Whānau Āwhina Plunket is a rich source of data that can help us understand how NZ infants are getting on. This paper, published today, is about breastfeeding prevalence. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

I don’t want to Do mY OwN rEsearCh. I want really clever researchers to do the research because that’s what they are good at and correctly advise politicians and people in power to make the right decisions for the benefit of all of us. I’ll bring snacks.

We are seeing that here in relation to the council. Right-wing politics isn't about liberal freedoms and free speech. It's about control and facilitating certain types of and speech while restricting the speech of others. You do that by appointing the 'right' people to positions who will enact that.

📣 Join us for the EPOCH-Translate Evidence to Action Forum! Hear from leading experts as we share insights from 10+ years of research & explore future directions for advancing early childhood health & obesity prevention in Australia. 📍 University of Sydney or online ➡️ Registration: lnkd.in/gGiYuYeP

Our NZ Medical Journal editorial highlights Health Minister Simeon Brown‘s political interference in the Medical Council. His decision not to reappoint its chair and deputy chair reflects a broader ideological rejection of evidence by this government that threatens patient safety.

Doctors accuse Minister and Government of silencing scientists and threatening patient safety

Four senior physicians have criticised Simeon Brown’s handling of Medical Council appointments, while the Health Minister says the Government is putting patients ahead of ideology.

stuff.co.nz

"It turns out that firing all your employees, replacing them with extremely expensive software your deluded CEO thinks is magically sentient, and then layering it all on top of very broken and long-neglected systems results in fairly universally bad outcomes. Fancy that."

Karl Bode@karlbode.com · last mo.

the final reckoning between AI hype and reality is upon us. buckle up.

What does a wealth tax actually look like? We sent Brighty Buoy and his tiny balls to Wimbledon to chat to fans 🎾

Using my polite grown-up voice to say something quite obvious, LLMs are confidence machines for bosses, middle managers and corporate consultants. newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/08/w...

Why large language models are an economic dead end

Comment from Otago University: Dr Olivier Jutel deconstructs the generative AI hype, exposing the unsustainable economics, cooked corporate numbers, and tech-stock over-allocation

newsroom.co.nz

6 years of research: "The only trait that consistently predicted objections to remote work was narcissism—the tendency to be self-centered & entitled. The higher the opinions of themselves leaders expressed, the more they coveted power and status—& the more they favored return-to-office mandates."

Who loves America more than those who have sacrificed to make it free? Happy Fourth of July.

We See America

YouTube video by NYC Mayor's Office

youtu.be

Link here, thanks for your mahi💚

The case for voting Green

I’m not a member of the Green Party, but they're getting my vote. Here’s why.

simonwilsonhopetown.substack.com

Excellent resource!! How much of my life has been spent trying to explain this to co-investigators and reviewers and as a reviewer. It’s a critical step in the deprogramming ✨

Kristoffer Magnusson@rpsychologist.com · 2mo ago

New interactive blog! "Why Adjusted Regression Coefficients Are Less Descriptive Than They Look" rpsychologist.com/descriptive-...

Hot take: every streaming service should have a "show me stuff you've never showed me before" button.

This article totally gets what I 💛loved about Backrooms (film): “generic public architecture, abandoned offices, malls … share certain traits. They are devoid of human life” ocula.com/magazine/opi...

What Art History Can Reveal About the ‘Backrooms’ Aesthetic

The furniture-strewn, labyrinthine corridors of box office hit ‘Backrooms’ evoke a strange nostalgia in which uneasy familiarity triggers memory, a phenomenon the art world has long explored.

ocula.com

Read this whole story 🎁: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/o...

Opinion | The Secret Reason Bosses Want Everyone Back in the Office, Every Day of the Week

nytimes.com

New York Times Opinion@nytopinion.nytimes.com · 2mo ago

Some bosses say full-time, in-person work boosts productivity or collaboration. “Our new research reveals that the objection to any work from home is more likely to be driven by something else entirely: ego,” write Adam Grant, Marissa Shandell and Courtney Elliott.

It's time for the super-rich and big corporations to pay their fair share. Visit greens.org.nz to learn how "A Tax System for All of Us" can build a fairer country for everyone 💚✊

Big tunes from Aotearoa hyped on RA 🥂 ra.co/news/85392 🤘

Mix Of The Day: OAARIKI · News ⟋ RA

Thrilling selections from all-Aotearoa artists.

ra.co

All jokes at WW's expense aside, the world of academic nutrition really does have *a lot* to answer for in helping to create a non-trivial amount of health/nutrition misinformation, and a little introspection would be welcome.

Advert now up: www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Description

Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...

imperial.ac.uk

Eleanor Winpenny@eleanorwinpenny.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I'm shortly going to be advertising for a new post (PDRA) in my team at Mohn Centre for Children's Health and Wellbeing (Imperial College London) to contribute to quantitative analysis of diet, health inequalities and transitions into employment in young adults.

This just happpened: I _almost_ missed the bus 🚌, but a passing scooterer 🛴 noticed and tapped on the door to alert the driver, then sped off once I was safely aboard. Pedestrians unite! 🙌

Happy #ClinicalTrials Day Trial design and conduct is no place for novices with best intentions. Patient participants make sacrifices. Medical progress holds its breath. Large sums of public and private money is invested. So get it right, from the start. statsepi.substack.com/p/dealing-wi...

Dealing with

There are no negative trials - just ones we learn from and ones we don't

statsepi.substack.com

Sometimes I feel like a lone voice banging on about research questions and associations all the time. But I'm not. Thanks @jeremylabrecque.bsky.social - and the CIIG for posting this excellent seminar to YouTube so quickly for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere 😄 www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKdC...

J Labrecque | Association. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means

YouTube video by the Causal Inference Interest Group (CIIG)

youtube.com

kiwibank would be taken more seriously if one of the largest clients in the country who literally own it used it

While these may sound like technical points, they are actually bread and butter issues for observational causal studies. Yes, many studies get them wrong. But that is no excuse. We must demand higher standards from observational studies, particular those that get reported in the news! 16/18 🧵

When we took office, NYC had a $12B deficit. Today it’s zero. And we didn’t close that gap on the backs of working people. We closed it while funding parks, libraries, safer streets, & public housing. Call it Pothole Politics or Democratic Socialism: We are government that delivers for the people.

This @vicbiostat.bsky.social seminar is going to be great. @ghazalehd.bsky.social always explains complex concepts so clearly. Invite your friends! 28 May 9:30am AEST. #episky #causalinference #competingevents

Latest comic on an economy that has become hostile to humanity.

As ever, there's an XKCD for that: xkcd.com/936/

Apparently, a good password should include "English uppercase (A-Z), English lowercase (a-z), Base digits (1-10) or characters (!.&.%.£)" Whoever wrote this is not up-to-date with the latest guidelines from the National Cybersecurity Centre. Looong and memorable is better than short and complex!