‘There is no getting around the weirdness. We don’t really know what it is or what it was for.’ @tomlukejohnson.bsky.social on the Pearl Manuscript, which includes the only copy of ‘Gawain and the Green Knight’: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Well, he's said that 'recognising Palestine now will likely be counterproductive'. Not happening. FFS.

Keir Starmer's aides are reportedly telling him not to go to the COP30 climate conference, because Reform would attack him for it. Yes, they might. And he should wear it as a badge of honour. Standing up for humanity, for science and a habitable planet. Where's the hazard in that?

funniest evil thing of the day:

Welcome home to the toroa/albatross. May you nest safely, may your eggs hatch, and may your chicks get fat and fluffy. www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin...

We've passed the third milestone, can we get to the half way point today? Just need 146 people to pledge $5 (your card won't be charged until October 31, and then only if the goal is met)

Can't recall the number of times I've talked to secondary, & even tertiary teachers in New Zealand around what's noted in this article, since early 2022. That it's this bad now is awful. | 'Trump boys' in NZ classrooms: Teachers warn of rising student extremism www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Glasgow’s 'Argyle Street Ash' has been crowned Tree of the Year 2025 after being nominated by the public as this year’s wildcard entry 🌳

A defense of literary style, and why style is a lot more than just "pretty sentences" countercraft.substack.com/p/style-is-m...

”About ‘elegant variation’—the effort to avoid repeating a word by stretching for an alternative—he wrote that its ‘real victims, first terrorized by a misunderstood taboo, next fascinated by a newly discovered ingenuity, & finally addicted to an incurable vice, are minor novelists & reporters.’ ”

How the actual fuck is Business Desk publishing a piece framing the genocide of Palestinians as a 'challenge' for Israeli start ups AND trying to PR Israeli entry into the NZ market on that basis???? This is fucking atrocious businessdesk.co.nz/article/opin...

turning a knob labeled "reichstag fire" back and forth while looking over my shoulder

A number of plagiarists have recently been caught stealing from our pages. We wrote one of them a letter. rustandmoth.com/2025/a-lette...

'The concept of national pride has a chequered history. For all that it can foster a sense of belonging & an appreciation of both landscape and people, it can just as easily be used to exclude, to marginalise, to restrict.' @extrateethmag.bsky.social extrateethmagazine.substack.com/p/who-gets-t...

Sounds like employers are getting exactly what they paid for.

No news organisation should report on a 'campaign against renewable energy' as if it's even remotely normal.

One week to go till my new poetry collection "Dracula in the Colonies" is launched! You and your friends are warmly invited to the launch at Unity Books Wellington on Weds 1 October, starting 6pm. Full details including a couple of lovely book endorsements: www.timjonesbooks.co.nz/blog/ #poetry

Hardcore climate denialism seems like a very US problem, but its deep pocketed funders are also behind some UK politicians.  We cannot let this influence block action to prevent the worst of climate change, which will affect every single one of us. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

They built this technology with this use case in mind.

How many more facts could you possibly need?

🚨 LIVE: Global Sumud Flotilla 'attacked' en route to Gaza as drones spotted

'Centring indigenous language is part of an ongoing national and international discussion, especially regarding translation. I hope audiences see that English's days of being considered the "default" are numbered and that it has never been the mother of all languages.' thestar.co.za/entertainmen...

What can you even say about something this crazy? Who is convincing these landlords that feudalism is back?

Not looking forward to being detained for wearing my "Sometimes Antisocial, Always Antifascist" shirt.

this is the solution to the male loneliness epidemic I am 100% serious

NEW WORKSHOP!! Sabrina Imbler will teach "Writing Alongside the Nonhuman" on Sept 15, online. It is one thing to write about animals, plants, and other non-human beings, but what would it look like to write with them? 🌱🐈🌸 www.workshops4gaza.com/calendar/wri...

Is it really "fast-tracking" or "accelerating" when it's basically restarting some of the 100-odd projects you iced a year ago, putting the construction sector into a nosedive? www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

Today’s announcements by a wave of Western countries are a late admission that Spain’s much earlier move was the right one. They would be wise to follow Spain’s more recent actions as early as they can.

We don't give the word "brainchild" enough credit for being very funny: That's not just any old idea, that's my brainchild

They're broadcasting the Charlie Kirk memorial service in fucking FRANCE?! Citizens of the Fifth Republic, you know what to do . . .

Everything OK here except me.

Very little is known about the painter Georges de La Tour, beyond the singular paintings he left behind. An exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris strengthens his claim to being one of the greatest of French painters

Okay, this is horrifying. www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/22/e...

Does anyone know more about this specific grave style? #deathstudies 🏺

It helps to understand that Israel’s finance minister here is talking about the total obliteration of Palestinian existence: every building obliterated, the entire Gaza Strip swept clean of any evidence that people ever lived there, so they can sell that land to build luxury flats and restaurants.

There were two peeks inside Sick Power Trip on Reading Room this weekend! First, 'Bino' by Erik Kennedy. newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/20/s...

Happy that this poem, 'The Health Benefits of Winter Sea Bathing', has an online life! (It has appeared in a print mag and my recent book.) This country has a lot of writers who are addicted to the sea, if you haven't noticed.

Yet another indictment of the current government’s decision to host an FBI base in New Zealand - this is disgusting and anti-trans extremism has absolutely no place here. 🏳️‍⚧️

What kind of food wrapper would your bribe come in?

Farewell to Sonny Curtis, a member of Buddy Holly & the Crickets and the author of such enduring classics as the Everly Brothers’s “Walk Right Back,” the Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law” and the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme “Love is All Around.” bestclassicbands.com/sonny-curtis...

I was told there would be tree-damaging winds today, and I don't think you could even fly a kite in this.

Coffee shops are the heart of darkness for republicans. All their horror stories take place inside them. They have taken the place of the forest in middle American gothic.

Have a read of this - Bino by @erikkennedy.com is on ReadingRoom newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/20/s...

sex is cool but have you ever dated someone who always wants to spend exactly the same amount of time as you in a museum

Quick question: what the fuck is going on?

Sally Rooney says she cannot safely enter UK without facing arrest over Palestine Action support www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

A nitrate emergency is called in Canterbury as protests about water pollution rise. My Stuff #cartoon today #nzpol #WaterPollution #Nitrates #Water #CleanWater

I've always wanted to be fired out of a submarine torpedo tube. Thanks to AUKUS this may now become a reality

"Britain must burn more fossil fuels and bills must rise in order to power the robot that'll fire everyone. How else will I afford my next private island?"

new zealand government reaching new heights of stupidity next year our public dollars will go more to AI grants ($70 million) than all investigator-initiated basic science combined ($56 million in the Marsden fund)