My Listener column this week is about 1976, the year I failed to make the U14 Open A team, and also my best year in rugby; about the All Blacks' punishing tour of South Africa that year; and more than anything, about my dad. www.nzherald.co.nz/the-listener...

Russell Brown: As the All Blacks gear up to face the Springboks, my thoughts turn to my dad

The trials and tribulations of the 1976 Burnside Under 15 Under-8 Stone rugby team.

nzherald.co.nz

Taking my time to really listen and learn from the very valid concerns of the MAHA movement:

Memento (artemis) Morty 🌙@mementomorty.bsky.social · 6h ago

we should hear MAHA out about this they might be onto something

Winston Peters relentlessly dodged answering Lawrence Xu-Nan's very precise questions inviting him to stand by his racist outburst in the House last week. What a snivelling coward. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan grills Winston Peters on 'racist' comments that were directed at him

The Green MP who Winston Peters told to "go back to your own country" has challenged the Foreign Minister in Parliament over his comments.

rnz.co.nz

Brian Tamaki's "hit list" video has turned up on YouTube and it's incredibly disturbing. Starts with Tamaki rambling incoherently about targets, then another guy taking it up a notch – then, at 07:48 a tall, blond young man starts screaming about killing people ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC0S...

Destiny Church Brian Tamaki's 'Hit List' Threats

YouTube video by New Zealand Conspiracy Loons

youtube.com

I'm really sad this afternoon to learn of the death of Leo Koziol (Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Kahungunu), founder + director of the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, champion of Māori storytelling. I first met him way back in Planet mag days in the early 90s, and even then he always had something on the go.

man what are we even doing here

BusinessDesk@businessdesknz.bsky.social · yesterday

As schools reported throwing out nearly one in three Compass lunches late last year, the Ministry of Education looked into adding sauce to make the meals more appealing but shelved the idea over cost.

Well, that was weird. Digby Paape sent me a Facebook friend request. The name seemed vaguely familiar, so I accepted. I now realise he bankrolled this. First post that turned up in my feed from him was one of those hilarious memes showing a bike rider being injured. www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...

Capital's 'unrealistic cyclemania'

A new political party has been formed in Wellington and it could prove a nightmare for cyclists.

stuff.co.nz

Read the tantrums from this post on down. Quite a lot of entitlement going on.

Julie Fairey (she/her)@juliefairey.bsky.social · 2d ago

Also Bartley (in the room) Missing at restart are: Fletcher, Sayers, Williamson (nothing at his desk either), Winiata. We quickly did the procedural items and are now onto the late report which is the Mayor's "update on committees" ie reshuffle. Mayor presenting item now...

The Buddha always meets us where we live.

Regime Accountant, CPA ☠️🎢@regimecpa.bsky.social · 2d ago

I spent three months locked in an audit room with a lady who told me about how she opened her third eye by accidentally hitting a DMT laced bong hit at her friend’s birthday party. During the trip, she met a Buddha made of pure energy, who told her to buy a mustang.

Open and free for all. Enrolment of 18-24 year olds for Nov 7 election collapses to 53% from 70%; Over 200,000 young people not enrolled = more than voted NZ First in 2023; Auckland Council vote turnout under 20% for young. #nzpol open.substack.com/pub/thekaka/...

A generation being disenfranchised in plain sight

Enrolment of 18-24 year olds for Nov 7 election collapses to 53% from 70%; Over 200,000 young people not enrolled = more than voted NZ First in 2023; Auckland Council vote turnout under 20% for young

open.substack.com

Talking to Hannah Marshall and David de Lautour about how they pitched ideas for years and suddenly had two TV shows debut in the same week (Ms. X and Settling), while also raising small children, was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've done in a while. www.nzherald.co.nz/the-listener...

Double Act: Hannah Marshall and David de Lautour’s simultaneous screen takeover

The acting couple open up about launching two major TV shows at the same time.

nzherald.co.nz

It's actually kind of confronting when you see his verbatim rambling and remember he has the most powerful job in the world. Also, Texas alone has like 240 wind farms.

MeidasTouch@meidastouch.com · 2d ago

Trump: Any country with windmills is a loser, OK?

1. The EC ethos has always been, count every vote possible, make it as easy to vote as possible. 2. If staff had to say to someone's face, No, you're not on the roll, you can't vote, they were going to get abused. I'm not working this election, and I really feel for the people who are.

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 ago

The 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...

so democratic socialism is good

Democrats@democrats.org · 2d ago

HUGE: Under Mayor Mamdani, New York City just recorded its safest first 7 months of a year in history—and its safest July ever. In July: Major crime dropped 13% Murder dropped 32% Robberies dropped 15% Vehicle thefts dropped 25% Democratic mayors are putting public safety first.

I was very surprised Stuff actually printed an actual column saying things like “maybe men should, for our own good, look past politicians who most accurately resemble our high school bullies” but here we are and this is worth a read - and maybe stick it under the nose of your fellow dudes, dudes.

Men are tripping over their alphahood in the year of the Bro Election

Men are unemployed at a higher rate than women for the first time in seven years, yet guys keep voting against their own interests.

stuff.co.nz

So, as always seemed likely, Bomber's legal trouble is an HDCA complaint. He refused to stop posting abusively about an individual and told them to go to Netsafe if they didn't like it. Didn't go well for Bomber. What a dick. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/med...

This is worth reading. Pirro blaming officials, Trump still insisting these poor people were vandals. What a sorry circus.

NPR@npr.org · 2d ago

Prosecutors dropped their case against David Hearn on Friday, blaming Reflecting Pool damage on a "botched installation" rather than vandalism. That has implications for other people who were charged. n.pr/4fBw9Ln

Brilliant letter from Stuart Thompson to Jeremy Clarkson about his comments that benefit claimants should write weekly thank you letters to tax payers detailing how they spend their benefits each week.

Went to a birthday party out at Whatipu Lodge on Saturday night and got to see my friends' dad-band Suicide Wednesday play their epic version of 'I Feel Love'. It really was amazing.

Not sure how much attention this will get, but it’s quite a big deal - Labour has pulled its support for the Govt’s controversial census ‘modernisation’ plans, meaning it no longer has the 75% majority it needs in Parliament: newsroom.co.nz/2026/08/03/g...

Govt’s census overhaul thrown into doubt after Labour pulls support

Opposition parties warn relying on government agency data instead of a full census risks undercounting Māori and minority groups.

newsroom.co.nz

Oh this is absolutely terrible. Neurodivergent kids are going to be even further excluded… If this policy was in place before the 8yo was diagnosed (which the system wouldn’t do until he was 6), he would’ve been stood down multiple times in his first couple of years at school. 1/n

Act to give schools ‘reasonable force’ powers to remove students, $3000 fines for parents

Fines for parents would start at $300 but could go as high as $3000.

nzherald.co.nz

one road, not even long enough to run a marathon on, for the low low price of 42 times the entire 2027 budget for scientific research in new zealand #nzpol

Biggest-ever PPP: $3.6b Northland expressway deal signed

The 26km expressway will include twin tunnels through the Dome Valley.

nzherald.co.nz

I could barely afford vibranium as it was

Asperas Bompar@asperasbompar.bsky.social · 6d ago

Wakanda tariffs going to get doubled now

Sir, this is a Wendy’s.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d ago

Rep. John McGuire: "I don't know if you heard about the BLT sandwich -- using human fetus baby parts in the vaccine when they could've used ivermectin"

We can’t have a meaningful debate about public policy if we can’t agree on what constitutes a baseline for reality.

Wow all the PPP payments are redacted for Warkworth to Te Hana! Amazing how transparent that is :)

Apple's failure to join other big tech companies in burning money trying to win an AI infrastructure race is looking pretty good now. Apple Silicon doesn't protect it from the AI-driven RAM crisis (well, maybe a little), but it has a decent on-device AI story. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Apple becomes second $5tn company as investors flee AI stocks

Share price rally driven by strong product demand as well as decision to sit out AI spending race, amid wider tech sell-off

theguardian.com