Peak Globalisation
The first great era of globalisation from roughly 1840 through to 1914 took place inside a framework that we can now view as […]
RedLogix
Escape Velocity
In this series so far I’ve examined three of the four terms in the Kaya Identity, population, economic intensity, and energy intensity. It […]
Trifold Politics and Boundaries
Over the past year I’ve outlined in the comments an alternative triplet political model to the standard left/right description that’s the usual default. […]
The Tinkers
My all time favourite sci-fi author Vernor Vinge depicted in his Peace War Trilogy a counter culture that had adapted to unique set […]
Is Progress Real?
It’s hard to overstate the extraordinary merging of events in Europe that led to the Industrial Revolution exploding in the mid-1800’s. There was […]
The Malthusian Spectre
Population has always been a critical driver of events and prior to the Industrial Revolution we lived in a zero sum world, with […]
State Zero
This short post reprises a comment on Kaya’s Identity a few weeks back. Kaya identity is expressed in the form: F = P […]
Energy’s Iron Triangle.
For those who don’t trawl through all the comments; a little personal background. I’ve been fortunate enough to have just finished up a […]
Domestic Fire Sprinklers
For almost two decades there have been a number of perfectly acceptable domestic fire sprinkler solutions available in the NZ market. When building […]
A Constitution
Absolute h/t to Ovid who linked to proposals for a written Consitution for Sir Geoffrey Palmer this morning in Open Mike. The SpinOff […]
In Defense of Tony Veitch.
I was asked by trp to respond to his post earlier today separately. I’ll start by re-quoting a comment from Anne: I can […]
Aussies may be bastards, but they believe in themselves.
Here in Ballarat, Victoria we are having a mini-boom in manufacturing. Yes you read that right. We’re having trouble retaining good people because […]
Guest Post … Build Mass Movements continued.
This is a repost of a comment from Incognito on the Building Mass Movements post, with some editing. It’s also linked to one […]
Fisiani Gets it Right
Let’s get this straight. Fisiani’s on-going sycophantic love-in with John Key may be nauseatingly embarrassing to read, but this does not make him […]
DoC Staff Striking during Conservation Week
How far removed from a ‘cloth-capped mob of union-stirrers and industrial saboteurs’ would the staff of the Department of Conservation be? These people […]
Where to the nation?
Left wing politics in New Zealand bends most of its attention and energy inwards onto the nation state. This is of course understandable […]
All Antennae – No Compass
Duncan Garner lets it all out of the bag. Part of the problem is that under any normal circumstances Cabinet Minister Judith Collins […]
Forty Christmases
Exactly 40 years ago to the day I was having a white Christmas – on the summit of Mr Fyfe overlooking Kaikoura. Today […]
More BS Numbers from the Right
Today we again have the Herald’s resident ignoramus Damien Grant sounds off about something he knows nothing about. As usual just looking at […]
The Human Cost
The funeral was a very full house and hard. You may have even seen it on Campbell Live; The Herald gave it front […]
The Stealth Dismantling of Environmental Protection
To a first approximation the protection of the environment in this country is managed by two distinct entities; inside the Conservation estate it falls to […]
Five Broken Things.
Yesterday I rather shamelessly threadjacked one of Irish’s posts on a Colin Espiner column in the direction of the Universal Basic Income idea. […]
Media Medicine
The relationship between media and politicians in this country has become incestuous and toxic. For much of the time they confine themselves to […]
Treachery
Fran O’Sullivan is an enemy of the people. Her article in this morning’s Herald will forever brand her as a traitor to this […]
Two Left Feet, or a Kick Ass Combo?
“We believed in ourselves”
Read this and weep: New rolling stock (carriages) for South Island scenic rail journeys are as good as, or better than anything I […]
Creating Jobs for the Young…and not how you’d expect.
So we can safely predict this National govt will score it’s usual epic fail around youth unemployment. And we all know the reasons […]
The Heart of Utoya
So Breivik has given us an eyes wide open gaze into the abyss. Chilling isn’t it? Much has been written in the last […]
How to tell you have a Tory govt
Brian Fallow is one of the Heralds more understated columnists. Brian and I probably vote differently, but I find his articles usually worth […]
Universal Income Revisited
The tax system we currently have is a relic of the pre-IT age. In the days of manual clerk-handled accounts, it was impractical […]
John “30-sec” Key…. smile and walk away.
The two significant things from the Herald interview: #1 The signalling by John Key of his willingness to step down. #2 The view […]
I Owe My Soul….to the Company Store
The words of this old song date back to the 1800’s when dominant and rapacious employers in small company towns would require their […]
Free Market Failure
It’s time for the National Party to issue an abject apology to the nation… for the 1992 Building Regulations that directly led to […]
The Great Giveaway
From where I’m sitting the Left will never be back in power, not because they will never win elections, but because the power […]
Good Old Fashioned Solidarity
Matt McCarten writes a fine opinion piece in today’s Herald. He hits four main points: 1. The neo-liberal dismantling of NZ’s egalitarian society […]
Let them drink… bottled water.
Not surprised to see that the Government has confirmed the Drinking Water Subsidy Scheme is being put on hold and reviewed. The subsidy […]