Eliora: The Psyche of a Small, Proud, Compliant Country

A small country in the South Pacific trailed behind most of the world during the outbreak of a virus named Covid-19 in 2020.

New Zealand (NZ) has been used in the past as a testing ground quite a few times. In fact, it has been described as a ‘social laboratory’ due to its history of implementing progressive or experimental policies, particularly in the late 19th and 20th century. The reference to NZ is often attributed to the French political scientist and historian André Siegfried who used it in his book, Democracy in New Zealand (1914). https://www.google.co.nz/books/edition/Democracy_in_New_Zealand/tqomAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR3&printsec=frontcover

Guy Hatchard: A Fatal Fascination With Pharmaceutical Interventions

Earlier this week Leighton Smith asked me if I thought the structure of society was breaking down. Before the week is through, the UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is out after just 38 days in office (exit right). He suggested that the uber wealthy needed more money to manage and the common man a lot less in difficult times. The UK papers, both left, and right, have had a field day suggesting PM Liz Truss has lost her balance of mind.

Do I think the condition of society is terminal? No. It is wildly out of balance, completely polarised, and financially strapped, but these are still things that hopefully can be fixed. So why have they happened?