The Year of the Trump 2017

Posted 21st December 2017 to the Southland Times Invercargill NZ

As the POTUS of America Donald the Trump has dragged the American Political System
Backwards though a hedge and it’s looking very disheveled and confused on year down the track.
The big question now is he taking the Republican Party to hell with him down the road he is going
or will he pivot at the gates and leave them to face the music ? Paul Ryan has just consigned millions of Americans to
misery and death without a hint of remorse  If Donald is a true actor and a closet democrat, as he was in the past...
He could do the mother of all pivots and throw Congress and the Senate under the bus.
And certainly come out a Hero of the People?
But if he signs the bill he will be universally despised and Ryan & co will Push him under the Access Hollywood coach!
Either way the true Donald will OUT very soon and the guessing will end. 

Invercargill's Student Strategy NZ

Posted 16th December 2017 to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ.

It was great to see Mayor Tim there for the Southland Institute of Technology for the 2017 Graduation Ceremony
At the Stadium. He really is a celebrity Mayor and very entertaining for any function.

Sorry to see after all the Shadbolt zero frees branding the rest of the country has adapted it for other centres
Which means our branding is redundant.

I wanted to say to Mayor Shadbolt that instead of zero rent or fees for students as an incentive perhaps a
Universal Basic Income for students might be a new angle, that way the cities landlords don’t get
Stressed and there could be conditions attached like attendance and aptitude. Also students  should feel
proud to go to their graduation ceremony as I recall we where back in the 1980s.

If a community gives out free education they should feel thanked for it.  

Published p.6 Dec 18 2017

Queenstown NZ Tourism Revolution needed

Posted 11th Dec 2017 to the Mountain Scene Newspaper Queenstown NZ.

I look at Queenstown these days and I sense despair for the future.. Every thing is hanging on direction for people of great wealth and power coming in from far away to fix Queenstown with a bundle of cash and good intentions. 
The sad fact is there are way to few Paul Brianerds out there to come in and save your bacon.

If people wish to live and work in a place like Queenstown they will need to pull together and form cooperatives.
The Government is too weak and greedy private enterprise are not going to help.

In economic terms you are in a DEAD END unless you pull together.  
As UK leader Jeremy Corbin says there is now no real alternative.

Our property speculation bubble will POP one day and nobody has a plan that I can see
And a lot of our benevolent rich people will turn out to have feet of clay when that happens.  
   
A strong co-operative is unbreakable! 

21st Century Blues & Anti Natalists

Posted 8th December 2017 to the Otago Daily Times Newspaper Dunedin NZ

Donald trump and his extended family have cast a bit of a shadow on the human spirit,
we have been working on the problem of giving humanity a meaningful life for decades now  but it looks to some like South African Anti-Natalist David Bendar are saying that perhaps the existence of sentient beings is a cosmic mistake.

It does seem like even though we have all the tools, knowledge and philosophy at our finger tips we just cant make life fulfilling for more than 1 percent of the human population and even they are riddled with anxiety.  

Meanwhile the United States Government is experimenting with misery as a motivation for better productivity.

Perhaps they should try and use their limited imagination to see a positive end point to all this because our greatest thinkers
are at a loss.  If this is our best effort maybe the anti-natalist have a point.

Let’s hope our own leaders see things differently.  

50 years of Queenstown's Gondola NZ

Posted 21st November 2017 to the Otago Daily Times Dunedin NZ

When I first saw Queestown’s Gondola in action it was only 4 years old  but I thought those little M&M coloured French designed cable cars made Queenstown feel like a magical place. I suppose they also gave the town an International flavour, a taste of things to come. Now that its been around 50 years I don’t suppose those old 1980s Dopplemayer Cars that replaced the stylish Pomagalski 30 year ago are due for a make over ? So Philip Chandler, why not as a sign of respect to Hylton Hensman’s vision paint them the original candy colours because those old cars WHERE legends and style wise it’s just not the 1980s any more.

Stewart Island Ideas Wanted

Posted 16th November 2017 to the Southland Express Newspaper Invercargill NZ

When Garry Tong asks what will help the community in Stewart Island in these uncertain times. I think he has touched on the big picture problem that is effecting all of mankind, that is what some call maggot economics!
Stewart Islands was a place to get away from the problems of the world but I fear the world has got it’s grasp on this last bit of godzone NZ .

If you want to make Stewart Island thrive in our system it has to develop and that means road expansion and infrastructure but making it a DOC National Park is the kiss of death to that kind of land exploitation.
All that’s left now is to make it a Living museum to the way we where and try and concentrate on that.
Or maybe a model self sufficient community if you really want to be bold.

 Let’s face it Southland nearly everything progressive in NZ is sucked into the singularity that is Auckland that’s not going to change any time soon.  


Published p 11 Nov 23 2017