7.52am, Pitt St and K Rd, Auckland

“The biggest challenge was being in a cultural abyss, growing up in a little rural town, where I was the only Pacific brown kid who wasn’t Māori.” — Dr Tania Mullane, on being adopted by a Pākehā family.

Belatedly, have discovered Ahoribuzz/Fly my Pretties’ incredible funk of Turnaround, while listening to @rnz’s Top 100 waiata. Give it the prize now. What a glorious piece of NZ funk. youtu.be/kNHDfl__g2c?...

What a lovely coy way of framing the story - may have come into contact with… @nzherald www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/cocaine-a...

Auckland morning

Punching, Slamming, Screaming: A Chef’s Past Abuse Haunts Noma, the World’s Top-Rated Restaurant www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/d...

Former UK ambassador to US Peter Mandelson arrested….imbroglio #1 www.bbc.com/news/live/ce...

Troy Kingi playing at the Marlborough Wine and Food Festival; crowd were right into it

Danish pension fund to dump US treasuries "The US is basically not a good credit and long-term the US government finances are not sustainable," says chief investment officer www.investing.com/news/stock-m...

This is fantastic - the @wsj.com analyses Donald Trump's 6000 posts on Truth Social in his first year in office, then works out if he kept his promises www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

China’s Birthrate Plunges to Lowest Level Since 1949 www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/b...

Interesting the UK's Lib Dems propose film-style age ratings to limit which social media apps children can access - rather than following Australia's ban on under 16s on social media #SocialMedia www.bbc.com/news/article...

Ian Russell, the father of a teenager who took her own life after viewing self-harm content online, says governments should enforce existing laws rather than banning under-16s from social media. #socialmedia www.bbc.com/news/article...

A good wrap of reaction to Australia's social media ban now in force for under 16s here...."If a corporation is “selling radical misogyny and methods for self-harm,” that is “not for a 12-year-old to fix by turning off their phone and taking up crochet.” theweek.com/culture-life...

This is an extraordinary read. Fighting between Myanmar and Thailand opened up a no man’s land where cyber scammers could set up huge industrial park size operations. Two @nytimes.com reporters got in one www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/w...

The great scene in Train To Busan when our heroes strip down, knowing they will have to fight through four carriages of zombies. One of my favourite scenes in films, let alone zombie movies

Public art, Ngāruawāhia by “Mr G”, showing chief Ngaere who named the town. On the sides of the Squash Club opposite where kids used to jump off the rail bridge into the Waikato River. Must be one of the best decorated squash courts in the world. Striking art.

Reflection in a building, Auckland

Went to Lenny Kravitz on Saturday. He went full rock god. The crowd loved it. Here’s my review www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/l...

Wonderful story whatever one thinks of bullfighting. Spain’s biggest bullfighting star retires www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/w...

The people who emerged from the investigation into the handling of Jevon McSkimming in the NZ police; they kept going to expose the issues and a "cover up" www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Who should be the next well-known figure following Sarah Jessica parker to serve on the Booker Prize judging panel? Surely there's only one....Dua Lipa (was asked on RNZ) www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

Flesh by David Szalay was the first of the Booker long list I read this year. I admired it immensely. www.rnz.co.nz/life/books/b...

Officer D emerges as a good cop. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Sean C Dunn is a free man. A 12-inch Subway sandwich is not a deadly weapon, jury finds. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

Australian media swipe. @australian says a takeover bid for Nine's talkback radio stations - possibly including Gina Rinehart in the consortium - is now so well known that even "Nine's own Johnny-come-lately business tabloid", the Australian Financial Review, has heard about it.

“Australia! You have the best towels. I said it. You have the best towels.” Liam Gallagher, Oasis, Melbourne

Finally….the Mirror

The brilliant Laura Wolvaardt www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc-w...

www.wired.com/story/theres... Google has bed bugs

Stuff's mastheads drop sharemarket tables; “This is not a decision we took lightly. Regrettably the sharemarket tables had become an expensive and outdated reproduction of commodity indices and price information.” newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/24/s...

Summer of cricket continues #edenpark

This is great. The history of Big Cow art www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Sunrise

The policy says reporters cannot obtain any information the Defense Department does not explicitly authorize.

Breaking news: The Washington Post joined the New York Times, CNN and the Atlantic in refusing to sign the Defense Department’s restrictive new press policy, citing First Amendment concerns.

Very good analysis by @newsroom.co.nz of the local Body elections - why did so many mayors get dumped newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/11/r...

Comcast, Oracle and Spotify recently doubled up on top executives, a rare setup that some say could become more common.

Sounds awful www.bbc.com/news/article...

The new Taylor Swift album is good. (Hardly the right generation, sure, but decided to listen to Life of a Showgirl at the gym to try to understand) Thought “Eldest Daughter” was a banger, album got better after openers.

The Anglican church picks a woman as Archbishop of Canterbury for first time in its 1400 years. The (growing) conservative Anglican churches of Africa and Asia react to the news “with sorrow”. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Four years ago during Covid it was a “shovel-ready” project, all signed off, ready to get construction working again in the pandemic. Four years on, 360 Dominion Road is still largely abandoned

“Lame. Low. Banal... Like he’s casting a Hollywood movie where everyone has six-packs and chiselled jaws." Pete Hegseth hauled in top army brass from across the globe… to deliver a crucial message: stop being fat. @maitlis.bsky.social | @jonsopel1.bsky.social

Breaking News: The man who attacked a Manchester synagogue had been released on bail after being accused of rape, according to an official.

The Baltic states are starting to think the hitherto unthinkable. “For five minutes I’ll defend what’s dear to me.” Lithuania prepares for a Russian invasion www.theaustralian.com.au/world/for-fi...

Significant if true. Xi Jinping and Donald Trump could do a huge trade deal; the concession Xi wants though is that Trump would oppose Taiwan independence. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

“The soul has gone.” Macron to honour the last newspaper hawker in France, possibly Europe. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The first indigenous woman to study at Oxford has officially received her degree nearly 100 years after she started studying.

Rangitoto from North Head