as the famous musical saying goes, when the string is loose then hamas is loose, when the string is tight then hamas will fight. nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen.

This is why I say Trump's line on Korea 'after listening for 10 minutes, I realised it's not so easy' is the ur-text for his foreign policy. He is simultaneously aggressively incurious, happy to flipflop & easily influenced. www.bbc.com/news/live/cp...

Palestine has been hit with more tons of bombs in 2 years than the total of London, Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima & Nagasaki in WW2. Now the UK, Australia & Canada decide that while they continue to arm Israel, they will make recognition of Palestine conditional on the victim unilaterally disarming.

If you read headlines you could be forgiven for thinking Shane Jones/ New Zealand First want to renationalise the electricity market. Jones wrote a letter about options for changing regulatory settings to produce more gas... & even that isn't NZF policy. The headlines were just not accurate.

These Ministers can break basically any rules & never get fired. So media has largely retired using words like 'embattled' or 'disgraced', because they know they won't get resignations. The idea of media pressure forcing a Minister out was always made up. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Also it cracks me up how these 2 headlines are a year apart.

sorry stuart but you must be This Divorced 📈 to ride this gravy train

Haven't seen a turnout comparison after the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election so I chucked this together

Please Don't Make Erica Stanford Leader, Auckland hates it in the briar patch

Look it may be inaccessible, downright structurally dangerous, outdated and definitely has some of its prominent features built by a convicted sex offender but I think it's brave that some people are willing to defend the ACT Party.

A higher % of voters from National, Labour & Act wanted NZF in government than the % who actually voted for NZF. Most Nat voters want Act to be in Govt. Most Labour voters want Greens in Govt. Interesting how unpopular one-party govt has become.

my prime minister told me australia keeps employing his nurses so I asked how many nurses he has and he said he just goes to asia and gets a new nurse afterwards so I said it sounds like he’s just feeding asian nurses to australia and then his daughter started crying

1/200 S2E155 - No Take, Only Throw This week - austerity & attacks on the public sector. This govt has declared war on teachers & healthcare workers, alongside renters, young people & the working class in general w/ @l11p.bsky.social @mythros.bsky.social @bootstheory.bsky.social @pmax.bsky.social

ok hear me out. what about Local Water Done Badly

This is exactly the sort of news story the regime is attempting to prevent with its move to classify health professionals as public servants in the Pae Ora Amendment Bill.

I was away when this came out, but have finally listened & of course it's a banger. Put this ep at the top of your list. A perspective you are unlikely to hear anywhere else & on top of that... he's right.

Peace & justice for Palestine has been the Centrist Position since at least November 2023, ONE MONTH after massively publicised October attacks by Hamas. Writers like Johnson should admit they represent a minority who are *measurably* radical supporters of this slaughter compared to the average Kiwi

1/200 S2E153 - Spine of the Times Chlöe Swarbrick was kicked out of the house this week for speaking against the genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile NZ media aligns itself against teachers and healthcare workers increasingly overt ways. w/ @kyledchurch.bsky.social @l11p.bsky.social

1/200 S2E148 - LGNZ of the Fall LGNZ had their conference & it's becoming clear central govt only likes local democracy when convenient. Epstein & McSkimming cases prompt a discussion about power, political risks & perverse incentives. w/ @l11p.bsky.social @mythros.bsky.social @pmax.bsky.social

announcing my campaign for mayor: i will be running on a platform of 20 core priorities, easily dwarfing my opponents who have an unambitious 3 or 5 priorities

He's a skilled political operator. Many people on this site might not like his politics. But he's at least competent, intelligent and capable of engaging with issues in detail.

I wrote this email to the spinoff this morning, frustrated with everything Greive's piece misses. Suffice to say my frustration remains.

finally we have a government that very slowly & bureaucratically centralises local govt responsibilities & describes it as kindness

Excessive rent and other spiralling costs closes popular cafe. Commercial landlords seldom feature in the news as a driver of business closures but it’s often their greed that forces business to close. #NZpol

Hearing a few people recently saying Patrick Gower has 'turned' right wing or got worse. I disagree. For a decade he's been fundamentally deeply incurious, reacting to vibes or acting as a courtier to power. Receipts 1/2: Billionaires Marijuana COVID border testing Teacher strikes

1/200 S2E146 - School to Prison Hypeline We connect changes to early childhood regulations & criminal laws. The school to prison pipeline is being strengthened. & we debate the story of NZers being referred to the ICC. w/ @l11p.bsky.social @mythros.bsky.social @pmax.bsky.social @eggsfordogs.com

There really isn't a viable argument against this, a clear example of the way that media/pol commentary and reporting are deeply divorced from the actual electorate via a nasty little cohort of pollsters, lobbyists and yes men

1/200 S2E144 - Global March to Gaza, US Empire and Iran We interview Kieran Kelly about his recent trip to Egypt for the Global March to Gaza, and discuss Gaza, the American Empire and Iran. w/ @l11p.bsky.social @krkelly.bsky.social

Good to see a centrist platform win in New York against the far right minority.

oops, maybe instead of believing far right politicians about the weather, establishment media should look outside & tell us whether it's raining

This looks great. Finally NZ might have a political party with a realistic approach to fiscal strategy. Labour Party get in here, it's time to copy some homework. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

1/200 S2E142 - Western Aggression Against Iran We host @jeremymosesnz.bsky.social to talk about events following Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran, the complicity of Western powers & the historical imperialism that led here w/ @kyledchurch.bsky.social @mythros.bsky.social & Dr Josephine Varghese

Israel is now attacking Iran, genociding Palestine, bombing Lebanon, occupying Syria & fighting with Yemen. They are a determined, ongoing threat to world peace. Throwing out ambassadors & sanctioning may not be enough any more. The UN needs to talk about full isolation & global response options.

Water In The Ballot Box ✒️ This is THE article to read about water reforms and upcoming local elections Thanks to our anonymous contributor for such a fantastic piece - something that's barely being talked about just yet, and certainly not with this level of detail

A 'poll' of farm owners/ managers including 50% members of Federated Farmers? 2-3% of NZ are farmers (100-150k) FF has 13k members Imagine Curia talking to logistics company owners & managers including 50% members of the TPU & calling it a survey of the logistics industry

1/200 S2E141 - Age of Entitlement Updates on the suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs & ways in which it is radicalising voters; the Michael Forbes case and the urgent need for an update to NZ legislation; and the apparent battle between Musk and Trump w/ @kyledchurch.bsky.social, @l11p.bsky.social

in vino veritas when it comes to National MPs Petition to keep National MPs drunk during election campaigns so the country knows who they really are

1/200 S2E138 - Trickle and Dimed We discuss Budget 2025 and how god awful it is alongside the media coverage and analys w/ @mythros.bsky.social @l11p.bsky.social & @kyledchurch.bsky.social

Voila.

I worked within "the system" for six years. Means testing is expensive and often completely unfair. And yet the political right have a rigid ideological belief in it, despite the fact that it completely disproves their claim to believe in less bureaucracy and regulation.

Maybe the best single document release by a political party I've seen in this country. Definitely worth reading & sharing.

#nzpol At 5pm yesterday, the Treasury informed the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi (NZCTU) it has been barred from attending the Budget lock-up on 22 May. This is the first time the CTU has been prevented from attending a Budget lock-up in living memory

1/200 S2E136 - The Pay After Tomorrow We discuss the newly announced changes to pay equity legislation and processes. Who is being affected? What does it mean for society, the Government, political parties and factions? w/ @l11p.bsky.social @bootstheory.bsky.social @mythros.bsky.social

🚨 Canadian Election Livestream on Tuesday 🚨 Subscribe & turn on notifications now! Chat will be limited to people who've subscribed for at least 5 minutes. www.youtube.com/live/AVVXeyT...

nz govt: we must fund our services in case of emergencies nz: finally! we're properly funding st john ambulances, surf life saving, westpac rescue helicopters & public health for pandemics! nz govt: no no we meant 9 billion dollars for american missiles

This is beginning to look like a run on a currency. Safe haven buyers selling US dollars and buying Swiss francs. USD/CHF (USD/CHF) is at 0.8200 (-4.26%) au.investing.com/currencies/u...

Hi @patbrittenden.bsky.social you mentioned on BHN you might want to chat to a polling nerd. I can't recommend @rustie.bsky.social enough 🫡

1/200 S2E131 - The Markest Hour We guest @parismarx.com for thoughts about the upcoming Canadian Election with parallels to the electoral situations across the rest of the west. w/ @kyledchurch.bsky.social and @l11p.bsky.social

they're calling him Chris Flipkins in the woke cafes

Shout out to @ojutel.bsky.social for a great explainer on @1of200.bsky.social, looking forward to hearing you on #BHN with @patbrittenden.bsky.social @chewienz.bsky.social tonight too!