That’s a no from New Zealand

The Post denounces National's plans to strip 55,000 people of their votes as anti-democratic. Then they hide this democratic message behind a paywall. So: fuck the paywall, here it is archive.ph/tdO56

@thepost-nz.bsky.social editorial: Say no to less democracy “With democracy increasingly under threat worldwide, there is no tangible reason to make voting harder in New Zealand. But that is exactly what the Government has proposed.” #nzpol www.thepost.co.nz/a/nz-news/36...

Palestine decision due around 11am our time www.thepress.co.nz/politics/360...

Over the next three decades, the South Island’s population will concentrate in fast-growing lifestyle districts such as Selwyn and Queenstown, while many traditional centres stagnate or shrink.

I think this means Lloyd Geering is now the oldest man in NZ. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-zeala...

The most obvious explanation is once again proven true: barring enrolments during advance voting was purely a pretext to deny franchise to a group of people who vote mostly against govt parties, so as to avoid the govt losing seats between election-night & final counts www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

A great piece

Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins? He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions. So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?

Penman on Eno is real brilliance

Kia ora to the judges for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Philip Matthews @secondzeit.bsky.social is convenor of the judging panel for the General Non-Fiction Award, & Claudia Jardine in the panel to judge the Mary & Peter Biggs Award for Poetry. www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-...

According to his Facebook page, Life in One Chord star Shayne Carter is doing solo gigs in Nelson, Blenheim, Lyttelton, Oamaru, Invercargill and Hokitika next month

I try not to do media criticism because we all make mistakes and there but for the grace of god go I. But it was really irresponsible for mainstream outlets to run with the "trans slogans engraved on the bullet" narrative, which seemed implausible from the jump.

Pivoted so hard they affected the earth's rotation

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers quashed any rhetoric that Tom Phillips ‒ shot dead on Monday after critically wounding a police officer ‒ should in any way be thought of as heroic.

Wow

What does Uber know that I don’t know?

Great piece by Fiona Farrell

He always has such a weird take

Headline of the year

Chch mayoral debate is online at 6pm www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Chch mayoral debate, aptly on the anniversary of the Sept 4 quake: www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Film festival hit Life In One Chord ‒ a biopic of sorts about Shayne Carter ‒ gets a general cinematic release from today. In a story full of energy, noise and pathos, one interview hits the hardest.

It was 15 years ago today

September 4, 2010, is when Canterbury’s earthquake sequence started. A 7.1-magnitude quake struck 40km west of Christchurch, near Darfield. No one had any sense that more destructive quakes would follow, and that the impact on the city’s politics, economy and infrastructure would endure for years.

Senseless cultural vandalism. So much for the Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum. #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

"He's not allowed to tweet as a condition of his bail." Congrats to Graham Linehan for that Hall of Fame-level bad-poster achievement.

Time to go back to comedy, Graham. www.stuff.co.nz/culture/3608...

The takahē staff are deeply saddened at the sudden passing of our Essays Editor, Kelly Ana Morey, and send heartfelt condolences to her whānau, friends, and all those in the writing community who will feel this great loss.

Hagley Park will erupt when "I Got You" is played

The Amazon announcement is old news www.thepress.co.nz/business/360...

Absolutely devastated Marbecks is closing after 90 years!! Another great retail loss for Auckland. And another music store shutting up shop. Gone are the days you had Marbecks, Real Groovy, the CD and DVD Store, and Sounds all along/near Queen St.

By all accounts, Dame Anne Salmond ruled at WORD Chch this year. newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/01/d...

The post-Christian age

Animal story of the day

Sound and Vision

Oh, FFS, media people, it was a fricken rugby game!! If you want a real horror show, look at Israel's warcrimes in Gaza!! This is pathetic. www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/5...

Beervana? Never mind.

Quote of the week: “It’s the economy. You don’t buy a TV to eat.”

Three waters has become a financial disaster for some councils. I spoke to a five-term mayor who says it has wrecked his council and the current reforms appear to be failing www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

Some excellent coverage of local and regional election issues in today's Press. If you don't subscribe, pop down to your local dairy and buy a good old-fashioned paper copy.

Sometimes I look at words and think I don’t know what they mean

If you haven't read Geoff Cochrane's poetry yet, and want to know where to start, we can recommend Vanilla Wine, Acetylene and Hypnic Jerks, but really - everything. And his books are currently on sale over the @thwupbooks.bsky.social website until the end of August.

McGlashan's "Charles Kingsford Smith" might be the nicest sad song about someone leaving on a plane since "Early Morning Rain"

Speaking of great NZ poetry, now listening to the Don McGlashan live album which opens with these lines: "Oh Harbour Bridge Why'd you have to be so grey? I drove her to the airport And I ran out of things to say" So good.

Happy poetry day nzpoetryshelf.com/2022/11/18/p...

Agreeing with Ben Kepes: "We could have demanded more from our publicly-funded content. Instead, we chose Celebrity Treasure Island." www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

Yes, really enjoyed this. It’s funny, tender, respectful. And some of the archival clips are just fantastic.