In this full session from our archive, Christopher Hitchens and professor Richard Dawkins came to Intelligence Squared in 2007 alongside a panel of other guests to debate if we would be better off without religion. For the motion sits Christopher Hitchens, professor Richard Dawkins and A. C. Grayling. Whilst opposing the motion sits Nigel Spivey, rabbi Julie Neuberger and Roger Scruton. Intelligence Squared has established itself as the leading forum for live, agenda-setting debates, talks and discussions around the world. Our aim is to promote a global conversation that enables people to make informed decisions about the issues that matter, in the company of the world's greatest minds and orators. 3:10 - Christopher Hitchens 16:51 - Nigel Spivey 26:46 - Richard Dawkins One of the comments: If it weren't religion, humans would find other reasons to control and punish others. It is convenient for us to blame the wishes of deity when we treat others badly. [Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIR7_X-ahy4)

A sci-fi drama film written & directed by Jaco Van Dormael & starring Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh Dan Pham, Rhys Ifans, Natasha Little, Toby Regbo & Juno Temple. It tells the life story of Nemo Nobody, an 118-year-old man who is the last mortal on Earth after the human race has achieved quasi-immortality. Nemo, memory fading, tells a doctor & journalist about his three main loves & his parents' divorce & the subsequent hardships he endured. The speculative narrative frequently changes course to investigate the alternate life paths that could have resulted from his making different decisions in his life, focusing on when he is nine, fifteen & thirty-four. The film has nonlinear narrative that incorporates the multiverse hypothesis. It received the Golden Osella & the Biografilm Lancia Award & it was nominated for 7 Magritte Awards winning 6, including Best Film & Best Director for Van Dormael. The film was mostly funded through European financiers & was released in Belgium on 13 January 2010. Since its original release, Mr. Nobody has become a cult film, noted for its philosophy, cinematography, personal characters & Pierre Van Dormael's soundtrack In 2092, humanity has conquered mortality through the endless renewal of cells. The world watches in fascination as the 118-year-old Nemo Nobody, the last mortal on Earth, edges towards death. No record can be found of his past & his memories are confused, so Dr. Feldheim, a psychiatrist, uses hypnosis to help Nemo remember his life. Curious to know about the world before quasi-immortality, a journalist also interviews Nemo, whose recollections primarily come from three points in his life: age 9, age 15 & age 34. Nemo makes contradictory statements, describing events from his past as having unfolded in multiple different ways & explains that, before birth, children remember everything that will happen in their lives. At the moment of conception, the Angels of Oblivion erase the children's memories, but he says the Angels forgot about him, allowing him to "remember" different possible futures for himself. As well as the many paths that Nemo's life could take or has taken, adult Nemo is also seen to repeatedly awaken in an artificial, surrealistic environment dominated by argyle patterns. Following clues that he finds scattered throughout this world, he arrives at a dilapidated house, where he finds a DVD player hooked up to a television. In a strangely interactive video, 34-year-old Nemo is told by 118-year-old Nemo that this is a universe where Nemo Nobody was never born & his consciousness is stuck in some sort of limbo. The old Nemo states that he is experiencing the story from the end & the adult Nemo must stay alive until 5:50 am on 12 February 2092.

Written by Timaru District Council [Source](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0MK9wTz4K2TCPUqFFPjgWk5qHa7YYe9YuHymVH4vL698QKesMxPuJ6hhCSSfdAm4Ml&id=100066940532245&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=6aamW6) Court Document [here](https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2023/2023-NZHC-244.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1cZWF6u5qpmrB6rjGfY5g6VExPFTQByWLSqiJdlp1xpUbU3AOVuNanF40)

There are two important historical dates in NZ, these are 1835 and 1840. With Captain Cook’s arrival in 1769 he put New Zealand firmly on the world map. This then started a chain of events that to this day have yet to be satisfactorily understood or resolved by the elected representatives of this country. King William the Fourth, 1765 to 1837 - the King of the British Empire, on learning that New Zealand was possibly the last hidden land to be found and that it was the only country he knew of that did not have snakes, wanted to give it special status. In doing so he wanted to be the first Monarch to give a land that had been recently found its own independence and in doing so they would have his protection. This was a world first. No other Monarch had ever offered the indigenous people of any land their independent nationhood. That during 1835, thirty four Maori Chiefs in the North of New Zealand came together and with King William’s support, created a new flag and this was important, because the world of that era had certain Laws that were based around the ‘raising of flags.’ That if a flag was raised on a landmass - that (from an Imperialist viewpoint) signified that, this land was now under the control of the country raising the flag. With NZ’s presence now on seafarers charts, they began arriving in the early 1800’s as whalers, missionaries, traders for flax, wooden spars, as well as ex-convicts released from the penal colony of Australia, including adventurers from other nations. This brought about a calamitous impact on the resident Maori population who were here. Resulting in exposure to, alcohol, sex and disease, also dishonesty including firearms, and new technologies that basically devastated the tribal system that had been in place for centuries. This was a time of upheaval for Maori. Missionaries had also arrived to convert them to Christianity The French, Dutch, and the British all had an interest to colonise New Zealand. The race was on. These seafarers from the Northern hemisphere continued to arrive and began violating rights in unaccountable, uncontrollable ways including violence such as the raping of native woman as no jurisdiction existed over them to control their actions. NZ was becoming a lawless land. One such statement was that a particular port Kororāreka was called the “hellhole of the Pacific”. However, King William lV back in Great Britain, as the reigning Monarch wanted to control his subjects from criminal actions in a land where he had no jurisdiction at the time. This resulted in King William lV commissioning James Busby, a British resident in New Zealand to draw up a Declaration of Independence, so that the native resident population could establish their own laws and govern themselves and this land independently. He also had learned that NZ had no snakes and this impressed upon him that this was a special country. He gave the native chiefs three flag designs to choose from to initiate their ‘nation hood’ - and the Maori Chiefs chose their National flag. Called the United Tribes Flag. The reason for the ‘Flag’ was that even in those days, International Law at the time stated that a country had to have ‘a flag’ to identify a Nation. The Declaration of Independence was duly signed by up to 34 Maori chiefs on the 28th October 1835, at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands and a ‘new independent nation was born’ upon the raising of the chiefs chosen, King William lV royally proclaimed flag. There are differing versions of this. (In March 1834, HMS Alligator, was on hand (and fired the 13-gun salute) at the first hoisting of the first national flag of New Zealand, at Waitangi, Bay of Islands. This flag became known as the United Tribes Flag). * The only flag of this land that has ever been ‘royally proclaimed.’ The new independent nations flag (which determines the jurisdiction of the land ) the Waka putunga Nu Terreni had a black primbrae around the saint George cross in the left top quadrant, signifying the British monarchs protection on the land, (a white primbrae, signifying the British monarchs protection upon the seas, admiralty law.) This founding document,(the D.O.I) is the only document which has an associated flag that has never been lowered to change jurisdiction The birth of our nation of New Zealand is 28th of October 1835. Therefore the contention is that the Treaty of Waitangi ( TOW ) is not the founding document. However, King William IV died in 1837 and thus was not alive to pursue the ideal of seeing NZ retain its independence as per the signing of 1835. The Con Dan in his research contends that Colonial house which is the East India Company, and the New South Wales Government of the time was/is a franchise. That it is an extension of the ‘City of London’ # and they wanted to colonise New Zealand in order to sell land to migrants.