Archives
Watch the web for climate change truths
Sunday, May 11 2008
So a German study, published by Nature last week, claimed that, while the world is definitely warming, it may cool down until 2015 "while natural variations in climate cancel out the increases caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions". A little vignette of the media's one-sided view was given by recent events on Snowdon, the highest mountain in southern Britain. Each year between 2003 and 2007, the retreat of its winter snow cover inspired reports citing this as evidence of global…
Beware the galloping imperialist judiciary
Thursday, May 01 2008
DO not mistake the unseasonal rush of warmth over the weekend with global warming. Put it down to those advocating a charter of rights for Australia at the 2020 Summit in the nation’s capital. Their aim is to bathe us in the warm language of human rights so that, ultimately, we will soporifically sign up to a new federal charter of rights. The heat will be cranked up over the next few years. Having found a good friend in the…
Do not panic over foreign wealth
Thursday, May 01 2008
It sounds like something from a political thriller by Michael Crichton. Arab sheikhs and Chinese communists amass billions of dollars. They wait for a moment of financial weakness in the US. Then they use their massive “sovereign wealth funds” to buy large stakes in strategic US firms. They secure places on the board. Then, at a crucial moment, they...
Backfire of the vanities
Thursday, May 01 2008
SEX and the City's Carrie Bradshaw and friend Miranda apprehensively venture out from Manhattan into the 'burbs for a baby shower. Roxanne, one of the Laura Ashley-clad mums, engages them in brief but intense conversation. "I love my son, Andy," she says. "He's 11 months old. He is a god and I tell him so every day." As Roxanne leaves, Miranda whispers: "Thirty years from now, what do you think the chances are that some woman's gonna be able to…
REVIEWS
BOOKS with Doris Mousdale
Valvona and Crolla A Year at an Italian Table
From Distant Villages - The Lives and Times of Croatian Settlers in New Zealand 1858-1958
Big Star — the new New Zealand website for children's reading and books.
www.bigstar.co.nz