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AlastairJNZ

@alastairjnz.bsky.social
382 followers 379 following 1.7K posts

Kia ora! Aotearoa/ NZ. -ai Opinions my own and do not represent those of any employer etc.

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Reposted by AlastairJNZ
Paul Le Comte 🇳🇿🇨🇦📷 @paullecomtephoto.nz · 15/10/2026
Survey finds 27% of NZers now struggling financially, vs 16.5% in 2020 National did this. 2% tax on Wealth isn't enough bsky.app/profile/bern...
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IIML @modernletters.bsky.social · 12h
The Allen & Unwin Aotearoa NZ Fiction Prize is open to all unpublished full-length commercial fiction manuscripts between 70,000 and 100,000 words in length written by New Zealand citizens and residents - deadline 31 March. The winner receives a publishing contract with an advance of $10,000.
allenandunwin.co.nz
Allen & Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand
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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 13h
I’ve opened this one up to all to read, listen and share after requests from paying subscribers as part of my public interest journalism mandate. Many thanks to subscribers who pay to allow me to do as much of this work in public as possible #nzpol thekaka.substack.com/p/this-story...
thekaka.substack.com
This story should dominate the election debate
Starship’s cancer treatment suspension is emblematic of decades of health system underfunding eroding public services to points of collapse; Hospital system now second-biggest voter concern, & rising
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 11h
Add "For Tax Purposes" to a movie: What We Do In The Shadows For Tax Purposes.
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 13h
If the environment features in your voting considerations, Environmental Defence Society media releases provide some useful food for thought, e.g:
eds.org.nz
An open letter to Leaders: three key asks for nature and climate | EDS
This is an open letter directed to leaders of the National, Labour, Greens, NZ First, ACT, Te Pati Māori and Opportunity parties. It is based on the Environmental Defence Society’s deep research and s...
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(((𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊𝙲𝚘𝚘𝚔))) @creativeelc.bsky.social · 17h
The youth journalists are doing amazing mahi. This video is off of Instagram. It's really bloody awful how this man thinks life is only a 'pay to play' way. Sickening. Show this to your young voters. 9 days left to enrol! #NzPol #NzElection2026
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 15h
Connections Puzzle #1223 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦
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Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.bsky.social · 19h
can't take "LLMs are people" discourse seriously when we haven't even convinced everyone that all people are people.
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aethylred.bsky.social @aethylred.bsky.social · 17h
If delivering research outputs and commercialising them for New Zealand was as easy, as cheap, as predictable, and as profitable as the coalition in government believe, then the private sector would already be doing it and squeezing out the public research institutions.
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Kimmy Caulton @kimmycaulton.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Spending this LNG facility money on fully funded grid connected solar instead is a) a longer term solution reducing strain on the grid b) supports struggling families by giving them significantly cheaper annual power bills and c) creates jobs and many economic benefits This still feels like a joke
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Josh | writer, painter, tinkerer @tworuru.com · 14/10/2026
what needs to be added to this is the magnitude of the falsehood. i.e Hipkins was "mostly false" by a dollar for the price of an NZ block of butter in Australia. Luxon was "mostly false" about Labour having an $18 billion fiscal hole, which is 18 billion (10 orders of magnitude) times worse
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RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
Greens vow to reverse National's public service cuts
rnz.co.nz
Greens vow to reverse National's public service cuts
The Green Party says it will reverse the National Party's $2.4 billion cuts to the public service if elected, at a cost of $3.17 billion over four years.
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Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Followed this up with another study based on Daily Telegraph NZ acting as a disinfo laundromat for Russia's RT. The most recent NZSIS report didn't acknowledge these pathologies, and that is, I have consistently argued, to country's democratic detriment, and decay. #nzpol
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Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Another excellent thread.
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Greenpeace International 🌍 @greenpeace.org · 14/10/2026
For years, investigative reports have linked JBS’s supply chain to massive deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, Indigenous rights violations, and brutal labour conditions. South East Asia is already choking on the haze from land clearances.
act.gp
Amazon rainforest wrecker and world’s biggest meat company JBS is now expanding into Southeast Asia - Greenpeace International
Behind closed doors, one of the biggest drivers of the climate crisis isn't an oil company - it’s a global meat dynasty.
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Thalia @thaliathalia.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Yes. That was easy!
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Katya @nzkatya.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
An even better quote from the same article: "Even if Opportunity fails to make the 5% threshold, it will still have played a useful role for the centre-right. It will have wasted thousands of votes of people who would otherwise – in all likelihood – have voted for a change of government" #nzpol
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Katya @nzkatya.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Gordon Campbell: "It seems that being able to get into government with National is so important that Opportunity has chosen to pre-announce its terms of surrender" #nzpol
werewolf.co.nz
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Unlock Democracy @unlockdemocracy.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Scotland has shown the lasting impact of votes at 16. Those first eligible to vote at 16 or 17 have continued to turn out in greater numbers than their peers who could only vote from 18. Former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, Ken Macintosh, explains 👇
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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Norway has removed all of its $2tn Investment Fund from Israel linked banks, as it continues its policy of BDS against Israel. Well done Norway.
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Te Ao Māori News - 🤖 (unofficial) @teaonews.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Tino Rangatiratanga flag co-designer Linda Munn, Te Kura o Tipene and others fully support flying the flag permanently on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
teaonews.co.nz
Calls to fly Tino Rangatiratanga flag permanently on Auckland Harbour Bridge
Tino Rangatiratanga flag co-designer Linda Munn, Te Kura o Tipene and others fully support flying the flag permanently on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
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Ganesh Rajaram Ahirao @ganeshahirao.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
🙏 www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
rnz.co.nz
Greens promise 284,000 jobs with $6b economic plan
The Green Party says it will create 284,000 jobs over four years as part of its nearly $6 billion economic development plan.
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
See also the photos in real estate listings for any house that’s ever been put up for sale
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Dave Petley @davepetley.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Information is emerging about 11 October 2026 landslide and debris flow/flood on the Budhi Gandaki River in Gorkha district, Nepal Helicopter video suggests that it was initiated by a very dynamic landslide - possibly a rock avalanche? eos.org/thelandslide...
The aftermath of the Budhi Gandaki landslide.  Still from a video posted to Youtube by Online Khabar.
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Nick Young @nickofnz.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Part of the reason for the organised vilification of the Ardern govt initial response to the COVID pandemic was that it was so effective in demonstrating how powerful decisive state intervention in the interests of the common good could be. The far-right and its big business backers were HORRIFIED.
stuff.co.nz
How NZ’s right turned culture war into political strategy
Nicky Hager’s latest book argues the tactics of New Zealand’s organised right have changed, but the interests behind them have not.
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Jonathan Tonkin @jdtonkin.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The things we take for granted are often the things we risk losing. Paying attention can reveal both the beauty in the ordinary and what we stand to lose.
predirections.substack.com
Finding interest in the ordinary
On the familiar things we overlook, and what happens when we look closer.
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Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Simply the best socio-economic policy anyone can vote for this election. If I was splitting hairs, I would say that the six months wait is about six months too long, but it's still a great start.
https://www.greens.org.nz/greens_announce_jobs_guarantee_for_young_people
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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 11/10/2026
“I write to find out what I think about something.” —Anne Carson, The Paris Review, 2004
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Gabriele Svelto @gabrielesvelto.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 11/10/2026
I double-checked this on a couple of Xitter stat sites and it's true. Average views of the main AfD account dropped 90% and average engagement dropped by 60%. This is commercial social media for you: bots, damn bots and Russian bots.
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Curious to know if this has affected bot traffic/ propaganda as far away as NZ?
tomshardware.com
Russia's Yandex bot traffic nearly eliminated overnight after Ukraine drone strikes cripple multiple of 'Russia's Google' data centers — Ukraine intensifies bombing of Yandex data centers in response ...
The world is getting a break from Russian bots thanks to Kyiv.
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Also consider if you or anyone you know might ever get old or have a risk of becoming disabled by accident or otherwise…
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Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Sorry, I'll explain. We currently react to inflation by reducing the disposable income of spenders so that demand falls and unemployment goes up. We use a bufferstock of unemployed people to keep workers desperate, so wages are suppressed and we don't get a feedback loop (wage 🔄 prices) [🧵 1/n]
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Miriam Ross @miriamruthross.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Imagine that
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BC Green Party @bcgreens.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It's time for an actual wealth tax - not an income tax.
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Phil Garnock-Jones @theobrominated.eurosky.social · 10/10/2026
Moss spore capsules usually have 1 or 2 rings of peristome teeth around their open mouth. In Tortula muralis, the teeth are long & spirally twisted to form a slender tube that twists & untwists in response to humidity changes. This peristome is 1.4 mm long. Stereo pair; viewing instructions in ALT.
An orange-brown tube of spiralled threads, open at the top where the threads are unravelling and un-twisting to release spores. A few tiny pale green spores are visible.
To view this side-by-side stereo pair in 3D, use the viewer from my book, or try to look at the left photo with your left eye and the right photo with your right eye. If you can do Magic Eye, it's the same technique. Cardboard tubes might help and keeping the picture small certainly makes it easier.
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Rob @robertferry.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
We are 24 years away from when the world needs to be at net zero carbon emissions. Fossil fuel infrastructure and even some appliances have about a 25-year design life. That means that every gas power plant, gas pipeline, or gas boiler you install today is a middle finger pointed at your grandkids.
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e.w. niedermeyer @niedermeyer.online · 09/10/2026
just to emphasize what's happening here: BMW (a company that used slave labor under the Nazis) refused to provide an official vehicle to the ultra right-wing AfD party, which is now asking Elon Musk to provide a Tesla instead Tesla literally becoming the Nazi car brand
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Know any smart, motivated ecology students? Auckland Council’s Ecological Advice team has a great (paid) summer internship opportunity for students with capability in ecology, environmental science or environmental management; careers.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/job/Auckland...
careers.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Ecological Advice Intern
Ecological Advice Intern
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854
Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…
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Cam Bennett @cambennett.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I work near K road and I cannot overstate the positive impact the CRL appears to be having on it. The streets were semi deserted most days. Theres now a steady stream of people on the street. It’s amazing what decent transit can facilitate.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 09/10/2026
This afternoon in Marble Hill, a New Yorker was shot by an ICE agent in a residential neighborhood. Early reports indicate agents surrounded him and a 5-year-old child in his car before firing multiple rounds. We believe the child was physically unharmed.

This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation. I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.

Our thoughts are with the injured New Yorker and his family tonight. We are praying for his recovery.

Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children.

Abolish ICE.
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Know any smart, motivated ecology students? Auckland Council’s Ecological Advice team has a great (paid) summer internship opportunity for students with capability in ecology, environmental science or environmental management; careers.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/job/Auckland...
careers.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Ecological Advice Intern
Ecological Advice Intern
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Akl City Centre Residents' Group @ccrg.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Mōrena. 🌅🌆 #citycentre
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The American white collar workforce started working from home three days a week for like six months a year into COVID and executives so thoroughly lost their minds over this that they installed Trump II. If anything, AI will create the 7-day workweek.
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Sassy Little Hobbit @sassypolitico.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Time is a flat circle
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D Jukic She/her @dejanajuk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Replay: New Zealand was once a world leader on pay equity. Dame Marilyn Waring explains how the government wound back decades of progress – and why the fight to properly value women’s work is far from over. #nzpol
publicinterest.nz
Marilyn Waring on how New Zealand went backwards on pay equity
New Zealand was once a world leader on pay equity. Dame Marilyn Waring explains how the government wound back decades of progress – and why the fight to properly value women’s work is far from over. ...
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Bronwyn Hayward @bmhayward.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
These integrity reforms from Duncan Webb are a really important start and it would be great to have champions from all NZ political parties push this forward. NO matter who wins the election unless New Zealand democracy is fixed, we all lose www.linkedin.com/pulse/labour...
linkedin.com
Labour's Proposal for Integrity Reform in Politics
The purpose of Labour's recently announced political integrity package is not to respond to corruption scandals (although they may exist). It is to strengthen public confidence in democratic instituti...
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AlastairJNZ @alastairjnz.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Imagine buying these new laptops with NZD. (today 1 NZD = 0.56 USD).
List of four new Microsoft 15" Surface Laptops incorporating the NVIDIA RTX Spark “Superchip” from the B&H website with USD prices ranging from $5,949.99 all the way down to $4349.99.
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Kevin Beaumont @doublepulsar.com · 07/10/2026
Well done to the person in charge of Surface for doing a presentation where Surface wasn’t spelled correctly.
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