National MP Nikki Kaye’s parliamentary education and science committee, which she chairs, will report soon on “e-learning”. Sounds technofreakish rather than educational. Actually, the context is deep historical change.
One dimension of e-learning is using computer and internet technology as learning mechanisms — conveying information, stimulating interest and engagement and taking learning beyond the classroom.
Making big decisions for the future
Affording Our Future Conference
Colin James*, assisted by Jess Booker
What is local and what is central? The Key government has rephrased this as what is local is central — when it gets in the way of economic development.
In 1841 on its second day the Legislative Council debated a bill to regularise local government. A Wellington council had been set up before the Treaty of Waitangi. A bottom-up, uncontrolled local initiative had to be reined it for national colonial rule to work.
Climate negotiators are in Doha for two weeks. The symbolism is grim: Doha gave its name to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) global freer trade talks which have frozen, giving way to regional bargaining: a United States-based deal will be talked over in Auckland next week and an Asia-based deal was kicked along last week in Cambodia.
The big thing that happened in the past week was the launch of the Land and Water Forum’s final report on how to manage water. The small thing that happened was another assault on David Shearer.
The assault on Shearer infused the Labour party conference, restating the old adage that the worst enemy of a Labour MP is another Labour MP. It was a factor in the 264-237 vote on Saturday to give 14 MPs the power to force a leadership vote in February (or today). A new rule means any such vote will henceforth be split 40-40-20 between MPs’ votes, general membership votes and union votes.
The Land and Water Forum wants water use rights “easily transferable between users, to allow it to move to its highest-valued use”. So “barriers to transfer and trading” should be removed.
This is the major finding in the forum’s third report. It stops short of recommending a resource rental — Federated Farmers blocked that. But, if its recommendations are adopted, it would set up a regime that could be adapted (for example, by a Labour-Green government) to include resource rentals.
The unemployment rate lifted again in September, on one measure, to 7.3 per cent — just in time to lift Labour hopes at the party’s conference this coming weekend. Actually, it is not so simple.
First, the participation rate — those at work or looking for work — stayed high. People are not (yet) giving up in despair. (Emigrants to Australia are another story).
Supercity, subsidiarity, citizens, Southland, Steven and Celia. What’s the plan?
Planning alumni dinner, University of Auckland
The Minister of Justice says she will seek consensus from the political parties about what aspects of the Electoral Commission’s MMP reform proposals to implement.
This was the process followed by her predecessor, Simon Power, in respect of electoral finance. That was much better than the ram-it-through-on-a-narrow-majority approach taken by his Labour predecessor. But it was limited in what it achieved because of the need for consensus in advance.
Fabian Society conference on Norman Kirk, 3 November 2012
When Norman Kirk took office much was settled and much was unsettled — and much that was settled was shortly to become unsettled. In that light the abrupt untimeliness of his exit might be seen as allegory. Kirk was the last of the small-l labour Prime Ministers (if you exclude Mike Moore, which I do).