Reading and listening for the Weekend starting 11th Feb
Me on democracy
Here’s a podcast discussion between me and Crikey’s Bernard Keane the least pompous of Australia’s lead political commentators (With Paul Kelly an easy winner in the category!)
Anyway, I would say nice things about Bernard wouldn’t I —since he says nice things about me!
Nicholas is one of Australia’s finest public policy intellectuals and has written on an extraordinary array of issues while working as a ministerial adviser, productivity commissioner, academic and investor. He is also an advocate for citizens’ assemblies, and argues that they offer a solution to some of the complex problems besetting our democracy, as well as overcoming the opposition of vested interests to much-needed reforms.
He explains why in nearly an hour of free-wheeling discussion between us.
But seriously folks, I thought he managed the conversation very well and I think it’s a very good discussion.
If you’d rather download an mp3 of the discussion you can do so from here.
Knowledge and its enemies
In what’s becoming a regular arrangement, I chat with my friend Peyton Bowman who’s a publisher in Japan, but he’s a great partner in discussion with a deep knowledge of the classics — #WTNTL? In any event, I’m also making some explainer videos. The videos are short — the scripts are the length of a short newspaper column.
In any event, this discussion is a trial for what might become a regular format — a longer conversation around the themes in the video. At least from my point of view, I’m making these recordings mostly because it’s so easy to do and for my own benefit, but if you want to listen in and see what you think I’d also welcome any feedback on how you find it or any other of our conversations — which you can find on my YouTube or Anchor channels. You can also download an mp3 file for your podcaster from this link.
Michael Leunig on safe power plants
How Social Justice Killed Anti-Racism
A worthwhile read by Jerry Barnett about how social justice is killing anti-racism.
One key message that was stated in the article:
It just seemed self-evident that hatred from one group would provoke a rise in hatred on the other side.
This is the World in Which We Live:
on harassment, being nice, & trying to get me to kill myself
One thing that irritates me is when people use the fact that people say mean —or indeed horrible and unconscionable — things to them on the internet to somehow demonstrate the righteousness of their cause and the need to ‘do more’ to stamp out bad behaviour. These are worthy sentiments I guess, but there are 7 odd billion people on the planet and if you say controversial things and get a lot of coverage, some of them will do horrible things. Do I think this is a good thing? Do I take any pleasure in saying that people should suck it up? I hope you believe me when I say I don’t. But, because the internet is full of anonymous and non-existent people, it’s a completely ineradicable phenomenon.
Anyway, here’s a typically powerful Freddie deBoer piece on the phenomenon. He’s an interesting guy. A brief extract:
So you know what I did? I deleted the emails and let it go.
Because fuck them. That’s why. Because the internet is a festival of cruelty and I’m an adult enough to know that that will never change. Because I refuse to be terrorized. That’s why.
The leveling-up white paper is a necessary call to arms
In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum and the 2019 general election, poorer regions of the country have become political battlefields. “Levelling up” the condition of these areas has duly become an urgent challenge for the government. But the concern is far wider than this. These areas also contain much social deprivation, especially in health and education. Above all, the country has exceptionally large gaps in regional productivity. Raising the productivity of less productive regions would deliver big national gains.
"Not only is the case for levelling up [in the UK] strong, it is feasible, in the long run. Yet it requires long-lived, sustained and consistent policy efforts that are commensurate with the scale of disparity".
Needless to say, Martin Wolf is sceptical that a flake like Boris Johnson (my expression not his) could deliver it. Just to put in my own oar here, I would always have been happy if Brexit really was the will of the British people who, open eyed, preferred a somewhat lower standard of living to greater national autonomy. We do not live by bread alone. But of course it was sold as nothing of the kind by a group of swindlers.
A tweet introducing a video. Make sure you click through and watch.
