Benedict Ong is, weirdly, not the only NZ elected representative to leak allegations against *themselves* to the media but he’s surely the only one has done it so frequently.

I’m just trying to think of good kākāpō numbers and not the fact they’re removing scientists off Macquarie Island so they don’t have to face with the psychological effects of anticipated mass die-off of elephant seal pups from H5N1.

Pastafarian History Day is every day. Maybe be someone who is Zoroastrian, a homosexual or part of the Friends fandom or even someone who has flatulence. You should reevaluate your Pastafarian privilege Bobby. You never had to fight for your right to coexist in society.

I was reminded today that one of the doctors at my GP is called Dr Crooke and I think that’s the best name a doctor could have.

I feel like Rose Matafeo has taken on Taskmaster NZ because she knows how much it’ll annoy Ed Gamble. He’s got the podcast and won the season they were both on but SHE’s Taskmaster on Jnr Taskmaster and can compete in two Taskmasters. 😂

Milo getting picked up by ICE after publicly advocating for “on the spot deportations” while he was already overstaying his visa, is just a beautiful leopards faces moment. Also getting dobbed in by Laura Loomer that he may have been in Louisiana for a Ye concert is the cherry facts on top.

New from @vantortech.bsky.social. Absolutely astonishing images of the China-Nepal Gyirong Port/Rasuwagadhi border post. Literally nothing is left. (Before 19 April, After 27 Aug)

Wow it’s almost as if people warned this exact thing a) was already happening and would b) just happen more frequently if the law got changed. (The left article is RNZ today, the right is from the Pacific Media Network, Jan 2025)

Stuff hiring Chris Penk as a columnist smacks of desperation and a bit of ‘they didn’t know who he was in Parliament, they’ll forget who is again in five seconds’ lack of reflection.

Someone was playing word association games and hit print.

LawNews really buried the lede focusing on the Pitcairns.

Someone is holding an event in Auckland for Charlie Kirk next month and it’s … a whole other level of wow.

Respectfully, it doesn’t munt anything. A coalition agreement is a negotiation between two or more parties, whether we like the outcomes. The ‘agree to disagree’ clause is necessary here because National is the major coalition leader, not because the ban in the coalition agreement (it wasn’t).

Kevin Veale 😷 (Toitū Te Tiriti)@krveale.bsky.social · 2w ago

"ACT and New Zealand First have invoked the 'agree to disagree clause'." I really hope this part gets airplay, because it completely munts National's "we HAD to do [thing we wanted to do anyway] because it was in the coalition agreement" argument that the media otherwise hasn't challenged #nzpol

I sometimes forget my girlfriend didn’t grow up in New Zealand, but she was singing Ruldolph the Red-Nose Reindeer to our cats, and she LAUGHED when I concluded it with “like the All Blacks!” (We’re now down a Rudolph-rabbit hole.) acedino.medium.com/regional-var...

Regional Variation in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is known for its impromptu call-and-response lyrics. I examine regional variation in the additional…

acedino.medium.com

I'm deeply ashamed of my profession. Its treatment of Jason Arday - right across the board - fills me with disgust and horror. The tormenting of a highly vulnerable man was seen as monetisable entertainment. This is a stain that won't wash off. bylinetimes.com/2026/08/19/j...

Jason Arday: We Must Rage – Rage Against the Journalism of Cruelty

The death of the academic shows the casual conversion of humiliation into entertainment by a media running on monetised hate and cruelty

bylinetimes.com

Really odd to watch the Government pass its bill shutting down Smith v Fonterra with basically no mainstream media coverage (besides one RNZ article). Extra weird because Mike Smith is literally in the SC this week taking his separate case against the A-G over the govt’s climate inaction.

National must be worried and desperate if they've got Chantelle Baker shilling for them on Facebook now 🤔 😱 #nzpol

All that and Anna Fifield wasn’t game enough to even dare mention her former employers’ hiring a political strategist as editor to the Dom Post.

There was higher voter turnout for a race between a facist and a bin than there has been in New Zealand local government elections for years. #nzpol

I’d say there’s a slim chance ex-submarine pilot Chris Penk turns up in NZFirst within five years…

So yes, the worst people you know are fighting. But all of them dislike the thing they're arguing about for almost exactly the same reason, which is why I am pro-HDCA and why you can't support any party here, except in demonstrating the HDCA works and is valuable free speech legislation.

Oh and THAT is why the Free Speech Union wasn’t piping up. Oh the whole things a shitshow.

Chris sacked Chris for plotting to replace Chris with Chris to stand against Chris #nzpol

If you call a press conference and then don’t allow any questions it is the epitome of ‘a meeting that could have been an email’. #nzpol

We are a ridiculous country #nzpol

Paddy and/or Stuff not realising that the move-on orders haven’t become law yet is frustrating because it ignores the bigger picture that homeless folk have always been moved on by Police, regardless of this coalition’s proposals.

I have never seen this photo before. It is the most beautiful “picture tells 1000 words” for this coalition.

Vote for hope in November! Toitū te Tiriti 🇳🇿@mrjeffhowell.bsky.social · last mo.

National negotiated an absolute nightmare of a coalition agreement in 2023. Until 2023 it was assumed parties got policies commensurate to their number of seats. But it turned out there were no guardrails to ensure this happens. Hence gun laws, tobacco, toilet laws, Treaty Principles etc etc 1/

Honestly gutted to hear this. I had been wondering what happened to him as I used to see him around town all the time and then he just seemed to vanish, but no death notice appeared - until today. Good to know he was being cared for in his final days. He was a character 💔

2covet @2covet.bsky.social · last mo.

Vale Nathan Jones, a Wellington character and a lovely fellow. 💔 www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

Miranda Hart Says 'Such Fun!' on Miranda Show

ALT: Miranda Hart Says 'Such Fun!' on Miranda Show

static.klipy.com

henry cooke@henrycooke.bsky.social · last mo.

Nicola Willis and Mark Mitchell suggested this morning that firing Winston Peters would bring down the Government. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...

Regardless of any outcome, it’s amazing to see Netsafe seemingly did its job for once