Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Chumocracy in the universities?

Do universities govern themselves as a group of chums? My colleague Robert MacCulloch recently called out the soft corruption of “chumocracy” in New Zealand. Chumocracy is governance by a group of mates and insiders. The dangers and risks of governance-by-chumocracy should be clear: complacency, lack of accountability, tolerance of abysmal performance and a culture of in-group favours. All entirely within the law.

Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Fear and Loathing in the National Library

Why do professionals lose their minds?

As cancelations go, it didn’t make waves. It was covered by the Free Speech Union, some nonmainstream websites and Britain’s Daily Mail. An eminent professor of history withdraws from his proposed talk at the National Library because the Library requested a change to the description of the talk on the event’s publicity. The offending phrase? A quote from a nineteenth century historian that the British Empire appeared to have been acquired ‘in a fit of absence of mind.’ It’s a well-used quote that captures the haphazard processes of imperial expansion from ancient Rome to the United States.

Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Design principles for constitutional hijack......

Design principles for constitutional hijack – or how we got those Treaty principles in the first place

The ‘principles of the Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti o Waitangi’ have arrived on the political stage. A smallish political party has got a bill before parliament in an attempt to define the principles. Opponents pushed back with street protests, mostly hostile media coverage and parliamentary theatre. The message from opponents is loud and clear: the Treaty principles are untouchable by ordinary citizens.