Looks like I'm gonna be mayor. 500 special votes to count and I'm expecting them to widen my lead.

MĀORI WARDS 40% of areas chose to keep Māori wards. Some by a wide margin. A better result than I expected, given the demographics and embedded racism in our country. In areas that lost, I'd love to know whether the numbers have improved since any previous referendum. Aotearoa on the move.

Time to be straight up about the rates. nandor.net.nz/2025/08/29/w...

Police carried out an unlawful program of mass surveillance for years. They created a database of thousands of photos of Māori children who were under no suspicion. Police have failed over and over to meet deadlines to delete the photos. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

I love Judaism. I love the teachings of the sages, the profound reasoning in Mishnah and Midrash. I love the wisdom of the ancient Rabbis like Hillel & Gamaliel, & the joyful worship of the Baal Shem Tov. I love the preeminence of ethics and humanitarianism within Judaism. Israel is not Judaism.

This is a story about spies. Though they are highly trained, they don’t work for an intelligence agency. They work for paying clients. One target was James Coussey. He'd been a criminal prosecutor. Why were they after him? My new @theguardian.com investigation (1/8)

Orange jumpsuit, or orange wig?

1. Researching this week’s column, I felt that I understood at last just why, on so many issues – benefits, Gaza, environmental and planning laws, anti-protest laws, bank deregulation, fiscal rules etc - Labour is out-Torying the Tories. Why it has become so cruel, so destructive and so spineless. 🧵

Anyone who truly wants governance and politics done well owes thanks to @misswhanau.bsky.social for exposing dirty politics + misogyny + bullying. We need to know who we are dealing with. Questioning HER motives is sooooo revealing.

Just a periodic reminder: fascism and anti intellectualism are inextricably linked. The epistemic crisis and the crisis of fascism are mirrors.

UNRWA has food for the entire population for over three months — stockpiled and ready also in Al Arish, Egypt. The supplies are available. The systems are in place. Open the gates. Let UNRWA deliver. 1 million children are waiting.

A Government for Big Business, by Big Business

Yesterday, 12 countries announced their commitment to a full arms embargo on the Israeli government. The resolution comes out of an emergency summit in Bogota where the Hague Group gathered to coordinate legal and diplomatic action to counter the “climate of impunity” for Israeli war crimes.

Same with #nzpol Labour under Hipkins

It takes great courage to refuse to enlist in Israel. They stick people in a psych ward to refusing to take part in a genocide.

I got a courtesy call from the Whakatāne police today. A woman rang them from Tel Aviv to complain about my social media posts. Apparently opposing genocide is a hate crime in her eyes. They assured me that she has been told that no crime was committed.

34 years without alcohol or tobacco. Still a criminal for making better choices.

This one's been doing the rounds. A game where you repatriate stolen African treasures from western museums. Gotta love an adventure with African heroes.

The cosmic jester strikes again

A reminder that people posting about excess deaths in NZ from the covid vaccine are wrong. Most have been misled into repeating lies. A small number are deliberately creating those lies. The vaccine saved more people than it harmed. The long list of "mortalities" that is being circulated is made up.

Counting the true toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand ije-blog.com/2025/06/17/c...

There is an actual genocide taking place before our eyes and some people are more upset about what words we use to express our horror.

I think that what can be disheartening about these times is that it can seem as if we are going backwards. The proliferation of fascist and white supremacist ideologies, the unapologetic flouting of international law and enacting genocide, the contempt for and hatred of women,

George Monbiot on point as always

SABBATH IDITATION This world is passing away. Not the planet, or life, or even people (although some of our relations are disappearing forever). But the world that we know is passing away. It cannot maintain itself under current conditions.

This really is very interesting. I have no idea how widespread this is.

I see some people saying that the fires are God's judgement. It was prophesied. I see others saying 'it's not God, it's Greed. It's what happens when we heat the planet, as predicted." What is God's law if not natural law?

"Seriously, I don’t care how much it costs. Take every dime I have. But know this: I would level my house to the ground before I paid slightly higher property taxes to fund infrastructure that would prevent a landslide from leveling my house to the ground."

Wisdom from his many years.

Consequences are a bitch.

Melkam Genna. Today is the day of Christ Mass in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Many will gather in Lalibela, that most sacred of places, the new Jerusalem, to chant praises to the Most High, and to give thanks for the birth of the Annointed. tinyurl.com/bdh6u6b7

Elon Musk has told everyone not to donate money to Wikipedia. Don't know if wiki put him up to it but it got me reaching for my wallet. Anyway, i visit Wikipedia often so it's definitely worth a donation.

Targeting journalists is a wat crime www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8iS...

Towards the end,I thought I was reading about the ancient Roman Empire... nope. open.substack.com/pub/chrished...

'The Work That Reconnects' is a very powerful process for those of us suffering burnout and feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the fuckery and the vastness of the stupidity. We need to get better at looking after ourselves, acknowledging our despair, and then imagining the future we want.

Musk backing the far right in German elections. www.reuters.com/world/europe/elon-musk-gives-nod-german-far-right-party-election-looms-2024-12-20

Most people won't have heard of this bill. It's another attempt to remake the constitution of Aotearoa NZ in ACTS narrow libertarian image.

This is the kind of leadership that Aotearoa, and the world, needs. A map towards a better future. www.greens.org.nz/he-ara-anamata

We had a briefing today from the most excellent Natalie Coates on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. Have a watch if you want to get your head around what it might mean for councils if passed. www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bk...

Why am I getting spam for a razor to shave my pubes? I don't even shave my face. Lots of money being spent to convince us that shaved pubic hair looks good, & is the fashionable choice for men & women. I'm not convinced. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to just to look like a prepubescent child.

Of course this Government is gutting funding for advanced soc sci research. They are following the gameplan of the international right. Anti-intellectualism is a strategic move. The intention is to undermine critical thinking and historical awareness, because they are the prophylactic to fascism.

Season of the Nativity.

What a deal oil & gas are offering here. We pay the cost of catastrophic climate change if they find oil. We pay their exploration costs if they don't. It's a lose - lose. This is as demented as it gets. tiny.cc/4agyzz