Our society is being fragmented. Particularly there are debates close to election time. However, where society has its ugly side on display when it has a President like Trump, things can get pear shaped quite quickly. In this fascinating article … [Read more...]
Democracy article from the Economist:
In an article in the Economist the columnist Garry Kasparov, who was born in the Soviet Union, wrote passionately about the need to digitise political processes. Here’s a couple of quotes which challenge us to think in new ways: First is “advisory voting”. It is a virtual town square that allows … [Read more...]
Garry writes 13 october 2020
Every now and then you get a reminder that having participated in public life was probably really worthwhile. last weekend the Press carried another excellent article by John McCrone, this time about the renewed steps being taken to envisage what our future looks like as a Regional City. It’s called … [Read more...]
Garry’s Thoughts 15 September 2020
The first election campaign I was involved in was in 1978. I had signed up as a Labour Party member in 1976 and joined the Labour team in the Lyttelton electorate. Thus, commenced a commitment to the Party, and to politics, mostly as a Party hack for years, and finally running out of excuses on … [Read more...]
Garry writes 2 June 2020
Each year since the early 2000’s there has been a survey by CCC of how the community is feeling about itself. When I sat at the Council table, we used it as the best independent review of the Council performance and how people were feeling about the City, other than elections. So, it was sad to read … [Read more...]
Submissions to CCC and ECan Plans
As Kevin Hague reminded us last week - it is really important to make submissions to annual plans, even if they are simple ones like We need to do more to protect and enhance our biodiversity, to cut our emissions and to prepare for the effects of climate change on our environment and on our … [Read more...]
The Concert Radio debate and Paul Thompson:
Whether Paul Thompson intended this to happen, or not, the proposal to gut Concert FM has turned into a really interesting public debate. I especially loved this article in Newsroom by Associate Professor James Tibbles, Head of the School of Music at the University of Auckland. … [Read more...]
Citizen’s Assemblies better than Referenda…
Guest post by Axel Wilke Let it be known that I’m not a fan of referenda. Or referendums; whichever version of the plural you prefer. It’s a fickle way of making very important decisions. Brexit anyone? Notable referenda in New Zealand include the change to the electoral system. While … [Read more...]
Garry Writes: A shredder or a block does not mop up an orchestrated litany of lies
Greetings from Lucca, a small walled village in Italy. To put this village into perspective, it was where Caesar had a famous encounter with Crassus and Pompey in 56 BC. It had already been a place of occupation at that stage for 3 centuries. The Cathedral in the middle of the … [Read more...]
Do we Really Support Democratic Representation?
Are we truly committed to democratic representation around the Council table? Many seem to want more of ‘their’ people around that table. Is this the same as representation? Concerns about water quality and the environment were obvious in ECan voting in this election, mostly in … [Read more...]
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