Health spending in the US had grown 7.3% in 2025 to a whopping $5.7 trillion. This is the 3rd straight year that growth has been above 7%. Spending is projected to approach $9 trillion by 2034, at which point healthcare will devour 20.6% of the entire U.S. economy. 🧵

This week on Both Sides Now, our political podcast aimed at breaking down politics and breaking down political polarisation, Eve and I had the privilege of chatting to our former Professor, Andrew Geddis, on all things MMP. Takes me back to LAWS204 🙂‍↕️ #nzpol podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/b...

How do politicians, who spend a decade or two as such, become multi millionaires? All those houses. Those shares.

I dunno… Muldoon set the National Party on its hate superannuation at any cost. Now they don’t. Are they sure Rob’s mob is thoroughly staked and laid out…

'Collective worth of NZ's rich listers leaps by $102b' First thing I heard this morning was a thirty year high of unemployed youth. I really should sleep in ...

Seattle elects a socialist mayor, wins the Super Bowl NYC elects a socialist mayor, wins the NBA finals Win your city a major sports title with this one neat trick

The contrails... continent to continent , that wanders over Ōtepoti....are kinda evocative ....

heh...Ōtepoti on dull day. Yep the shortest day is A Thing. Aaaaand it's dark now....5 pm....

Friday arvo and communication is frought with response not solicited. As they wander on.. kia ora.... snarl, grump, grrrr... Hi...

This is rookie NFL QB Cole Payton. He is 6’3”, 232 pounds.

This week’s #budget has been framed around ‘securing New Zealand’s future’. But there is little investment in our people of the future. The promises of longer-term growth fall flat for under 30s. As I say, we’re being robbed of our future. #nzpol www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/alex-mart...

I'm two weeks away from finishing a Masters in Public Management. Robodebt has been a key feature of several of the papers I've done - the damage done to so many people by automation of a process that should always be human (and humane). They literally teach us not to do this.

Entitlement for home allowance for politicians should be subject to the same process that any beneficiary has to go through. Amount of houses ya own. Mortgages. Earnings. Ways and means of avoiding tax.

Ōtepoti just being itself today. #Stunning.

While I’m not an avid poster on Bluesky, I’m 1/2 of the podcast ‘Both Sides Now’ - two Gen Z women on different sides of the political spectrum sharing views and interviewing politicians. this week I spoke to the DSS Bill. encourage peeps to have a listen on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube #nzpol 🫶🏻

So Parliament rids itself of all the journo's who now do comms there and has one AI app to do the lot. Would the output be more or less honest....

'Nearly 9000 public sector jobs to go, government agencies to merge, Nicola Willis announces' And the ratio of public servants and Ministries to Politicians is...

If metservice was up to speed and forecast a week of all things calm and fine in Ōtepoti...then the spike in outside business would be seen from space.....

'Thousands queue as Milford Track spots sell out in minutes' See how tourism brings in the justification...

Sherman...Drury. Slow news friday arvo...

As a political holiday, May Day began in Chicago after the Haymarket Massacre in 1886 when workers demanded an eight hour workday. It’s “as American as apple pie.”

The way the outfits here create flashes of blue and white is very mesmerizing.

Woo David Byrne’s voice holding up particularly well. *Coachella*

I both don’t want to know the context of this remark and am also dying to gnbd out

At a time when everything seems bad, here’s a bit of good news. In 1991, lithium-ion batteries cost around $9,200 per kilowatt-hour — 33 years later, they cost just $78. This helps us move towards electrification of transport and energy storage in homes ourworldindata.org/battery-pric...

Spain invested heavily in clean energy over the last 6 years. Now, as gas prices rise, Spain has some of the lowest electricity costs on the continent. In August 2025, Spain used zero coal — just 10 years ago it powered 25% of the country. This is what energy independence actually looks like. 🌎

Power bills officially dropping across Australia from July 2025. Proof the answer isn’t drill baby drill — it’s charge baby charge ⚡ More renewables = cheaper energy. Fossil fuels? Volatile, expensive, still rising. The system isn’t broken. It’s transitioning. #Bettrification #EV #Solar #BESS

JFC. Impeach and remove this lawless man, you fools.

I’ve been wondering about the recently visible support of Iranian diaspora via Reza Pahlavi that we’ve seen from RW stunters like Seymour. Learned (Haaretz report) Pahlavi was recently boosted by an Israeli-driven influence campaign. Ah. monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/b000...

it’s probably fine that this meme is one of the top posts on every military Reddit sub right now

'We can't keep telling people just to stay away from the beach' - Wellington mayor' The most bland, and comfy, fence sitter in NZ politics. Prolly busy advising Hipkins as well....

Bloody hell Meridian/Aurora. 'your power prices will change on 1 April 2026. Your new pricing reflects the changes in costs of supplying you with power. Based on your estimated annual consumption, we expect the impact to your bill to be $40.50 more per month inclusive of GST'

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested at Sandringham home

FINNEAS defends sister Billie Eilish amid online backlash over her anti-ICE comments at GRAMMYs: “Seeing a lot of very powerful old white men outraged about what my 24 year old sister said during her acceptance speech. We can literally see your names in the Epstein files.”

Dunedin....surely the only place where ya don't have to put the Vogels in the fridge over 'summer' time...

Capable women have put the shits up NZ males since said women upgraded the then organised the electoral system here....

So the Govt is now fees free at the third year of tertiary study. Does that mean it isn't providing that loot for students for the next two years? If so...what is it doing with it?

Can Jamie Joseph PLEASE coach the Highlanders to their second Super Rugby title before solidifying his legacy and taking the reins as All Blacks head coach? Please, I can’t take any more heartbreak.

#nzpol “Dr. Breman’s signature on the statement indicates the support of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which is statutorily independent from the New Zealand government”. Tired old self-serving populist piece of shit should stick to his fucking lane.

'Oglala Sioux Tribe says three tribal members arrested in Minneapolis are in ICE detention' Kinda interested as to where they are deported to....

The Duck in Mac Bay has closed!!! This is Not Good news, as I'm sure @paullecomtephoto.nz will attest. sigh

'Student who scarred victim in bottle attack gets conviction overturned' Convince me that the Law doesn't have a white, middle class bias.... Said student had it overturned because of passing accountancy first and second yer...

What can history teach us about what happens when a populist strongman with an idiosyncratic taste for low interest rates undermines central bank independence?

I guess that with Shadbolt off the scene...the Govt Depts who have monitored him fer years can close the file. I can only wish to aspire to have Govt Depts monitoring me for doing the right thing....

The ODT helping locals stay safe....'SUBSCRIBER: A fugitive who led Dunedin police on a city-wide manhunt and who the public has been warned not to approach is still at large.'

So just as the where is Wally fun ramps up....it appears the PM is alive and working. Albeit from home. just lolol...

the year has *officially* started today. therefore, it is time for the changing of the guards. cheers @petermartin.bsky.social cc: @paullecomtephoto.nz

And so? A provided procedure is used. How is this information any different from hip replacements having increased from ~5500 to ~8500 from 2008 to 2020 as the proportion of the population aged over 65 increases.