The European Commission (EU) has retracted its draft guidelines for internal communications, which propose substituting the “Christmas period” with “holiday period”. An outcry by conservatives and the Vatican led the U-turn on the policy, which termed the document an attempt to “cancel” Europe’s Christian roots. The EU Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, said the draft Read more
Frank Luntz is no ordinary pollster and professional reader of the political runes. In 2005, his research for the BBC’s Newsnight identified the young David Cameron’s appeal to the public as a potential Conservative leader. The following year, the Connecticut-born consultant sent a wave of turbulence coursing through the Labour conference in Manchester with his Read more
In the Carafa Chapel in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, there is a statue of the revered Catholic figure St Thomas Aquinas with the Latin inscription, Sapientiam sapientum perdam. The inscription translates as “I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise”. Who were the wise? The wise were scientists and philosophers Read more
The issue of finding fault has become a major pivot point for our society as more and more discourse resorts to this approach. We are exposed more now than ever to arguments, claims and accusations of fault. More, even, than the issue at hand is the question of who’s at fault. No-one is immune. No Read more
Once upon a time, Arthur Miller said, “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.” These days, many media outlets are talking only to segments of the population. For the New Zealand media, 2021 has been a year of cancellations. Finance minister Grant Robertson cancelled his weekly MagicTalk interview slot with Peter Read more
Fans of Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, have been reeling this month at further allegations about his misogyny and abusive behavior on the sets of some of his beloved television programs and films. I should know; I’m one of those fans. “Buffy” is still my favorite show after all these years. Just to show Read more