These words were uttered to me recently. I think they can be quite apt a description. They were made in regards to writing a PhD thesis (something I had been trying to complete for the last 12 months). Many people I have spoken to share similar sentiments. Advisors are patently aware of this and push you to improve your work only to the point just before it breaks you. I literally reached that point a number of times in the last year…

It has quietened down of late, though the controversy surrounding Japanese whaling in the Pacific emerged again a few months ago. Public debate was bolstered by both the renewed action of Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace (particularly Sea Shepherd volunteers boarding the Yushin Maru No.2 and subsequently being ‘kidnapped’ in January) and the Australian Governments talk of undertaking surveillance of the Japanese Fleet (Air and Sea). Criticism of Japanese whaling largely stems from opposition to eating whales based on whales being majestic creatures, bundled in with the myth of a scientific basis for Japanese whaling and the protection of endangered species. Similar arguments to the former are made against the killing of Dolphins for human consumption.

Something I have been thinking about for a long time is the economic rationalist project of privatisation. Many (even a majority) do not oppose privatisation on principle, yet it has faced significant challenges numerous times when services deemed of too much importance are targeted. The privatisation of health care, for example, is often subject of debate, whereas there continues to be significant controversy about the privatisation of water supplies. This can be seen stretching back to (and beyond) the emergence of the inaccurately labeled Global Agreement in Trades and Services (GATS) and its intended impacts on imperialistically referred to developing countries.