Author Archive
Peak metals
Written By: - Date published: 6:47 am, September 19th, 2009 - 48 comments
We’re probably all now aware of the idea of peak oil. The earth is finite, and we can’t suck an infinite amount of oil out of it. But oil isn’t the only resource which is reaching its peak. Various important metals are running out even faster: Indium, gallium and hafnium are some of the least-known […]
It isn’t a game
Written By: - Date published: 2:30 pm, September 17th, 2009 - 25 comments
People who treat politics as a game annoy me. People who see it all in terms of power and cliques and scoring points and winning at all costs annoy me a lot. These people have lost the plot. Politics is not a game. Politics matters. It matters to society, the lives of individuals, and the […]
Short term thinkers
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, September 16th, 2009 - 27 comments
It never ceases to amaze me what short term thinkers National are. The plan (with the Maori Party) to gut the ETS highlights this issue very starkly. For the sake of short term appeasement of their backers in the polluting industries National are prepared to abandon the much more important long term considerations. Considerations like […]
Taxpayer shafted again
Written By: - Date published: 3:53 pm, September 15th, 2009 - 52 comments
National seems to be making a bit of a habit of shafting the taxpayer. Before the election we were promised significant tax cuts, “North of $50” per week. We had John Key’s personal guarantee. Key said “New Zealanders will be able to believe our tax cuts, they will be able to trust our tax cuts…”. […]
Be bold on smoking
Written By: - Date published: 9:27 am, September 14th, 2009 - 21 comments
Very good piece by Anthony Hubbard in the Sunday Star Times: The Maori Party is pressuring the government to take tough new anti-smoking measures including a hefty price rise and a ban on retail displays and is calling for a select committee inquiry to “bring these bastards from the tobacco companies out in the open”. […]
A bit of culture
Written By: - Date published: 6:11 am, September 13th, 2009 - 2 comments
If you’re looking for something to do on a Sunday that’s a bit more uplifting than arguing politics, why not check out some NZ literature instead? This is brilliant: 1000 New Zealand classics released as eBooks New Zealanders can now freely download—and store in their pockets—hundreds of our most well-known books, courtesy of Victoria University’s […]
Ninny state
Written By: - Date published: 3:27 pm, September 11th, 2009 - 44 comments
Phil Goff is quoted today as saying “we made mistakes” with policies that were perceived as “nanny state”: Asked if he would apologise to the conference for the nanny state policies, Mr Goff replied: “I think we want to draw a line under the past and say, yes, we made mistakes, we didn’t listen.” Mr […]
How big is an uprising?
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 10th, 2009 - 12 comments
There was an odd little piece in The Herald on Tuesday: Uprising would force Super City changes: PM Prime Minister John Key says the Government will back down on the new Super City boundaries for Rodney and Franklin if there is enough of a community uprising. Mr Key said he would be happy to overrule […]
Owning Auckland
Written By: - Date published: 2:52 pm, September 8th, 2009 - 17 comments
Last Friday the report of the Select Committee on Auckland was tabled in Parliament. The lack of media attention is a measure of how almost irrelevant this committee was. It has been clear for a long time that the decisions are being made by a small group around Key and Hide. The indefatigable Phil Twyford […]
Let’s have a proper debate
Written By: - Date published: 11:36 am, September 7th, 2009 - 16 comments
Larry Baldock (organiser of the “smacking” referendum) has decided to launch a petition for another referendum on whether such referenda should be binding. His agenda of course is to keep flogging the dead horse of the s59 debate. Two more years? No thanks. The only way that I can deal with the prospect is to […]
Climate change is racist
Written By: - Date published: 12:10 am, September 6th, 2009 - 18 comments
Climate change is racist. Not literally of course, but in the sense that how people are affected by climate change is going to be largely determined by race. Those who are going to suffer the most are not “white”. From The Herald summary of a recent study: The Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) released today […]
Diffusion of responsibility
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, September 5th, 2009 - 54 comments
Diffusion of responsibility means that the bigger the group the less chance that anyone in the group will take action. In a typical experiment people are left to wait in a room, which is rigged so that smoke starts coming in under a door. A person who is alone will usually leave the room and […]
Why blog?
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, September 4th, 2009 - 23 comments
So, against my better judgement I’m now a card carrying Standardista. Finally managed to get through the initiation ceremony without fainting. I’ve been issued with a pass card and retina scanned for the Secret Standard Bunker buried deep beneath Parliament. I have access to the restricted mainframe codes and my own Swiss bank account. Q […]
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