Any individual freedoms – to trade freely, even to own guns – are in principle libertarian. But I think we all recognise that freedom is not so simple.
If someone beats me up and takes all my stuff, that’s an expression of their freedom; but I don’t think anyone who doesn’t live in a bunker full of canned beans would regard that as a legitimate one. Continue reading
Apparently, nothing. On the surface it’s booming: in quality and quantity it’s hard to beat Melbourne’s live scene anywhere in the world. But look a little deeper and you’ll find that the people who make this beautiful noise are having a hard time getting a fair share of what can be a very lucrative business for others. Continue reading
The Phraser program is underpinned by a particular conception of the elementary structure of music. This conception is expressed through three interrelated types of objects: sequence, event, and phrase. Continue reading
This is the text of an interview in ArtsHub in July 2007. Continue reading
Chávez’s attempts to manipulate the electoral system to stay in power are egregious, but the hysteria he generates amongst the free-marketeers is a little overwrought. He’s not Hitler or Stalin. He’s not even Bush. How many wars did he start? How many people has he killed or tortured? He’s just messing with some people’s preferred economic system. Continue reading
Much contemporary economics is underpinned by the ‘infallible market’ hypothesis. This hypothesis possesses an irrefutability rivaled only by religious convictions. Continue reading
Rather than merely assuming that wage rises and labour regulations cause unemployment, as do many commentators, let’s look at the facts.
Many comparative studies have been done on this subject; Continue reading
At music school I was too old to be a young turk, but I used to hang around with them; and we used to say “Resolution is death!” – a reference to the serene uneventfulness of the tonic chord compared to the violent, interesting confusion of the (unresolved) dominant chord, or of simple dissonance itself. Continue reading
Hippies, like other fundamentalists, usually believe the world is about to end, continually revising the date as it fails to occur (currently December 21st, 2012). In this part of the world, that belief is melded with right-wing libertarianism, so that one’s apocalyptic preparations should include a bunker full of guns and tinned beans. Nonetheless they are extremely friendly people, surrounded by giant redwood forests full of elk. Continue reading
Panhandling is a major industry here, but in some cases a pure artform, done for its own sake and not out of need, presumably to the chagrin of those begging by necessity. Continue reading