politics

Created
Tue, 21/02/2023 - 04:50
But is the Arab country’s pioneering gender parity laws and the ‘State Feminism’ introduced in the 1950s by Habib Bourguiba under threat from President Kaîs Saïed’s new electoral law? The new Tunisian electoral law drops parity in a disastrous political and economic situation. While the old electoral law enshrined gender parity among candidates by obliging Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 21/02/2023 - 04:52
The continuing debate in Pearls and Irritations about economic growth and sustainability has largely ignored a critical dimension: the role of human subjectivity. The debate has focused on the interactions between economic growth and environmental impacts. There has been some mention of living standards, wellbeing and quality of life, but little consideration of how what Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 20/02/2023 - 22:08
This senseless lawsuit could bankrupt the Labour party and let the Tories win again. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 15th February 2023. You might imagine that nothing could prevent a Labour victory at the next election. The Conservatives could scarcely have done more to alienate voters and destroy public trust. Everyone knows that […]
Created
Mon, 20/02/2023 - 04:50
Difference is intrinsically good, a vital force behind creativity and innovation, and an essential ingredient for international competition. It becomes a negative force only when people or governments try to impose those differences on others, and this is not something China has done. I have a chronic, deep-seated discomfort with US President Joe Biden’s call for Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 20/02/2023 - 04:53
In 2007, at age forty-four, I stood as a Senate candidate for Victoria in the federal election. In 2011, I moved into a shared support accommodation facility, where I suffered a severe loss of choice and control. Disability can be progressive. Supportive regimes for those subjected to physiological deterioration need to be progressive too. They Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 20/02/2023 - 04:54
“Lifters” and “leaners”; “makers” vs “takers”; “strivers” and the “skivers”. The language may be different but the pejorative sentiment around the welfare state is similar, be it in Australia, the United States or the United Kingdom. However, it is highly misleading. Government payments to people who are unemployed are a fraction of the spending on Continue reading »