Victor Billot http://www.victorbillot.com Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:32:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Other People’s Wars: Book review http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/10/370/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/10/370/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:28:53 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=370 Other People’s Wars by Nicky Hager

Craig Potton Publishing

What are New Zealand soldiers doing in the Middle East?

The accepted wisdom is that “we” are there for humanitarian purposes, assisting the rebuilding of a broken society, as part of a wider battle against terrorism and for democracy.

Not so.

New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky Hager has blown this warm and

… Read more
]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/10/370/feed/ 0 Das Phaedrus – Ditch http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/10/das-phaedrus-%e2%80%93-ditch/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/10/das-phaedrus-%e2%80%93-ditch/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:33:01 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=368 Sammys, 1991

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeqDP_Y28Rs

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]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/10/das-phaedrus-%e2%80%93-ditch/feed/ 0 Space out http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/09/space-out/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/09/space-out/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 08:55:08 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=361 What does it feel like to fly over Planet Earth?

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]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2011/09/space-out/feed/ 0 Left of liberal http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/06/left-of-liberal/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/06/left-of-liberal/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:16:21 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=347

Must be that time of the year again. Speaking at Drinking Liberally Dunedin this Thursday 1 July.

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]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/06/left-of-liberal/feed/ 0 Beyond the sea: New Zealand’s ports at risk? http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/06/beyond-the-sea-new-zealands-ports-at-risk/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/06/beyond-the-sea-new-zealands-ports-at-risk/#comments Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:09:04 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=339 The following article on New Zealand ports and maritime issues was originally published in Foreign Control Watchdog issue 123 (May 2010), the magazine of CAFCA, and is available online at their site. I thought I’d add it here as well.

Somewhere beyond the sea
somewhere waiting for me
my lover stands on golden sands
and watches the ships that … Read more

]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/06/beyond-the-sea-new-zealands-ports-at-risk/feed/ 0 Broke, Anxious or Seriously flush http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/02/broke-anxious-or-seriously-flush/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/02/broke-anxious-or-seriously-flush/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:56:27 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=326 The following article appeared in the Otago Daily Times, on Wednesday 3 February 2010, in response to an article by Dr Mathew Zacharias entitled Patients’ rights trampled in drive for equality and ongoing talk about user pays models at the Dunedin Public Hospital.

I was interested to read the hard-headed realism of Dr Mathew Zacharias in his opinion piece … Read more

]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2010/02/broke-anxious-or-seriously-flush/feed/ 0 Man makes religion; it does not make man http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/10/man-makes-religion-it-does-not-make-man/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/10/man-makes-religion-it-does-not-make-man/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:21:24 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=321 Published Otago Daily Times, 30 October 2009

In a Faith and Reason column, published in the past few months in the Otago Daily Times, the writer – a pastor – started his discourse on religion by quoting Karl Marx as saying “Religion is the opiate of the people”.

The problem is this quote is, strictly speaking, not factual.

Let’s … Read more

]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/10/man-makes-religion-it-does-not-make-man/feed/ 0 BlueShift http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/08/blueshift/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/08/blueshift/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:19:34 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=313 Print this entry… Read more

]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/08/blueshift/feed/ 2 Book club http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/08/book-club/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/08/book-club/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:25:03 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/?p=308 What I have been reading in 2009

Alasdair Gray – Lanark (just setting off on my second circumnavigation after ordering a smart new paperback edition that took months to arrive)

China Mieville – The City and the City (Bamboozling and brilliant)

Haruki Murakami – South of the Border, West of the Sun (followed quickly by Underground. It took me far … Read more

]]> http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/08/book-club/feed/ 0 Science and Capitalism http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/07/science-and-capitalism/ http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/07/science-and-capitalism/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:30:42 +0000 admin http://www.victorbillot.com/2009/07/science-and-capitalism/ Terence Kealey falls out of love with market myths at New Scientist and is descended upon by hordes of screaming libertarians (AKA self justifying plutocrats)

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