Took a flight to Whakatāne last week. Got to interview the very cool new mayor Nándor Tánczos and most importantly, was finally able to see NZ's most impressive municipal building in person thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-...

The government’s disdain for unions and love for teachers, doctors and nurses is slightly confusing given unions are made up of teachers, doctors and nurses thespinoff.co.nz/politics/27-...

Some sort of investment fund? This economically illiterate 1970s state capitalism policy pales in comparison to my strategy: spending every last dollar this country has on 10 roads

Vulgar graffiti on the northwestern cycle path, yet more evidence this city has descended into lawlessness

Step one: engineer a recession and cancel infrastructure projects. Step two: get mad at people for not having a job thespinoff.co.nz/politics/10-...

experiencing a swell of patriotism over our officials repeatedly losing secret government documents at second hand stores

I have been back at The Spinoff for a while and once again I am doing very well thank you thespinoff.co.nz/politics/06-...

Was surprised to learn on Waatea News recently that the deputy PM doesn’t think politicians should change election rules without a public vote, and am expecting that Act will withdraw its support for restrictions on voter registration any day now thespinoff.co.nz/politics/01-...

Really big day for our nation's headline writers

A public service announcement about why you shouldn’t defame a lawyer

as reported in webworm today, the nz media council has ruled against RNZ, saying it lacked balance and fairness in its reporting over the death of trans teen alex. hopefully this encourages RNZ to look at all their reporting on trans issues - they need to (www.webworm.co/trainhopping/)

Personally think we should consider making this not just the way it is

“There is a 0% chance that Peters’ admonishment of the vast majority of UN member states, and continued delay in NZ’s own action, will have any impact on how they take their own stands. There is a 100% chance that it will be remembered as the time New Zealand punched above its weight in cowardice.”😔

Always wondered why it was not in supermarkets. @haydendonnell.bsky.social

Feel like our priorities on what's urgent may be a bit skewed

The people who spent years telling us that deplatforming was censorship and they opposed it on principle, not because they agreed with the people being deplatformed, seem to have gone awfully quiet lately

Our strongest anti-cancel culture warriors once again hard at work defending free speech

on the one hand, this sounds like it won't raise enough money for them to fund meaningful tax relief for the people struggling the most with the cost of living, but on the other it will be ruthlessly attacked and exploited by their political opponents

go for my amazing feature image design skills, stay for an in-depth discussion of infrastructure thespinoff.co.nz/politics/12-...

First day back at The Spinoff but the damn mayor is stealing all my story ideas

Final team meeting for Mediawatch. Gonna miss this guy!!

pointing out the housing "wealth effect" our commentators and politicians are pining for comes with a corresponding "I'm on the bones of my arse" effect for everyone who doesn't own housing thespinoff.co.nz/society/26-0...

"These concerns are notable for being what scientists would term 'total bullshit'." Love this from @haydendonnell.bsky.social :)

The lecture I delivered in Ponsonby last night wasn't universally well-received

a response to Christine Fletcher and Troy Churton's thing in the Herald last week. These people always say the Unitary Plan zoned for enough housing without mentioning all that housing is in Te Atatu and Milldale. They can't keep getting away with this! thespinoff.co.nz/politics/04-...

Wow huge news in today's Media Insider, though I have to say it’s a real indictment on RNZ Mediawatch's @haydendonnell.bsky.social that he didn't get this scoop

I have written about what scientists are calling the "fundamental rootedness" at the heart of our society thespinoff.co.nz/society/29-0...

if we're excluding voters for thinking the wrong way about tax or not being engaged enough in politics, why stop with just the ones who enrol on election day thespinoff.co.nz/politics/28-...

Grok has once again gone Woke

when inflation goes down, it's because of the government's financial discipline. When it goes up, it's because councils love colourful toilets thespinoff.co.nz/politics/22-...

I created a data visualisation on the dilemma facing local councillors for my latest uncharacteristically non-despairing column thespinoff.co.nz/politics/21-...

yes in this case Ray Chung seems to have tripped over some clown shoes straight into a trough of horse manure but the internet's weird men have found a lot of success doling out a heady mix of abuse and defamatory rumour, and our media has too often been complicit thespinoff.co.nz/politics/15-...

The media is running a scurrilous Dirty Politics campaign against Ray Chung and Independent Together by accurately reporting the things they've done and said

in what will be remembered as an innovative and possibly foolhardy move, I have tried to include numbers and even a graph in this piece of commentary about local government rates

Spoke about Alex on the radio here www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/medi...

In a just world Neil would be a knight of the realm but sadly he made the decision to donate joy to thousands of lives instead of money to a range of political causes thespinoff.co.nz/society/10-0...

Being told to "shut up you dickhead" by Don McGlashan is literally the worst thing that can happen to you as a New Zealander

remember if you see a headline about the cost of a pedestrian crossing in the New Zealand news it's always a good rule of thumb to reduce the figure in your head by a factor of 5 to 15, stay safe out there everyone

I have written a sober and cogent argument for keeping the age of eligibility for superannuation at 65 thespinoff.co.nz/politics/28-...

makes sense, if things had carried on the way they were going, Millennials were in danger of having enough money to survive to age 67 or even 68

Wayne Brown just proposed limitless density on Waiheke and Whangaparāoa as a compromise exchange after the local councillors from those areas tried to downzone the city centre, and it resulted in a really beautiful moment between him and his deputy

Found myself agreeing with Winston Peters about the lack of respect and decorum in parliament though we have probably come to different conclusions about who is most at fault thespinoff.co.nz/politics/20-...

Sorry to the investigative journalists etc but no-one is cutting through government spin right now like government minister David Seymour thespinoff.co.nz/politics/13-...

In what will be remembered as a brave and physically impressive act of gonzo journalism, I carried out the police college entrance exam to test whether it is actually easy. As you can see from the attached post-run photo, it went incredibly well thespinoff.co.nz/society/30-0...

Worrying stuff. If we allow competition to push down the price of housing, what's next? Grocery prices? Power prices? It hurts to even think about

Tory Whanau really is Schrödinger's mayor, somehow destroying the city with cycle lanes and apartments while also having no record to speak of

similar energy, "zero rates increases, same services" is also a nice extra touch

We have found the man understood to be behind @2ETEKA, the X account that surfaced Instagram posts by Green MP Benjamin Doyle. He is a former NZ First member from Taranaki who organised a conference opposing "gender ideology" last year www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

my Spinoff article today contains the latest important instalment of my local government data series thespinoff.co.nz/politics/31-...