Reposted by MarsdenMs Hooper @mshooper.bsky.social · 10hOpinion: No one is wasting more ratepayer cash than the government #nzpolthespinoff.co.nzNo one is wasting more ratepayer cash than the governmentThe $9 million already spent on council amalgamation proposals is just the start. 24923
Reposted by MarsdenIdiot/Savant @norightturnnz.bsky.social · 19hViolent offender given discharge without conviction because it might interfere with his violent career www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-a...rnz.co.nzArmy officer attacked taxi driver after being asked for $20 fareNew Zealand Army intelligence officer Arthur Finegan denied a "nasty" assault - until he was confronted with CCTV footage showing an attack that left a taxi driver unconscious. 0116
Reposted by MarsdenChristchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi @christchurchlib.bsky.social · 29/09/2026We have a number of photos of Johnson's Grocers and a write up of the history of the store in #CanterburyStories including views of the maximalist interior and trademark white dusters worn by the staff. ^MT www.canterburystories.nz/stories/indu... 0105
Reposted by MarsdenSacha @sachadylan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Simeon sneakily changed the finance to lower interest-only repayments, then a lump sum in the future for another government to take care of. #NzPol 14424
Reposted by MarsdenGrant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 21h#Christchurch #NZ The city council has released a new interactive map showing climate change risks across the city. Note, “The assessment is not intended to assess individual properties or make decisions about particular locations.” You can view the map here: ccc.govt.nz/environment/... 274
Reposted by MarsdenGrant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 28/09/2026#NZpol Saw this excellent quote-reply to Simeon Brown’s latest attack on Labour. Worth sharing. 514472
Reposted by MarsdenAndrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I’m going to be writing more from this OIA batch. The first piece is here: andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/david-seym...andrewdicksonnz.substack.comDavid Seymour’s Two-Tier Attendance SystemAt one school, children can learn at home two days a week. At another, the same thing counts as an absence. 36214
Reposted by MarsdenAndrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 28/09/2026So we ourselves an extraordinary contrast. A charter school can build two days of home learning into its model. But a sick or disabled child at a state school can be doing teacher-set work at home and still enter the system as absent. 46014
Reposted by MarsdenAndrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I got myself a batch of OIA documents from the Ministry of Education about school attendance. One of them presents David Seymour with a rather awkward problem. It begins on 11 February 2025. Intrigued? #nzpol 18439
Marsden @marsdennz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Robyn and Callie packing themselves to attend Quilt Symposium in Ōtautahi this weekend. #Cats #CatsInBoxes #CatsOfBluesky #ProofOfCat #BlackAndWhiteCats #TabbyCats #Pets quiltsymposium.com 190
Reposted by MarsdenDavid Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026As people have been feeling the daylight savings shift last night, my annual comment that the practical long term of effect of swapping back and forth to daylight savings makes the clock most stable with regards to dawn. (and my objections to permanent summer time is the predawn active commutes) 4271
Reposted by MarsdenAnna McMartin/The End is Naenae @annamcmartin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Anna Doesn't Handle Distractions, and now she knows why. Come laugh with me, cry with me, then laugh again. the-end-is-naenae.ghost.io/am-i-good-en...the-end-is-naenae.ghost.ioAm I good enough at being useless?I’m nervous as hell about sharing this, but I’ll put it out there in the hope it brings comfort to somebody else. I promise you it has a happy ending. My thought process always went this way. Was... 021
Reposted by MarsdenDavid Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Let us all remember that the creator of the Morris Worm of 1988 didn't intend to infect 10% of internet connected devices in the world and the accompanying damage, but his poor design choices resulted in his legal responsibility for the outcome. Of course, he wasn't an oligarch. 03014
Reposted by MarsdenLouise Hutt @saycheeselouise.bsky.social · 26/09/2026At the Hamilton PSA debate, candidates were asked about disability NZF: Incoherent answer Labour: We don't have a policy announced Opportunities: We have no policy whatsoever Me: this govt's attacks on the disabled community are unacceptable, here's our policy, it was co-written by disabled people 619361
Reposted by MarsdenFr. Robert Ballecer, SJ @padresj.bsky.social · 25/09/2026There is so much disinformation about the "Super El Nino" floating around the internet b/c mentioning any sort of mechanism that affects weather seems to start a shouting match. So here's a good video that gives you JUST the info you need in under 2 minutes. 631420756
Reposted by MarsdenYell In a War @jelenawoehr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026it really needs to be more openly discussed that all the people advocating for “we should be fine with losing basic skills if we get more systems thinking” are men, meaning socialized to expect to be able to offload basic tasks of daily living onto a wife as part of their compensation for existing 201323507
Reposted by MarsdenAlison Mau @alisonmau.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The funding sitch is a whole other thing.. turns out less than 1% of funding from philanthropic orgs in Aotearoa is targeted to family and sexual violence. Shitty but true. Fortunately we have plans for a diversified funding model but for now..💙 givealittle.co.nz/org/tikagivealittle.co.nzTikaTika is an independent way to report sexual harm. When your report connects with others, take legal action together. Safe, private and free. 01810
Marsden @marsdennz.bsky.social · 23/09/2026"Why would you choose to generate zero cash flow rather than generate some cash flow? ... ... commercial property is valued by the rent ... A shop ... leased at $100,000 per year might be worth $1.5 million ... the owner has to lower the rent ... now worth $1.05m." thespinoff.co.nz/politics/24-...thespinoff.co.nzNew Zealand city centres have an empty shop problem. Do the Greens have the answer?The commercial property vacancy rate in city centres keeps rising. The Green Party thinks it has a solution. 022
Reposted by MarsdenDavid Farrier @davidfarrier.com · 23/09/2026an amazing new project launches today in new zealand: people can report sexual harm, and get matched with others who reported the same person. when you report, you get a lawyer - and lawyer-client privilege. for free. i profile the website, technology, charity, & law firm here: www.webworm.co/tika/webworm.coThis Could Change The Way Victims Get JusticeDavid Farrier's Webworm looks at Alison Mau and Zoë Lawton's Tika: a new way to report sexual harm in Aotearoa, New Zealand. 8339178
Reposted by Marsden🐻Iona🐻 @bewarethefish.bsky.social · 23/09/2026In those twelve years the NZ media has targeted multiple brown women politicians, including publishing made up stories about the sex life of Wellington's former mayor being spread by bad faith actors. It's not just that the NZ media don't care, it's that they're active participants in this. 18926
Reposted by MarsdenFrank @fmacskasy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Next time Luxon denies his rotten govt is racist, anti-Maori, and using TPU tactics - Emily Writes provides a very lengthy record of their actions. www.emilywrites.co.nz/te-tiriti/emilywrites.co.nzA list of (almost) every government attack on Māori and Te TiritiNot too long ago I was discussing the government and their attacks on Te Tiriti with a group of people. One of them said I know there's been the Treaty Principles Bill, but has there really been much ... 03418
Marsden @marsdennz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026"Despite 2026 only being the second election cycle for the fund, it has already received international recognition." #NZPol #Aotearoa #EqualAccess #DisabilityInPolitics #Representation thespinoff.co.nz/partner/22-0...thespinoff.co.nzLevelling the field: The fund helping disabled people compete in this year’s election'It didn’t advantage me, it just meant I was able to do what every other candidate did.' 066
Reposted by MarsdenCatherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 22/09/2026From my new essay about the new social contract AI/AGI is actually meant to force us to sign: catvalente.substack.com/p/grand-thef... 310642
Reposted by MarsdenIdiot/Savant @norightturnnz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Sign the petition here: petitions.parliament.nz/9aa71bc4-7e9...petitions.parliament.nzPetitions are addressed to the House of Representatives and ask that the House do something about a policy or law, or put right a local or private concern. 1810
Reposted by MarsdenIdiot/Savant @norightturnnz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Standing Orders Committee's "solution" to record levels of public enagement is to adopt a purpose statement for SCs that would effectively allow most submissions to be ignored. And that's how you lose social licence. 1156
Reposted by MarsdenFunranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 20/09/2026It is ALWAYS a good time to review the Geek Social Fallacies. Teach them to the young that they may live better than you did. 213372
Reposted by MarsdenSmooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026when ai leaves u behind 74251149342
Reposted by MarsdenMusical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Auckland is a big service economy; it's stalled because there is not enough money flowing through it. There are tens of thousands of people ready to work, but not enough work for them. Low demand = low consumption = more stagnation. Luxon can't see it because he believes in magic markets. [🧵 1/n] 911535
Reposted by MarsdenKieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 18/09/2026This is the far more likely pathway for how AI will end us all, btw. Not via some superintelligent swarm of paperclip maximizers, but by a cascading sequence of dumb fuckups driven by human beings who have arranged things to be fast-moving and catastrophically fragile while also being really lazy. 17391149
Reposted by MarsdenStephanie Rodgers 🍉 @bootstheory.bsky.social · 18/09/2026The "AI will kill us all" panic says everything about the dudes promoting it: genAI is already killing people through inaccuracy, encouraging violence and self-harm, and giving bad leaders false confidence to make harmful decisions But that's not a *cool* kind of "killing us all" so they don't care 17517
Reposted by MarsdenAndrew Dickson @andrewdickson13.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Apparently Chlöe Swarbrick beating Nicola Willis in a poll on who New Zealanders trust to manage the economy came as something of a shock? Not to me. I’ve been listening to how Swarbrick talks about money. There’s something interesting going on. 🧵 1223666
Reposted by MarsdenTom Eastman @tom.eastman.nz · 18/09/2026I am old enough to remember when it was "every program expands until it has email built in" 032
Reposted by MarsdenChristchurch City Libraries Ngā Kete Wānanga o Ōtautahi @christchurchlib.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Our new pop-up exhibition starting at Tūranga on Saturday, Suffrage Day, highlights some of the interesting jobs and work undertaken by local women (even though for voting enrolment purposes their occupations were not recorded) ^MT www.newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/m... 041
Reposted by MarsdenFunranium (AKA Phil Broughton) @funranium.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Cheryl has made a fine point. I, nor other safety professionals, have really said much about general safety precepts as they relate to AI, as opposed to the bullshit artist millenarian cultists that are happy to do so at length. One of the reasons is "These tools are an active detriment to safety." 8508153
Reposted by MarsdenAnil Dash @anildash.com · 17/09/2026I would like media to care more about the reality that tech tycoons want to kill people than what they’re imagining about AI wanting to kill people. We have multi-millionaires (with support from billionaires!) calling for ethnic cleansing, a thing that has happened in living memory. Not theoretical! 292660821
Reposted by MarsdenAndrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Let's be really clear: Paul Goldsmith asked MoJ to find him cost justifications to restrict the OIA. They've done so. The numbers are largely bogus - inflating numbers of *recorded* OIA requests. A serious assault on our right to information MOJ advice: www.justice.govt.nz/assets/Docum... #nzpoljustice.govt.nz 86948
Reposted by MarsdenHungrymama @hungrymama.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Is most definitely friend-shaped 2101
Reposted by MarsdenNew Zealand Professional Firefighters' Union @nzpfu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026A scathing report into FENZ has confirmed what the NZPFU has said for years: FENZ leadership has failed the frontline. Swipe through to see 5 damning revelations from the Parliamentary Inquiry. #NZPol 03114
Reposted by MarsdenD Jukic She/her @dejanajuk.bsky.social · 16/09/2026“Rashbrooke has just published a report, Swimming in a Sea of It, with his colleague, Professor of Taxation Lisa Marriott, on vested-interest lobbying, when powerful or influential individuals or groups shift decision-making processes in their favour, & the public good can suffer as a result” #nzpolrnz.co.nzVested interests and the power of lobbying in NZA new report released on Thursday highlights the pros and cons of vested-interest lobbying and spotlights the lobbied, including current and former ministers, MPs and ministerial staffers 14221
Reposted by MarsdenHungrymama @hungrymama.bsky.social · 16/09/2026An excellent yarn - both funny and moving 031
Reposted by MarsdenPookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The thing about trying not to pick a side is that the nazis *instantly recognize* which side you picked. They immediately identify you as an ally. They know exactly what side you're on. It doesn't fool the victims, it doesn't fool the Nazis, the only people it could possibly fool is centrists. 549951373
Marsden @marsdennz.bsky.social · 15/09/2026"National is presenting a smaller deposit as help, while the bank receives an additional quarter of a million dollars in repayments over the life of the loan." #NZPol #HousingAffordability #Mortgages keenlens.substack.com/p/the-5-depo...keenlens.substack.comThe 5% Deposit Mortgage Should Be forbidden by Law , not made a Housing PolicyThe Keen-Lens Macro Letter ⚡ Flash Letter New Zealand · Housing, Credit & Political Economy · September 2026 024
Reposted by MarsdenKai Blin @kblin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I was in a thread on here recently discussing how editors are struggling to even get people to decline invites. I just got an invite from Food Biotech that requires me to create an Elsevier account to decline. It takes me one click to delete an email. Don't make it take > 3 clicks to decline. 1395
Reposted by Marsdendrrawiritaonui.bsky.social @drrawiritaonui.bsky.social · 15/09/202652,000 signature Ngāti Kahungunu do not undermine Te Tiriti o Waitangi petition sucessfully delivered. 416540
Reposted by MarsdenCatherynne M. Valente @catvalente.bsky.social · 15/09/2026From my new essay on AI and the end of humanity people seem either weirdly excited about or weirdly willing to lay down for: catvalente.substack.com/p/all-you-ne... 0456
Reposted by MarsdenAaron Hawkins @ahawkins.bsky.social · 15/09/2026'The adult minimum wage will be frozen for 3 years, while a training wage would be set at 60% of the adult minimum wage for workers under 20' Less than $15/hr. For a 19 y/o. In 2030. Which they'd have to take because they've also cut off your access to a benefit. Adult, indeed.stuff.co.nzACT pledges to freeze adult minimum wage, lower youth training rateThe party says wages can sustainably rise when workers become more productive and businesses can afford to pay more. 1212445
Reposted by MarsdenAndrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 15/09/2026This point is valuable for people in NZ to consider: allowing DX Mail to compete with NZ Post may have made the market more efficient for companies sending lots of mail. But it’s very likely to have come at the cost of accessible postal services for the rest of us. #nzpol 1225
Reposted by MarsdenSen @dresdencodak.com · 17/07/2026You can read all of Dark Science (as well as my various side comics) for free on my website! dresdencodak.com/archives/dresdencodak.comThe Comics - Dresden CodakNow in book form! Scientist Kimiko Ross has a problem: her money’s gone and a bank exploded her house. With no place else to go, she travels to Nephilopolis, the city of giants – built from the ruins ... 518649
Reposted by MarsdenCEO Johnny Cans @oldmatecans.bsky.social · 14/09/2026What fine, fine healthcare workers we have in this wonderful country working under almost unbearable conditions and still being calm, kind and supportive. 1334