating a seasonally determined cultural event in the wrong season and about six months off […]
Fear factors
Another in an on going non-chronological series on options in the face of global warming.
If
If you and I were told that (variously) our sons and daughters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews were going to be killed tomorrow, would I be right to suspect that we might sit up and take notice?
Well done
This is one of a series of posts I hope to write over the summer based to some extent or other on a recent presentation by Kevin Anderson: Professor of Energy and Climate Change, University of Manchester, Tyndall Centre.
Goldman Sachs. Global Inc?
What to make of yet another Goldman Sach’s appointee?
Do Not Press!
Funny thing about winnning the war is that it can take a bit of time to sink in.
Shearer or Labour?
Between writing this post and submitting it I see rumours are flying like demented monkeys. So perhaps this post is a timely call to sort shit out democratically. Now. And once and for all.
Break For The Future
When Margaret Thatcher was asked about her greatest achievement, she promptly answered: “New Labour.” And she was right: her triumph was that even her political enemies adopted her basic economic policies. True victory over your enemy occurs when they start to use your language, so that your ideas form the foundation of the entire field. Today, when neoliberal hegemony is clearly falling apart, the only solution is to repeat Thatcher’s gesture in the opposite direction.
Cone of Silence?
A couple of weeks back I wrote a post offering Shearer, Robertson or Pagani an opportunity to justify their (more or less) blanket […]
A Good Idea?
Planning permission has been sought to construct the world’s largest windfarm off the Scottish coast. Estimated to cost around 4.5 billion pounds and […]
To the Back Teeth. And Beyond
Pagani wrote it. Robertson cleared it. And Shearer uttered it. To summarise; those living by sickness entitlements are probably dodgy b’stards. Nice. Before I go on, I should be clear that this post isn’t some insightful fiction. This is the reality of getting by with a sickness benefit.
Curing Tobacco
So tobacco is a ridiculously addictive drug that offers no accompanying high for the user. It has pretty dire health consequences and was promoted for years as harmless, chic and sophisticated and the government even gave it away to combatants during WWII by the carton load.
But now the government wants it gone.
Saveloy Soup! Anyone?
Seems as though Dicken’s Oliver character was an ungrateful little ingrate who actually had it pretty good, all things considered. Gruel has to beat left over savaloy water, no?
Intro for International Organisation for a Participatory Society
Revolution in Springfield 😉
Milking a Land of Plenty?
NZ milk production has apparently risen by 30% since 2005. And, according to sources used by frenz.co.nz, back in 2006 over 14 billion […]
The Only Vision….Left.
Is it not strange and a bit disquieting that the parliamentary left, or more precisely, the Labour Party, is all at sea with regards vision? The vision of the left…the only vision there is for the left… is the same now as it always was. So why is the Labour Party struggling to articulate a vision? We know that the labour Party has lost touch. And we know that people are more or less disengaged from parliamentary politics. Why this should be isn’t very difficult to figure out. How to rectify the situation isn’t very difficult either.
What a riot.
A quick post on sentences handed down in the wake of riots in England.
Trading Futures
This post is intended to do more than merely generate discussion. It’s a serious proposition seeking action. Its intent is to lay out or sign post (at least some of) the basic or necessary legal and social structures of a Community Collective comprised of both workers and housing collectives that would enable people to assume meaningful control over aspects of their futures.
An Occupation Occupied. What’s Next?
Last week, several occupations ‘popped up’ around New Zealand. Well, they didn’t exactly pop up, did they? They weren’t more or less spontaneous, as in numerous countries in the Middle East, N. Africa, Europe and more recently, in Wall Street.
In New Zealand, there was, and is, no general out-pouring of anger or frustration from across large sectors of society. In New Zealand, the Occupations are contrived…pre-planned and organised.
Over or Into The Wall?
Will the protests around the world hit the brick wall of ingrained habits? Or will we manage to get over, around or beneath that particular barrier to progress?
A Smidgen of Truth Escapes the msm
It’s not often that ‘bald truths’ escape the filtration of the msm. The video below is an example of one of those rare moments.
Education Standards and National Standards
The guys at RSA Animate provide their illustative talents to a quite brilliant and wide ranging lecture by Sir Ken Robinson on the topic of education. In the space of just over 10 minutes, he ranges from it’s industrial beginnings to its doped out, standardised present and argues finally, that educationally we’re heading in exactly the wrong direction and suggests alternatives.
The Pernicious Food Card
Or how the food card will inevitably push beneficiaries into all types of deeper strife.
The cartoon (since it doesn’t show up clearly and you might be wondering) is a lifebelt being thrown in the “Welfare” cell and a book titled “Learn to swim” being thrown in the second “Welfare Reform” cell.
Crisis? What Crisis?
Cuts are good for you.
All the World’s A Square
Some inspiration as Monday morning looms.
Killer Cars?
While media speculates on how many deaths in Japan will eventually be attributable to the earthquake, the tsunami and radiation exposure, I’ll warrant that one major contributory factor to the total death toll will escape any mention or comment.
Back to School on Quakes
A comment from a foreign national in Japan caught my attention last night. She was a language teacher in a school and remarked that she was in the safest possible building as schools in Japan have extra earthquake reinforcement, ie over and above the building code as it applies to other buildings.
Why Revolutions Stumble and Fall
Democracy doesn’t suddenly magically appear as though from a conjurers hat. We know that, right? So why are revolutions seeking democracy D.O.A?
Bloody Klowns
Ever been in a job where you thought you were underpayed and overworked? Ever voiced those feelings to your workmates? Either on the job, or during ‘smoko’, over the telephone or through some other electronic medium?
A Burger King employee in Dunedin has. And now, astonishingly, faces the possibility of being fired for serious misconduct.