The RNZ/Reid poll story on RNZ today was wild - in a poll of 928 (after excluding don’t knows etc) about 1 more person indicated a preference for NZ First than Green yet the headline was all about the former ‘jumping’ to 3rd. MOE for 9.6%-9.8% is around 1.9% points. So no change from previous poll.

If the NACTNF coalition gets voted out in November it will be because voters decided they didn’t like the coalition. It won’t be, on current trends, because Labour presented itself as a government-in-waiting

It can be a one term government if we make it one

I want NZ Labour to listen. You aren't going to win yourselves the election this year with such lukewarm policies and an ineffectual leader. Lots of great MPs in labour, but your convictions will get the country nowhere if you keep your heads in the sand on this.

I... What?! A take so incandescent and based neither on fact or the relevant text that it stopped me in my tracks.

The last sentence is a genuine swerve, an actual twist ending.

Has there ever been a column that said, like, ‘the left were right that Trump was a fascist and I was wrong, this is precisely how I made a gross error in judgment, I repudiate my prior statements excusing Trump and insulting the left, here are some importing left-wing thinkers you should read’?

I'm not blowing smoke when I say some of the most truly exceptional students I've taught either took a year off btwn school & uni or had an unsuccessful stint right out of school, took a couple years, then came back to outstanding success. Uni might be for you even if it isn't right out of school.

This new #RunningMan is very long…

One thing to note re the NZ election date is that in dragging things out close to as long as he could Luxon has it happening days *after* the US mid-terms. We saw last year US election vibes can be be quite consequential in other countries. Not sure Luxon was wise to add that variable to the mix.

I’m sure the usual suspects who argue that the Greens should consider National as a potential coalition partner are now angrily denouncing National for refusing to consider the Greens in a coalition…

I have bought an ereader about the size of an iPhone 4 and the fact it fits in a pocket means I’ll probably do a lot more reading when out and about

This summer I plan to read a whole bunch of Emma Lathen

I hate to burst everyone's bubble but if you think that CBS News losing ratings or prestige matters to David Ellison, you're mistaken. Murdoch ran the NY Post for 45 years without turning a profit. They want these media companies to pump propaganda, not to get ratings or make money.

You obviously select for the maximum enjoyment of mediocre, affordable wine - duh.

The real question about the Sophie Turner Lara Croft is, will they make Lara appropriately psychotic? She is supposed to be an aristocrat who spends her life shooting endangered animals and robbing archeological sites. Some of the games play this up by making her just shy of the straight up bad guy.

So, I designed a card game late last year, and last weekend I finally got someone other than me and @thebibliophile.bsky.social to play it. They seem to have enjoyed it enough that they've asked I bring it to their place for a game's night this Sunday

In April 2024, Spotify implemented a new scheme: songs with less than 1k streams per year would no longer receive royalties. The data for 2025 was just released via Luminate, and 88% of songs have been demonetized. Read it again: 88% of songs on Spotify have been demonetized.

People talk about Star Trek as this utopian, progressive ideal of a TV series, but I put it to you that TOS featured notably racist Dr. McCoy, and TNG had Geordi, a character who had several episodes devoted to how he could not accept "No" from a woman.

Sci-fi authors love when shit is chitinous. they love a carapace

I remember how the media here covered the Kellie-Jay Keen speech in Auckland (the one where she got souped) that I attended, and how it was described as an angry mob when it was the most joyful, calm day. It was also telling that Action Zealandia turned up to support KJK and got zero mention.

I remember getting a job offer mid-way through the review process of a paper. My response to reviewers instantly changed. I switched from desperate willingness to accept any criticism to a more robust defence of my position. The paper was published & was better for it.

Like many sensible centrists I am beginning to feel uneasy about the current US administration. I might have to pen a strongly worded letter to leftists!

A paper of mine that ended up with four reviewers (long story short: it was originally rejected but I complained that one of the reviews made claims about the paper that weren’t in the paper itself, so it was sent out for review anew) has been accepted

It's been a while since I saw someone less mourned than Scott Adams. Not a judgment, just an observation. And maybe a warning.

Great coverage of this. The "top secret" information was...that they wanted to get 32 testers to test *something*. RS's barrister wouldn't even discuss these messages out loud in court, but it seems RS forgot or didn't care to apply to restrict reporters from accessing this evidence.

#Galaxy4 is a very boring and slow story. It’s not a great start to #DoctorWho’s third series

“Murder at the Embassy” was the unnecessary sequel to “Invitation to a Murder”, itself an inessential film. Still, lovely location work in Cairo, and it being an anti-Nazi film in this day and age is itself a miracle

TV comedy pitch: a show about a LAW & ORDER-like franchise and how frantically hard it has to work to whitewash police behaviour into successful copaganda.

I am once again reminding you all that the UK government introduced an Online Safety Act that is effectively a porn ban on most adult porn websites, but is dithering over banning a website that is actually creating child porn.

There's a ton of research showing that if moderate parties accept the premises of far-right parties on immigration, & then start copying them, support for the far-right increases. This is entirely unsurprising. Yet Labour keeps doing it, knowing this research is unequivocal.

Still less money spent than that used to buy dowsing rods for hidden explosives, mind

Back to Aotearoa late next week for a summer vacation. Albeit one where I have to work on two talks and will doubtless have at least one or two revised papers to work on. But a holiday is a holiday!

This, to be clear, is not an apology. Not sure what it is.

Erich von Däniken has died. An absolute conman, but he is the reason I got into Forteana, which eventually got me interested in skepticism and then conspiracy theories. So, thanks Erich. I guess it’s possible you now know if Jesus is an alien or not…

Josh ages so people like me don’t have to! Happy birthdays to him!

it's a small thing in the large scheme, but I think we have what it takes to make the 2026 Worldcon the last US Worldcon for a long, long time

Yesterday three New Zealanders in Guangzhou pondered why we all thought 20 degrees Celsius feels cold given the climate of the country we come from

I am begging Democratic leadership to recognize that funding and legitimizing your authoritarian opponent’s secret police is a bad idea. This should not be a difficult concept.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

RNZ choosing to syndicate CNN here, and specifically an article that platforms, and even promotes, Vance and other fascists' views that the shooting was justified, while introducing doubt as to the actual reality we've all seen, is an absolute failure of RNZ staff. Wtaf are you all doing over there

Every time so-called progressive politicians or commentators opt out of putting forward a progressive position they cede the ground for maniacs to grab it as an opportunity to look reasonable to the average person, and people get drawn into the right-wing funnel to be onboarded and radicalized.

I had thought that this year I would only revise and resubmit articles, and spend my time on one solicited book chapter and the long in gestation new book. But I’ve had a new article idea…

This. And despite their "outreach", they target and harm queer people.

I believe that the intention of the tabbed browser was a mistake

Regarding the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, “you do not, under any circumstances, gotta hand it to him” but it does take a special level of hypocrite to shit on long summer holidays and WFH only to be MIA during the biggest international incident of his tenure and then claim he is WFH.

International followers might not realise that Australia's "special envoy for antisemitism" wouldn't condemn actual Nazi marches in the streets, but remains very upset about the protests of university students.

It is the season of essay marking, and I don’t want to

I want to know more about this performer because there is some quality philosophy joking going on here!

The International Rules Based Order will return in Avengers: Doomsday.

Look, the PM likes his ten week holiday over Xmas/New Years. He just doesn’t want other people to have such a luxury