I’m sure I’m not alone in watching the Australian elections. However, I’ve paid less attention to the boxing matches between ScoMo and Albo, instead, focussing on the minor parties that offered an alternative to the two big parties. There were two lessons that I think we can
I’m usually not interested in local government. In 2019, I didn’t even know the majority of the names I put my preferences to when I filled out the ballot. My votes were based on whether or not I had heard of the person before and whether or not
A moral panic is the phenomenon of widespread fear of a threat to the values, interests or well-being of the community. It is usually originated by moral entrepreneurs, people or entities who appoint themselves the moral fabric of a community and society. Famous examples of this include the Salem
Dark Jester The current extradition case at the time of this writing, involving a Chinese national accused of murder, should scare us. Not that we should be scared of seeing murderers being extradited, but the fact that New Zealand now appears to think it is appropriate to extradite people who
Information Opinion Recently, our intelligence agencies declassified their threat assessments in New Zealand which included a summary of the ‘extremist’ groups that were considered a security risk. The things they said: Under “faith motivated violent extremism”: They acknowledged there are still ISIS-inspired radicalised people in New Zealand. However, they
It’s interesting that politicians are now concerned about abuse – possibly because they support the new proposals to oblige social media platforms to restrict speech and for tougher penalties under the 2015 Harmful Digital Communications Act. However, it should be obvious to everyone that this abuse is normal; it is
It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote an article regarding the culture war in the entertainment industry. I would like to follow that up with another way to fight the culture war. That is in the business world. I’m sure that I’m not alone in thinking
I was not surprised to see our mainstream media feature another story of a survivor of Hiroshima recalling the horrors of nuclear weapons as part of their anti-nuclear narrative. This again shows the wilful ignorance our media and political class have of the history of the Pacific Theatre during
It is no surprise to me how the international political class has reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia has always been hated because of the threat it poses to the international order. Since the end of World War II, the West, centred around America, has considered itself the
Part of the reason conservatives are losing is that they don’t know how to fight the culture war. This is because critical theorists told their adherents that the only way to effect change was through culture. Gary Habermas wrote about one of the institutions of power being the public
There is an argument to be made about technocracy. The earliest argument was put forward by Plato in his work ‘Against Democracy’ in his book The Republic, in which he argued that ordinary people are unable to make politically competent decisions. In the book, he suggested three characteristics of a
Information Opinion When the protests very first started, they were led by the controversial figures Kyle Chapman, Adam Nuttall and Carl Bromley (known as the Christchurch crew or the originals). The commonalities between the three of them are quite extraordinary. All three had been marginalised for their political beliefs but
In a previous article, I discussed the shifting political divide away from the left-right divide towards a divide between the ordinary people and the political class. In this article I wish to further explore this new paradigm by looking into how this will shift the political landscape. In the
For some time now I have followed with great interest David Farrar’s ‘Kiwiblog’. I have found his posts to be both entertaining and providing a unique perspective about New Zealand politics. Mr Farrar is indeed an intelligent pundit with remarkable wit. That is why it pains me to disagree
Freedom fighters around the world would have heard or sung the newest anthem for freedom and unity. While ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ by Loza Alexander is becoming popular in America as the anti-Biden anthem, ‘You Can Stick Your Vaccine Mandates Up Your Ass’ is slowly going viral as the
Dark Jester Shadow diplomacy is a new idea that has entered the public sphere. This is an extension of the concept of shadow government which I discussed in a previous article about ‘parallel polis’. The idea of a shadow government is one that is a fixture of European politics. It
