Author Archives: Puddleglum

Spotlight on Christchurch – Part I: Manufacturing crises and consents

Posted on 6th Jul, 2013 by Puddleglum

[Prologue: The bulk of this was written before I heard the news that Bob Parker was not going to contest the upcoming local body elections as a mayoral candidate. The same is true for the second part of this three-part … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Earthquakes, New Zealand Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

An award for a ‘political’ scientist

Posted on 22nd Jun, 2013 by Puddleglum

Dr Kitty Kelly Epstein, winner of the 2013 Marilyn Gittell Activist Scholar Award, apparently “became an academic in order to be a better activist, rather than the other way around.” I thought this link might be of interest to anyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on An award for a ‘political’ scientist

SuPPPer School for Aranui – ‘devil beast’ for all of us

Posted on 13th Jun, 2013 by Puddleglum

Yet another brick in the wall? The Education Ministry’s $41 million proposed year 1-13 super school for Christchurch is set to be funded by the private sector, a document reveals. The document, obtained by APNZ, outlines advice given to Education … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Earthquakes, Education, New Zealand Politics | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on SuPPPer School for Aranui – ‘devil beast’ for all of us

Varieties of poverty in New Zealand

Posted on 2nd Jun, 2013 by Puddleglum

The debate over various ‘food in school’ programmes is remarkably lively, especially now that the Government is seemingly covering its flank on the issue – and perhaps even attempting to outflank those on the left. In fact, it’s now gone well beyond being … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Education, New Zealand Politics, Poverty, Welfare | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

National Standards and Neanderthals – “They will know what is required …” – Part III

Posted on 23rd Apr, 2013 by Puddleglum

In Part I of this post I outlined the historical context of our modern education system and argued that  National Standards were a continuation of the controlling and directive imperatives of that system. In Part II I described the nature … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Education, Freedom, Human Nature, Human Wellbeing, New Zealand Politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

National Standards and Neanderthals – “They will know what is required …” – Part II

Posted on 23rd Apr, 2013 by Puddleglum

[Apologies, but this post is now in three parts, not just two – this is Part II. Part III should be up by the time you read this.] Who’s afraid of National Standards? In Part I of this post, I argued … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Economics, Education, Freedom, Human Nature, Human Wellbeing, New Zealand Politics | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

National Standards and Neanderthals – “They will know what is required …” – Part I

Posted on 7th Apr, 2013 by Puddleglum

“School prepares for the alienating institutionalization of life by teaching the need to be taught.” – Ivan Illich There’s an interesting opinion piece by archaeologist April Nowell in a recent ‘New Scientist‘ – ‘All work and no play: Why Neanderthals were no Picasso‘ … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Freedom, Human Nature, Human Wellbeing | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Back to school in happy town

Posted on 23rd Feb, 2013 by Puddleglum

How are you feeling? If you’re in Christchurch, CERA thinks you’re doing really well. A media release cheerily announced that ‘Wellbeing Survey reveals positive outlook‘. Conducted for CERA by Nielsen Research from August to October, 2012, “2,381 residents completed questionnaires [of whom] … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Earthquakes, Freedom, New Zealand Politics, Welfare | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

And to the victors, the spoils – ‘business as usual’ in Christchurch

Posted on 3rd Dec, 2012 by Puddleglum

[Warning: Very Long Post] The strangely mis-named Christchurch and Canterbury ‘recovery’ continues to unfold in highly predictable ways. Even Christchurch’s arsonists appear to have aligned their activity with the interests of the ‘recovery’ – or at least with the plans … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquakes, Economics, Free Market | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

John Key and the serious business of “mucking around”

Posted on 18th Nov, 2012 by Puddleglum

I did my best to resist the temptation to blog about this. But, in the end, the temptation was too great. Partly that was because of the absurdity of it all – I even thought up a provisional title: “Key goes … Continue reading →

Posted in New Zealand Politics, Political Psychology | Tagged | 6 Comments