JOBS | Accommodation

WIRES:

Scoop >> Top Scoops

Writers and Readers Week: Ronald Wright

Monday, 13 March 2006, 2:54 pm
Article: Lyndon Hood

Writers and Readers Week: Ronald Wright

Audio interview with Lyndon Hood

Ronald Wright is an award-winning Canadian novelist, historian and essayist. He described his recent book A Short Historty of Progress as "a police profile of a repeat offender by the name of Homo Sapiens". It documents human civilisations' habit of destroying themselves and their environment - an increasingly dangerous habit in these days when civilisation is global.

Wright is in New Zealand for the NZ Post Writers and Readers week. He spoke to Scoop about humanity's history of short-term thinking and the political and economic obstacles in the way of improving things.

Scoop Audio Interview: Ronald Wright (6 minutes 36 seconds, 1.89MB)
Click to download the file (MP3)

*********

Writers and Readers Week: Ronald Wright
Scoop Full Coverage: Festival 2006

Top Scoops Headlines

COMMENT > >

Urewera Raids: 'Operation 8' Trials Begin Today

Annemarie Thorby of the October 15 Solidarity Group: Over four years ago in New Zealand, on October 15th 2007, more than 300 police carried out dawn raids on scores of houses.

That was the day more than 60 homes up and down the country were raided, 17 people arrested and the Tuhoe community of Ruatoki, a small rural town in the Te Urewera region of the Bay of Plenty was locked down... More>>

ALSO:

Wellington October 15th Solidarity Group - Urewera trial start, Crown propaganda begins
2009 image - Bell Murphy October 15th Solidarity - Explosive Expression: Remember State Terror Raids

.

TV3 Video - Urewera trial set to start today - Urewera firearms trial to begin

Gordon Campbell: On Syria

So far, the fighting in Syria has largely been limited to its smaller cities – Homs in particular... All the same, Homs is a cautionary example of the dangerous fault lines that run through the entire society. More>>

ALSO:

TV3 Video - In complicating move, al-Qaida backs Syrian revolt - Syrian army general assassinated in Damascus - Syria says suicide bombers kill 28 in Aleppo

Werewolf: Undaunted Oakland

It gets really tiring living in Oakland. Practically every television newscast is straight from the police blotter. Murders. Marches. Mayhem. Mayoral recall. (Oops! That last one’s not from the blotter but from the OPD to-do list.) ... More>>

ALSO:

Werewolf issue 28

Werewolf: Human Rights, Pinochet And Asset Freezes

Gordon Campbell interviews Baron Collins of Mapesbury, recently retired judge from the British Supreme Court. Politicians are always tempted to take pot shots at judges, who have relatively few friends among the general public. More>>

ALSO:

Werewolf issue 28

Mark P Williams: Waitangi – What Makes A National Day?

Should Waitangi Day be seen as a national day when it provokes such diverse and divisive responses? That depends on whether you think unity should overrule differences of perspective and opinion... More>>

ALSO:

Gordon Campbell - On the Maori response to the SOE asset sales
US State Department - NZ Waitangi Day
NZ Republican Movement - Waitangi Day time to ask: where is New Zealand headed?
Treaty - Treaty of Waitangi on view at Archives NZ on Waitangi Day
TV3 Video - Waitangi celebrations begin with dawn service - Special ceremony for new NZ citizens

Gordon Campbell: On Mitt Romney’s Victory In Florida

So Romney now looks a certainty to be the Republican candidate against Barack Obama in November, after yesterday’s win in conservative Florida put paid to the claim that he was not really conservative enough to win the nomination. More>>

ALSO:

Connie Lawn - Connie Lawn Audio: Florida Primary

Gordon Campbell: Gordon Campbell On The Arrest Of Mourad Dhina

The arrest in Paris of the highly respected Swiss-based Algerian human rights campaigner Dr Mourad Dhina is one of those cases where the actions of France seem (a) outrageous (b) consistent with how France routinely behaves towards dissidents from its former colonies... More>>

State Of It: On The Folly Of Political Appointments

State Of It: The saddest thing in this awful affair is that the National Party's response via its appointment to the board of New Zealand On Air is not one of how to advance a cross-party accord on creating real solutions to child poverty – but ... More >>

Richard S. Ehrlich: Terror Suspect Says Ammonia in His "Cool Packs" Not For Bombs

BANGKOK, Thailand -- An imprisoned Lebanese-Swedish terror suspect said he stockpiled medical "cool packs" which "contained ammonia" for commerical export, and is not a Hezbollah member, after being arrested for possessing 10 gallons (38 liters) of ammonium nitrate which ... More >>