I am dissertationing - bear with me until Thursday when it is handed in. Even better, bear with me until next week when I will have fully recovered from this traumatising experience.

Meanwhile I have something to share. Andy Feltoe, who was my cell group leader at the Street in first year, is one of the contenders for Stuff’s Blog Idol. One contestant is voted off everyday, and the vote-booth thing appears to be properly sorted so that you can only vote once a day not that that’s something to worry about). Anyway this is me encouraging you to all vote. Andy’s currently living in London and so that makes it extra fun :o) You can read his Stuff blog here and his normal blog (which is “suspended” while he does this Blog Idol thing) here.  

I just made a most delicious dinner for myself. I’m back in Waresley and discovering the difficulties of cooking for just one person. Nevertheless I made a fantastic sausage casserole with mashed potato and now have enough left over for tomorrow’s lunch. I am soooo full and definitely made to live with people caus cooking for one on an everyday basis is too difficult for me.

I haven’t had the most productive of weekends for my dissertation but I have spent a lot of time lying on the trampoline thinking about life, love, friends, lots of stuff really. Looking at the sky for hours is very relaxing and it did provide me with lots of time to think about clarifying my argument for my dissertation too so the time wasn’t completely wasted. Some of my thinking has been mental torture. I pull myself down, wonder whether I’m good enough, and generally struggle to understand why things happen the way they do but much of it is tied to being alone in a large house with just a dog and a cat who hates me to keep me company. I was meant to be a social person, yet another good reason to never live alone. Talking to friends has helped to make me feel much better. Never fear, it’s not a permanent state of mind.

I have a second job interview with VSO (voluntary service overseas) this week. I had my first interview and a written exercise with them last Wednesday and apparently it went so well that they’re inviting me back for a second to do another exercise and meet more of the team. The job is working as their Research and Analysis Manager and it’s based in London. It’s a new role and I’m really keen so we’ll see what happens.

My dissertation is about how New Zealand’s aid programme has failed to provide the right incentives for good governance in Fiji. It looks at the problems of being a small donor and whether there is enough donor harmonisation as well as awareness of the institutional needs of the recipient. It is called “Trouble in Paradise - Examining a small donor’s attempts for good governance in Fiji” or words to that effect. Anyone want to say anything? I’d appreciate any comments on the title and how to make it sound better. Hardcore writing begins tomorrow.

1) Exams over

2) Slept 

3) Visited London Zoo and got a panda

4) Threw a Summer Party with BBQ sun fun

5) Slept 

6) Packed

7) Moved out of Passfield

Moved into Sidney Webb House (South of the Thames in concrete-ville)

9) Decorated new room (home for the next 12 weeks) 

10) Going to Portugal on Thursday

More detail soon soon . . . 

I remember this “death certificate” hitting me quite hard when I first read it back in October.  As I study for my complex emergencies exam, I am again reminded of why I am so fascinated, appalled, shocked and motivated by this area of existence . . .

“Died: September 18, 1985, Luíza Alvez da Conceição, female, brown, aged thirty-three, unmarried
Cause of Death: Dehydration, acute malnutrition
Observations: The deceased left behind no living children and no possessions. She was illiterate. She did not vote.”

What kind of life did she live for thirty-three years?

And there’s more . . .

“You gringos,” a Salvadorian peasant told an American visitor, “ are always worried about violence done with machine guns and machetes. But there is another kind of violence that you should be away of, too. I used to work on a hacienda. My job was to take care of the dueño’s dogs. I gave them meat and bowls of milk, food that I couldn’t give my own family. When the dogs were sick, I took them to the veterinarian. When my children were sick, the dueño gave me his sympathy, but no medicine as they died”

“A child died today in the favela. He was two months old. If he had lived he would have gone hungry anyway.” Carolina Maria de Jesus (1962: 108)

Hat tip: Nancy Scheper-Hughes. 1992. Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil, Berkeley: University of California Press

Exams are around the corner so don’t expect any brilliant posts from me about the state of the world, although if I get particularly excited about a topic I may just write a short blog entry about it. Mass entitlement failure is my current train of thought and while fascinating, I’m not sure I have time to write about it now. Anyway, thought you might want to see the latest picture of me . . . proof of existence and all that . . . plus I had a pretty haircut and I think they did a good job.

I am currently writing my last essay for this term. Given that this term only started 4 days ago, I think it’s fairly rough to have three essays due in the first week and then none until the first week of the Summer Term but ah well . . . I should not be complaining, I should be writing. Occasionally I sleep, even more occasionally I remember to eat something, but life will hopefully return to normal tomorrow afternoon and I plan to spend much of the weekend sleeping off the effects of preparing for essays and presentations this week. I’ll also get round to updating this blog properly once I’m less concerned by the democratisation of Thailand and Indonesia, but until then I thought I’d post a copy of this Herald article from December.

I like these kind of articles because they’re rarely printed and always seem to shock people. I think one of the things I miss most about NZ politics is the number of really nice people in it, who work together when they need to to deal with whatever needs to be done. There’s a lot of the awful question time antics shown on TV every night, but no one ever bothers to show the other 80% of the time when MPs are trying very hard to work with each other. So thanks to Audrey Young and the Herald for printing this article:

Pleasant moments amid MPs’ downsizing

Saturday December 23, 2006

By Audrey Young

Parliament is not famous for its goodness. Come November and December, when the rest of New Zealand is singing Silent Night, MPs are often contemplating the next permutation of Silent Knife.

But behind the headlines of back-stabbing, and general reputations for laziness, are some nice people who work hard for their constituents, who often get on together and can even be inspirational.

Christchurch Central MP Tim Barnett claims one of the more unusual achievements this year: he helped to persuade a group of pensioners and the Christchurch City Council that a newly declared cross-dresser in their number did not deserve to be evicted from the pensioner flats.

The newly widowed pensioner’s late wife had given her blessing to the cross-dressing, but it came as a shock to others in the block and he was served with a 90-day eviction notice.

With the support of two neighbours and Mr Barnett’s intervention, the notice was withdrawn. “There was a bit of a thank-you party afterwards,” said the gay MP.

MPs work together in the most unusual combinations. The oddest couple this year was Act leader Rodney Hide and Green MP Keith Locke, who collaborated to oppose the Auckland waterfront stadium.

On a smaller scale, the Maori Party’s Te Ururoa Flavell, United Future’s Judy Turner and National’s Anne Tolley worked together to get a new Te Teko roundabout.

Humour overrode politics on the night Te Tai Tonga MP Mahara Okeroa lost his false teeth while in full cry over the Protected Objects Amendment Bill.

Compassion overrode politics in the select committee meeting at which a weeping Judith Collins was comforted by MPs from all sides as they talked about a powhiri gone wrong during a visit to South Auckland.

And contrary to the image, MPs are not always at Bellamy’s, feeding their faces at the taxpayer-subsidised trough.

One of the more inspirational things that has been quietly happening over the past year or so has been Labour’s shrinking waistline.

Marian Hobbs, Trevor Mallard, Lianne Dalziel, George Hawkins and Dianne Yates are shadows of their former selves.

Former minister Marian Hobbs has lost 25kg and shrunk from a size 26 to a size 18.

She started with a prescription of Reductil, and lost 15kg. The rest she has done herself by sensible eating and going to the gym three or four times a week.

Sports-mad Sports Minister Trevor Mallard has quietly, but not effortlessly, lost about 10kg in the past year by doing more exercise.

“I’m under 100kg probably for the first time in 17 or 18 years,” he says.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said the lighter Labour caucus had not come about as a result of any organised campaign.

But she added: “I do sort of encourage people to look after their health and get a bit of exercise and eat the right thing.

“I like to see myself as providing some sort of role model for women in keeping fit and, while carrying a heavy workload, still finding time to eat properly and get enough sleep and do some exercise.”

Some have been wondering what I’ve been up to . . . well this explains the last 48 hours. Just to clarify, we are talking about a university hall . . . not the UN or any other exciting Parliamentary institution . . . and yes this is a real media release. I’ll leave the full story for another day :o)

Media statement
For immediate release
Monday 4 November 2006

Five members of the six-member Passfield Hall Committee would like to disassociate themselves from comments made by the President of the Committee, Orlando Bama, at Sunday’s (3 December) committee meeting.

As these comments were made during the committee meeting and in front of a Beaver reporter, we feel the need to ensure that the views expressed by the President are not taken to be the views of the committee as a whole.

We would like to clarify that comments made by the current President at the committee meeting about the behaviour of the previous interim committee, particularly regarding the finances of the Hall Committee, do not reflect the feeling of the rest of the committee.

We would like to express our full confidence in the previous interim committee and the work they did for Passfield Hall.

Sandra Rutova - Treasurer

Omar Gondal - Secretary

Jonathan Lim - Social Secretary

Martin Woolhead - Bar Representative

Fiona McKenzie - Postgraduate, International, General Course Representative

I spent the weekend at Cumberland Lodge with 45 of my Development Management buddies. We had a fantastic time and did lots of crazy things. The Queen was home at Windsor Castle (her flag was up), so it was nice to have her join us for the weekend, although none of us actually saw her . . . well some people did, but that was on Friday in London . . . but I digress.

Cumberland Lodge is set in the heart of Great Windsor Park, 27 miles from London and 4 miles from Windsor Castle. Its Patron is the Queen, who has granted sole occupancy of this splendid seventeenth-century house to the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Foundation of St. Catharine’s. LSE postgrad students invade the Lodge throughout the year and this weekend was Development Management’s turn. I’m not sure whether they’ll invite us back next year after our rather raucus partying. Lots and lots of fun!! If you want to know more about what we did, email me and I’ll tell you the whole story, but here’s the basics . . . in photos :o) You can see all my photos here.

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My life has come full circle and the reason for my prolonged absence has been election campaigning . . . I know I said I was leaving NZ to avoid running for anything again but that failed miserably and I am now hours away from another election. Luckily this one is much less serious than the last one, I’m standing for Postgrad/International/General Course (Year Abroad Students) rep on the Passfield Committee.

I’m blaming Zak, he nominated me and was convinced that it was a good idea. I’ve run a joint campaign with Ritika, another postgrad, who’s running for Bar rep. For some reason, running a joint campaign has really worked for us, it’s quite a fun way to run things. Our posters have been bright and fun and with as few words as possible. Although I’m taking it “seriously”, it’s nothing like last year and I’ve really enjoyed the frivolity of it, although it has meant quite a few late nights this week.

Voting happens tomorrow and then we’ll get results tomorrow night . . . although I won’t be around to find out what happens. I’m going on Development Management “camp”, we’re heading to Cumberland Lodge in Great Windsor Park for a weekend of expert lectures and fun (an interesting combination, I know). I’m really looking forward to being surrounded by trees and grass again, even just for a weekend, it will be very very nice! I shall take lots of photos :o) 45 of the 80 students are going, and I’m really looking forward to hanging out with my course buddies (as opposed to my Passfield buddies) for a weekend . . . although I shall miss Passfield anyway. It’s so generally fun here! Plus I won’t be here to celebrate or comiserate the election success/failure. What an exciting few days!!

Tomorrow our Aunty Helen is joining us at the LSE, I haven’t got a ticket because apparently she’s so popular that tickets disappeared in the space of a couple of hours, but I’ll be in line waiting for returned tickets and/or trying to use connections to get me in. If Kiwis can’t see their PM, then no one should be allowed to I say! I caught up with Judy (UF Deputy Leader) today, as she’s in town with Helen and co for the dedication of the NZ Memorial. It was fabulous to hear how things are actually going in Parliament, and to see her again. I do miss all my old work buddies, it really was a fantastic place to work for a few months!!!

Well it’s time for me to get campaigning again, we have leaflets to hand out at dinner and people to talk to as they enter the dining hall. I have really enjoyed doing this again, it’s been fun picking my own policies and making my own posters and stuff. This shall, however, not convince me to stand for Parliament again. Been there, done that, time to move on :o)

Lots of love to you all!!!

Yesterday I caught up with Samir, a friend I met in Vienna two and a bit years ago. It was totally fantastic to catch up and we (or maybe just I) talked far too much for far too long. It was just generally awesome and so good to again see someone I recognise. Weirdest thing was realising that it was like no time had passed at all, yay for old friends that know me oddly well!

I am procrastinating in the middle of my introduction to my Indonesian politics and religion essay. This essay is causing me no end of grief because no matter how hard I try, I can’t get totally interested in the subject as a whole and this is the first “essay” I’ve written in over a year. I’d quite like to go back to work where we didn’t have to write essays.

Lastly, dear Aunty Helen (our well-adored PM) is coming to speak at the LSE next Friday (a week from tomorrow) lunchtime and I am currently working on ensuring that I get a ticket. LSE public lectures provide the opportunity to ask the speaker questions and since I’ve never had much of an opportunity to ask Madame PM questions, I’m planning to make as much use of this as possible. If you have ideas about a good question to ask either email me or put them in a comment to this post. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Ahhh, NZ politics . . . one thing I could write 15 essays on if anyone would let me . . .