The problems inherent in the failed RNZ-TVNZ merger go way back. Bad policy was finished off by bad politics, writes a former Broadcasting Minister
Read MoreOil, Water and Money: The RNZ/TVNZ Merger
The New Zealand Media: A few modest proposals
New Zealand media were in trouble before Covid-19. But in a matter of weeks the situation has become much worse. Getting the media through the crisis will not be enough. Change is required.
Read MoreChurchill beat Hitler, but Attlee won the election: Election strategies in a post-crisis world
New Zealanders are due to elect a Government in September. Will it be the way the Covid-19 crisis was handled or the creation of a new normal that will determine who wins?
Read MoreBob Dylan, COVID-19, Trump and Murder Most Foul
COVID-19 has exposed Trump as not up to the job and America as a failing state. None of this is good for America or the world. Bob Dylan’s Murder Most Foul captures the mood of the times.
Read MoreAfter Covid-19: Towards a New Normal
Covid-19 is a crisis. Everyone agrees there is going to be a new normal. It is time to start saying what we want the future to look like.
Read More"It's not over til the fat lady sings": RNZ and Concert FM
What were they thinking! It is not the time to contemplate changes to Concert FM while massive changes to public broadcasting are in the wind.
Read MoreDavos Man Returns Home Ready to Make a Difference
If we want things to stay the same, something has to change.
Note. What follows is fiction, except for the facts.
Read MoreAre you Relevant?
Relevant: Adjective
Closely aligned with or appropriate to what is happening
Appropriate to the time, period, or circumstances; of contemporary interest
Critics may find it difficult to say relevant in a changing world.
How could you possibly lose? British Labour and the 2019 election.
How did British Labour Manage to lose the 2019 election so decisively? By wanting voters to think like them rather than the other way around.
Read MorePolicies for the Twelve Days of Christmas - Third Way Style. Blog #8
The festive season is a time to reflect on what has been and what might be. Over the 12 days of Christmas, a gift is supposed to be unwrapped each day. Try making those gifts a policy you would like to see in 2020 - it is election year afterall.
Read MoreTVNZ and RNZ: A future for public broadcasting
Of the options in currently front of the Minister of Broadcasting, creating a new public broadcasting entity from RNZ and TVNZ is the most interesting. But are we clear on what we mean by public broadcasting? NB. For those following my blogs on the third way - this is not one in the series.
Read MoreAuthoritarian populism, the third way and the future of social democratic politics. Blog #7
Authoritarian populists can be found in governments throughout the democratic world. Where did they come from, can they be resisted and did the third way clear the way for populists to triumph?
Read MoreProgressive Pragmatists - New Zealand Labour and the Third Way. Blog #6
New Zealand Labour has the distinction of being a first, second and third way party. Sometimes all at once! But did it fully implement a third way platform? Maybe not. Maybe it is time to look again at what the third way, with its focus on civil society/community, has to offer. .
Read MoreThe “Moderniser”. Tony Blair on the Third Way. The Giddens Project Blog #5
British Prime Minister Tony Blair saw himself as a ‘moderniser’. New Labour was his answer to the challenges of modernity. But, despite his best efforts, he remained stuck in the past.
Read MoreLet’s do This: A guide to the Third Way. The Giddens Project Part 4
In the minds of most social democratic politicians, the Third Way is yesterday’s news. But it hasn’t been that easy to come up with an alternative vision of progress. Maybe what Giddens had to say might yet be a good starting point – if only to disagree
Read MoreThe emergence of the Third Way: From Douglas to Clark (via Clinton & Co)
In part three, after the new right revolution of the 1980s, social democratic parties such as Labour were searching their souls. Then came new ideas and new 'third way' leaders such as Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, with answers to the identity crisis
First way – the state, Keynesian demand management, the working class as the base of support. Second way – free-market, reduce the scope of the state and cut taxes, relative indifference to social justice. Third Way – well that's the question.
Read MoreNew Times arising: The Giddens Project blogs II
In part two, the development of New Times thinking in reaction to urgent changes in the late 20th century, as those on the left struggled to respond to social upheaval, globalisation and the rise of a new politics dominated by the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Roger Douglas
Read MoreThe Giddens Project: New Times, the Third Way and the future of politics
Across the globe, politics seems to be a battle between strongmen, populists and those eager to make socialism great again. But there is another way. A third way. And it's time not merely to resurrect ideas from the 1990s, but to reimagine them
Read More"Do it for all of us". Can Labour save social democracy?
Social democracy is in trouble. Social democratic parties have been annihilated in Greece, reduced to a shadow in France and struggle in Scandinavia. Corbyn in Britian and Sanders in the United States have support but can't get elected. Can New Zealand Labour show that it is not only possible to form a government but also to save social democracy?
Read MoreImagine - Ardern, Gayford, motherhood and work
The announcement by Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford that they will be parents this year for the first time suggests a Rubicon is about to be crossed. Some progress has been made toward women being able to be mothers and in paid employment but there is some way to go. Given Ardern and Gayford's prominence they may be about to make the tectonic plates of our society shift.
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