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Dr Claire Benson

@pyroclaire.bsky.social
149 followers 371 following 104 posts

Londoner in Auckland. Working in fire & chemical safety engineering. Exec. Director for Institution of Fire Engineering NZ. Indulging in gardening, lego, travel & the arts. There will be many photos of my dog. All my own thoughts.

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
It's been a great world cup. Well done to all involved. Wishing today's runners up Canada, more government support to continue to become a powerhouse. Much love to today's champions @redrosesrugby.bsky.social. You did us proud xx
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Stunning
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Sassy Little Hobbit @sassypolitico.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Been waiting this morning for nz cartoonists to show up
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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 11/09/2025
Peter Mandelson resigning in scandal, Oasis are the biggest band in the country, and there's an enormous tech bubble that may or may not burst. Is it 2025 or 1998?
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Connor Sharp @connorsharp.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
That's almost the cost of 0 ferries www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
rnz.co.nz
Why NZ's new Seahawk maritime helicopters cost $400 million each
Australia recently paid $82 million each for the same choppers.
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Fuel Cells Works @fuelcellsworks.com · 27/08/2025
Pasadena approves $32M contract for 17 hydrogen fuel cell buses, replacing natural gas models. The new fleet will enter service by spring 2027—marking a major zero-emission milestone #HydrogenNow #ZeroEmissions #CleanTransit #Decarbonise fcw.sh/LGeNXD
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Josh | writer, painter, tinkerer @tworuru.com · 19/08/2025
Just fantastic that this stupid, barely rates as a joke, AI slop bullshit continues to get more traction on this absurd website than the work of any nz artist I know and keeps getting reposted into my timeline just to rub it in
Hideous ai slop poster featuring a bunch of things that aren’t birds to serve a joke that isn’t funny
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RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
NZ reggae artist General Fiyah detained in US and deported
rnz.co.nz
NZ reggae artist General Fiyah detained in US and deported
General Fiyah had been scheduled to perform at Polyfest in Washington.
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Article here Donald Trump’s attack on US labour statistics agency spooks investors - on.ft.com/46Jma2G via @FT
on.ft.com
Donald Trump’s attack on US labour statistics agency spooks investors
President’s decision to sack Bureau of Labor Statistics chief undermines faith in official data, economists warn
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Really interesting to read in FT about concerns in USA over the stats chief dismissal. Politicians often fail to understand that the data they have is the only thing they (and investors) have to make choices on investment. Attacking your own data undermines your own investment appeal
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Pip @pipinotautahi.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Well fuck. It works.
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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
'Waterloo Road, London' (2024) by Michael John Ashcroft michaeljohnashcroft.com
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Prof Jenny Rohn @jennyrohn.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Last chance to apply for great research tech #job in my friendly lab @uclmedsci.bsky.social in London! Cutting-edge organoid and microbiology work seeking to understand how probiotic bacteria might be deployed to fight urinary infection #UTI. Closes 23 July #UTISky www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNQ902/r...
jobs.ac.uk
Research Technician at UCL
Apply now for the Research Technician role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
I wonder how many workplaces pay for their employees to have password manager software?
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Today was a sunny day which pleased all in our house
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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 21/07/2025
Isometric exercises like wall squats are gentle on your body, but can enhance your fitness in a surprisingly efficient way, discovers Grace Wade.
newscientist.com
The unexpected benefits of wall squats and other isometric exercises
Isometric exercises like wall squats are gentle on your body, but can enhance your fitness in a surprisingly efficient way, discovers Grace Wade
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Yes! We noticed yesterday. We were going some furniture rennovation and could operate in full daylight into the evening. So nice
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
A comparable trip from Manchester to Inverness is 7hrs. And I very much miss the 5 hr London to Edinburgh. That's a lovely journey for a long weekend. Don't get me started on the Eurostar *sigh
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Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
#nzpol Data released by Statistics New Zealand today shows that the Consumer Price Index rose to 2.7%. This marks the 3rd straight quarter in which annual inflation increased, up from 2.2% in December 2024. The data underneath this figure suggests some troubles ahead. A🧵
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
Yes. A friend holidaying here recently took the Auckland to Welly train. I had no idea it took 12 hours.
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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
So here’s the Ryanair arithmetic. Gate employee catches out 62 passengers for €1.30 bonus for each to earn max $80 a month. Ryanair makes 62x(€75-€1.30) = €4569 profit (before other staff costs) every month per gate employee. 45% of its revenue comes from fining customers.
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Definitely recognise this. I listened to writers who said "just write". Doesn't matter if its good. Just write something. Its much easier to correct nonsense than to create perfection the first time.
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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
People simply don’t know enough about the AI hype train and think it’s a panacea — it’s starting to remind me of the radium craze
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Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Australia has stronger trade unions that Aotearoa, and fewer work place deaths and injuries (as well as being paid more), while still chained to neoliberalism. Does ACT think Australia is succeeding in spite of, or because of, its greater regulation of workplaces?
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Twitter users asked many times for fewer Nazis on the platform. Might have been a good move to listen, eh. #GarbageInGarbageOut
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
@seafever.co.nz blog.planetaryecology.org/2025/07/09/f...
blog.planetaryecology.org
Fast, sustained phase-outs of fossil fuels are happening: a look at the best-performing countries in the coal and transport sectors
By Robert McLachlan I was recently introduced to climate scientist James Dyke’s excellent newsletter, Eccentric Orbits, and the first article I read there opened with this: This is our curren…
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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
This had a lot of good data, some of which did not match some of my assumptions about what has been happening in the past few years, so I revise my assumptions.
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Foxes @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
RNZ laying the grocery shop increase over the last 3 years bare: Woolworths Greenlane trolley 2022 $238 to 0025 $305 a 28% increase PAK'nSAVE Royal Oak trolley 2022 $217 to 2025 $270 a 24% increase Mince: PnS up 53% WWs up 59% #NZPol www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
In May 2022, our first shop at Woolworths Greenlane cost us $238 dollars and $217 at PAK'nSAVE Royal Oak.

Today, those same items at Woolworths have shot up to $305 dollars - an extra $67 dollars at the checkout. PAK'nSAVE our shop, now set us back $270, an extra $53 dollars.

Compared to our 2022 shop, seasonal vegetables like carrots and cabbage were cheaper. Other items that had come down slightly or stayed the same were Watties baked beans, plain flour, Mightyfresh wheatmeal toast bread and diced tomatoes.

But they were mostly exceptions, most of the items on the shopping list cost more.The humble beef mince now not so humble at 1kg used to cost $11.99 at PAK'n SAVE, now $18.99. At Countdown, it was up from $14.90 in 2022 to $23.80 now.

For some, it is now a luxury among other items they are going without.
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Anyone else thoroughly enjoying the Glasto coverage from NZ? I'm really loving it
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
I defintely recall there were periods among my friends/ family where their kids/ they were ill A LOT. They'd cancel things regularly and whenvever we did see them they complained they'd just been ill. This was before COVID. I just assumed every parent goes through that at some point.
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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 24/06/2025
in which the president of the united states comes to understand that forging peace in the middle east is actually quite hard
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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
A cosy BBC crime drama beckons
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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 24/06/2025
BREAKING: Palestinian witnesses and hospitals say Israeli forces opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people.
bit.ly
Israeli forces fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza, killing 25, witnesses and hospitals say
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza.
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Caitríona Beaumont @caitbeaumont.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Do come along, book via the link below but if you miss the cut-off or it appears booked out we can usually squeeze you in so come along anyway. It will be a great seminar to end our @ihr.bsky.social @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social 2024/25 programme. See you there 😊. www.history.ac.uk/events/women...
history.ac.uk
Women and unemployment in deindustrialising Britain, 1975 -1990
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Quakers in Britain @quaker.org.uk · 24/06/2025
We have deep concerns about government plans to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. Nonviolent protest, and even acts of vandalism, should not be labelled as terrorism. Civil disobedience has been a powerful force for positive social change. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
quaker.org.uk
Quakers speak out against proposed terrorist proscription of Palestine Action
Quakers in Britain have voiced deep concerns about the government’s plan to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
We interrupt this programme to .. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Bears eat week’s worth of honey after escape from Devon enclosure
Five-year-old Mish and Lucy get their paws on some snacks before being safely contained at Wildwood Devon
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CEO Johnny Cans @oldmatecans.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
I see the Taxpayers Union are mad at the government for protecting a rare species that the private sector tried to wipe out. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
rnz.co.nz
DOC spends hundreds of thousands to care for snails after mining destroys home
But an OIA reveals hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent to do so.
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
I really like their jalapeno cheese
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Olaf Falafel @ofalafel.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
I called my children War and Peace - it's a long story.
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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
a leading campaigner against the recent rise in National Insurance is married to a man convicted of one of Britain’s biggest ever NI frauds - via The Times
Charlotte Alt
A leading
 campaigner against the government's increase in employer national insurance contributions is married to a man convicted of one of the country's biggest national insurance frauds, The Times can reveal.
Nadra Ahmed CBE, who chairs the National Care Association, has spearheaded a campaign to exempt care homes from the tax rise announced in last year's autumn budget.
Over the past nine months she has appeared on Sky News and Newsnight on BBC2 and has been quoted in national newspapers calling for an urgent change to the policy that she described as risking "the foundations of the public services we deliver".
Yet in 2016 Ahmed's husband, Aquil, was sentenced to prison for seven and a half years after pleading guilty to his part in stealing £6.9 million in tax and national insurance contributions from the taxman. He remains barred from serving as a company director.
The 69-year-old was an accountant and the tax mastermind of the fraud, which was conducted with two other people. The scam involved pocketing cash due to HM Revenue & Customs that had been paid in good faith by construction workers using a payroll service run by the three men.
The money was laundered through companies in Gibraltar and Belize and from there was transferred to bank accounts in Jersey, Guernsey, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the US, South Africa, Dubai and Chile.
At the time the amount stolen would have been enough to fund more than 500 care workers for an entire year.
The fraud helped to fund lavish lifestyles for the three men, the court
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Tom Le Breton @tomlebreton.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
New paper out! After the 2019-2020 #fires in Australia our team undertook #IUCN Red List assessments of fire affected #plant species, to handle the volume we undertook paired rapid and full assessments and compared their accuracy 1/4 doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
If you should ever leave me, Though life would still go on believe me, The world could show nothing to me, So what good would living do me? #RIPBrianWilson
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Office 365 did the same thing, but it was possible to remove the AI component
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Fire on historic ship The Tui most likely caused by electrical fault www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
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Dylan Reeve @dylanreeve.com · 16/04/2025
One of the things I find endlessly fascinating about Facebook scam ads is that they get intensely focused on one celebrity at a time. At the moment it seems the wonderful Kura Forrester has captured their attention.
Facebook ad, it features two images of Kura Forrester and says "Shocking incident involving Kura Forrester. The allegations have been confirmed!"

The ad appears to be a link to a story at rnz.co.nz and shows a headline reading "The interview that shook all of New Zealand ->"Facebook ad, it features what looks like a screen capture of a YouTube video of Kura Forrester sitting in front of a microphone, and says "Shocking incident involving Kura Forrester. The allegations have been confirmed!"

The ad appears to be a link to a story at rnz.co.nz and shows a headline reading "The interview that shook all of New Zealand ->"A fake RNZ news page that shows a story headlined "Supporters Demand Release of Kura Forrester After Scandalous Interview" filed in the "New Zealand / Money" section

The sub-head reads: "Hundreds of people have rallied in support of celebrity Kura Forrester following an on-air incident during a popular talk show"

It is illustrated with a image that features a publicity photo of Kura Forrester on one side and an angry crowd clashing with a line of NZ Police officers.
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Fuel Cells Works @fuelcellsworks.com · 05/06/2025
JCB's hydrogen engine will debut at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, marking its first public display at a UK agricultural event. #HydrogenNow #Fuelcells #CleanEnergy #Decarbonise #ZeroEmisson fcw.sh/hR7bW4
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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
So if you've seen headlines panicking bc "the cHiNeSe smuggled in bioweapons to kill our crops!!" The Michigan Farm Bureau would like to remind everyone "Yeah they're junior scientists who are working to STOP CROP DISEASES. It looks like they just didn't do the paperwork for bringing in samples."
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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Police, FENZ and the MBIE "wanted to take the opportunity to remind all those who own or manage a building, particularly buildings with sleeping accommodation, of their responsibility to ensure those who occupy their premises are protected from fire."
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