This is appropriately withering.

*Waitematā local board, progressively* yes building houses in the rich suburbs near the city is one option but have you considered putting them in south Auckland instead thespinoff.co.nz/politics/03-...

The supposedly progressive campaign to restrict housing in posh suburbs

Auckland just had its biggest ever May for cycling and the bulk of the traffic was on separated bike lanes so it's a good thing we haven't banned new NZTA investment in cycleways or anything

Imagine if we implemented these other people's plans. We go into recession, experience a long-term spike in unemployment and end up with record numbers of insolvencies, all while negotiating a cost of living crisis

'But belt-tightening, as it turns out, is for poorer people and public servants. It’s not for the esteemed and often politically-connected candidates they want to install in plum roles on Crown boards.' @haydendonnell.bsky.social #NzPol

social housing tenants would probably feel more like they had won the Lotto if they could claim a $36,400 accommodation supplement to live in their own property

one of the major clues that social housing tenants haven't in fact won the lotto is that they need social housing

I can't believe the damage cycle lanes are gonna do to wellington businesses if this plan to cut 9k public sector employees goes ahead.

thankfully the economy is back on track because otherwise I'd be pretty worried about these guys just going straight to Australia or into long-term unemployment

Most transport maps show where infrastructure is. I wanted to show what that infrastructure actually lets people reach. I’ve been building the Auckland Transport Access Atlas: an interactive map of car dependency, accessibility, equity, and planner priorities across Auckland. ataa.tfwelch.com

David Seymour's comments about not trying to influence RNZ's staffing decisions are slightly undermined by his comments about trying to influence RNZ's staffing decisions

Excellent work @haydendonnell.bsky.social Good News too, the problem of stinky diesel fumes in the Kaimai tunnel can be affordably dealt with via battery trains, like the new intercity trains we are getting for services from Wellington: thespinoff.co.nz/society/05-0...

A wealthy businessman getting a vaunted vanity award only for it to be revealed that they've engaged in grotty personal misconduct? This must be unprecedented in New Zealand history

this webworm from @haydendonnell.bsky.social was originally published on february 17, 2025 – but with donald trump recently sharing an AI rendering of himself as *checks notes* jesus christ, it seems appropriate to re-publish it today: www.webworm.co/trumpistheantichrist/

The worst thing about this headline is I looked it up and he actually has two legs

this was yesterday but the great thing about being in New Zealand is that we also get American April Fools today

happy to have established myself as a key source of depressing housing news thespinoff.co.nz/politics/31-...

you can learn a lot in The Spinoff comment section

Thank goodness The Spinoff rescued @haydendonnell.bsky.social from his totally unhelpful role as a media commentator on RNZ and put his skills to use properly!!

once again very proud of my contributions to The Spinoff

This Iran situation isn't looking great. But surely our politicians have been taking steps to reduce our dependence on oil. Would be very concerned if not thespinoff.co.nz/politics/17-...

This actually feels really reassuring I get the appeal

Any time you can crash the global economy to replace a bad guy with a worse guy you gotta do it

Labour had six long years to fix Christopher Luxon's polling

man this is so true

feel I may have undermined today's column by putting in something I actually agree with thespinoff.co.nz/politics/25-...

Me the government 🤝 Addressing issues by refusing to look at them

breaking new frontiers when it comes to headline writing at The Spinoff

did some data journalism thespinoff.co.nz/politics/11-...

Though I try to stay humble, I'd say I'm probably the nation's top journalist when it comes to in-depth reporting on the Waitangi dildo strike. Even so, I hadn't picked up this piece of info until this week thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-...

Incisive critique from David Seymour: the people trying to remove the single biggest barrier to building housing should focus instead on trying to make it easier to build houses

would honestly prefer it if the anti-upzoning people would just come out and say the sight of a townhouse makes them sick rather than gabbling on nonsensically about the lack of infrastructure in the most infrastructure-dense parts of the city thespinoff.co.nz/politics/19-...

'We’ve been treated to a cacophony of handwringing about infrastructure, but it boils down to ‘not in my backyard’.' @haydendonnell.bsky.social #Auckland

I know this is a shocking thing to say but the Herald's habit of assuming extra housing is inherently negative has me wondering if it might have some kind of editorial slant on urban issues

Rank insubordination from AT, taunting the mayor with their Santa parade float

Auckland’s traffic is bad because we built all our houses in Massey and Papakura to avoid upsetting the inhospitable residents of our inner city suburbs thespinoff.co.nz/society/19-1...

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.”😔