iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Andrew Dickson

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

“Now, there's one of two failings: either New Zealand has become a much sicker place in the last seven years, or we have got a lot worse at managing and helping people who could be working. And I suspect it's the latter…” One word Seymour: pandemic. Have to write something on this I guess...

rnz.co.nz

'Shovel money upwards, starve everyone else' - ACT under fire over proposed disability benefits cuts

ACT is facing criticism from across the aisle over health and disability cuts in its fiscal plan, and copping friendly fire after criticising National's Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

Iain Lees-Galloway only said the impossible thing in his farewell speech, once he had nothing left to protect. Opportunity has that freedom on the way in. I wish it would use it. andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/castration...

andrewdicksonnz.substack.com

Castration Anxiety

Opportunity ‘drops’ its tax reform, and an old Labour sentence returns.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

Meanwhile Luxon keeps attacking a tax policy Opportunity has put in a drawer. His campaign needs someone proposing new taxes, so he finds himself the most committed campaigner the Tax Reset has left. Wong says she doesn’t believe his rule-out. Neither do I.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

I think it is better to walk in with the full suite, tax switch and all, like a 10-year-old with a Christmas list and recently divorced parents. Make the various Chrises do the cutting where we can all watch. Then voters see what you wanted and who stopped you getting it.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

Same, same, not different. In Lacan, castration is the price of entry. You give something up to get a place at the table. Coalition talks are where that should happen, in public. Opportunity has done it to itself in advance. Pre-castration: the obsessional’s move.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

In 2018, ACC minister Iain Lees-Galloway (now the GM of Opportunity) said extending ACC needed “considerable public debate” and “total political consensus.” Recently Wong said on why tax reform isn’t a bottom line: it needs “broader support from the public and from other parties.”

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 4h

#nzpol The Opportunity Party has released it's coalition bottom lines. These are five decent policies that I would broadly vote for. However, the land value tax and Citizen’s Income, (the reason I started seriously paying attention), aren’t there. Why? 🧵

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Bart Janssen @bjjanssen.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

So assuming the frequency of positives remains the same Then from the 10000 random tests we can expect 30-40 positives So the question I have is - which company will do the tests and how much did they donate to National? This isn't about drugs or beneficiaries - it's corruption

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The unseemly truth is plain as piss. Supporters of this policy get off on it. It's addictive for them, like a drug. It repeats. Oops. Read more about National's peculiar relationship with beneficiaries' bodily fluids.👇 andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/taking-the...

andrewdicksonnz.substack.com

Taking the Piss

National has an unhealthy obsession with beneficiaries’ urine. Freud and Lacan can help us to understand this compulsion to repeat.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

So why spend $1.5m on this? Because somewhere, apparently, a beneficiary is enjoying a Saturday night on YOUR TAXES BRO. And the government reckons you're entitled to inspect their urine. Freud called it repetition. Lacan called it jouissance.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

And they've removed the only useful part of the old policy. The job. Now you must demonstrate perpetual readiness for jobs that don't exist. Apparently unemployment is a moral failing, except it's also monetary policy of course... wait, what?

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Here's the delightful bit. Under the Nat's 'new' policy, the 1st failed test only gets recorded. The 2nd matters. Lacan would have loved this. The 1st mark only becomes the 1st when the 2nd arrives. The government has accidentally designed a Lacanian piss test. Noice

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Freud has this theory about repetition. What we cannot remember, we act out. And here Upston is again, stacking up 10,000 piss pots. At some point you've got to wonder whether the drug testing is really about the drug testing? Hmm.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

And yes, we've been here before. In 2018, we learned that of 47,115 referrals to jobs requiring drug tests, 170 resulted in failures or no-shows. 0.36%. Nat's spokesperson said this was good news. People understood their obligations. That spokesperson? Louise Upston. Oh.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Louise Upston wants 10,000 unemployed New Zealanders to piss in a cup. It'll cost $1.5 million. Naturally, I turned to Freud and Lacan to understand why National is so damn interested, again, in other people's urine. Thread time!🧵 #nzpol

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I have to admit I'm spoilt for choice.

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Mountain Tui @mountaintui.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Nearly 15% of working population on jobseekers, 80,000 above National's target as Coalition's job cuts, record biz failures & cost of living results in 220,000 Kiwis on jobseekers while ~160,000 so far leave permanently. Their answer: cut benefits, cut youth off benefits & drive more into poverty

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Sassy Little Hobbit @sassypolitico.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

They wanna hide their abysmal unemployment record and insane cost of living by blaming beneficiaries ONCE AGAIN. I’m fucking tired of the constant bullying of the most vulnerable people in our society I know we are all shit humans but could we please be better Christ I cannot.

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Sassy Little Hobbit @sassypolitico.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Time is a flat circle

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The reason for NINE is that nobody needs to name the taxes. Nine sounds audited, and terrifying. Nine fits beautifully on a billboard beside a bald bloke pretending to worry about your mortgage. I wrote about Simuluxon's adventures in counting: andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/luxons-nei...

andrewdicksonnz.substack.com

Luxon’s Nein New Taxes

Simuluxon counted to nine. Labour only got as far as one.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Coalition governments negotiate policies. Unless you're National, apparently, in which case every coalition partner's manifesto becomes firm law. Which explains why Seymour currently governs NZ from a throne made of rejected school 'lunches' and coughing children.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Awesome... The Greens have a wealth tax. TOP has a land tax. Te Pāti Māori has some taxes too. Chuck them all in the blender, hit purée, pour the resulting political goo over Chris Hipkins. Voilà! NINE TAXES BITCHES (I knew you could do it, I'm so proud of you!)

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Luckily for us Simuluxon will not be defeated by arithmetic. Find a tax Labour proposed years ago but no longer wants? COUNT IT. Tax concession that maybe might end? COUNT IT. Taxes proposed by entirely different political parties? DEFO COUNT IT.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Luxon and his lil mate Simeon (I'm calling the dyad Simuluxon, because surely its a simulation?) have discovered NINE new Labour taxes. NINE! Holy shit! NINE! You should consider shitting yourself. Minor administrative note: Labour has proposed one.

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Michael Plank @michaelplanknz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

To say I did not have high hopes for this government would be an understatement, but I am nonetheless agog at the utter dogs breakfast they have turned the science funding system into in 3 short years

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Peter @cloudynetwork.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I say time and time again. This idea that taxes pay for things and "we can't afford it" are simply to avoid the truth that cuts etc are *policy choices*, not fiscal realities.

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Janet Greig @janetgreig.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Vote Green 💚💚💚💚💚💚

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nzjanette @nzjanette.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

An excellent 🧵. #nzpol

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Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

'Piggy bank is empty' nonsense provides cover for the political class. Once the lie is exposed, they have to answer questions like 'If we have 100,000s of people wanting work, and plenty of raw materials, why is our infrastructure falling to bits? Sounds like mismanagement, ay? (It is!)

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Sounds like a lovely Sunday afternoon.

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Splakey @splakey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Lacanian analytic/economic theory really should be a thing. This thread is so much more coherent than the endless, tiresome variations on “vibes” narratives that pass as media analysis (looking at you, Stuff 👀). Thank you! #nzpol

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

That, I think, is why some of the attacks on Swarbrick feel oddly objectless. The danger isn’t just what she might do as Finance Minister. It’s what she might reveal about the people who have spent 40 years telling us the money is all gone. andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/chloe-swar...

andrewdicksonnz.substack.com

Chlöe Swarbrick Nicked Luxon’s Cotton Reel

Lacan explains why the tough guys of fiscal politics are so emotional right now

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Hence the question Lacan gives us: What am I for the Other? Or, translated into NZ politics: If the government doesn’t lack “the money”, what exactly, precisely, are the “adults in the room” actually for?

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

That’s where the anxiety gets interesting. For decades, the political right has claimed authority as the “adults in the room”... the people serious enough to understand that the wallet is empty. But what happens to that authority if the wallet was never the real constraint?

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

And then Chlöe Swarbrick wanders over and nicks their fucking cotton reel. Nice. If the real constraints are people, resources and productive capacity rather than a finite pile of NZ dollars, the familiar fiscal game gets much harder to perform. People can see the clown suit

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Which brings us to NZ fiscal politics. Deficit: fort. Forecast surplus: da. Pesky nurses want more money Non! The money disappears, the responsible adults refuse to spend, then eventually announce that one day they will announce that discipline has brought it back.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Freud’s grandson famously played this little game fort-da. Throw the cotton reel away: fort (gone). Pull it back: da (there). Lacan’s twist to the freudian theory was that the gap itself matters. No gap, no game.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The problem is that NZ issues NZ dollars. That doesn’t abolish scarcity. Nurses, electricity, houses, labour and productive capacity are all genuinely finite. But “the money” is not scarce in the same way. Which makes the household metaphor rather important politically.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

NZ fiscal politics depends heavily on a familiar story: The government is like a household. The wallet is empty. We need to tighten our belts. The serious Finance Minister is the adult whose job is to say: No.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Lacan distinguishes fear from anxiety. Fear has an object. But anxiety is different: the object is there, but you can’t quite name it. And anxiety appears, in particular, when lack itself starts to disappear... Bear with me.

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Andrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Chloe Swarbrick says she wants Finance. The reaction from the right has been very emotional. I feel for them. “Do you really want her steering the economy?” they say... Very little explanation of what, specifically, she would get wrong. Luckily Lacan has a theory about that. #nzpol

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(((𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊𝙲𝚘𝚘𝚔))) @creativeelc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ableist fuckers. Thank you Andrew for seeking these OIA's out and sharing your findings. It's heartbreaking to know (even more than I do) that they do not give a shit about the younguns!

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Too Long Covid 💚 @toolongcovid.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Read this and think of the kids with Long Covid or MECFS who are pressured into school.

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Terry Baucher @trabaq.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

#nzpol Excellent work here from Andrew revealing, surprise, surprise how Seymour is applying a double standard😡

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