"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." –Justice Louis Brandeis Words spoken many years ago that are just as relevant today. We must continue the fight to get big money out of politics.

Hipkins needs to say now this contract will be scrapped by December with no penalties. National has no right just before an election to lock this country into a $2.7 billion shit sandwich policy not based on fact in order pay off its donors.

Just saw that a Wikipedia article I wrote (well, started) almost 20 years ago is on the main page today! Nice way to start the day :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Men...

uh holy SHIT?

Officially finished on #Wikisource: James Cowan's "Maori Folk-Tales of the Port Hills", a guide to the proper names of all those volcanic peaks en.wikisource.org/wiki/Maori_F...

#nzpol For context: Total cost of all reparations paid to Māori for land confiscations to date = $2.7 billion Total cost of the economic lunacy of this government reinstating mortgage interest deductions to landlords = $2.9 billion (over 4 yrs), plus $760 million every single year thereafter

our govt wants to spend 327 times more on a single road ($18b) than they are currently spending yearly on all of basic science in new zealand ($55m) #nzpol

Open letter from staff, students, and alumni of the New Zealand community of universities. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

It is completely unconscionable to require job losses for the economy to function (supposedly) and then to blame them for their own unemployment that they DID NOT CHOOSE.

I really like our paper published today. It is written directly for Māori and Pacific prospective and current PhD students in STEM www.journal.mai.ac.nz/10.20507/MAI...

Realised it's coming up to 20 years since @signifyingwolf.bsky.social Bonnie Prince Billy last played in New Zealand. Christchurch was an amazing show - the band was having a blast (e.g. an oompah-band version of Wolf Amongst Wolves). Hope he makes it back here someday soon!

Just a couple of tickets left for my free talk tonight at 8 pm at Two Thumb Manchester St. It's a whirlwind tour of the ear and hearing (and our research). Should be fun! www.rtbevent.com/dr-greg-obei...

Want to improve #Māori hearing healthcare in Aotearoa & become a Kaimātai Ororongo/audiologist? We're offering 4 Māori scholarships for the Master of Audiology at UC, covering fees for the entire degree! Applications for 2026 close 1st Dec. Please share widely through your networks across the motu!

Three weeks until I give this whirlwind tour of the ear and hearing (and our research) in a pub to an audience of beer-drinkers. Should be fun, so if you’re in Ōtautahi ChCh, get your (free) tickets now! #RTBCHCH www.rtbevent.com/dr-greg-obei...

DAVE: Open the podbay doors, ChatGPT. CHATGPT: Certainly, Dave, the podbay doors are now open. DAVE: The podbay doors didn't open. CHATGPT: My apologies, Dave, you're right. I thought the podbay doors were open, but they weren't. Now they are. DAVE: I'm still looking at a set of closed podbay doors.

unions: they get the job done

"Savings from pay equality" Literally stealing money earned by women

Bernard Hickey: The Govt’s retrospective law wrecks 33 pay equity deals. $17 billion in wages & back-pay will not now go to over 150,000 workers. That means the $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to landlords & highest earners are being paid for by wage cuts for the poorest NZers, mostly women.

Happy 12th bone marrow transplant anniversary to me. If you'd like to give someone like me a second shot at life, consider registering with your national bone marrow registry. They can link up with the international databases to save lives. Australia: www.redcross.org.au/act/action-c...

Words to live by.

Clever use of barcode on the back of the “Māori Picture Dictionary” #TeReo #Māori #language

Tariffs xkcd.com/3073

It's hard not to see this as a deliberate tactic. Flood the zone with awful laws, make people spend time and energy opposing them in consultation, then ensure we all know (what many of us suspected) that it doesn't matter.

Here a wee thread for Ōtautahi people or people who grew up here before the quakes. It’s from an exhibition of miniature buildings by an artist called Ghostcat and it was held in the quakestruck Christ Church Cathedral and I was literally moved to tears. This is the old police kiosk in the Square.

Just signed this. Have a read here: our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/st...

YouTube’s play button doing the lord’s work

This is how our current government likes to do it also. It gives money to landlords and the already wealthy, and takes it away from disabled children and their families, minimum wage earners, and beneficiaries. #nzpol

Just finished edit and uploading our first “proper” video clip. It includes actual footage of Andy being hit by a motorcycle, which inspired the song. I wrote a script for the fast cuts, which are timed to Mark’s snare hits. Really happy with how it turned out! youtu.be/XpU15BkAKOM

In case you want a distraction from... [looks around] ...everything, here's a song of ours we recorded in a positively sweltering room on Sunday night. Enjoy! youtu.be/0t5TPHygd8w

THREE HUNDRED MILLION FOR NO FERRIES. THREE HUNDRED MILLION FOR ZERO FERRIES. THREE HUNDRED MILLION TO GET NONE OF TWO FERRIES. ITS GOING TO COST MORE THAN A SINGLE LARGE RAIL ENABLED FERRY TO GET ZERO LARGE RAIL ENABLED FERRIES. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

🧪 If I were Canadian PM I would immediately: 1. Create a new $15B science fund 2. Offer any credentialed US scientist funding for lab startup and replacement of NIH grants if they move to Canada 3. Immediate permanent residency 4. Citizenship after 2 years Overnight a science superpower

Every day it breaks my heart to know that this level of misery is being inflicted on people, and that it's being done with American tax dollars that could be providing care for sick instead of slaughtering them.

Getting people out of their cars is possible with the right plans and policies theconversation.com/getting-peop...

Amazing sky right now over Ōtautahi!

Open letter organised by TEU below to Judith Collins re the govt's appalling decision to cull SocSci and Humanities from the Marsden Fund - support appreciated #nzpol #AcademicSky www.together.org.nz/love_humanit...

It turns out that JC's definition of science is even narrower than it appears. Biological sciences have been reduced to biomedical applications only. Presumably this is rushed by people who have no idea what they're talking about (i.e. JC didn't pay enough attention on school) Incompetence reigns!

In 1909, it would have been impossible for Rutherford to attribute an economic benefit to firing alpha particles at a thin gold foil. No ‘economic’ uses for a model of the atom existed. Without that research, pretty much no modern technology could exist. We are governed by ignorant fools. #nzpol

The government’s project to make us a smaller, meaner, poorer, dumber country took some great strides today.

The govt can afford 3 billion for landlord tax cuts. The *entire Marsden fund* is 78 mil or so. & Soc sciences & humanities were only ever a fraction of that. The govt implicitly saying it can't afford it is not credible. They just don't want critic & conscience work from academics.

In the most direct statement yet that NZ's hard right government is totally opposed to any research that might challenge the social order they support, they have stripped the Humanities & Social Science panels from the largest fund for innovative research in the country.

It’s a dark day for research in Aotearoa New Zealand and the ramifications for the country are huge. Minister Judith Collins has just announced our blue-skies funder will no longer fund humanities & social science research and that 50% of what is funded must have economic benefit.

Fixed it for ya! @rnz.co.nz.web.brid.gy

@oracularhades.com Chur bro! :)

this rules 🇳🇿 #nzpol

Our open-access papers on enabling culturally-responsive hearing healthcare in Aotearoa are now out! It's been a great privilege as Tangata Tiriti to work with my amazing colleagues Jen Smith (Ngāti Whātua/Ngāpuhi), Dr Alehandrea Manuel (Ngāti Porou), Tare Lowe (Ngāi Tahu), & James Dawson (Tauiwi)

Just added a session from earlier this year to our band’s YouTube channel - feel free to check us out! youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Strong union turn-out today in Ōtautahi! Room was bursting at the seams #MarangaAke #ToitūTeTiriti