World leaders gathered on the beach in Cornwall for a photo on Friday, the first day of theG7 summit. Included in the summit were : Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister; Charles Michel, president of the European Council; US President Joe Biden, Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s prime minister; Boris Johnson, the UK’s prime minister; Mario Draghi, Italy’s […]
Author Archives: Hugh
It was not until the Eighteenth Century that the idea dawned in Christendom that not all God’s creations were immutable. Enlightenment science proved that a large number of species, though created by God, had subsequently become extinct. Science soon followed this belief-shattering discovery with the theory of evolution: that different species would prove more […]
Blog 40 It has been an interesting fortnight in which NZ has finally come off the fence and announced that it does not agree to have its policy towards its main trading partner, determined by Five Eyes members with completely different national interests – and seemingly more interested in conflict than in peaceful coexistence. I […]
I have no wish to belittle Biden’s attempt to lead his country back into the forefront of the universal struggle to control the impending climate disaster. At least the USA will now be leading in a way which prevents such satrapies as Brazil finding excuses for inaction. Biden’s stated motivations are to seek economic benefit […]
Russian forces concentrate on the Ukrainian border. Four weeks ago, I dedicated the ‘editorial’ to developments in Ukraine. Since then I have been waiting for the situation to clarify itself. Following that issue, there was a week or so of alarm, while arguments were heard that Europe was on the brink of WWIII. Indeed it […]
Newsletter No. 37 大道之行也，天下为公，选贤与能，讲信修睦。故人不独亲其亲，不独子其子，使老有所终，壮有所用，幼有所长，矜、寡、孤、独、废疾者皆有所养，男有分，女有归。货恶其弃于地也，不必藏于己；力恶其不出于身也，不必为己。是故谋闭而不兴，盗窃乱贼而不作，故外户而不闭，是谓大同。 To translate in English: “ The Great Way is— the world belongs to all; choose the virtuous and capable; build trust and goodwill; care for not only your own folks, love your own children, but also in society— the old has care, the strong are useful, the young can grow, the […]
Semenivka, Ukraine, 2016. A house destroyed in the fighting. Red Cross the International Red Cross in Eastern Ukraine “Destroyed houses are common in Donbass. There are villages left completely destroyed, after the most intense battle. The ICRC employs teams of local residents with necessary skills, who have lost their job due to the conflict, to […]
Newsletter No 35. The Earthly Paradise by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Museo del Prado The Paddle Now newsletter is addressed to those striving for an Earthly paradise: the fifty or so civil society organisations that represent the instruments by which New Zealand activists endeavour to engineer beneficent change in global affairs. Without international cooperation (effective […]
The end of January saw the annual pilgrimage of an average of forty or so protesting citizens to the Waihopai spy base. Their protest is organised by long-term activist Murray Horton of the Anti-Bases Campaign. The remote, eavesdropping centre displays its elegant puffballs among the Marlborough vineyards – just ten kilometers from where this newsletter […]
As the world bade farewell (or ill) to Trump it welcomed Biden as the new POTUS. Two days later, the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) came into force. There is no doubt that in popular perception Biden, with his prominent dentures, intends to present a more acceptable public face to American policy. […]