Canary in the Mine

One of the richest countries in Africa only five years ago, Zimbabwe is now almost totally bankrupt. Zimbabwe's currency has been so debased by inflation that it has become virtually worthless. Total government spending in 2002 was budgeted at $Z5 billion. Today, that money would fill a mere 10 supermarket trolleys with groceries. Inflation hit 164 per cent last month. Economists predict that it will double in five months, and again three months after that. The economy has shrunk 5 percent a year since 2000, when Mugabe went to war against white farmers, the opposition, churches, the judiciary, the press, private enterprise and anyone else he saw as a threat.

Michael Cullen refuses to acknowledge the creeping taxation that has overtaken New Zealand. In 1999, indirect taxes netted the Government $11.7 billion. In the year to June 2006, $15 billion in indirect taxes is forecast to be collected. That doesn't include ACC and other levies, which are forecast to add another $3.2 billion, or the carbon charge which is due to take effect in 2007. National has compiled a list of about 30 increases in indirect taxes, levies and fees since Labour came to power. They range from new levies on such things as export education and export/import cargoes, to rises in driver licence fees and cattle slaughtering levies. Petrol excise - recovered in the pump price - has increased three times to cover roading projects and ACC injury costs. But while National waves round its list and paints Labour as "tax and spend", it has few plans for changes.

No party ever wants to lose an election, but The Herald if it has to lose one, this might be just the one, judging by the economic forecasts.

A popular bumper sticker in the US reads: "Spending our kids inheritance". A major new survey reveals that indeed parents are enjoying themselves in later life rather than saving their money to pass on to their children. The survey of 2,000 people, for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found that, while 85 per cent of all age groups said they would like to leave a legacy, half believed strongly that older people should enjoy their retirement, while a further 38 per cent tended to agree. Even among pensioners, only a little over a quarter of those with the means to make a bequest said they would budget to do so.

China's foreign minister dismissed yesterday a Pentagon report warning that its modernising military could pose a threat to the region, and said its rise would be peaceful. The report reflects concern in Washington over China's growing military and economic power, and in particular the fear a changing balance of power in Asia could threaten Taiwan, the self-governed island Beijing claims as its own.

The global move to digitisation raises some important issues regarding libraries. Thomas Benton asks: "Where will the library ghosts go -- along with the furtive lovers -- when all the books have been made immaterial and antiseptic through digitization? What does it mean when the University of Texas at Austin removes nearly all of the books from its undergraduate library to make room for coffee bars, computer terminals, and lounge chairs? What are students in those "learning commons" being taught that is qualitatively better than what they learned in traditional libraries? I think the absence of books confirms the disposition to regard them as irrelevant. Many entering students come from nearly book-free homes. Many have not read a single book all the way through; they are instead trained to surf and skim. Teachers increasingly find it difficult to get students to consult printed materials, and yet we are making those materials even harder to obtain."

Dutch paediatricians have unanimously approved a set of guidelines for euthanasing incurably ill newborn children. The Dutch Paediatric Society now accepts that "in exceptional circumstances and under strict conditions... deliberate ending of life" of such newborns "can be an acceptable option". The so-called Groningen protocols have been approved by the public prosecution service, but the government has not yet issued its opinion. The society believes that about 15 newborn children are euthanased each year in the Netherlands, but only 3 are reported. Most of these are believed to be babies born with severe spina bifida and babies who suffer severe hypoxia at birth. How scrupulously this will be observed is a matter of conjecture. It is believed that half of the euthanasia cases in the Netherlands are never reported.

Inserting human stem cells into monkey brains risks giving animals human-like qualities, says a high-level US panel after a year-long study. It agreed that this experiment was unlikely to change animals in "morally relevant ways", but felt that "the risk of doing so is real and too ethically important to ignore". Some of these experiments are currently under way and the panel was unable to agree which of them should proceed. A report from the panel of 22 experts, including primatologists, stem cell researchers, lawyers and philosophers, was published in the July 15 issue of the journal Science.

Canada became the fourth country to legalise gay marriage nationwide after a landmark bill was signed into law. The Senate voted to adopt the bill to legalise gay marriage despite fierce opposition from the opposition Conservatives and religious leaders.The bill grants same-sex couples legal rights equal to those in traditional unions between a man and a woman, something already legal in eight of Canada's 10 provinces and in two of its three territories.

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) met in Ireland last week to pressure the country to support a more liberal abortion policy. But one member of the committee tried to move the meeting in a different direction. Krisztina Morvai of Hungary expressed dissatisfaction with the relentless focus on widening the availability of abortion. She argued that abortion is "terribly damaging" and that men in Ireland should be held to greater accountability for the number of abortions taking place. She said she hopes abortion will be relegated to the past and will be considered "like torture in the field of human rights."