This is an edited version of a piece published in Crikey on 2 July 2021. It looks like Australian health funds will get more say in how care is delivered in the future if the ACCC’s draft decision giving health fund Nib more leverage to negotiate contracts with providers, and...
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Consider three graphs that really on their own tell the story of the groups in the US/UK that did well and that did badly economically out of the lockdowns. On the super-rich : On the workers , particularly the bottom 25% (meaning those who in their characteristics like educat...
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I have been a utilitarian for about 30 years now and am seen in my academic work as an extreme version of the genre. I did my Phd on the topic . I do not merely say that governments should make policy for the benefit of the wellbeing of the population, but have spent years in...
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Posted in Life, Philosophy, History, Humour, Society, Religion, Economics and public policy, Science, Geeky Musings, Dance, Social, Parenting, Ethics, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Personal, Social Policy, Democracy
In a Democracy it is important that the decision on any public issue, be made by a community at the appropriate level. For example; local, regional, national, continental or global. It is imperative that at each level decision on a particular matter should be decided on the sp...
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‘Critical race theory’ is the perfect villain Christopher Rufo https://vimeo.com/16717619 I wonder if I can keep this post short and sweet. Only by reminding myself that I’d like to write about his after much more consideration and effort. So can I keep this to a steak in the...
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Dear Troppodillians, lend me your critical eye. I ask you to consider the system of citizen-jury appointments I have in mind, and tell me how the vested interests would try to game it, ie why it would not work and whether the system can be improved. Bear with me as I describe...
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Posted in Politics - national, History, Society, Theatre, Libertarian Musings, Political theory, Law, Business, Social, Cultural Critique, Democracy, Sortition and citizens’ juries
Six years ago I posted the note below as part of Abbotsford Convent. I'm doing so again today to raise money again. Only there's already an offer on the table to match anyone's donation. I'm doing the same for any donation you might make, so for every dollar you donate, I dona...
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Wellbeing & Policy Making Book Launch Event on 1st July 5-6.30pm London Time. Attending the Launch is Free, the book is not! [blurb from Nancy Hey, director of the WW Centre for Wellbeing]: The What Works Centre for Wellbeing , and our commissioning partners at the ESRC: Econo...
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Posted in Politics - national, Politics - international, Life, Philosophy, History, Society, Theatre, Economics and public policy, Science, Health, Political theory, Social, Public and Private Goods, Death and taxes, Social Policy, Democracy
As I struggle with my ninety-fifth year, I would like to beg forgiveness from the true believers in sortition. Near forty years ago, in 1985, I published a book Is Democracy Possible? with the subtitle The Alternative to Parliamentary Democracy. The sortitionists believed that...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCNUoY0UJA&t=20s A few weeks back I was rather taken aback to receive an email which I took to be a hoax: Hi Nicholas We would like to invite you on the Greatest Music of All Time podcast. The episodes are a good opportunity to promote upcoming...
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My father Fred was born Fritz Heinz Georg Grün to a family living at Reisnerstrasse 5, Vienna on 14th June, 1921 making today the centenary of his birth. Accordingly I'm reposging a speech I gave at the unveiling of the portrait of him by his good friend Erwin Fabian in Hay co...
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Pre 2020, I considered Scott Morrison a political enemy of the policies I wanted for Australia, but since then have sympathised with every attempt he has made to get Australia out of its love-affair with covid-mania. Over the fold is my take on what I think Scott Morrison's vi...
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[caption id="attachment_34950" align="alignleft" width="162"] Michael Haines[/caption] Michael overheard me pontificating with a friend at my local café and we got talking. After lengthy emails on various topics including universal basic income, I invited him to post on Troppo...
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Wellbeing science has behaved very honourably during this pandemic in my opinion, particularly in the UK, where many of the best-known wellbeing researchers openly pointed to the disproportionate costs of lockdowns compared to their (dubious) benefits . Many stood up in newspa...
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Here's some claims about recent research on fintech and AI. Berg, Burg, Gombovic, and Puri (2018) suggest that digital footprints can help boost financial inclusion, allowing unbanked consumers to have better access to finance. Similarly, Frost et al. (2019) show that fintech...
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I've quoted Zweig several times on this blog since reading his memoirs, but I was going to post this — and forgot. So, better late than never, here it is. A lovely story: One day I had an express letter from a friend in Paris, saying that an Italian lady wanted to visit me in...
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One of the things I keep track off in covid-times is what is happening to births. Though it was initially suggested couples might use their extra lockdown-time to produce babies, it has become clear that in the Western world the opposite is true and that they reduce births by...
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I can't stand Jordan Petersen. I can't stand his remorseless humourlessness first of all. His self-righteousness, his grandiosity and megalomania, his boastfulness about how learned he is coupled with his preparedness to wade into subjects like what he calls cultural Marxism a...
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Following a recent online conversation with Timothy Wilcox , I read Wordsworth’s extraordinary poem “We are seven” which I reproduce below. As you’ll see, it chimes with my own preoccupation with communication and mutual benefit across the chasm of difference. My own preoccupa...
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Now and then one should look up and see if there are any trends that are not usually talked about in the media but that say something big about how humanity is going. I here want to briefly discuss the latest data on four big trends: war, food, (hunger?) deaths, and inequality...
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