It's interesting that trust and warmth matter more than competence when people first meet you. What does that mean for you?It's been a week since I last posted on here. Since then I've been on a 60km hike from Te Anau and back again. It's a hike known as the Kepler Track http://www.doc.govt.nz/keplertrack, one of New Zealand's Great Walks. It is a great way to get away from it all, without going on a retreat. No internet, no cellphones- only freez dri food and lots of walking, with a full pack.
For me, since my great grandfather was an early explorer around Lake Manapouri and I was born in that part of the world and spent my early years there, the information I found out was even more impactful. Here are some photos.
by Lucia Dore
On a road show around New Zealand are Sir Geoffrey Palmer, law professor and former prime minister, and Andrew Butler, a litigator at Russell McVeagh in Wellington, New Zealand. They are promoting their book: “A constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand” and are asking people for their views on the points they have laid down for a otential written constitution.
Anti-Muslim rhetoric is increasing all the time and much of it is a result of "lone wolf" attacks. Often these attacks are the result of people acting alone but whom ISIS has approached later in the day. They then claim the attacks as their own. This article is from Brookings Institute.
I received this report from the NZ Super Fund earlier today. It provides some insights into the investment environment right now.
In this 'Investment Environment Report', Dr Roland Winn, Senior Investment Strategist, explains the global investment environment and its implications for the NZ Super Fund.
Reading this article, I hope the proposed law doesn't proceed in Britain and that it doesn't even get proposed in New Zealand.
I came across this article that appeared in The Huffington Post about a month ago. Here, research is discussed that furthers the debate as to whether one should circumcise or not.
Denmark’s 29,000 Doctors Declare Circumcision of Healthy Boys an “Ethically Unacceptable” Procedure Offering no Meaningful Health Benefits
A campaign to increase New Zealand's refugee quota started two years ago, when I completed a documentary: "Stepping up: NZ's response to the refugee crisis" https://www.luciadore.com/blog/stepping-up-nz-s-response-to-the-refugee-crisis.
Amnesty International then endorsed it. In it, I point out that while I agree with increasing the refugee quota, any increase should also go hand-in-hand with an increase in government funding. Refugees will only do well if they have employment, have educational prospects, overcome any language barrier and have good access to healthcare. The Canterbury Refugee Resettlement and Resource Centre (CRR&RC), formerly, the Canterbury Refugee Council (CRC) and I are about to embark on a study to investigate these issues further.
In the meantime, Tracey Barnett, has written this great article about NZ's response to the refugee crisis so far.
Amidst the frenzy of President Trump's first two week's in office, and of his phone calls with other world leaders, including the prime minister of NZ, Bill English, the plight of refugees has been forgotten. What does the new American vision mean for refugee policy and for New Zealand in particular? In this article, Tracey Barnett, founds out.
It would appear that America is no longer the country of the "free", with immigration being curbed and a ban on Muslim immigrants in particular, and a crackdown on the media. No longer can journalists say what they know to be true; it is clearly better to present "alternative facts".
The volume of oil reserves in Saudi Arabia has interested me, ever since I covered oil and gas in the Middle East. There were often disputes about the oil reserves in the region, and that the current estimates were not believable. How much does Saudi Aramco administer? How much will it fetch for its planned IPO? This article that appeared in the Wall St Journal, on 26 January, sums up recent activities.
Having lived in the Arab World for some years I'm sympathetic to the views of many Arabs about the attitude of the West toward their countries. This article, that featured in Politico Magazine, sums up the ways in which America is similar to the Arab World.
The presidential inauguration of Trump in the USA seems to be the only show in town. Every day the problems seems to get worse. Now, lies or falsehoods don't exist. There are only "alternative facts".
This article appeared in the Weekend Financial Times. I think it sums up the latest US administration well.
I've had a great deal of information cross my desk saying that online video is the way to go for blogging and for dissemination of information since videos engage the readers more. This survey undertaken by the Nieman Lab says otherwise.
Millennial communication professionals and their managers hold sharply different perceptions about millennials’ workplace factors, values and attributes
The future of technology and how it affects us, as companies and individuals, are important issues we ought to think about. In this article, James Manyika, Director, McKinsey Global Institute gives his opinion of what technology means for us.