I’m glad I woke up to watch this completely stupid, pointlessly macho English approach to this fourth innings

Back to the usual: enjoying the World Cup as a neutral

The wind tonight and this unreal performance by the ‘Canes is almost - almost - making up for the Fog Final

Ah, El Niño in Wellington, when we get four consecutive seasons of spring in a row

undeniably good optics: signing a war treaty in Versailles

Immediately after the fall of the Assad government Israel began a project of turning southern Syria into a new version of the West Bank, with house confiscations and demolitions and a new network of military bases. The government yesterday indicated that their presence in Syria would be permanent:

Still unbeaten since 1982

Sob www.espncricinfo.com/story/kane-w...

I'm playing tonight at Pyramid Club with dear pals Big Sigh, who make gorgeous droney folk. Listen to their beautiful EP released recently through @sunreturn.bsky.social : bigsighnz.bandcamp.com/album/tether Doors 8pm. Tix here: www.undertheradar.co.nz/gig/102512/B...

It's a stellar Writers on Mondays programme this year, even if we do say so ourselves! Check out the programme now and find out who'll be appearing at Te Papa in this free events series from July to September.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a seven-month-old Palestinian baby in the illegally occupied West Bank, leaving him to bleed to death while his family desperately tried to save his life. This is not a one-off incident, but daily reality for Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal military rule.

I've been a broken record on this for three years and I'll be a broken record for as long as that fucking website exists: X is a viciously racist far-right organising platform that ONLY WORKS because a huge number of centrists, lefties and progressivs cannot stop propping it up

Wellingtonians, a reminder that the Loemis Festival is now in full swing, with a large roster of acts and events you won't see at any other time - get amongst it! www.loemis.nz

For those not on Instagram, here is the pic with all the locations, dates, and times nationwide.

A couple of quick reckons on the move to oust non-elected committee members from local authorities. www.beehive.govt.nz/release/coun...

Don’t feed your birds Kellogg’s cornflakes

Here's the serious bit for anyone who'd rather skip the 4000 words of jokes

kluge by pip adam 13 August 2026 teherengawakapress.co.nz/products/kluge @pipadam.bsky.social

RIP Sonny Rollins, a great jazz talent and the last surviving musician in one of the best photos of men in suits during the 20th century

"Taken as a whole, this is the most profound rollback of the rights of a minority in my lifetime." A useful primer on how trans people's human rights have been wrecked in the UK, and what it tells us about the country's politics more broadly. www.liberalcurrents.com/the-end-of-t...

💯 "Qtopia encourages NZ media to report on this issue with sensitivity & consideration for the harm this rhetoric does to trans people...A quarter of transgender people are seeing negative messaging about themselves online & in the media on a daily basis." @jennifilm.nz qtopia.org.nz/news/qtopia-...

Some great journalism from David Fisher here: www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/racism-cl...

New novel alert! U.X.O. is my ninth novel, set in Jaffna during the IPKF era of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1987-1990). It’s a book that looks at how we can hold people to account for war crimes when institutions and power are indifferent. Will be out later in the year through Lawrence & Gibson

A selection from speeches from the debates on the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Recognition Act 2021. Any journos reading this feel free to ask any of the speakers whether they stand by these comments made less than five years ago. At the second reading: Nicola Grigg:

This subsidy has made a big difference to my life - particularly because it means I can risk going out while knowing I have an option to get home if my health starts playing uo. Others use it for all journeys. The current limit had already become too low. I'm so angry and frustrated.

The thing that’s striking about Te Ara Tupua is how much of that space has been reclaimed by the public - dogs, kids, cyclists, runners, walkers. It’s wonderful

new (unreleased from 2016) Disasteradio track on this great star-studded fundraiser for aid in Lebanon out now and #4 on bFM charts! flockforfunds.bandcamp.com/album/full-f...

That $70m Major Events and Tourism package, btw, is more than the annual budget for Creative NZ. You know, the outfit that actually funds local artists.

It's a growing problem in political discourse in NZ that our right-leaning politicians will borrow talking points from overseas regardless of how irrelevant those talking points are to our reality. We can't have serious discussions if one side wants to make things up.

When politicians resort to bashing immigrants

Gonna just say it, this book is iconic and you should buy it. So proud to have been a part of this.

h/t @dreddieclark.bsky.social for that Poll Tax comparison

#indianelections2026 and why this was very bad. Modi & BJP (ruling party in the Indian federal govt) used the federal election commission to remove ~2.7M eligible voters from rolls & add another ~7M right before the election, with no explanation & sanctioned by Indian Supreme Court./1

Racism aside, it's... interesting that ACT's policies are going to piss off everyone who rely on visa workers: more red tape for accredited employers, more hoops to jump through on the English language requirement, and more costs for everybody.

I see we’re in a “we’re all out of ideas, so we’ll just blame immigrants” election campaign

“Oh Yeah” Disasteradio “A New Career in a New Town” Bowie “Be My Baby” Ronettes “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” Sakamoto “Renegade” Zodiacs “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” Gall “New Year’s Eve” Sisamouth & Sothea “Kare Nanhasi” Hallelujah Chicken Run Band “Aikea-Guinea” Cocteau Twins “Hyperballad” Bjork

My 10 faves, also right this second: The Mother and the Whore Melody for a Street Organ A Brighter Summer Day Daisies My Neighbour Totoro A Day of Wrath Sambizanga Imitation of Life (Sirk) A City of Sadness Jeanne Dielmann

For some New Zealanders, not all immigrants are made equal

There are only two days left to sign the petition by Migrants Against the Acceptable Standard of Health Aotearoa to remove the archaic and eugenicist rules that have seen so many disabled and chronically ill migrants deported form the country, including children. Please, please, PLEASE sign this.

My friend Manisha Bhikha calling for us to get our shit together. When she says "This is the first time I can remember seeing anti-Indian hate expressed with this level of visibility and confidence" be aware that *she's been in govt counterterror & preventing violent extremism for decades*.

There is an insane and disturbing amount of vile Anti-Indian sentiment about and parties need to respond to it. They can respond by trying to capitalize on it like NZF, or they can reject it. Ignoring it and hoping for the best only rewards those capitalising on it. It's also moral cowardice.

Just as the impacts of climate change are really starting to bite, AoNZ as a nation is busy 'deprioritising' research funding into it. You can probably tell from some of the quotes how chill I'm feeling about this.

I don't read polls. I rely on traditional ways to know if a prime minister is embattled.

There’s an argument to be made that Shane Jones has been the most useless Cabinet Minister in NZ in the 21st Century

I think some people mistakenly read Kartik Popat as a cynical book, when it was actually an earnest book about cynical people. South Asians who cosy up to white supremacism will absolutely be eaten up by it

It continues to blow my mind that this Western wave of increasingly violent anti-Indian sentiment was all started by an intra-MAGA turf war between the tech nazi faction and the Laura Loomer nativist faction after the 2024 US presidential election. All this just to own Vivek Ramaswamy.

Some lessons for Aotearoa in here, too, in this piece by McKenzie Wark www.frieze.com/article/scap...

Evolving US view of Hormuz: -The Strait is open. -Iran closing the Strait is a breach of international law. -The Strait is open if you're not a wuss. -Please help me reopen the Strait. -We started this war to keep the Strait open. -We are now blockading the Strait.

Man Who Threw Molotov Cocktail At Sam Altman’s Home Claims He Was Following ChatGPT Recipe For Risotto https://theonion.com/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/

a question that should be asked of the current editorial departments and owners of every establishment media outlet in the country, because let’s be honest, Peters is certainly incapable of pitching *himself* that way without across the board narrative support - particularly due to his history