In New Zealand we have have had a 4.5 week lockdown and now we are 2 days into a still restricted time period to help manage the health risks from covid-19. There are many responses to this kind of enforced stay at home but one of my first thoughts was… read more →
This week in lockdown viewing I wanted to take in some music films and I had another shot at watching the Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019) I had started watching it when it showed up on my Netflix recommendations list but given up after… read more →
I was listening to some live music last night* and one of the performers said something like here is a song about some of the monkeys in my circus. Your circus will be different but we all have monkeys. He had me at monkeys. That is a great way to… read more →
Ever had that feeling that when times are challenging you learn more. No one actively likes having a tough time but if everything was easy / peasy I suspect we’d be in cruise mode and oblivious. Many years ago a wise friend referred to some of this as the growing… read more →
The combined population of Australia and New Zealand is about 29m as of October 2018. The population of the Nordic countries is about the same. The Nordic region includes Scandinavia of which Sweden is the largest country by population. According to the Business Sweden office in Sydney summary of… read more →
I went along to the Polarised long form debate between Douglas Murray and Cornel West in Auckland. It also toured in a number of Australian cities who had similar but not identical experiences. The “Polarised” title itself is paradoxical. The sub text there is “lets have a game of divide… read more →
A few years ago I heard a great interview* with Dr Cornel West on the National programme. I loved that it was at times scathing about the U.S president (Obama at the time 2011) but still generous and hopeful and considered across a range of topics. Now 7 + years… read more →
In what must be a massive win for pedant grammar twats everywhere an economist is probably right that inequality is less of a problem than unfairness. Semantics aside inequality is the net result of unfair conditions in the market that affect individuals and society across all sectors. The traditional political… read more →
Back in 2011-2013 when there were various Arab uprisings including the Egyptian one I started writing a blog post about how I thought social media was changing the game in political terms. A friend in Thailand suggested it was too soon and not to be over hopeful that anything much… read more →
There is a family story about the Von Tempsky violin which had been owned by my great grandfather Tim Howard until 1898. Apparently the violin was a 1625 Maggini*. Howard had been a policeman and a farmer near Invercargill and by all accounts a good violinist or fiddle player as… read more →