Last week, Wellingtonian Murdoch Stephens launched the Doing Our Bit Campaign, aimed at convincing New Zealanders of the need to double our refugee quota from the current 750 to 1500. “Despite being a small country in the middle of the South Pacific, New Zealand prides itself on being hospitable. We are friendly to overseas visitors Read more
Charles Clark probably doesn’t win a lot of friends in his chosen profession when he says that most economists don’t really understand the economy. But even though he earns a living teaching economics at St. John’s University in New York, Clark believes that understanding how the economy really works requires more than just a classroom Read more
The ideology of absolute self-determination has become sacred and unquestionable. In 2002, Belgium became the second country in the world after its neighbour, The Netherlands, to legalise euthanasia. Over the next decade our country has become a living laboratory for radical social change. With many other countries debating legalisation at the moment, now is a Read more
The three protesters, facing a civil claim for 1.2 million dollars by the Government Communications Security Bureau, made a symbolic gesture at Parliament last Wednesday, the first day of an appeal hearing, by handing over their clothes. They based their action on the Christ’s admonition, found in Matthews’s Gospel, that if you are sued and Read more
In 1985, Mary Anne Warren coined the term gendercide to refer to the ritual eradication of women and girls throughout the world. More recently, the heartbreaking film It’s a Girl documents the effects of this practice on the numbers of girls and women in China and India. It makes for difficult viewing, particularly when confronted with the Read more
The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea has voiced its opposition to government moves to implement the death penalty. Catholic Archbishop of Port Moresby, John Ribat, flanked by the General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in PNG and Solomon Islands Fr Victor Roche, announced the church’s position at a press conference in Port Moresby Read more
Bishop Peter Cullinane was among speakers remembering those who have died at work, at a commemoration service for Workers Memorial Day in Palmerston North on Sunday 28 April. Bishop Peter said that each one of the “terrible statistics” of workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses represented the suffering of individuals and families. He said human wellbeing Read more
Seventy-six per cent of responses gathered by TV3’s The Vote last Wednesday night agreed with the proposition that New Zealand was a racist country. But views are divided however on whether the problem is a lack of tolerance across the board or white institutional racism against people of colour. At a Conference on Racism convened Read more