[#NZPol Winston Peters] The New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs seriously suggests we should be considering joining this Trump alternative to the United Nations. "The charter says the chairman can be replaced only in case of "voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity", Trump being […]

This is in the Minnesota Star Tribune today: identifying different types of crowd control munitions, with photos h/t @stevevladeck.bsky.social RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tutkpqtfsfdql5rj3j4bygq6/post/3mde2ejy6o22e #uspol #politics #minnesota #minneapolis #protests #ice #dhs #immigration

[#NZPol Contains frustration and disillusionment] Bloody hell: The Post can headline a Tracy Watkins article "Nature’s brutal reminder; the tragedies we don’t see coming" The we in that headline is more inclusive than it should be. Ostriches can't see with their heads in the sand but we are […]

Watching another unforseen weather event unfolding. The ostriches must be having trouble breathing in that sodden sand. #weather

Enjoying my reread of Terry Pratchett's Thud. The Watch stories have always been my favourite part of the Discworld. Was good to be reminded of the cold Pork Futures Warehouse where pork was hanging in limbo waiting to come into existence. Good fun but always filled with social commentary and […]

[#NZPol Growth Growth Growth] Food prices up 4% over the past year. More evidence of the laser focus on growth, growth, growth. Some excellent growth on white bread (58.3%). Looks like we are going to have to eat cake while we sharpen our pitchforks. #nzpol #dailyoutrage

[#NZPol missing person update] Good news on the search for proof of prime ministerial life: “In a statement to RNZ on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office said Luxon was aware of concerns about Grok.” He is aware of something. But he is not yet out on the road where Winston […]

[#NZPol Just asking questions] While we are still looking for our absent leader, I am choosing to be annoyed by the local government minister describing major weather events as unexpected and exempt from his rate capping charade. Who in 2026 can not be expecting unexpected weather events? […]

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/583992/victoria-s-bushfires-more-than-five-times-the-size-of-singapore An addition to the growing list of measurements I find hard to imagine. What does 5 Singapores look like? #measurement

[#NZPol] Still looking for the Prime Minister. Presume he has got his head stuck in a book about corporate leadership or is busy choosing which leader to study in 2026. I seem to remember it was Ronald the Raygun last year. #nzpol #dailyoutrage

[#NZPol] So where is the Prime Minister? Surely he can find time to give us some bland incoherent assurance that his government is on top of the big issues which have arisen during the summer break. Are they protecting my privacy or international law? A spotify playlist is all very well, but I […]

[My daily vent at the direction Aotearoa is currently heading] At the risk of being considered a hopelessly grumpy old man, today's outrage involves learning that some of my fellow kiwi citizens can afford to stay in a Queenstown hotel for up to $50,000 a night while so many are struggling to […]

Another milestone figure from my life gone. Bullshit and Jellybeans feels like yesterday. Last saw Tim Shadbolt outside Dunedin Hospital protesting about the food contract for hospital patients. And, as so often, he was correct, the food deteriorated. #timshadbolt

Today’s outrage sees my spleen venting on the failure of the PM to comment on the gross violation of international law perpetrated by the USA on Venezuela. I had been a little forgiving because I thought he was still on holiday but today I learned he was working from home, bless him. Being […]

I need to keep my irritation with the current government in check so one outrage a day. Today my spleen is vented on the misuse of the international visitors levy. We are not spending it on infrastructure or protecting the environment. Instead it is being used to promote even more tourism […]

Once again I arrive late in discovering some high quality science fiction. Met Emma Newman through her podcast with Adrian Tchaikovsky and have since immersed myself in her Planetfall novels. Was hooked by the second, loved the third and now have only Atlas Alone […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

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Been rereading Forester's Hornblower naval stories. When I was young I read them for the swashbuckling derring do. Now more than 50 years later I see the self doubt of the hero, the assumptions of English superiority over other nations and the horror of the […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

Nicola Willis challenges Ruth Richardson to a debate. "My message for Ruth Richardson is a very clear one, come and debate me face to face. Come out of the shadows." She picked the only living ex Minister of Finance who could make her look a little bit moderate in comparison. #nzpol #ruthenasia

[#NZPol Photo of school lunch] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/580527/food-poisoning-warning-after-christchurch-students-eat-contaminated-school-lunches The school lunch programme seems determined to maintain its low standards right to the end of term. Seymour will brush this off as he has […]

So we are having a public inquiry in which the hearings will be held in private. Am I living with Alice in Wonderland or withWinston Smith in 1984? I guess Judith Collins has always had a differnt concept of what public and private mean that the rest of us. Fodder for Robert Sarkies next film […]

[Contains references to bizarre #NZPol images] “Because I’m a politician,” replied Jones. Evidently that taxpayer provided porn did some damage to the Jones wiring. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/26-11-2025/demonic-eggbeater-shane-jones-has-a-normal-one-on-rnz #nzpol

Christopher Luxon would rather sell everything the government owns than pay Capital Gains Tax. He's entitled and greedy #NZPol

" He (Brownlee) wasn’t back by Question Time on Tuesday, and Deputy Speaker Barbara Kuriger presided over it. Her decisions weren’t bad, but Brownlee’s natural authority and humour were missed." Audrey Young demonstrating the acute political observation that makes her such an assett as senior […]

You have to admire the dogged determination of eight time Dunedin mayoral candidate Lee Vandervis for his dogged determination to prove the wisdom of the local electors in rejecting his candidacy so regularly, #dunedin #otepoti

This damning report cites Fonterra as the world's eleventh largest "Big Meat and Dairy" greenhouse gas emitter. When people say to you that little New Zealand can't really make an impact on ghg emissions because we are tiny in comparison to the large emitters like China, call bullshit because […]

Would love to know when and why Jim Bolger became The Great Helmsman. It was an honorific bestowed on Chairmn Mao Zedong. Who shifted it to Aotearoa? Was it praise or criticism of him as a conservative politician? Did he embrace the comparison with such a notorious communist leader? #nzpol #irony

Something seriously wrong with our Prime Minister's creativity. Instead of bigotry of his own he copies Shane Jones' homework. “Get off the couch, stop playing PlayStation and go find a job”. #nzpol #worstgovernmentever

I read that our PM is studying Ronald Reagan as a leadership model. Reagan famously won a huge landslide second term in 1984. Guess he can dream, even if he can't lead. #nzpol #worstgovernmentever

So the FBI boss entered Aotearoa with at least 5 illegal firearms, and gave them as presents. What does that tell us about his awareness of our culture and say about his? #nzpol

After rediscovering John Wyndham's science fiction from the 1950's through The Kraken Wakes I have continued down memory lane with The Day of the Triffids and now The Chrysalids. He tells a good story and it is fascinating to see the issues in the mind of a […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

Verify that you're human: #gazagenocide

Just to piss off Don Brash and pay him back for using an image of a Māori woman without her #consent on his anti-Māori-wards billboards please share this widely.

Nonspecific editions > Specific editions 😂 @bookstodon @fantasybookstodon @bookbubble @humour @reading #book #books #bookmemes #memes #humor #humour #novel #novels #bookshelf #mastobooks #BooksofMastodon #bookstodon #bookworm #Bookwyrm #Bookstodon #booklove #boostingissharing

[NZPol Contains Winston Peters and Gerry Brownlee] Why have I not seen any reporting of Brownlee finding finally his backbone and telling Winston Peters to stop his petty " I don't recognise Aotearoa" nonsense in Parliament? […]

[#NZPol] Amazed to hear a Federated Farmers spokesperson on Morning Report this morning accusing the banks of " indulging in the climate change space". Not much room for indulging in that space I would have thought. #climatechange#nzpol#NZPol

A new podcast from Adrian Tchaikovsky and Emma Neale called Starship Alexandria reminded me that John Wyndham wrote some pretty good Science Fiction back when I was young. So decided to go back and see how it stood up now. Half way through The Kraken Wakes and […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

[#nzpol Contains evidence of the lack of repect for parliamentary tikanga] If you have the stomach for it, read the transcript of Question Time for today. The Speaker is totally inadequate and fails to deal with senior government members who flaunt his rulings and regularly disrespect […]

Came late to the pleasure of Commissario Guido Brunetti but I am very pleased to learn there are 33 of these Venetian mysteries. Lots of food and moral dilemmas as corruption and history make being a good policeman very difficult. This particular novel featured […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]

I had forgotten that Brooke van Velden said this: "When it came to COVID, we completely blew out what the value of a life was, completely, I’ve never seen such a high value on life.” One of those people who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Sooner we get these people out of […]

[#nzpol Social workers v air traffic controllers] Marilyn Waring challenges the justifications for the pay equity changes. "Understanding what a social work qualification means, I would happily employ a social worker as an air traffic controller but never contemplate the reverse. " […]

I do not think New Zealand should be taking part in any "dynamic targeting kill-chain automation experiments." We are getting further and further away from our principled nuclear free policy. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/563739/the-pentagon-nz-and-the-new-nuclear-overlap #nzpol

[#nzpol Contains reference to hypocritical politician] I thought the most telling thing of all in a revealing Q & A van Velden interview was when she explained that she was a team player and the Cabinet team was pushing her to introduce her equity biil. This was her justification for ignoring […]

[#nzpol Contains frustration and disillusionment] So today we learn that submissions on the Regulatory Standards Bill will not be read by human beings but by a bot. As NRT asserts, this is "giving the finger to democracy." Add that to the fact that my last submission on the Treaty Princiles […]

Just read the Steve Braunias review of the Jacinda Ardern memoir in Newsroom. The unpleasant tone is not mitigated by his disparagment of memoirs by Judith Collins and Steven Joyce. I am pleased that I do not have such a mean spirited, self centred dickhead as Braunias among my circle of friends […]

[#nzpol Just asking questions] Is the audience for the Aotearoa Music Awards invited or have they purchased tickets for a public event? Was that geezer making the fuss invited or did he buy a ticket? #NZPol

A list of statements you can copy into your Regulatory Standards Bill submission by Lawyer Tania Waikato https://ugc.production.linktr.ee/b174ae12-2b7e-43d9-b5e3-9361e0e7dd06_50-submissions-on-the-RSB.pdf #nzpol #rsb #ToitūTeTiriti

Currently enjoying Sandra Newman's fresh perspective on Orwell's 1984. Puts some humanity and flesh on what I always found a very cold novel. Am having a good run with new perspectives on classics. Everett's James and Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead were both […] [Original post on mastodon.nz]