SunGold legal clash
Plant variety rights or PVRs are seldom in the news. However, the recent discussion about the so-called “legal clash” between Zespri and the Te Puke-based company that has bred a new variety of gold kiwifruit is getting a fair bit of attention in the media. Check out the details here. For some reason, there hasn’t been much […]
Zero-Sum Thinking Is Holding Us Back
There is a growing belief today that all gains must come at someone else’s expense. That is, in order to win, someone else must lose. This is the zero-sum mindset. As Stefanie Stantcheva, writing in The Economist in her article “To understand America today, study the zero-sum mindset” it now permeates not just politics but […]
The unravelling social contract
The American government’s reaction to the Los Angeles protests has been alarming. There are better alternatives: cooperative, peaceful, and mutually beneficial solutions. Ones that seek to de-escalate confrontation rather than enflame a needlessly violent process. The protests serve as a microcosm of how the unspoken social contract operates in the United States. The government’s insistence […]
“A Different Kind of Power” – Can “empathy” withstand and overcome populism and strongman tactics?
My book “The Power of Wellbeing” is about how people often underestimate the power of empathy. Across the world, there has been an alarming turn towards populism and strongman politics. In doing so, the most marginalised and vulnerable have received the brunt of a sudden cold shoulder. The world needs a General Wellbeing framework, one […]
Dotcom extradition order creates overseas interest
Now that the Minister of Justice, Paul Goldsmith, has signed Kim Dotcom’s extradition order https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/justice-minister-signs-kim-dotcoms-extradition-order/ZIO7RHMUS5B3NCKUEW4QH5C4V4/#google_vignette there is renewed interest in the case, particularly from overseas. A number of commentators are comparing his situation to the one Julian Assange faced, something I discuss in a recent interview with the Abu Dhabi-based news agency, Viory. Check it out […]
The Dotcom Saga Continues
Tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has been making headlines in New Zealand for well over a decade now. It seems that the saga might be starting to draw to a close, as the Justice Minister signs his extradition order https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350380271/justice-minister-signs-kim-dotcoms-extradition-order I had a brief interview with Mike Hoskin on Newstalk ZB on Friday https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/barrister-clive-elliott-on-the-kim-dotcom-saga/6P6FQ7AXAXD2DJ2DGSDHPCNMSU/#google_vignette In my […]
Creating a braided, cohesive and winning identity
The coalition government is finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the opposition to the proposed repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. For my part, it seems to me that with the enormity of the problem documented in the Abuse in Care report, it is hard to see how the recognition of Te […]
Contemplate I
So Much to Lose
When the Music’s Over The affinity between poetry and painting, and the literary and visual arts is a long-standing and natural one. The line between the two can be hard to define. The Roman poet Horace famously remarked that “A picture is a poem without words”. What then is a picture put to words, or […]
