Is it just me? Trying to sign in to @thespinoff.bsky.social and I click sign in, then it asks me to make a new password. So I try to. Then it tells me my email is already associated with an account. I knew that. That's why I was trying to sign in!

A Detective *Inspector* is surprised Police don't give much detail to those being investigated while an investigation is ongoing? Is the investigation just into his not knowing how Policing works? www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-a...

I think I might have to do this. The New Zealand Outdoors & Freedom Party has applied to make their party name "Freedom", which would ban anyone else from running "Vote for Freedom" ads, and ban the word Freedom from public places on election day.

Idiomatically, "Served Himself Up on a Silver Platner" is a pretty good phrase for any person whose initial set of *visible* imperfections should have been disqualifying and, when ignored, forced effort to be put into revealing dozens of equally bad or worse imperfections.

The lack of a civil justice response to forestry slash (negligence, supported by Rylands v Fletcher) shouldn't have surprised me (civil justice is for rich people), but it still disappointed me.

Pandora, the jewellery company, has a collection they’re heavily advertising for people who have their birthdays at this time of year. They have called it Cancer Season

I can see why they turned off replies and quotes. "No trial" = after six week hearing, a jury found the allegations proved beyond reasonable doubt "Rockstar petitioned" = Police filed charges and the Crown placed the evidence before a jury.

I would have imagined AI use was also reasonably high among the cohort of recent humanities graduates.

My principal concern with NZ First's only-citizens-can-vote proposal is that, if we determine that it's a good idea, then it should definitely be phased in. At *least* two elections without removing any currently eligible voter, probably more.

There are a range of media and people who have lost their mind about Mamdani. At the time of real threats to democracy they treat him evoking the American creed they grew up with as dangerous radicalism.

Okay, I swear, this scenario actually just happened

My hot take on anthems is that they should be sung by crowds, not professionals. So, while there are some truly great renditions of the Star Spangled Banner, it gets beaten as an anthem by anthems like this one www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQTq...

“I’m always keen to do something that feels like giving something back, so it just felt like something I could do that would be giving something back to the city.”

Police denied making a complaint about Ray Chung. So, what’s this text?

The supposedly progressive campaign to restrict housing in posh suburbs

Wondering whether to object to the party name "Free Palestine". No objection to "Free Palestine Party", but this gives someone some control over the words "Free Palestine" (eg potentially needing their permission to include it in some ads). elections.nz/media-and-ne...

There must be something I'm missing here. Did Parliament not get rid of permanent name suppression in sexual offending cases absent the consent of the victim?

The 1976 bicentennial was really fun, guys. There were patriotic ice cream flavors & my grade school buried a time capsule, which I’m dying to dig up, it was probably stuffed with MAD Magazines & Sunshine Family dolls. My personal contribution was making an Abe Lincoln square for a Girls Scout quilt

Who was it who pitched the idea of the "abstention party" recently? Here's a novel approach for ya

I feel I kinda assumed he was already dead, tbh.

Name a movie that flopped at the box office but is actually great #FilmSky The Iron Giant (1999)

Thought this was a band and record label

We have just launched a parliamentary petition calling for mandatory AI transparency in the public sector. If AI is going to be used in the delivery of public services, it must be AI that is worthy of our trust. Sign: petitions.parliament.nz/7bfe1c60-b99... Read more: www.trustworthyai.nz

Unfortunately if people universally misunderstand what elections are for, that kind of affects what elections are for.

In 1908 the Lancet called for an 18+ age limit on reading in bed for U.K. children.

What do you think apartheid was? There were also millions of Black Africans living in South Africa! www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2026/06/who_...

Truly an unreal moment, as a crowd gathers at 10:30pm on a Friday night outside the Kennedy Center as a crew puts up scaffolding to take down Donald Trump’s name.

I'm glad to see Brendan being consistent here in calling this out, I've been surprised that many people who have talked about misinformation and public policy in the past have sort of sat this one out, on an issue that is very important to get right.

You hate to see it, but it's hard to argue that 1.3 million people can save $1200 annually for Labour's specified cost of $65m Late as it is, I welcome the shift from the govt seeking to drag fiscal maths back into the domain of empirics from the domain of discourse where Steven Joyce left it

Not a local government expert, so can someone point me to the law which gives the Council the power to remove someone in these circumstances? As distinct from eg the High Court having that power? www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

Re up

What a resource!

A capture from the video showing how bright it was AND a bonus image of the lighting itself

The argument that 'the increase is necessary to get good people in the role' fails because she is already in the role and signed up at the lower rate. So either the money isn't necessary to get good people, or she is an example of the bad people you get for less money.

I long had a hope that someone like Bob Jones, finding he had a surplus building near Parliament, would offer to convert it into a bunch of apartments that could be offered to MPs who needed Wellington accommodation and that would be the option given.

this budget looks nothing like a household budget. i’ve been lied to.

A few days left to sign the petition asking for Crown Solicitors to be brought into the OIA. Would be great to reach 300 signatures before it closes. petitions.parliament.nz/b6459024-f98...

Of all the things people are trying to abandon, the rules based order & the sheer miracles of modern medicine are the most cruel. This historian endorses both as the best options we have right now.

They are being applied prospectively. The government is not overturning any past findings of liability. Everyone who owed money or other response from breaching a climate tort still owes that money.

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

Another reminder: if there exists *any* class of people who don't have due process rights, then *nobody* actually has due process rights because the government can always just say you're in that class.

Useful information in the link here, including the OIA response itself. It refers to a number of other OIA responses that are in train. Does anyone know if they have been received? Does anyone know if the Fonterra, etc. briefing was also sent to MfE? Because that would explain things completely.

Vote records in absolute numbers is a meaningless statistic. After Trump 2024 and Trump 2020, but ahead of Trump 2016, the third-greatest number of votes ever won in Texas for president is Biden 2020. The "record" is always in the last election or two because that's how population growth works.

Love it: the night after he was kicked off of CBS for good, Stephen Colbert hosted a public access show in southeast Michigan.

A throwback. www.popehat.com/p/who-judges...

Basically we are getting spammed by Ministers announcing baby business-as-usual investments in the hope we forget about the snatching away of proper funding. If we don't get distracted by whacko culture wars stuff maybe the pixie dust will get in our eyes.

This is a lower bound: the number of tests that could not possibly have been valid. It excludes a much larger number of tests conducted with not-quite-incredible speed and efficiency

Racism in Northland police and what sounds like a truly awesome young guy who deserves a small medal, not the nonsense he received... (Also, why it's worth keeping a Herald sub) www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/racism-cl...