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The conservative Financial Times refers to the tech oligarchs who control Al as “psychopaths.” Let that sink in.

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Tail wags dog again. This time on climate change. Shane Jones shut down NZ involvement in 'road map' away from fossil fuels www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

There's also the issue that some climate concerned people still see adaption as defeatist or an alternative to mitigation. Hence a protest at a recent international adaption conference held here. While I understand the concern I think we need to accept we need to be realistic about where we are now.

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When you treat constituents like responsible adults.....

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Grossly irresponsible politicking by Winston Peters. It took years of work by volunteers to get the pathway to citizenship for trans-Tasman migrants reopened. It is absolutely infuriating to see NZ's Foreign Minister now undermining this to score political points on migration. #nzpol #auspol

Great doco from MATA, it would be useful to have a follow up that charts the $$$ from private, corporate and Atlas donors in NZ that prop up the Seymour & the far right ACT Party and drive their policy agenda. The foreign influences that have helped shape Seymour’s agenda. youtu.be/QLOjiiC3P1Y

A proper article on our climate adaption and lack of resourcing by Kirsty Johnson. It is a great pity that RNZ seems to promote the vacuous 'money correspondent' far more than the top quality journalists on their staff.

A bit of my new Listener column. Auckland Council's single biggest item of capital expenditure in FY2025 was paying out the owners of homes ruined by the floods in 2023 (absurdly characterised in the Herald as a "splurge"). It's all very real.

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Ooof! Ex-Education Ministry staffer says new school curriculum heavily politicised www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

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Today's post: @nzdodo.bsky.social on getting beyond splashy headlines, so we can channel our attention and ingenuity towards the real story – and meaningful action: www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2026/01/28/s...

Eating lunch on the deck. Noticed a shadow...

If this doesn't seem significant now, remember that this is exactly the kind of structural weakening of norms, standards, and processes that has let trump bring American democracy to the brink of destruction. Do not be fooled, nact1 would absolutely love to be allowed to do that here. #nzpol

#nzpol #rewatch #ACTout

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The actual BNZ report on job ads vs RNZ story on the very same report. 'Hint of a flattening trend at relatively low levels' vs 'jobs market is showing... signs of improvement... should lead to lower unemployment by the middle of the year'.

"Pretending that we don't have emotions, that doesn't make us more objective, that makes us liars & I don't want to be a liar... I feel all the feelings, & I feel them all really strongly" Brilliantly said @drkatemarvel.bsky.social 👏 A short🧵on some of the feelings I'm experiencing today...

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An extremely good & important read on the Atlas Network, neoliberalism, and its power & influence. It really worries me that Newsroom, one of the last high quality news outlets in Aotearoa, regularly gives the NZ Initiative a platform to promote its message. #nzpol www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

What an evil excuse for a human being.

Should we be rethinking how we rebuild after storms? www.rnz.co.nz/news/thedeta... Funding remains the big issue for regions. Investment in staff, training and building work is essential.

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I know NZ is real estate focused to a fault, but RNZ doing PR for Jared Kushner's genocidal land grab of Gaza is fucking disgusting Genuinely what is wrong with every person working there that this gets across the line with no notes, let alone criticism www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/5...

When normalised by population size, the death toll of US troops in Afghanistan is broadly similar to that of four other countries, including the UK... and Denmark. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaliti...

The latest episode of PBS Weathered discusses climate sensitivity and the under representation in IPCC publications of likely future pathways of extreme heating. Worth watching!

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Two doses of the MMR vaccine provide 99% of people with protection against measles. Check if you're fully immunised and if not, book with your usual health provider, or lots of pharmacies can do MMR vaccination. Or book online: bookmyvaccine.health.nz

Come on, media - this should be front page news and it’s absolute crickets out there - why?

This a a good quote.

Very handy.

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As @musicalchairs.bsky.social keeps pointing out, there are two sides to every ledger - debits match credits. So the article should be titled, ‘Government finances in better shape than expected due to household finances being in worse shape than expected’ #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

We're down a billion in revenue, but, don't worry, agencies are spending $2.3bn less than expected on people and services, so... we're winning $1.1bn! Govt will work out one day where the money to pay taxes comes from. Govt spends money into the economy, and *then* taxes it back out again ffs.

Chinking glasses headlines yesterday in the Herald. The services sector is back bay-beee! It's not though. Celebrating a monthly spike in a really noisy dataset is a bit silly. Here's the 3-month rolling average - with the monthly change in 'faint'. Let's have a sober 'recovery check'. [🧵 1/n]

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Now, let's get onto the clangers. Private debt levels are NOT a constraint on Govt debt. In fact, private debt increases have enabled Govt to hold low debt levels. Economic growth relies on the expansion of public and/or private sector debt - we went for private debt in a BIG way (image 2). [4/n]

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“The last 80 years was an aberration, not the norm.” thespinoff.co.nz/politics/20-...

Great article! Topic for a citizen assembly perhaps? With lots of broader public engagement to underpin it....?

Australia adds 7 GW of renewables in 2025, stays on track for 2030 target www.pv-magazine.com/2026/01/13/a...

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Reminder that just a month ago the Swiss Government rejected using Palantir in any role in Switzerland's Government. Because they posed a 'catastrophic' threat.

Now, ghouls will argue that huge Govt cuts will get the deficit down. It won't work! We import more than we export (and have done for 50+ years), so Govt can only 'balance the books' if the private sector runs chunky deficits. That does not look likely in twenty-twenty-sucks. [Ends]

Last year, we made the decision to step away from X. The Royal Irish Academy is committed to creating, convening, and sharing knowledge for the public good and as an organisation we value Independence; Integrity; Curiosity; Openness and Rigour. In our view, X no longer aligns with these values