Posts by stephen walker
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Another good article by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com on The media's authoritarianism and WikiLeaks
-
oh, so they are killing hundreds of people on a daily basis using high-tech weaponery paid for by taxpayers and lying to the world about it, all from a prison cell in south london with no internet access and three minutes on the phone to his lawyer. wow, he really is scary, eh?
-
nz's population increase from non-migration factors is accelerating, not slowing down.
-
Well, given that Procreating Will Kill Us All, what's NZ's birth rate at the moment? Probably barely replacement level, right? So what are we freaking out about again?
the planet's human population has doubled since i was born in the mid-1960s. that's 45 years. the previous doubling took 65 years. even if it doesn't double again by 2050, the "i'm ok down here in under-populated NZ" attitude is not likely to be helpful to your offspring.
oh, and the natural increase in NZ population (not from net migration) has accelerated from about 30,000 p.a. to about 35,000 p.a. in recent years. so it's well above repalcement level.
-
so Martin, please point to the part where i said anything of the sort.
-
i think Bart is pointing out that we inhabit a finite planet with finite resources. do all of you really think that humanity can just carry on digging up, pumping out, etc., forever? an economic system that requires endless exponential growth to function properly is a pretty short-term affair in the lifetime of this planet. so how do you go about trying to use fewer resources? I would suggest that if human beings don’t think up and implement a more rational way to conserve the planet’s resources, the reality of resource depletion will force changes not too far down the track, whether we like it or not
-
@Hilary:
after the death of Chou En Lai
Zhou Enlai died on 8 January 1976.
Muldoon visited from 28 April to 5 May, and met Mao Zedong on 30 April.
Mao died on 9 September, and apparently Muldoon was the last overseas leader to meet him.
Quite a few spontaneous protests took place in April 1976, ostensibly to mourn Zhou but in reality they were protests against the Gang of Four. -
i think i read in the guardian that the Green Party only had about 300 candidates, so if it had been MMP, their list votes would be from the entire electorate, not less than half. and under FPP a lot of people are not willing to "waste" their vote on minor parties whereas under MMP the only wasted votes are those for parties under any threshold.
also, with so many rejecting the two major parties, MMP would have a good chance of boosting voter turnout.
-
accusations
but surely the problem is a lack of transparency?
(policy suggestion: greater transparency)
-
BBC:
But the Tory leader will have to tread carefully over any discussions about proportional representation (PR).
Many Tory MPs would strongly oppose any deal that paves the way for PR. So Mr Cameron gave the Lib Dems the carefully-worded offer of an "all party committee of inquiry on political and electoral reform".
Even talking about such reforms may be a step too far for some Tories. One told me: "The party offering PR has just come third in this election. Why should we agree to something the voters have rejected."LOL!