Monthly Archives: January 2011

Ten Degrees of Difference: Is it all just a tragic misunderstanding?

Posted on 28th Jan, 2011 by Puddleglum

I’d like to thank Walenty Lisek at The Life of the Mind blog for the detailed response to my post on the Tragic Vision. I’ll try to reciprocate as best I can with ten points in response. I should start, however, … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Market, Freedom, Human Nature, Human Wellbeing, International Politics, Military | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The Key(wi) way to being ordinary – Part III

Posted on 19th Jan, 2011 by Puddleglum

In this final part of a series of posts on the value of ‘ordinariness’ in New Zealand I want to focus on the question I avoided right at the start: Why would someone from the left write such an apparently … Continue reading →

Posted in National Identity, New Zealand Politics | 3 Comments

It’s ‘Tragic’ but it’s not ‘Right’

Posted on 16th Jan, 2011 by Puddleglum

This post on the blog “A Life of the Mind” picks up on Steven Pinker’s comparison in his book The Blank Slate, of the Utopian and Tragic Visions, that, some argue, underpin ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ impulses. These ‘visions’ come from … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Market, Freedom, Human Nature | Tagged , | 3 Comments

It’s got to be good for you! – But is it?

Posted on 6th Jan, 2011 by Puddleglum

Economists have a saying; there’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s usually invoked as a cautionary response to a new tax or social programme but it may well apply to the modern world – and modern economy – … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Human Wellbeing | Tagged , , | Comments Off on It’s got to be good for you! – But is it?

The Key(wi) way to being ordinary – Part II

Posted on 6th Jan, 2011 by Puddleglum

In Part I of this series, I pointed out that there was something paradoxical about the way in which, in New Zealand, the idea of ordinariness is understood. It is encapsulated in the idea that ‘you can be anything you … Continue reading →

Posted in National Identity, New Zealand Politics | 8 Comments

The Key(wi) way to being ordinary – Part I

Posted on 5th Jan, 2011 by Puddleglum

In a recent column, left wing commentator Chris Trotter has written what appears to be a paen to Prime Minister John Key. (I’ll address this issue in a series of posts, this being the first.) Trotter argues that John Key … Continue reading →

Posted in National Identity, New Zealand Politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment