“When asked whether they thought wealthy New Zealanders (those earning over $180,000 per year or with assets over $5 million) should pay more tax, 61% of respondents in a representative poll said they should. Only 4% said the wealthy should pay less than they currently do.” Probably the wealthy.

Nice bit of quite surprising news. Dark times, but I love that we are celebrating books and all that they mean to us 💚🤓

why am I so grateful for just one normal thing

I keep misspelling thinking as thinkinking (typing too fast?) and I don’t know, maybe that’s the way it should be. Wouldn’t life be more fun if we thinkink about it?

Starting this evening in Wgtn, Tadra Vata: Beyond Islands, Beyond Borders explores the spaces that both connect and separate us, featuring writers Tīhema Baker, Tagi Qolouvaki, Emelihter Kihleng, Makanaka Tuwe, Gina Cole, Story Hemi-Morehouse, Hana Buchanan, Elsie Andrewes, Emele Ugavule and more.

More extreme weather more often. What do our leaders think we should do? In a word, not much. My Stuff #cartoon today #NZpol #Climate

The climate enhanced #FonterraStorm hits Canterbury www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Article about flooding with ad for new subdivisions being build on a floodplain apps.canterburymaps.govt.nz/FloodModelRe...

Jenny Bornholdt and Bill Manhire at number 1 and 2 on Unity Wellington’s bestseller list this week, followed by MA grad Eva Wyles, and only then George Saunders!

Under the previous govt the Wellington harbour would have 2 new purpose built ferries by now. Under luxon the Wellington harbour just has poo in it.

IT'S GOOD FOR YOU! ^MT

Great news! The debut poetry collection by Kāi Tahu writer, musician, and NZ Arts Laureate Ariana Tikao is coming out 16 April. It's called Pepeha Portal, and will be published by Otago University Press · Te Whare Tā o Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. oup.nz/library/pepe... #pukapuka #booksky ^DR

Are you a fan of #nzbooks? Tune in to our latest ep of SERVED WITH RICE to hear our convo with former NZ Poet Laureate @chrisjtse.bsky.social — it’s a great ep 🥰 Don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe!

"Fight against being ass" is a message that more people need to receive, tbh

Lyrical Ballads by Bill Manhire is a work of stone-cold beauty and genius. Thank you @thwupbooks.bsky.social & @pacificraft.bsky.social teherengawakapress.co.nz/products/lyr...

This weird obsession right wingers have about how long it takes to count votes in NZ is so weird man what difference does it make? We are globally insignificant our election results don’t move the markets. You got something important to do that hinges on election results just go live your life 🙄

Anti-trans hate is an industry. Not a movement, not a moral concern, not an organic uprising of worried parents — an industry, deliberately constructed, lavishly funded, & strategically deployed to protect the interests of the powerful men who finance it culture-centered.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-...

Ah the thrill of a new class. Each year I’m humbled by my students - such a wealth of diverse experience and thrillingly subversion thinking. The best antidote to the hellscape outside - not just a balm but active strengthening of resistance & critical thought #creativity @modernletters.bsky.social

MA grad Gina Butson, whose novel The Stars are a Million Glittering Worlds was published last year, is in The SpinOff’s Books Confessional thespinoff.co.nz/books/04-02-...

My wife and I were on a beach in the Wellington area and found this at a car park, in the grass. It is approximately the size of a person's hand,made of bone, and intricately carved. I've masked the lower half,as only the legitimate owner will be able to fully describe it. Please share this...(1)

And every time you use ChatGPT, an artist dies a little.

Also, one of our staff members, haha… #ThisCompulsioninUs

If you want a break from snow or ICE, I have a #longread in the current @harpers.bsky.social about a mystical drift through London. Includes Blake, Hawksmoor, the Sex Pistols, Derek Jarman, John Dee and conversations with Alan Moore and Iain Sinclair harpers.org/archive/2026...

life ending and infrastructure destroying floods are now an annual occurrence in new zealand. there is no political recognition of this new reality, and thus there is no resourcing for its prevention. we are not ready

stripped of its meaning, will produce people who are stripped of their history, of their meaning..." true also, crucially true, in America where today it so tragically seems that "history" itself is being revised to fit a new political stratagem, if not erased entirely.

at the essay's conclusion Hari Kunzru quotes Alan Moore: "It is so important to reenchant these places that we live in, to give back the energies that have been bled out of them. An empowered landscape creates empowered people. A disempowered landscape, stripped of its history,

The UK has declined a new Elbit Systems contract, leading Palestine Action prisoners to end the hunger strike that had three of them on the brink of death. The Tesco worker suspended for refusing to handle Israeli goods has been reinstated and will no longer have to handle them. We can and will win

Chilling and completely convincing final line

look at this charming tauhou / waxeye nest found under a tree, presumably blown out or dislodged by a possum. horse hair, pig hair (?), moss, small twigs & A FULL HYDRANGEA FLOWER woven in. bless (photo by anna-lisa gilmore, posted in fb group birds of new zealand. shared here with her permission)

As parts of Aotearoa are due to cook under 38C today, a reminder about the humble 🌳 in keeping you cool and fresh Time for the 3-30-300 rule Able to see 3 trees 30% urban forest canopy 300m from the nearest park or green infrastructure

THANK YOU. Deplatforming and focus shifting ! Actually asking to hear from the targets .

Heh. Perfect explanation of the AI market bubble.

A petition to nations outside of the US to strongly resist its violent colonial expansion.

OMG, 100/124?! Yay for writers.

I was wondering if anyone would leave the board. This whole situation is appalling and shocking, but it's heartening to see the swift response. The festival is done though, for now. It's sad to see the end of festivals who [should] bring important writers and conversations to this part of the world

First withdrawal from the Adelaide Festival proper, DJ Haram www.indailysa.com.au/citymag/cult...

Following the decision from the Board of the Adelaide Festival, The Australia Institute is withdrawing its support from this year’s literary festival. Here is our statement, and a personal one from me.

Statement: Jewish Council Condemns Adelaide Festival Removal of Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah

Last call for 2026 tutoring applications! Please apply by Sunday 11 January if you want to be considered www.wgtn.ac.nz/sam/about/tu...

It was a huge honour to speak with Avery on this podcast a while back. I’m looking forward to listening to this final episode. A huge loss to see the Unsettling Extremism podcast and He Whenua Taurikura close. Mauri ora @averysmith.bsky.social @joannakidman.bsky.social

As He Whenua Taurikura closes its doors, this final episode distils years of research into a narrative about what extremism really threatens: not just physical safety, but the fundamental human need to belong and our ideas of peace. open.spotify.com/episode/3umc... #populism #GRT #islamophobia

It's really silly how the right often portrays people who want renewables as lettuce munching wokie pinko hippy beatniks when a hard-nosed and pragmatic national security argument for them also exists right in front of their noses. Shackling ourselves to capricious foreign dictators to own the libs.

A matuku moana (white-faced heron) procuring breakfast on the Manukau Harbour this morning. 🪶🇳🇿

Also available at our online store are works from Samoan photographer and lens based performance artist Pati Tyrell. Collaborations between Takatāpui artists Māhia Tekore and Jaimie Waititi. And works by Moe Laga from the House of Coven Aucoin. Something for everyone. www.fafswag.nz/mketi/art-pr...

Just putting this here because it's nice www.1news.co.nz/2026/01/04/d...

There but for the grace of god. Not for the first time during this regime have I been grateful NZ doesn’t have any oil to speak of. We’re such a lucky country in our distance. Not so lucky in our administration. Complicit.

Good news is still apparently possible alongside All The Rest

Health NZ has spent $26,000 sending North Island patients south for complex gynaecological cancer surgery, after the Wellington service collapsed. #nzpol

Heck yes!!

From Peter Thiel to James Cameron, NZ will hand out citizenship to the worst people but if you are a nurse’s son with autism, you will get deported. Every day a new reason to be ashamed of being a kiwi. Utterly embarrassing.