Given the times and events it seems worth popping an extract in from my non-fiction book for upper primary students. War Hmmnn? YES to ‘that the world would be better if we only had peace’ Who'd have thought there would be people who say NO to peace? From a debating point of view, it’s certainly … Continue reading Extract from: The Big Fat YES Debate[s]
Tag: Politics
Extract from Mythic Dreams – why modern capitalism’s pursuit of growth is a sin
Ch 2: A Haves and Have Nots World A much greater hunger In 1800, the world’s population was about 1.36 billion. If we are to believe statistical analysis, most people lived, in income terms, relatively similar lives. According to Gapminder statistical analysis (admittedly conjectural, given that data before 1900 is ‘highly uncertain’) the world’s poorest … Continue reading Extract from Mythic Dreams – why modern capitalism’s pursuit of growth is a sin
Plagued
On the way to work Tory, if she’s on the tram as she is this morning, has taken to opening The Montage, to which she’s subscribed. For nearly three months now the opening page has been simply filled with the virus. The first thing you see, most days, are New Selaw, UK, C.S. and world figures. Cases, deaths. New Selaw figures have been more or less flat since the end of March but the world numbers are very worrying. She also has noticed, lately, a small, worrying, and persistent upswing in Victoria, looking, she decides, more with David’s virologist’s eyes than hers, because he’s written about how second waves come with mild inclines that then go suddenly crazy. She’s tired already and doesn’t want an upsurge, wishes she could unsee it. The tram rattles on past the Gardens stop. She wonders if she’ll ever stop for a quiet walk before work again. It feels like that all belongs to pre-virus Tory, not her, not this new and lacquered one... '
Bad government 4
A quick one re two key aspects of this Lib-Nat government that deserve further pillorying: It's always someone else's fault with this PM & government. See https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/14/scott-morrison-blames-atagi-doctors-for-australias-slow-covid-vaccine-rollout? This was my response (Lordy, that's all we need: more ham-fisted, pork-barrelling right wing "money is the only thing that matters" nutters running for office) to a friend … Continue reading Bad government 4
Bad government 3
Good governments often provide things for people to help them live better lives, like education, health services, affordable houses, roads and public transport, stuff called infrastructure (which includes those roads and also electricity and such). The government does not charge a lot for people to have these things. Sometimes (and for some people) these services are free. Pizza, unfortunately, is not free to anyone...
Excerpt from ‘Plagued’ book 1 – Viral government
And is he a murderer? If you live in the Arabian peninsula, he certainly must be, common logic has it. The C.S. drone strike Bridge ordered on Assyrian commander Kalaa Inmani Suk a little over 2 weeks ago has been labelled an act of Terrorism by Assyria’s leader, Qassim Mohammed Kaan. The Assyrians have sent the case to the world court in Amnstahm, Nederlands. They have backing from Norda, Albane, Sweda and Belgrada (which probably doesn’t mean all that much to America’s government).Â
Bad government 1
We need to retrain ourselves to see and do something about corruption. Training politicians is difficult because any attempt to fix the problems with independent corruption watchdogs or greater transparency threatens their positions and power. So using anti-corruption bodies and agitating for greater transparency won't work, Keane argues. We need to 'address the structural incentives for corruption'.
Foreword from a draft non fiction text
The fossil fooled I began to write this book on the first of January 2020, hoping this will be a year and decade of better vision than we have shown so far (forgive the pun). As I write, much of Australia burns. This fire season began in August 2019, some say July. The fires are … Continue reading Foreword from a draft non fiction text
Figment of imagination
I once could not imagine that someone human could not respond somehow, at some time or another, to the natural world. Impossible, I would have said. No matter how entrenched in the urban one was, how enmeshed by the artificial, surely the whir of a bird’s wings, the flash of a butterfly’s colour, the shape … Continue reading Figment of imagination
Are we locked in a dance to the death (economically anyway) with fossil fuels
factors other than the purely economic must be taken into account. The problem with our purely economic thinking is that it is tainted with neoliberalist assumptions about worth. Humans, certainly all the ones in the first world, have been programmed to accept the notion that economic growth, most particularly at the personal level, is essential. To challenge this paradigm is to adopt the denialist annoying Greta Thunberg ‘how dare you’ stance. But in fact what we do need to do - if you factor anything other than pure Homo economicus thinking - is to do away with stuff. Perhaps take a significant dip in our GDP rich life. Give up some goods, some cargo, some economic cudos. Will we be poorer for it? Will our health go into decline? Will our world become much smaller? Perhaps we’ll travel less, the carbon load of flying is prohibitive. But will we be poorer? Will our air and waterways be cleaner? Will some of the wilderness be restored? Will we rediscover community? I don’t know, but I don’t think we can continue with business as usual. Because business isn’t (despite what they tell us) everything. We can choose to remain fossil fooled or we can choose not to be.
Inkstained fingers 