Shopping In A Spiritual and Cultural Decline

Here is another cartoon I did a few years ago and it seems the urge to go shopping has crept like a virus into the collective mind of New Zealand's National Government. This year, local authorities can now allow shops to open during Easter and so end another few days when shop assistants can look forward to a break from the relentless pressure to working seven days a week on some of the lowest wages in the New Zealand economy. When shops open it forces a lot of other service workers to do the same and so eventually further degrade the quality of life for thousands of New Zealanders.

They will also lose out spiritually as well. New Zealand's society has been based on Christian traditions from the first days of the missionaries arriving to our shores and I think we are all the better off for them. They connect us with an ancient set of ethical guidelines that have played a crucial part in shaping the civilised society we live in. The holy days are times for spiritual renewal along with time to relax to recharge and even though I am not a Christian, I know the value how lucky we are to have them. For instance, it is so nice to watch TV without the crass advertising disrupting favourite programmes and see families getting together for time out from work and school.

I think liberalising trading laws in this way is a retrograde step and I hope the Opposition Parties will  reinstate the sanctity of Easter and Christmas etc if they get into power this year. Alas I suspect they are probably infected too with the soul-less worship of consumerism - where the real price will be the re-creation of an underclass of deprived workers and neglected children - and grumpy cartoonists.