Tim Curry, the absolute legend, turns 80 today. This man took huge swings.

As seen on Twitter. #nzpol

Just a thought: How about we stop shaming the poor for buying things that may not be essential, and start shaming the rich for making a profit off things that are essential?

Child's party dress, 1944. Due to wartime fabric rationing, the dress is made of scrap cotton and parachute silk. Ref MISC.265-1983, V & A Museum.

Is that bad? Seems bad

Record 165 GW of wind power capacity added in 2025, led by China, report says reut.rs/4cBeSz4

Volvo has new truck that can do 700km on a single charge, and takes 50mins for a full charge Which given driver rest periods that could be done when the driver is resting at a Human Recharge Station insideevs.com/news/793045/...

Losing my mind reading Dann, Malpass, Tibshraeny, (etc) sweating about Govt 'returning to surplus'. Surely the reckonomics commentariat should understand balance sheets? Let's see if I can make it simple. Here's how much we spend offshore and how much we earn. Take a minnit... [🧵 1/n]

We shovel $10bn per year into the pockets of offshore companies to buy fuel - and that was before prices went nuts. You could easily employ every unemployed young person in NZ for $10bn - and buy thousands of solar panels.

willis has a plan so cunning... www.topspeed.com/top-10-amphi...

From a friend’s Facebook page. Perfect. 👌

And, worse of all, almost all the extra money we are spending on fuel & oil-related price increases will flow offshore. That means demand being drained rapidly from our economy - like someone took the plug out. This will drive tens of thousands of job losses. That is *already baked in*. So... [4/n]

Hold onto your dollars friends, the price shock has started. Simple maths will make CPI this quarter 5% and that is without even considering the knock-on effects of higher fuel prices. We are already seeing plastic prices skyrocket for example. Food prices next. Are we in good shape? [🧵 1/n]

Kudos, photo editor #nzpol

"Defunct startups are being liquidated for their Slack archives, Jira tickets, and email threads—operational exhaust that AI labs now treat as premium training data."

Canada lynx kitten

So NZ PM Chris Luxon promised Sean Plunket he "had his back" and would protect Platform from the BSA. Now TP is under BSA remit, Goldsmith moves to scrap BSA. This is absolutely fucked up Trumpian politics

#FerryNews: Maintenance requirements will have the Interislander service reduced to one ship for more than 100 days in 2027, a KiwiRail briefing shows. Via BusinessDesk: businessdesk.co.nz/article/infr...

Cartoon by @deadder.bsky.social.

Sprout products recalled due to possible presence of listeria bacteria

AI is profoundly unpopular. A recent NBC News poll found that among 18-34 year-olds, AI's net favorability rating is -44. *Negative 44*. Those are basically serial killer numbers. It's not much better among women 18-49. (Men over 50 and upper class are the only ones who like AI, and just barely.)

When we’ve run out of fuel stocks, the government announcement will be: Fuel Stocks are no longer falling and levels are stable. #nzpol

Tax Justice Aotearoa's Tax Policy Statement is focused on fixing some of the inherent inequalities in our tax system, which lead to NZ's wealthiest families paying just 9% tax on their income - half as much as the average New Zealander. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Overall mortality in unvaccinated individuals was roughly 50% HIGHER. The advantage held even after removing coronavirus-related deaths from the mix. The study has been published in JAMA. YES, it is PEER-REVIEWED. • jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... 🧪🧵⬇️

Bike vs Car Calculator: Find out how much you save cycling instead of driving. Based on real NZ fuel prices, IRD mileage rates, and your actual commute distance. Well worth sharing with a friend who's struggling with fuel prices. https://rideandsave.co.nz/ #fuelcrisis #choosebike

Perhaps senior NZG folks should also visit China to set up deals to buy, and prioritise delivery of, $billions in solar panels and batteries..

The annual change in jobseekers numbers is only marginally above the Dec 2025 forecast, but as things are going, that yellow line is going to pull up majestically through 2026. The Govt will watch cluelessly from their Beehive offices wondering why doing nothing doesn't work. [4/n]

Anthony Ellison's cartoon in the March 28-April 3 Listener. #nzpol

Haha. Took me a second to see it. By Momot (Ukraine).

Looks like we're going backwards. Unlike many others #nzpol

So in our wee rural town, we had a guy sleeping rough in his car. He could not get any support from MSD because he did not have an address. They have made rough sleepers invisible by their process and therefore they don't exist. Problem solvered!

WELL NOW, would you look at that? A massive, 4-YEAR-LONG study of NEARLY 30 MILLION people in France found that individuals who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine had a 74% LOWER risk of death from severe COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated individuals and ZERO increased risk of all-cause mortality.

Toll Booths For @contrariannews.org Follow my work and writing on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com

Cactarse would also have worked #art

#nzpol <heavy sigh>

When ever I read these titles I think of the many examples in #nzpol of rural communities shrinking such as Ohakune and the Winston’s Pulp Mill closure, because power was expensive while other countries are giving electricity away for free. The system needs to change fast

City Hopeful Prioritizing The Car Will Alleviate Traffic Woes Despite 100 Years Of Evidence It Doesn't.

#NZpol When Board members by and large are pretty much insulated from the effects of decisions, it's always easy for commentators on the news to give us an almost breezy "So yes, things could get difficult for a bit longer, but ultimately they should work themselves out after a while... LOL"

Incredible sequel. Edge of my seat!

The Great White Hope. Opposition leader Chris Hipkins makes a call to Vice President of the USA, J D Vance. My #cartoon today #NZpol #USA #Hungary #NZelection26

#BusNews: The route for an 18-kilometre busway between Auckland Airport, Manukau, and Botany has been protected. Auckland Transport and NZTA have now confirmed the designations for the 15 kms of busway within their area, also known as Notices of Requirement, after resolving all appeals.

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.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says ACT & David Seymour are the "most anti-marketplace outside of Russia" Also labelled ACT Party CAVEs - "Continually Against Virtually Everything" That's because libertarianism is a faux ideology created by the wealthiest to hoodwink the world

OPEC+ crude production fell to an all-time low for the expanded producer group in March. And for OG OPEC, it’s the lowest recorded crude production since Desert Storm in 1990.

101

USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group is taking the long way around Africa to the Middle East as it avoids the Red Sea in order to avoid Houthis. -USNI

The only lasting way out of the fossil dependency is shifting electricity generation to renewables and nuclear. And electrifying the economy as rapidly as possible. We will present our electrification strategy before the summer. Electrifying Europe means making Europe more independent.