Just Left

OECD Ministerial

I've been in Seoul the past three days for the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy. First time OECD meeting visitor, first time in Korea, so that has been rather absorbing. And of course as usual, it's into hotel, conference flat out, and then back home - very frustrating to basically see Seoul from the windows.

I'm hoping to post a little on the topics of the meeting which has been an interesting one. The basic themes - economic improvement, creativity, dealing with convergence, confidence & security, and building the Global Internet Economy, have been well canvassed by some pretty high powered panels. What is also good about the OECD process is that unlike some IGOs, there is room for non government engagement and involvement of academic, business, civil society and technical leaders. This redurces the chances of ill-informed government officials going off and making bad calls about how to deal with the Internet...

Also when I get back, I'll spend some time trying to get my head around this terrible set of events in my home town, Manurewa, and how the community might best respond.

The only obvious point to make is that there are no simple solutions, and so nobody should be pretending that there are. Reducing alcohol availability might assist, but it can only be part of the solution in my view. There is a lot more going on in Manurewa than too much drinking, that's for sure.

Malaysia

I am off to Kuala Lumpur for work tonight, back on Tuesday morning, hopefully will be able to cover the Budget etc from there. Apologies if posting is disrupted.

Travelling home

So heading on the way back to New Zealand, leaving New Delhi tonight to Hong Kong, and then ten hours there before heading back to New Zealand. Makes it a long trip but it should be good to have a bit of time in HKG to look around.

India has been a very strange experience. We have been in the diplomatic enclave in New Delhi, and so the usual India experience - crowds, beggars, insane traffic, noise, pollution - have all been largely absent (other than the pollution, of course, though that is not as bad now as it was in Mumbai seven years ago). That makes you feel a little like you're missing the point of being here.

Which, of course, you are. I've not been here for India. I have been here for ICANN, for which this was just another meeting in just another town, with people just staying in the most expensive hotels for the shortest possible time, and flying out again as quick as they can...

AirNZ uselessness again

So the 11.55pm flight out to Hong Kong is now leaving at 2.30am.

I guess I should be glad that they're replacing the broken fuel pump, not leaving it there to bring us down.

The airline is usually pretty good but this stinks.

I'm off to India for a few days for an ICANN meeting.

Dunedin and round about

Am down here for work this week, at NZNOG and about. Yesterday was crap and rainy, but today is rather nice. Sunny warm and mild. Any Dunedin readers? Say hi (just.left@gmail.com) if you like.

The country I think gave a nice farewell to Sir Ed yesterday.

Next week the politics begins in earnest with, according to the Herald, speeches by Clark and Key. It will be interesting to see how these each go, with Clark following Key in a timing sense. I have never quite understood why the Beehive allowed such a long gap between National party "state of the nation" efforts and the February opening statement to Parliament by the PM, especially when the latter is constrained by all sorts of parliamentary conventions when the former is not. I'm looking forward to a strong positive statement about what Labour will do this year and how that builds into an ongoing programme for this year's campaign and beyond.

Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons gave her State of the Planet speech last weekend, which is worth a read. Besides the slightly tedious positioning as a party with a mission (which I accept, by the way), it is a solid reiteration of what it means to be Green in the current political firmament.

Back

I am back in New Zealand, getting over jet lag and getting my feet back under my desk, and graduating from VUW. Busy times.

Almost Homeward Bound

Sorry about the lack of posting here. I am very busy preparing the big move home. Get back to summer from the Brussels greyness on 9 December, can't wait!

Prague and Barcelona

As I only have a couple of weeks left in Europe, I have been doing a fair whack of travelling. Last weekend was Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and this weekend is Barcelona. The latter should be quite amazing, and the former was a good visit. In particular a night out with Czech friends led to some good conversations and good beer at extremely (€0.90/0.5L) good prices. The city is very beautiful, though I would like to come back in the summertime.

Barcelona - after the weekend I can post on that. Staying in the centre and looking out for any tips people might have of where to visit.

More travel madness

Back from Strasbourg and off to London. It still boggles belief that the whole European Parliament - the staff the MPs and everything - migrate to Strasbourg for plenary but sit in Brussels for committees etc.

Strasbourg's a beautiful city. Well worth a visit. Great built environment, great public transport, friendly open people, nice food... fantastic.

I'll do some political blogging on Monday. NZ pols seems to have been nice and quiet. The UK media are in a bit of a fit about the upcoming European Reform Treaty, one of the things that is worth knowing a bit about if you're interested in European issues.

Brussels

So I am now established and unpacked in Belgium, with one day to go before the internship proper starts. Spent the weekend in Berlin, and now settled back here enjoying the summer and getting up to various touristy bits and pieces.

The weather here was the first startling thing. I had forgotten a bit that hot summers do exist in some places. The second is the reminder again of just how well Europeans do public transport, and how badly by comparison we do it at home. The third is how monstrously big the European institutions are, in a physical sense - blocks and blocks of huge buildings.

Anyhow, more on all that later. For now it's out and about.