Māori should be the kingmakers at the next election – but we need to vote #nzpol

Call me naive but couldn’t we raise corporate tax by 2% over a certain threshold (& cut MP’s accom benefit) instead of squeezing money out of people in social housing, cutting sexual abuse prevention services, forcing schools to choose between a heat pump & a teacher aide (as per the Press today)?

Luxon allowing lobbyists to write their own laws and then passing them verbatim is some next level Trumpian BS and should have no place here in NZ #nzpol www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...

overheard on the streets of toronto: “so i guess the only way to maintain a positive attitude is to uh, forget most things”

This is unbelievably depressing. It doesn’t get more stupid. Very good article though - setting out the risks and the gaps so clearly for those that, you know, haven’t given any of it full and proper consideration (before announcing it as their policy)

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"protecting women and girls" this was YESTERDAY

am also v much losing my mind, still sick and my system cannot cope with daily material evidence of idiocy at the highest levels. Also, everyone wanting made-up projections of $$profit$$ but no-one wants to look at the productivity J-curve

Entries are open for our postgraduate essay prize. The JNZL Prize for NZ Literary Studies awards $500 and publication in our 2027 issue. Entries close 1 October. Spread the word, consider submitting and let your friends and colleagues know!

I was so pleased to be one of the judges that picked this wonderful book. It was a great event: there was humour, emotion, even politics.

Hear from Ingrid Horrocks and Fergus Barrowman here... www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2026/05...

‘Each poem pulses with clarity, restraint, and quiet power, revealing the extraordinary within the ordinary. ‘Black Sugarcane not only enriches contemporary poetry but also expands its possibilities.’

gonna be honest, the current gov has stretched me to breaking point, and (based on current promises and polling) I think if I can't improve my situation, which feels impossible, I'll probably have to leave for Australia after the next election

"There's always silver linings for some people." Not those who've lost or will lose their jobs. Not those with disabilities or their carers; the unhoused moved on; the new grads looking at a gutted city, cultural sector and job market; the schoolleavers unable to access Fees Free. But some people.

Today is Nakba Day. You cannot understand what lies at the heart of conflict in the Middle East unless you understand what happened to 85% of Palestinians in 1948. Here Eugene Rogan explains how hundred of thousands ended up as homeless refugees in Gaza

NZ Minister Louise Upston's sanctions on beneficiaries doesn't save govt money, instead it gifts ~$37M to debt collection agencies like Baycorp. Waste of OUR money! #NZpol newsroom.co.nz/2026/05/13/3...

Massive congratulations to Ingrid, who wrote this book while she was THW - CNZ Writer in Residence at the IIML: arts funding matters!

And a hearty che-hoo to Nafanua Purcell Kersel for this wonderful collection that won the Biggs Family Prize for Poetry at the IIML in manuscript form in 2022

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Whakamihi @tinamakereti.bsky.social winner of the Ockhams General Non-Fiction Award 2026! @thwupbooks.bsky.social #theockhams

Winston Peters' office refusing to comment on the direct call for him to help from this Kiwi's family. Say MFAT are handling it as a consular matter and pass on queries to them. Confirmed he has not made any representations on her behalf.

ICE have just transferred kidnapped new zealander everlee wihongi to arizona, the day she was due to meet with her lawyer in california. the valid green card holder has been in prison for 30 days. over on webworm, an essay from everlee's aunt, jen, writing from NZ: www.webworm.co/winstonpeters/

Indigenising literary spaces is not only about Indigenous voices but also, IMHO, about taking all languages seriously as places where context and meaning are revealed. The woman at the book festival was not defending English. She was defending her right never to be unsettled by words.

And I would gently suggest that the lady who seems to troll literary events to complain about Te Reo is the perfect example of someone who projects her unresolved relationship with her own culture onto everyone else as if it is their problem. It isn't.

I mean, write in your language. Read in your language. Celebrate in your language. But the fact that you only have one language should not be everyone else's problem.

Time for an honest conversation. Our social cohesion problem is not pluralism. It is a specific identity that has not yet matured past its founding anxieties of arrival, isolation, and acquisition.

A Lullaby

Sharing this PSA, while thinking about how many of my publishing/speaking opportunities have come as emails or DMs from strangers... AI makes it way less possible to trust what's legit, which I suspect most impacts early-career, self-pub, and financially vulnerable writers.

They're looking for folks naive about the industry and/or email scams who respond. Then there's a couple versions, one asking for a big publicity or marketing fee, and the other will send a link or attachment that will download malware. They only need a few responses to make money.

The author sent me a copy, and it's really something to behold in person.

Just a PSA about how sophisticated AI phishing of authors is becoming: I now receive lengthy, in-depth analyses of my work as invitations or enticements to speak to people. Latest one appears to be impersonation of a real, well-known radio personality. If it is actually the real person, then they

Guess it wouldn't hurt to double and triple check our voting registrations are all sweet aye #NZpol

Luxon wanted to fully support Iran war? What an asshole #nzpol www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...

Why Pākeha are so resistant to embracing Tikanga is a real mystery to me. Even right now, on the cusp of yet another catastrophic climate event, Marae across the motu are ready with open arms to CARE for our communities…ALL of us, not just Maori. The knowledge is rich, the integrity is priceless.

Extraordinary read - full of the ironies and complexities of attempting to find time to write as a writer and dealing with the publicity demands of even the most generous prizes. And we have to do better for people with mental health challenges (most of us at this point, I wager?)

These unhinged rants are why we should not be following the US into war. Also a reminder that Israel and the US started this war by dropping a bomb on a school full of children. Say no to AUKUS. Say no to US military payloads being launched from Aotearoa soil.

Imagine if New Zealand had kept up with the EV take up, the solar panel installations and headed away from the oil companies. Things would certainly be much different. People would be happier Less stress A better future

'Works such as This Compulsion in Us are helping to open conversations about whakapapa, identity and the many pathways people take in reconnecting with their heritage,' Dale Husband @WaateaNews talks to Ockham finalist @tinamakereti.bsky.social t.co/XmxKdXUZuf @thwupbooks.bsky.social #theockhams

If there is anyone out there on Bluesky who wants all the Harry Potter books for their kid without giving money to Rowling I have a complete set, which I will send to you if the shipping is reasonable and you make a $50 donation to a trans charity or fundraiser.

Ta-da!!!! Art for the lounge.

How does Willis still have a job after such sheer fiscal mismanagement? #nzpol

Huge news: we have over 1000 public signatures to our open letter, representing a range of industries, unions and professions. In addition to the 20+ AI experts and the NZ Green Party. Help us get the other parties on board with regulating AI by sharing, signing and contacting your local MPs #nzpol

come on you fuckers, own the libs by going all out for solar and wind, own us hard

We’ve had 50 years’ notice on oil shocks – and what we could do to insulate ourselves against them (solar, hydro, rail, public transport, cycling) and not only DIDN’T we do it, our infrastructure is so (un-)robust that it can all be shattered by, get this, ONE GUY’s actions.

I was so high, I could feel my teeth talking to each other about the social contract.

Congratulations to President Trump for making the most powerful possible case for green energy and for the Chinese renewables and auto industries.

This is what happens when you don’t read poetry.

Ban all podcasts.

Put men in rice. A factory reset is needed.

This Louis Theroux doc is wild.