Setting The Agenda

As presently organised, our prisons are violent places, but it doesn’t have to be that way. One country with an enlightened prison policy is Norway, which has much less prison violence and a lower reoffending or recidivism rate.

Could Syriza have achieved a better outcome for Greece it they had adopted a different negotiating strategy?

By campaigning for a “Yes” vote Angela Merkel and her co-conspirators displayed arrogance, ineptitude, heartlessness, impracticality, and a hostility to the democratic process.

When I opened up my mailbox yesterday there was a NZ Post leaflet cheerily telling me that “The world is changing, so we’re changing with it.” Good news? Unfortunately not.

The term “terrorist” seems to be reserved for Muslims, or at least foreigners. Generally attacks by American-born whites are not seen as terrorism.

Despite John Key’s best efforts to distance himself from Australia’s “bribing the people smugglers” scandal, New Zealand is involved.

I’m afraid John Key has failed the empathy test. He knows that thousands of refugees have been fleeing persecution from Sri Lanka, Burma and elsewhere, many dying at sea. Yet all he can see in the possibility of one boat making it here is a threat, justifying the legislation he passed allowing the asylum seekers to be imprisoned on arrival.

When asked about Saudi Arabia bombing Yemen John Key said that “we understand why they are doing what they are doing” and said he wouldn’t “condemn” it.

According a recent Herald-Digipoll 28% of New Zealanders don’t have confidence in our intelligence services. It will be good if their concerns are elaborated in submissions to the government’s intelligence and security review, scheduled to begin next month and run through until February.