Remind us again what happened to Marie Antoinette when she said basically the same thing David. #nzpol #fuckiwish #illpulltherope

“The issue here is that we do a terrible job of choosing science priorities in New Zealand. The people who pushed MethaneSat were not scientists and do not have visible track records of testing proposals for excellence and competence” - Prof Easther. archive.ph/dODxM

And the Finance Minister has already promised there will be more cuts this year. 🤦‍♂️ #nzpol

Do you remember when John Key spent 26 million dollars trying to change the New Zealand flag. Then we have Winnie saying the $222M breakage fee was "reasonable" when breaking the iREX Ferry contract. And it costs $3M PA for WHO🤦 Please vote these loonies out #nzpol

Finally managed to lay my hands on a copy of the brilliant @cheriepriest.com novel that came out last year. Absolutely devouring it with one more chapter to go. Pretty good for having started it yesterday 😊

So Local and Central Government should be able to charge a 33% vacant tax - that is 33% on the value of the commercial building and land it sits on Moves them from wealth extraction to providing a service

'Taxi' and 'cab' essentially mean the same thing, but 'cab' doesn't come from 'taxicab.' It comes from ‘cabriolet,’ which was a type of light carriage. ‘Taxi’ comes from ‘taximeter,’ which is the device that calculates the amount of a fare based on the distance traveled.

Slashing all Marsden grants to social science and humanities another Judith Collins legacy www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Another shitty male judge screws over NZ women. Precedent now set that tricking women into sex isn’t rape. Disgusting.

Cap rates! Loot billions from the emergency climate crisis fund & give it to polluters! Ignore all climate commission’s recommendations! Cut public funding for climate adaptation! GET PRIVATE INSURANCE…oh, sorry you’re fucked, down the ladder you go bottomfeeders! 🙄🤦‍♀️ #nzpol #OneTermGovernment

Nicky Hager says Judith Collins is “clearly and demonstrably not” fit for the Law Commission role www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

Now is when you get your measles titers checked. NOW.

Within a 24 hour period ICE agents caused an international incident by breaking into the Ecuadorian consulate, and US embassy staff in Copenhagen went around demanding local police pull down memorial flags to fallen Danish soldiers near the consulate. Rabies as foreign policy.

Hidden gem of a dataset - IRD data on people by primary income source. First chart shows annual change in people, second the % change in the number of people with salary and benefit as primary income source. As I keep saying, we're a long way from crossing into the positive.

But looked at their shoes and mumbled when asked for an example

It’s not unheard of for a FORMER politician to be put in this role - Sir Geoffrey Palmer was appointed in 2005 - but no current politician has ever been given it (and by their own government) … this carries a real risk of apparent-partisan bias in what has been a non-party-serving institution.

A work in progress temperature artwork. All months are represented with January 2025 at the top, and December 2025 at the bottom. I like how the warm colours are at each end, and the cooler colours in the middle. 3/. #rotorua #nzl #art #textile #fabric #quilt #reuse #recycle #climate 🇳🇿🪡🧵🧶

EVERYONE LOOK AT RUTH’S INCREDIBLE WEATHER QUILT

Fixed.

Working with #kakapo, this is the best thing you'll ever see. When "candling" an egg you hold your breath, hoping to see this: beautiful embryo development in a fertile egg. This is Tiwhiri's second egg, about 8 days old. About half of eggs are infertile. #kakapo2026 #conservation #birds

Christ: Love thy neighbour as thyself. Christian Nationalists:

I'd like to report a murder...

Early reviews are in: ‘Even if they showed this on a plane, people would still walk out’

good riddance to Minister Judith Collins, who orchestrated the present gutting of New Zealand's science funding establishment I've not seen or heard any coverage today that mentions this tiny detail, affecting 100s of millions of public dollars and endangering NZ's entire intellectual community

Three more #kakapo nests found on Anchor Island in the last two days: JEM (2 eggs), Yasmine (1 egg) and Marama (photo; she was protective of her 2 eggs). There are now 11 females nesting on Anchor, 6 on Whenua Hou, and some (TBC) on Chalky. #kakapo2026 #conservation #parrots

Anyway

Very much loving the second round of flowers on some of our fuchsia.🌱

RT if you would sooner dig your brain out with a fork than open a ChatGPT tab.

What I love about this deleted tweet is how unforced the error is, how opposing FGM is such a universal slam dunk and Crusher completely fucked it into the sun.

1/27/2026 - Minneapolis ICE just attempted an illegal entry into the ECUADORIAN CONSULATE to abduct someone They did not have a warrant

Comment: It's becoming ever more easy to imagine Health NZ transforming into a for-profit health service that measures 'efficiency' by return on shareholder equity, not the quality of care, writes former Te Whatu Ora chair Rob Campbell

Thoughts and prayers

Perhaps cutting & hoping that things get better really will work this time. Like it has for the forecast number of jobseekers - which has risen at every update since the election. 50,000 more between 2024 and 2026. The government's target is a reduction of 50,000 from 2023 levels

But as the Minister of Finance told us, we shouldn't take unemployment personally. So is it working for the Crown accounts? Er no - the OBEGAL deficit forecast for 25/26 has increased at every update. Turns out that totally unfunded tax cuts can be quite expensive!

Literally thinking about this in the NZ context today, why is it always "the Greens should try to appeal to dairy farmers and people who drive Humvees" and not "NZ First should try to appeal to people who went to university and believe in human rights"

#nzpol All workers have a right to be kept safe, healthy, and secure after a natural disaster. Make sure you know your rights at work after a disaster or emergency:

A wee reminder that they handed out $6M for the Michelin Man #nzpol

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born on this day 27 January in 1832. Better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an author, poet, mathematician and photographer. His most notable works are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

wait, so Visa, Mastercard et. al can go after video game storefronts for six fucking months for having porn games but the moment X/Grok starts generating ACTUAL CHILD PORN they CHANGE THEIR POLICIES? dawg,

4km is outside the 800m walking catchment and the 1.5km local bus and bike catchment Meaning NZ Post and its Minister are cutting off an essential service to a lot of people who can not drive and those who could, should not need to drive

OMG! Is it true that a politician has been engaging in politics? Heaven forbid! New headline: Politician politically points finger at fellow politician for participating in politicisation of politics

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01... To be clear. This was an act of domestic terrorism. The reason it hasn't been declared as such, is that the intended victims are indigenous Australians. Welcome to Western Australia.

Actually, this is famously a thing you can do with eggs

Shayne Carter: Since AudioCulture wrote about Dimmer in 2018 the band has toured with different lineups, including a six-piece "big band" in 2023. Carter himself has been breaking new creative ground too. Amanda Mills gives us a welcome update on Dimmer www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/dim...

The thing about shutting down a strategic fund for climate resilience is that not only does it let you give the money away in tax cuts, but your ad hoc responses also mean you get to look like you’re handing out largesse in an election year too.

The stained glass hemisphere light fixture is done and installed! The tiles were cut on a waterjet and assembled using a printed jig which held a wedge 3 tiles (45 degrees) wide at a time. I'm hoping I can get the build video out before the end of the month.

If you've been following far right PR campaigns you'll know there is a concerted effort among white fascists claiming that they have "a right" to the mountain because it's part of their "culture" & believe Māori are trying to take it away from them - almost certainly connected to NZF/ACT outriders

🪶

A collaboration between apicultural scientists and a Māori land trust in Te Urewera is shedding light on the potential health benefits of propolis, or “bee glue”.

Rupert Murdoch’s notoriously liberal Wall Street Journal. 👇