Let's adopt the Parliamentary System

[Bill Cochrane]

Yeah this seems to be reflected in the data I've seen. I think that this was
exacerbated by the concentration of high risk groups in precisely the area's
of the economy most hard hit by restructuring. I see that the official line
attributes the rise in suicide rate to people taking lots of drugs, getting
pissed and being depressed, now I wonder why people might do that.
Aside from this rise however it would seem that NZ has had a relatively high
suicide rate c.f  other western nations at any rate, no doubt due to both
our colonial history and more problematic aspects of our culture.


> From: Stephen E Philion <philion at hawaii.edu>
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 12:19:44 -1000
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Re: Let's adopt the Parliamentary System
> 
> I heard a talk a few years ago by an NZ sociologist who reported that NZ's
> suicide rates jumped noticeably after privatization-union busting reforms
> were in place.  Also, among Maoris the #s skyrocketed. The charts he had
> were stunning. 
> 
> Steve
> 
> Stephen Philion
> Lecturer/PhD Candidate
> Department of Sociology
> 2424 Maile Way
> Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
> Honolulu, HI 96822
> 
> 
> On Thu, 11 May 2000, Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
>> Bill Cochrane wrote:
>> 
>>> If I recall correctly NZ has one of the highest  youth suicide rates in the
>>> west, particularly amongst young males.
>> 
>> Yes. Courtesy of your government's health ministry, I recently learned this:
>> 
>> Male     Female   average     year
>> New Zealand        37.9      14.0      25.9      1996
>> Finland            36.6       8.4      22.5      1995
>> Australia          27.0       4.1      15.6      1994
>> Canada             24.7       4.9      14.8      1995
>> USA                23.4       3.7      13.6      1994
>> Norway             20.8       4.4      12.6      1994
>> France             16.1       4.3      10.2      1994
>> Denmark            13.4       2.3       7.9      1993
>> Sweden             13.4       5.2       9.3      1995
>> Germany            13.3       3.9       8.6      1995
>> Japan              12.0       5.1       8.6      1994
>> United Kingdom     11.0       2.2       6.6      1995
>> Netherlands         9.2       4.4       6.8      1995
>> 
> 
>