UNITYblog: the next two months

From near the end of this month, to just before Christmas my partner and I will be travelling round the North Island, finishing up at Climate Camp (16–21 December) in Wellington. The trip itself and all the preperation required beforehand means I won’t have much time to work on UNITYblog until after Christmas. However, I’m aiming to keep things ticking over with an increase in overseas articles, and a few things I’ve been saving or just haven’t got round to publishing yet. So there’ll be more from Green Left Weekly and other overseas socialist papers and blogs. There’ll probably be a few slightly out of date articles, including my thoughts on Jim Flynn’s talk at the Alliance Party conference from a few weeks ago, which will be posted in a couple of days. I’m hopeful that Vaughan Gunson and will continue posting on the Bad Banks campaigns and other issues. And that Grant Morgan will continue to write on his controversial ideas about the “collapse of capitalism”.

David UNITYblog editor

UNITYblog renewal: Trying out new layouts

Dear reader As part of the renewal or Unityblog, underway since I took over as editor a few weeks ago, I'm having a play with different layout and colour-schemes. The extreme changes I made last night have already provoked some strong, negative, reaction, as well as some helpful suggestions. Who would have guessed that changing the colour scheme was the fast track to getting more people commenting on UNITYblog? Unfortunately, the colours available on Blogger appear very limited (unless there's some way of accessing more - maybe with a different theme?) there's only one red and an eggy yellow and, as you can see, at lot of pastel colours tend to dominate. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks for more outrageous colour combinations until myself and the editorial board find one we all like. And please feel free to join in the decision making process with your own comments and suggestions, which you can add as a comment to this post. Cheers David UNITYblog editor

UNITYblog Question: Do we need a new constitution for Aotearoa?

UNITYblog is going to begin asking regular questions on important political, social and ideological issues. We will be posting the answers we receive up on UNITYblog. The goal is to generate some lively and intelligent debate that will help us understand the world today and what we need to do to make the transition away from the market towards a human centred society. The first UNITYblog question is:

Do we need a new constitution for Aotearoa?

If so, what might a new constitution look like? And how do we go about achieving a new constitution? Your answers can be any length, short or long. Send to editor@unityblognz.com They can be anonymous, or provide a name and how you wish to be identified. All contributions must comply with UNITYblog policy of not posting sectarian, silly or personal content. I look forward to your responses. In solidarity, Vaughan Gunson UNITYblog editor email: editor@unityblognz.com ph/txt: 021-0415 082 See also

• SOCIALIST WORKER FORUM: A People's Constitution for Aotearoa?
• A People's Constitution for Aotearoa?