Dear @lucympowell.bsky.social, I have enjoyed our exchange of letters about which of our parties is best placed to stop Reform. Hannah Spencer MP and I trust that you agree that this question has now been resolved once and for all. Thanks, Zack Polanski

Three weeks ago I spent a few days in one of our global dark sky sanctuaries in Rakiura Stewart Island New Zealand. Never has deep time felt so real or so close. But every now and then one of Elon's dumbfuck satellites would interrupt the eternal rhythms of the stars. Let's not let it get worse.

We're probably getting pretty close to 700 science jobs lost over this term of government, directly linked to reforms/cuts. And believe me: the country wasn't overflowing with them to start with.

The Government is currently negotiating an Enhanced Border Security Partnership with the US Department of Homeland Security that would grant US agencies, including ICE, automated, direct access to New Zealanders' biometric data and identity records.

"Today, the Brazilian Supreme Court announced that they had convicted the masterminds behind the assassination of socialist Rio de Janeiro City Councilwoman Marielle Franco guilty on all counts." massive news in Brazil today, writeup by @mikeelk.bsky.social paydayreport.com/rio-police-c...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has invited both teams to his office for a photo op. He felt bad for the American women's team not going to the White House. Safer in his office than in trumps...

I wish the self-parodies were at least funny.

A single image that captures NZ's dominant belief system and economic model #nzpol www.reddit.com/r/newzealand...

If we can’t afford to have the expertise in our councils to operate critical infrastructure, how can we pay someone else to do it? www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

And while everyone sees the flooding photos, the real damage comes after. Crop losses leading to price hikes and businesses struggling. Huge bills for insurance companies and councils. Economic damage from road closures. The massive emotional toll for those having to pick up the pieces. #nzpol

It’s so funny to think about the fact that there’s people out there deferring every life decision to this

My son (34) is looking for a new roommate for his house in Aro Valley, Wgtn. House is tiny but great location and beautifully renovated, bedroom a decent sized double. Very reasonable rent. Son autistic, so very neurodivergent friendly! DM me if you or anyone you know interested. Avail Mar 9

Luxon's govt have introduced voting restrictions for 2026. They removed day enrolment for voters. This means that you, your friends and your whānau have to actively enrol by the end of October. Please check your enrolment status at vote.nz and encourage everyone you know to do the same. #NZPol

Gandalf really is heroic when you consider that there were originally five wizards and one of them turned evil, two of them fucked off and went out east to have orgies, and one is just super into talking to gophers. The one last hope of free peoples was the stoner and that crazy mfer did it.

Two things I’m not sure is widely understood: 1. Many public servants no longer have their own desks and work in transient government co-working spaces 2. Many describe a Kafkaesque existence of going to physical offices only to spend their time on video calls with the people sitting next to them

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

We're selling off our landscape wholesale for peanuts :/ #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

"I watched ... academics and sector experts be removed from writing teams in favour of corporate resource creators, and saw curriculum documents change radically over a matter of hours in response to the latest red-pen notes from ministers."

Good news - and bad. Judith Collins is retiring from politics - but she's been appointed Law Commission president. You know, the Law Commission that should be politically neutral. This is US/Trump style hijacking of our justice system. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

How can a person who's career has been dogged by fraud accusations and who cosies up to the likes of Kristi Noem even be considered as president of the Law Commission? It makes a mockery of the position.

The fabulous SJD for anyone who needs to step back for a minute... "we'll be alright without you... for a while" www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKU4...

I cannot imagine the devastation this family is experiencing today. This statement is powerful and must be read.

Government's view repeated in headline without attribution. Where are RNZ's basic editorial standards? #NzPol

The largest generation in U.S. history is in their 70s now. And Stephen Miller’s podcaster wife thinks it’s suspicious that there’s a huge surge in home health aides.

This is a great example of how genAI steals from us all on multiple levels. It's stolen a promotional spot for real books and authors, it's stolen a job from an actual journalist who could have compiled this, it's stolen an opportunity for parents to be recommended good NZ books for their kids

Clearest example of governments being more interested in regulating individuals rather than institutions/organisations. We do not have lobby groups and donations, just the one vote. Make sure YOU separate glass and plastic but we aren’t gonna a do a damn thing about data centers or Big oil.

We have monetized dysfunction

These articles always talk about the billions of dollars of gold - but that is effectively the money that is going overseas, leaving kiwis with pennies in the dollar. In 2024/2025 the NZ Govt received a total of $143 million from all mining, all sources. #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

Since, AFAIK, it isn't probed by New Zealand media or critically raised elsewhere incl. in parliament, it will never cease to surprise me how the Foreign Minister esp., & others in Govt willingly appear on a far-right podcast platform that promotes, & normalises ChCh terrorist's violent extremism.

i wonder what this totally brave soul is doing right now

AI imagery is the equivalent of Plato’s prisoner being bored of sunlight, clambering down into a cave, shackling himself to a rock to watch shadows cast by firelight and forgetting that the world above exists.

More industrial sabotage > newsroom.co.nz/2025/12/10/t...

This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.

International Hero 👇

What I read in 2025 (23): Grant Robertson's Anything Could Happen: A Memoir He would have made a fine prime minister. A rollicking memoir, particularly fascinating about his family and Dunedin student years. The best bit: a man who's truly supportive of female colleagues without making it about him

There is no corruption in New Zealand There are no cows on our farms There is no corruption in New Zealand We can all keep perfectly calm

Shane Jones “wants to saddle us with permanent landscape destruction, and a long-term environmental liability that will forever foul what makes our place special to anyone that lives here or visits.” #nzpol

I should also say kudos to Phil Smith of RNZ, for doing what seems to be the hardest thing for many in the media: publicly admitting that he got it wrong in an earlier report. Much appreciated.

Shane Jones a ‘bully and hypocrite’: Sam Neill fires back over controversial gold mine “Neill has joined others in strongly criticising Santana Minerals’ huge open-cast mine planned near Cromwell, calling it “toxic” and “an environmental catastrophe”.” archive.today/PbFbI #nzpol

Fast and fudged: Crimes bill omits crimes

GLASHEEN: Antifa is our primary concern right now. That's the most immediate violent threat we're facing BENNIE THOMPSON: Where is antifa headquartered? GLASHEEN: ... ... ... we are building out the infrastructure right now THOMPSON: What does that mean?

This is INSANE www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/t... and these are our closest allies!

An OIA confirms it: the Ministry of Education are using AI - Copilot- to develop the new school curriculum. Article here, more as it develops. Please share widely: www.emilywrites.co.nz/yup-theyre-u... #nzpol #kikorangi

This is terrible policy that likely forces all users to identify themselves to online services, and fails to recognise the reality of the world in which modern teenagers exist and communicate. It is a knee jerk policy response to a poorly understood issue defined by people who don't talk to kids

An NZ ban on Under 16YOs from using social media platforms won't only affect teens. Platforms will use it as an excuse to data grab info from older people too. Like PatronScan database used by Dakota Bar holding identity info of customers and with no deletion option. So many #privacy issues. #NZpol

Captures the mood of much of the country under this government - bleak, with a sense that everything is broken, that there is no opportunity for young people to get ahead, and that the government simply doesn't care.

NZ has had two major reforms of subnational government so far: 1876 and 1989 As the guy who literally wrote a book on the demise of that first system, *and* as someone who generally supports more unitary authorities, my considered opinion is that this proposal is completely insane

$4 BILLION to save 'up to 10 minutes' during peak traffic. Fucking hell - imagine what that $4B could do for housing, education, health, etc, in Aotearoa.

In today’s NZ Herald