Author Archive

Image-ination: postcards to the planet

Written By: - Date published: 5:59 pm, September 28th, 2009 - Comments Off on Image-ination: postcards to the planet

Have you heard of the 10:10 campaign in the UK? It aims to inspire individuals, businesses and organisations to commit to cutting their own emissions by 10% in 2010. A range of artists are donating work to be auctioned in support of the campaign, with some really great images. View climate change from a different […]

Sniffing the breeze on climate change

Written By: - Date published: 9:49 pm, September 19th, 2009 - 4 comments

Climate change and the Emissions Trading Scheme are front and centre of political comment at the moment it seems. I thought this item from Patrick Smellie was a cut above the rest: No matter whether you’re up or downwind of it, this week’s political bargain on the Emissions Trading Scheme looks, sounds and smells like […]

After Edge of Darkness

Written By: - Date published: 10:47 pm, September 17th, 2009 - 11 comments

I just read that the Troy Kennedy Martin, the screenwriter responsible for Edge of Darkness died earlier this week. I wanted to mark his passing because I think Edge of Darkness is one of the best things I have ever viewed on television. I was pretty young at the time but I remember being riveted […]

Rod Oram: Burn after reading

Written By: - Date published: 7:36 pm, September 7th, 2009 - 22 comments

As usual Rod Oram presents an insightful argument: New Zealand’s climate change credibility is hanging by a thread. If the government indulges in bad politics on the Emissions Trading Scheme, the thread would snap. We would suffer instant, serious and long-term damage to our economy, environment and reputation. …Would National be so reckless? Logically it […]

Hijacked by climate change?

Written By: - Date published: 8:36 am, August 30th, 2009 - 16 comments

Richard Black, environment correspondent for the BBC News website asks an interesting question – Has climate change hijacked the wider environmental agenda? If so, why? And does it matter? He a number of leading environmental thinkers for a BBC Radio Four documentary, Climate Hijack. He says: None of the people I interviewed for the programme argue […]

Guardian readers’ standup: the winner

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, August 29th, 2009 - Comments Off on Guardian readers’ standup: the winner

Last month, the Guardian launched their first YouTube standup competition. They’ve put up their findings here: In the end (and it was close, going to a final count with fellow judges Sarah Millican, Guardian arts editor Melissa Denes and head of audio Matt Wells), our winner was Louisa Theobald, with a routine about her work as […]

Stopping family violence: must do better

Written By: - Date published: 2:24 pm, August 25th, 2009 - 21 comments

Shocking to see these figures: Almost a third of Kiwi women and one in five men will experience violence and abuse at the hands of their partners. The statistics are in a report made public today that will guide a crackdown on family violence. We need to get better at dealing with these issues. It’s […]

Women on the web

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 pm, August 2nd, 2009 - 3 comments

Is the blogging world becoming more gender balanced? This story in the Times indicates there’s a group who are wanting to get some space. But what interested me was that some big business names are getting involved: Not only have attendee numbers increased from just a few hundred at the first conference in 2005, but […]

Video: Rhys Darby Global Warning Poem

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, August 1st, 2009 - 4 comments

Couldn’t resist some weekend humour

Provoking change

Written By: - Date published: 2:45 pm, July 23rd, 2009 - 13 comments

Good interview with Labour’s Justice spokesperson, Lianne Dalziel this morning on her private members Bill in the ballot that would remove the defence of provocation (audio on the rnz site, including an mp3 version).  It looks like there is a real momentum for change with ‘the Crimes (Abolition of Defence of Provocation) Amendment Bill’ going into the member’s […]

Observation from the sideline

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, July 9th, 2009 - 12 comments

Some worthwhile questions raised by Vernon Small in today’s Dom Post: Eight months ago to the day Labour awoke to find itself out of power for the first time this century….Now, the cliched wisdom is that an electoral trouncing prescribes that an opposition take its medicine, learn its lessons, stay focused and constructive, avoid being […]

Before there was spin…

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 pm, July 1st, 2009 - 11 comments

When we talk politics we often use words like positioning, frame, context – words are a vital part of the programme of political communication. Here’s a really interesting thought from US academic Lera Boroditsky, who asks  How does our language shape the way we think? …patterns in a language can indeed play a causal role […]

Emperor’s new clothes?

Written By: - Date published: 6:41 pm, June 28th, 2009 - 3 comments

I was in relaxed, Saturday mode, perusing the Dom Post at my leisure. Then I read this from Tracey Watkins and checked that the world had not shifted in alignment: Has the Government lost its mojo? How else to explain the uncanny quiet that has descended on the Beehive in recent weeks? It may be […]

Rough and tumble

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 pm, June 25th, 2009 - 14 comments

I didn’t listen to the House today but Tom Frewen did, and he points out there was: Squabbling over minister’s answers to opposition questions continues with surprise twist when the Speaker upholds Labour’s complaint that the Finance Minister failed to answer a patsy question from one of his own backbenchers (visit site for the audio) […]

A Rankin headache

Written By: - Date published: 7:14 pm, June 23rd, 2009 - 33 comments

There must be an automatic recoil on the Government benches when Christine Rankin’s name is mentioned. Even Bill Ralston has noticed the difficulty in which they find themselves with her latest embarassment: We now have the ludicrous position where a Families Commissioner appears to run a shadow campaign by proxy, through surrogates, completely contrary to […]

The psychology of buying green

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 10 comments

I know political animals are watching Mt Albert today, but something to read in the meantime on the psychology of buying ‘green’. We hear it in a myriad of places and phrases, from sustainability to the need to buy what’s best for the environment. But how much is that really a motivator, and how much […]

The legitimacy of distraction

Written By: - Date published: 1:41 pm, May 23rd, 2009 - 1 comment

A cold weekend afternoon. Perfect timing for a distracting article on Twitter, Adderall, lifehacking, mindful jogging, power browsing, Obama’s BlackBerry, and the benefits of overstimulation. Sam Anderson presents thoughts in defence of distraction. Over the last several years, the problem of attention has migrated right into the center of our cultural attention. We hunt it […]

On the back foot

Written By: - Date published: 4:07 pm, May 19th, 2009 - 1 comment

When a Government are having to defend their actions they are not setting the agenda, Given it is a week before National’s first budget the ‘Rankin’ situation is not what they will be wanting. But as the previous Government illustrated, it’s not getting into a mess that matters – it’s how you get out: NZ Herald […]

Changing gears: Cars of tomorrow coming soon?

Written By: - Date published: 10:23 pm, May 16th, 2009 - 26 comments

Whenever I spot one of the dual electric/petrol cars I always find myself a little fascinated and a little envious. But I have to admit the likelihood of my actually owning one seems remote. Maybe I need to be pushed along, as this article from the Herald Sun suggests: A proposal to ban sales of […]

Observations in passing

Written By: - Date published: 10:42 pm, May 14th, 2009 - 13 comments

I’m a little re-created – some mysteriousness with my profile means I am re-defined “similar but different” for the time being. But I haven’t stopped reading and I thought these were an interesting series of observations on the current state of play: Colin Espiner: This is, without a doubt, National’s worst week in government. And […]

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