Population has always been a critical driver of events and prior to the Industrial Revolution we lived in a zero sum world, with energy and resources effectively limited to that which could be harvested from photosynthesis, one person’s gain was at the limit, always someone else’s loss. Very low density hunter gather populations could thrive (often quite nicely) because they rarely approached their local resource limits, but the invention of agriculture changed this dramatically. The next 10,000 odd years of recorded history is a long story of
local competition for fundamentally constrained opportunities.
There were only three ways to survive and dominate, use what you had more efficiently, take what someone else already had, or move to somewhere not yet occupied. One drove warfare, conquest and empire, the other drove innovation and intensification … yet the diffuse and intermittent nature of sunshine and climate imposed a strict zero sum game on both of these strategies, a
I kept her away from my next string of Wellington flats. There was the one opposite the hospital with a stained, oddly coffin-shaped bath. My rent was discounted because I could get into my bedroom only by climbing in through the fire escape, or scuttling through a flatmate’s bedroom.
ROSA WOODS/Stuff
Newtown, in Wellington, was and still is home to flats that haven’t changed much in years. Knock knock. “Hey Alice, can I come in?” “I’m afraid NOT.” “But it’s raaaiiining …” My next flat had a bath too, but we never used it, because we assumed that the weight of the water would cause the floor to collapse.
Press Release – Gwynn Compton
With Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta today ruling out a Royal Commission on Local Government, Cr Gwynn Compton, who made the call for a Royal Commission three weeks ago, says the Government’s refusal demonstrates it is living in denial about the scale of the issues facing the local government sector.
“In just the three weeks since I called for a Royal Commission on Local Government we’ve already seen a commissioner installed in Tauranga, external observers appointed in Invercargill, and Auckland, New Plymouth, and Wellington City all facing major hikes to their annual rates increases to deal with issues that have been created by the very system of local government which is in desperate need of an overhaul,” says Cr Compton.
Friday, 18 December 2020, 12:34 pm
With Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta today ruling
out a Royal Commission on Local Government, Cr Gwynn
Compton, who made the call for a Royal Commission three
weeks ago, says the Government’s refusal demonstrates it
is living in denial about the scale of the issues facing the
local government sector.
“In just the three weeks
since I called for a Royal Commission on Local Government
we’ve already seen a commissioner installed in Tauranga,
external observers appointed in Invercargill, and Auckland,
New Plymouth, and Wellington City all facing major hikes to
their annual rates increases to deal with issues that have
A great read Robert, thanks.
This idea of the gift economy is deeply culturally bound in Asia, where at least twice a year families gather, and gifts, usually of money are exchanged. The head of the family (usually a grandmother) gets the bulk of the serious giving, and status is attached to generosity to her. Children also receive gifts, for which they bow to the responsible relative. One need not give gifts, but if not you lose the opportunity to gain status, and the children will not bow to you. Grandmothers often recycle some of their gifts to the grandchildren or single adolescents. Governments also understand that they are expected to deliver, and a lack of delivery is accompanied by a corresponding lack of respect.