Deep stuff

Growth and Money: Means, not Ends

Written By: Bunji - Date published: 11:40 pm, October 8th, 2010 - 21 comments

This government seems to have confused the means and the ends.  Growth and money have become the ends, when they only ever should have been the means.  Surely what should matter now is that we have a happy, fulfilled society, where people have the opportunity to do what they want.

The State’s reserve powers & the Christchurch earthquake

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:32 am, September 11th, 2010 - 12 comments

The Civil Defence Emergency Act gives the authorities some extraordinary powers and has seen a handful of people in Christchurch very rapidly tried and summarily convicted of some unusual offences. It reminds us that the State holds huge powers in reserve for times of crisis. It speaks to the strength of our institutions and the people who operate them that these powers aren’t abused.

Priorities

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 1:33 pm, September 3rd, 2010 - 16 comments

Important issues:
jobs, wages, public service cuts, Supercity & ECAN, national savings, climate change
Not important issues:
how we get a figurehead Head of State

The Irrationality of the Free-Market

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 12:29 pm, August 18th, 2010 - 74 comments

There really isn’t any doubt about this any more, the free-market ideology put forward by the Chicago School of Economics (and the Austrian school) and slavishly followed by National, Act and Labour is predicted on fully informed individuals making rational choices. But individuals just don’t have enough knowledge to know what is best and the market as a whole is irrational as a result.

Who’d be an MP?

Written By: r0b - Date published: 7:14 am, July 13th, 2010 - 12 comments

Who’d be an MP? In many ways it’s a dog of a job, and the prospect of really “making a difference” seems remote. Politics seems to bring out the worst in people, and too many politicians have earned the low esteem in which they are held by the public. But despite all this, some people are drawn to politics for all the right reasons. Good on you all. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

Understanding and trust

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 9:50 am, May 2nd, 2010 - 10 comments

Nat MP Michael Woodhouse was speaking on the amendment bill weakening workers’ rights to a break and said “I was heard it said that political discourse requites two things: trust and understanding. And it’s certainly true here. Labour don’t trust us and we sure as hell don’t understand them”. I think it’s very enlightening that he chose to put it that way.

Facts don’t matter

Written By: r0b - Date published: 11:24 am, March 28th, 2010 - 19 comments

Anyone who has been involved in debating issues has probably come to suspect that facts don’t matter. Facts don’t change people’s minds, there are other, stronger influences that shape opinions.

A recent article by George Monbiot in The Guardian reviews some of the psychological evidence for this fact blindness in the context of the climate change debate.

Deserted cities

Written By: r0b - Date published: 8:50 am, December 13th, 2009 - 39 comments

I think it is a pity that the currently dominant country / culture in the world, America, has had such a short history. Pakeha history in New Zealand suffers from the same limitation. All of our history has been about expansion and growth. “Progress”. It seems to us to be the natural state of affairs. […]

Walking the talk

Written By: r0b - Date published: 1:30 pm, November 8th, 2009 - 5 comments

A shout out on a Sunday to a family who are walking the talk: Pastor Murray Smith preaches a message of generosity in his sermons and says people need few material things in order to live happy and fulfilling lives. So Pastor Smith, his wife, Michelle, and their three young children are giving up their […]

The moral centre

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 1:00 pm, October 22nd, 2009 - 14 comments

I thought I would take the time to point out this excellent article by Tapu Misa. It has gone with out saying that the emotional and intellectual centre of the Labour movement in New Zealand, from Wally Nash, the welfare state and the first Labour government, has often been from the Bible. It doesn’t hurt […]

It’s full of stars

Written By: r0b - Date published: 9:32 am, October 4th, 2009 - 11 comments

Maybe it would be good for my blood pressure to try not to be grumpy about politics on Sundays. So here is a site I found last week which both rekindled my sense of wonder, and re-calibrated my sense of perspective. The site displays a full 360 degree spherical image of the night sky as seen […]

After Edge of Darkness

Written By: Dancr - 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 […]

Wee gripes: speakering

Written By: Zetetic - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 9th, 2009 - 7 comments

John when you say ‘overtly’ you mean ‘overly’. Like on Monday when you told Paul Henry “I’m not overtly stressed..”. Sometimes, you say something like ‘we’re not overtly planning X’ when you just mean ‘we’re not planning X’. Here’s a little hypothetical test. What’s wrong with this sentence? “I’m not overtly concerned by scuttlebug from various […]

Use of weapons

Written By: Marty G - Date published: 1:00 pm, July 31st, 2009 - 89 comments

I’ve been thinking about the different ways ministers from the Left and the Right approach governing. I think it goes back to where they come from, where their ideological roots are. Ministers from Labour and other leftwing parties tend to have backgrounds in serving a wider community. Teachers, professors, union officials, public servants. Those roles […]