Club Troppo

From the 1891 Taranaki Herald

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Conservatism "thrives on low intelligence and poor information", writes George Monbiot who reports the results of, a recent study showing that "prejudice tends not to arise directly from low intelligence, but from the conservative ideologies to which people of low intelligence...

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I was rung today for a comment on second hand car imports by the Global Mail . Here's a Guardian blog about it. I didn't know what it was, but that just shows how out of touch I am here at my terminal. It's a philanthropically funded newspaper. And it's philanthropically funde...

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We are all in Tom Watson's debt for pursuing the corruption of the Murdoch press as vigorously as he has - and continues to. I have had some dealings with Tom arising from my involvement in the Government 2.0 Taskforce. In any event, in addition to continuing his pursuit of th...

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It's a strange thing. Film festivals are great things. Yet in my case I see them come, think "I'd like to go to some of those movies" and an awful lot of the time I don't manage to make it. We have two sectors - the commercial sector that advertises its little head off and ser...

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Public debts in Southern Europe only grew in 2011, and they were already unsustainable in 2010. Worse, the interest rates these countries have to pay on their debts has grown as all the long-term rolled-over debt held by these countries now carries a 7% upwards interest rate....

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Right now Ray Finkelstein and Matthew Ricketson, the two members of the federal government's Independent Media Inquiry , are trying to finish off their report to the government. It's due by 28 February. Writing these reports is frequently difficult, but Finkelstein and Rickets...

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Next month I'm doing a gig for Rotary where I'm going to be on a panel with a demographer and a climatologist and they're going to ask us to say what will happen in the next 20 years. In five minutes. That's five minutes each - so there's plenty of time. I get to talk about th...

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http://youtu.be/YQIMGV5vtd4

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http://youtu.be/x7M47ITv8iQ One thing I think about whenever I sit in a tram waiting for cars that shouldn't be holding up the tram to stop holding up the tram is that trams should have a video cam on them and drivers could have a button that either activates the cam or marks...

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I've been counting those I know who are highly energetic, positive people and who are naturally excited by the possibilities of the web, who have been leaving government employ. I can think of Darren Whitelaw in Victoria, Mia Garlick in the Commonwealth service (though based i...

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Occasionally I get so distracted by the way someone writes that I can't concentrate on what they're saying. Here's John Howard in today's Financial Review : To adopt Shakespeare, Meryl Streep came to bury Margaret Thatcher, not to praise her. This was attempted -- in the film...

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Bad back, sad sack. Yes, folks that's an inane family saying. Which brings me to the point of this post which is to say that my back is killing me. I have a bit of a scoleosis but am told by those in the know that it isn't a big problem or explanation for my back ache - which,...

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[slideshare id=4858111&doc=ourfuturelibrary3-100728100555-phpapp02] Tim O'Reilly proposed the slogan "Government as a platform" for his Government 2.0 activities which he's heavily scaled back in favour of more lucrative opportunities. But there was always a problem. That prob...

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A Twitter randomised trial: "I have a confession to make", writes Andrew Leigh , "I’m a twitter-sceptic." But in keeping with his evidence-based approach to decision making, Andrew Leigh MP is embarking on a one month randomised trial. @aleighmp Why libertarians need to talk w...

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Here is this pesky subscription drive at the top of Troppo again. I'll pull it down in the next few days. But OFFERS END FRIDAY 17th Feb!! It's on again folks. Crikey subscribers on the group subscription I organise have begun getting presubscription emails. Whether you are a...

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Not so long ago ALP politicians controlled the governments of every state. I think they still did at the end of 07, though I may be wrong. In any event, it was an obvious opportunity an amazingly rare opportunity. For that reason I spent a bit of time on this blog and on the p...

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I've always thought that institutions that are set up at arms length from government to offer independent advice to governments would be an excellent venue for online discussions to start taking place. An easy opportunity, pretty comprehensively passed up was the Public Servic...

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I read an article with an attractive title recently. " Complexity and Context-Dependency ". It's not very good, but it raises an important point that is important to what I call the psycho-pathology of disciplines and it puts me in mind of something I've thought for a long tim...

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A highlight of my calendar I have to say - since I inadvertently morphed into Mr Innovation and they started inviting me. Did you have an absolutely fantastic science teacher? Now's the time to get them some recognition. NOMINATION CALL 2012 PRIME MINISTER’S PRIZES FOR SCIENCE...

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