End of Life Choices review

This article was first published in Open Society Journal Volume 96, Number 2, July 2024 The End of Life Choice Act 2019 came into force on 7 November 2021. It provides a legal framework for New Zealanders to access assisted death under specific circumstances. A government review of the legislation is now on the operating … Continue reading End of Life Choices review →

Te ao Māori and indigenous ways of learning about our world

This article was written in 2021 for Open Society, the Journal of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists | Like te reo Māori, mātauranga Māori is having a renaissance in New Zealand after years of suppression through colonisation. But a lot of middle New Zealand is having none of it. And it’s no … Continue reading Te ao Māori and indigenous ways of learning about our world →

The End of the Road for the Assisted Dying Campaign?

This article was published in Open Society in October 2020 | On October 17 2020 New Zealanders vote to decide whether the End of Life Choice Act 2019 should come into force. If more than 50% vote yes, this Act, which has already made its way through the parliamentary process and received Royal Assent, will … Continue reading The End of the Road for the Assisted Dying Campaign? →

How humanists decide what’s right or wrong

This talk was delivered in London in 2011 | Put you hands up if you have ever done the right thing for the wrong reasons. Keep you had up if you did this because of a religion or religious teaching. OK, so, perhaps the wrong audience for this sort of thing, but I think my … Continue reading How humanists decide what’s right or wrong →

Alternative histories: not rocket science

This article appeared in Filament Magazine in 2010 | ‘We’re so counter-culture even our history is alternative’, I overheard a black-clad, tattooed writer say to her friend at the Arthur C Clark Awards earlier this year. She pretty much summed up how I feel. But everyone loves science fiction these days, right? Of course, but … Continue reading Alternative histories: not rocket science →