Political

Who will watch the watchers? Report from the Chinatown store detective

Oh, hai. It’s been a while I guess. I got distracted studying maths in the library. No, really! I’ve started an MSc in social research methods, and it includes… maths. And it turns out I’m worse at maths than I remember. I remember being great at maths. But back then, computers didn’t exist, and neither …

Who will watch the watchers? Report from the Chinatown store detective Read More »

First puns, now a poem – clearly, these are the results of post-traumatic stress disorder

My poetry hands are pretty arthritic by now, but this Race Relations Commissioner debacle has spurred me to erect the middle finger to scratch something out.  Blame Tulia Thompson, my erstwhile Creative writing classmate under the tutelage of Albert Wendt back in the far reaches of time – she has penned this, complete with links …

First puns, now a poem – clearly, these are the results of post-traumatic stress disorder Read More »

You know I can’t interdict your ghost ships, bro.

I see that NZIS is advising the government to build refugee detention centres, to prepare for the imminent mass arrival of asylum-seekers by boat. Okay, so.  All the WTFs aside.  Immigration officials have been talking of the imminent mass arrival of asylum-seekers by boat since I was a Refugee Status Officer (ie, an immigration official).  …

You know I can’t interdict your ghost ships, bro. Read More »

Me vs Capitalism: Stalemate

For the princely dangled sum of £100, I swept aside my convictions and offered my services to a market research company doing baby food focus groups. “I can subvert this process from within” I told myself, while listlessly clicking empty cells on my post-maternity pay household budget spreadsheet.

POETRY HULK SMASH

So today is National Poetry Day in the UK. Happy National Poetry Day! And by ‘Happy’ I mean ‘Fuck’. Because I wanted to be sincere and generous of mind on National Poetry Day, but instead I listened to some actual poetry and started smashing things. Like, in my mind. And by ‘smashing’ I mean ‘being …

POETRY HULK SMASH Read More »