By applying Game theory, Nested games and the Prisoner’s Dilemma to current NZ politics, we can see that NZ First is playing the sharpest game; it’s triumphant in many policy and funding allocations. Meanwhile the Greens celebrate relatively small wins, with no real incentive to defect, playing the sucker in Labour and New Zealand First’s game.
with most policy announcements, the devil is in the detail. And though it might seem churlish, if you look closer, this is more a victory for public relations than it is for our environment. As usual, political measures are too little, too late, and not even what they seem.
The most significant injustice isn’t that some barely credible white supremacists travel the world vomiting diatribe, but that racial inequality still informs and shapes life outcomes marginalising ethnic groups here and in every nation on a daily basis.
This week a range of environmental group representatives, fishing company agents, scientists, consultants and international experts gathered in Wellington to review the threats facing Maui and Hector’s dolphins. The meeting was organised by DoC and Fisheries NZ and participants had to agree to Terms of Reference which included a clause saying they wouldn’t talk to the media about the proceedings.
Supermarkets and retail outlets have moved an inch toward addressing the hundreds of millions of plastic bags usually in a one-way journey to the landfill, by phasing out single-use check out carry bags at various outlets.
But the pervasiveness of plastic in our lives and in the environment show both market failure, and government failure, to adequately deal with the forces of production creating pollution problems way bigger than free bags at the till.
The recent release of Statistics New Zealand figures showing the levels of foreign investment in New Zealand properties confirmed biases for many. I’m not a fan of globalisation, or investor capitalism, per se, but I do have an expectation that facts will inform policy and that liberal citizens and politicians will avoid racist dog whistles misleading attention away from real causes of inequality and injustice.
Modern life has most of us over a barrel. An oil barrel. The price of oil is a fundamental force in shaping our quality of life and how much take home pay is left for other needs and wants. This has all hit home in the last few weeks as the price of fuel at the petrol pump has reached its highest ever.
The Government’s announcements that they are to accelerate the procurement process for light rail to the airport and to the NorthWest including Kumeu, had some pundits and young transport enthusiasts breathless with excitement.
So while leaders from European superpowers, Five Eyes nations and the Commonwealth parade, in self-congratulatory back slapping and hand shaking in front of the cameras, they engage in lock step and group think, marching as one over firing missiles at Syria that are actually aimed at Russia, in a real battle for supremacy of the ‘There is No Alternative’ approach to economic management, monetary policy, growth, trade and the neo-liberal agenda.
I prefer to live in a country that makes its international relations decisions based on firm, independent evidence rather than speculation. Let’s not forget the rush to war based on allegations of Weapons of Mass Destruction. It doesn’t have to be ‘you’re either with us or you’re against us’, it can be a case of wait and see – at least until Wednesday when the UN Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons releases its report into the incident.