Solstice Once Again - Russian Style

This cartoon is based on two Russian circus clowns who were performing in Auckland NZ a few years ago. If you are in Russia and looking at this I hope you are coping ok with political events in your country. I hope one day to see Russia take it's rightful place in the community of European nations and at peace. .

Shaney Jones Shocker

Fishing lobbyists appear to have New Zealand Fisheries Minister Shane Jones on their side when it comes to banning bottom trawling. It ain't gonna happen, despite clear evidence that bottom trawling scours the ocean floor to create sealife deserts wherever it is done. Ironically and sadly the more you bottom trawl the slower the regeration necessary to maintain fish stocks. Shane is no stranger to controversy. In the past he was mocked for buying porn movies as a form of recreation. It appears nothing much has changed. He is still "bottom trawling" by the look of it!

Seymour Marches On

Like the few Japanese soldiers stranded on Pacific islands after WW2, David Seymour doesn’t believe the neoliberal war against neo-mercantile ways of doing business has been lost. He chooses to ignore the recent historical evidence of how the economies that tried to enact neoliberal theories (e.g. US, UK, Australia. Canada and NZ etc) fell behind the growth rate of their neo-mercantile competitors. Soon after WW2 farming and manufacturing industries in NZ rapidly expanded and paid the country’s bills and employed almost everyone in a growing population. They generated a path to more prosperity, technological progress, longer life expectations, and a shared sense of interdependence and support. Seymour, on the other hand, appears to want to turn back the clock to "Depression NZ". He seems to favour low wages, longer working hours and shrinking public services to drive desperate people to serve the rich. He does not seem to care about this new "servant class" lowering their own income, lifespans and experiences of well being in doing so. He and the Nats call that "growth". I call it a deliberate act of deception to hide social and economic decay, make it worse - and hide the real agenda of more ruthless exploitation to come! Strangely, enough people believe in his policies to put him and his cronies into Parliament. But the tide is turning - the Far Right is on the rise again internationally, as it was during the Great Depression. They are persuading disenchanted working people, who are these days the casualties of neoliberal policies, not to have faith in democracy. This is dangerous stuff - and history shows it often leads to war and the removal of civil rights. So how can we stop this process of allowing neoliberal policies to be normalised and entrenched in the daily struggle for New Zealanders to survive and attempt to have a balanced and hopeful life - plus still have some left over cash to buy useful and valued stuff in the house and have the time to enjoy using it. What I see today is under-priced imports and social welfare payments being used as a bribe for New Zealanders to remain passive and inhibit local industrial investment. China, and previously Japan, have been the major countries to benefit from traders in Western economies selling out their own country's chance for a prosperous future in return for personal short term profits. The resulting sales tax on imports (GST) appears to me to be paying for the rising rates of social welfare dependency for workers previously productively employed in local industry and paying tax - instead of being supported by it. In a nutshell (where Seymour appears to reside), New Zealand has the neoliberal Act Party in a government coalition and it is strongly influencing government economic policy. Hopefully they will be booted out in this election year, but sadly the neoliberal virus has also infected the major parties of Labour and National. So I think it is time for their leaders to ditch neoliberalism and re-examine the merits of taking on again many of the neo-mercantile policies of post World War Two New Zealand. Recently many successful Asian economies have done this and we have witnessed their incredible economic revival. If they can do it, surely we can too. We do not need to continue our present policies of managing our comparatively slow economic and social decline. Luckily we can this year use the ballot box to be masters of our own destiny. Or will apathy win the day and let the present government back in to continue to play into the hands of our international competitors?

85 And Still Alive

Every Bob Dylan Birthday now is rather special. He's just turned 85 and by all accounts very much alive. I wrote a song about him - and at this time of year I remind folks about it. You can watch my animated version here by clicking on the "Music With Animation" tab above this post and under the banner with my name on it. Watch his eyes! It's also on You Tube.

Farewell Crusher!

Judith Collins leaves the NZ Parliament this year after a long stint as a fiesty coservative politician. Here are some of my cartoon memories. Obviously I was and remain not a fan of hers or her party!! The greyscale one was published in "Truth".A scurrilous NZ newspaper, now quite rightly no longer in print!

Here's To All The Women

Here is the longer version of this song. There are not many recordings of my compositions, and this one is a bit different. It's deliberately sentimental. The charcoal drawing is by the late (and greatly missed) Levin artist Sylvia Lovell depicting my first daughter and her mum. The instrument I played was a Mandola made by adapting an eight string guitar ... a bit weird, but had a unique sound. To hear it, click on the "More Music" tab below the banner with my name on it - or follow this link below. Happy Mother's day to all mothers in NZ! The link - https://youtu.be/geI7ONu4Lhg?si=PmShDetBXM9eE7h1

Farewell To My Old 3G Phone

Ed Sheeran's song "Old Phone" has extra meaning for me now!

May Day! May Day!

May the first each year is a date that tradionally reminds us of the constant struggle for working people to get a living wage and decent working conditions. A society that too often values money and power over people, creates resentment and can lead to political opportunities for obnoxious leaders like Trump and Putin. When the middle class pulls the economic opportunity ladder up on social equity for working people,the whole community is at risk of social breakdown. Far better surely to share prosperity rather than exploit others less fortunate.

Indeed Video

Indeed

This is a mug I made 25 years ago when I was experienting with using soda salt to replicate traditionanal salt glazing - without the polluting chlorine gas coming out of the chimney. For those unfamiliar with this old European invented technology; pots and other ceramic ware (like drainage pipes) are fired to the required temperature (1000 -1300 deg C) and common salt is thrown into the firebox. The intense heat splits the molecular bond of sodium and chlorine. The sodium makes a glaze with the silica in the clay and the chlorine escapes up the chimney. Sounds like an invironmentally dangerous thing to do. And it is, but actually on the small scale of a studio pottery the chlorine quickly oxidises and returns as acidic steam and safely falls to earth. Iron roofing cops it and rots out faster than usual. So soda has been used now these days and the exhaust gas is mainly harmless water. I dug the clay myself from the the outskirts of Whangarei NZ and added 20% ball clay and 10% potash felspar to stop dunting (cracking due to thermal stress - quartz inversion) and lower the silica content of the clay. It also made the clay more pliable and easier to use on the potters wheel. This pot was fired to 1300 Deg C. The internal glaze is based on the very traditional Japanese Tenmoku glaze that is normally black, breaking to rusty red where there is a thinner coverage. Salt glaze can make it look and run like treacle - adding warmth to what otherwise could be a more austere finish.

Maths and Money

I drew this diagram some time ago, when it occured to me that money could be seen as one way of assisting and identifying the transferring of the sun's enegy captured on earth and eventually lost to space. It also made me ponder on the possibility of tracking this process mathematically. This could help governments identify wasteful leakages and misuse causing avoidable social and economic hardship for vulnerable sections of the community.

Aftermath Of A Storm

In Northland, New Zealand, a cyclonic storm has just dumped a lot of rain with powerful winds - causing landslides on roads and properties. "It's an ill wind...etc!

What's Up Dad?

Hopefully, in these times when so many people are trying to survive a living nightmare, this one might help to cheer you up!

The War Drags On

Well. WhatsApp Ai does not like this one. When I tried to share it they supressed the image by blurring it out. I wonder why; comments welcome.

"Bloody Hell!" Here We Go Again