Nicola Gaston
@nicgaston.bsky.social
Where do we go from here? The planet is a gunboat in a sea of fear There is, however, such a thing as society
When inequality is the point, poverty is… the point. 🤷♀️
RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 20h agoNational backs its policies as unemployment rises to 11-year high
ACT: “It’s a graphic not a graph” Professor Thomas Lumley: “It’s clearly giving bar charts” www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic... #NZPol
ACT's 'visually misleading' post: Is it a graphic or a graph?
An ACT Party post about the gap between new medicines funded in Australia and New Zealand is "visually misleading," according to a statistics professor.
rnz.co.nz
Matrix Pod Awakening
Alt: Matrix Pod Awakening
static.klipy.com
Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿@notjustdna.bsky.social · yesterdayIMO it’d help to call 'AI' centres *compute* farms, not data centres. It better conveys the issues with them. Using the older, generic term ‘data centre’ hides that there are different kinds of these things, and the 'AI' service kind has very different demands. 1/n
"don't make enough money" is a fig leaf All those degree programs--social work, art, etc.--have disproportionately female student bodies. This is designed to make it harder for women to attend college--college education being a key factor in women's autonomy from men & left-leaning voting pattern.
The New Republic@newrepublic.com · 2d agoPresident Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/aaAEu6v
This whole thread is quite something. Big of a case study in why democracy and transparency need to go hand in hand…
Julie Fairey (she/her)@juliefairey.bsky.social · 2d ago... who had raised culture issues, perhaps last term? Mayor didn't recall. I confirmed that I had, via David Fisher in the Herald, and asked him I had been demoted, and he said no I had not. Also in terms of the anti-democratic accusations I asked if the mayor had put this on our agenda...
Good to see science and universities bundled into the same analysis rather than treated as separate entities (as they are by their dismemberment in separate government departments). But it would be QUITE NICE if 'science' could be construed in the European sense of science. It's not STEM alone.
Time for Andy Burnham to smile on UK science
Waning support for basic research threatens Britain’s technology ambitions
ft.com
The only thing more important than the honesty and integrity of our parliament is the immediate removal of anyone who questions the honesty and integrity of our parliament www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Chlöe Swarbrick kicked out of House after challenging Speaker's 'double standards'
The Greens co-leader has been kicked out of the House, after challenging what she called the Speaker's "double standards".
rnz.co.nz
Fascists and authoritarian regimes try to control universities and turn them into purveyors of state propaganda through extortion…... www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
Trump administration asks colleges to commit to education overhaul
Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s letter contains some similarities to a compact offered to and rejected by a small group of schools last year.
politico.com
Celebrate AOC's beautiful path to the 2028 presidency, as proclaimed by Andrew and Tristan Tate's lawyer. 'McBride saw it as a given that MAGA couldn’t afford to lose his clients, writing on Instagram, “AOC will be the next President without the Manosphere and Andrew Tate.” '
Oh, well then, I guess we’ve no choice but to let the foreign minister keep doing racism. Wouldn’t want to be principled, let alone call Winston’s bluff. Better things aren’t possible
henry cooke@henrycooke.bsky.social · 2d agoNicola Willis and Mark Mitchell suggested this morning that firing Winston Peters would bring down the Government. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...
I may need a few Tāmaki folks to head up Maungawhau this evening, just to check for me 🙏
Nicola Gaston@nicgaston.bsky.social · 2d agoGonna spend the rest of the day on here waiting for reports of snow in Auckland. I believe in you, Tāmaki Makaurau 😍❄️🥰
Gonna spend the rest of the day on here waiting for reports of snow in Auckland. I believe in you, Tāmaki Makaurau 😍❄️🥰
Let me take a minute to tell you how bonkers this is. The first election I worked was (I think) 2008, before there was really any advance voting. At every election, if you weren't on the roll, we let you cast a special vote and then worked out if you were eligible afterwards. Two reasons: 1/2
Marc Daalder@marcdaalder.bsky.social · 2d agoThe Electoral Commission has told staff to turn away voters who aren't on the printed roll and who say they're unenrolled, but has no plans to count how many people will be affected. newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/03/t...
Part 2 from @nicgaston.bsky.social on science funding “Brutality toward the science is not commercialisation at all. It is liquidation: selling the orchard and calling it a harvest.” newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/31/g...
Govt science reform uproots the tree it needs to bear fruit
From Auckland University - Comment: Defunding basic research risks starving NZ's deep-tech startups before they begin, writes Dr Nicola Gaston.
newsroom.co.nz
minimalzen.bsky.social@minimalzen.bsky.social · 7d ago@nicgaston.bsky.social on the NZ government's impoverished understanding of how science works newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/30/lux...
“My guy. You could just go ask them. They exist, they’re like right here, you could just go ask them.” Also she talked like this all the time. Like she once opened a conversation out of nowhere by saying “As I age, I begin to contemplate the inevitable disbursement of my estate”
‘Historians seldom apply for licenses’ 🎤 . . . . .
Kathryn Tewson@kathryntewson.bsky.social · 3d agoLike, right out of the gate!
For today’s antidote to the horrors, I recommend watching gold-medal-winning Eliza McCartney addressing the NZ commonwealth games team in te reo Māori www.instagram.com/reel/Dbhr2mR...
The New Zealand Team on Instagram: "An extraordinary effort, Eliza McCartney 👏 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪 𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘶 🖤 🗣️ In a wonderful display of cultural pride and respect, @eliza_mac_ superbly addressed the New Z...
9,024 likes, 322 comments - thenzteam on August 1, 2026: "An extraordinary effort, Eliza McCartney 👏 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪 𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘶 🖤 🗣️ In a wonderful display of cultural pride and respect, @eliza_mac_ superb...
instagram.com
Birth rate discourse in NZ is older than any currently active birth rate discourser. But being angry over mirages for nearly a century won't stop today's children of the discourse
I know how to make like one of the cool kids on some issues I promise but on certain things I will always be unapologetically earnest I’m not sorry
Children: as problems in schools to be controlled; financial benefits to the state, but also burdens that must therefore be incentivised, for parents to have them; not in need of decent nutrition but still to be shamed for their bodies; & oh btw the Children’s Commissioner is sacked. FFS #nzpol
Kate@knhannah.bsky.social · 4d agoIn times like these, it’s important to pay attention to the grand unifying narratives ideas are hooking on to. Like that children are there to be controlled by adults, like babies and birth are commodities to be controlled by the state, like citizenship is a state more valuable than non-citizenship.
This policy would directly lead to physical abuse of disabled and neurodivergent children. Tell your friends. I'm absolutely serious.
RNZ News Feeds@rnzrss.bsky.social · 4d agoACT candidate Paul Henry unveils plan to let teachers use 'reasonable force' on 'little shits'
"These young girls that are sitting at games with anti-trans signs, do they understand actually what the real problems are and how they’re being marginalized? We’re still not in a space where we have equality."
![“Years ago, I encouraged the WNBA leadership: what’s our stance? What are we going to do when this occurs? Are we going to be ready? Are we going to be reactionary? And so I think it would make sense for our league to be leaders in this space,” she said. ” … I’ve chosen to educate myself about the space. I’ve chosen to listen to transgender families, and what I know is exclusion is not the answer. We’ve got to find a common ground and be inclusive. That’s the space. I think if we all come from that.”
Reeve then pondered the real issues facing women’s sports and whether the people attempting to “defend” them even know what they are.
“The [transgender]issue isn’t as big as the issues that we have in women’s sports,” she continued. “Whether it’s cisgender men that have held us down for years in spaces like being able to have access to facilities and uniforms and locker rooms, all the things that these young girls that are sitting at games with anti-trans signs, do they understand actually what the real problems are and how they’re being marginalized? We’re still not in a space where we have equality. We don’t even have the Equal Rights Amendment in all 50 states, right? So there’s real issues. This is an issue that I think that we can thoughtfully work through, and that’s my hope."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ljtaqjfy2qlxv2u5sb6njbhr/bafkreict6exctik6d3kjui5h7qjmkk4v465o7sv5twonjaw5rzudxfbv4i)
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · 4d ago
Yes but instead bring back universal student allowances. www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361...
Peters pitches $45k incentive for families to have three children
NZ First will campaign on tax-free payments of $5000 a year for each of a child’s first three years, for up to three children born after the policy comes into force.
stuff.co.nz
The Free Speech Unions are nasty institutions that exist in #NZpol #auspol #UKpolitics #Cdnpoli #SouthAfrica They function to protect hate speech and mis/disinformation while masquerading as the saviours of the little [bigot]. Don’t be fooled by the show. lucyham29.substack.com/p/beware-the...
