A short piece in the October North and South - reflections on the state of the health system in turbulent times. If you care about public services read this and be wary about who you choose to support in the upcoming NZ general election ⁦ northandsouth.co.nz/2023/09/18/the…

No. Possible. Coalition. With. National. Unless. The. MEMBERSHIP. Of. The. Greens. Allows. It. Jessica knows this, but this fictional scenario makes its way onto our "news" regardless. Agreeing to policies across the House is a *completely different matter to forming a Govt.

Ralph Hotere telling it like it is

"We've always been upfront it was only 3000 families that benefit from our plan..." Nicola, you can stop gaslighting people now. You were never upfront. You denied the reality of being *taken to the cleaners* in interview after interview. We're not as gullible as your voters.

Māori Policy Debate - Tonight, 8:45pm The top six parties battle it out for the Māori vote with 9 days to go until Election Day. Kāore e kore, ko Ngāi Ihuatamai ka whiu i te kupu, i te kōrero, i te kaupapa, kaua ko te tangata.

It's to help navigate Planet Key because so many people were stuck orbiting that falling star for the last 6 years, and have only just now realised the new captain was heading for yet another fiscal black hole....

Incidentally, yep! Did a blog post a few yrs ago and included links to some background reports. This article below is good, as is Matt Kennard's interview on Novara that deep dives into the intricate backgrd/history of the foreign aid sys, a great watch. m.youtube.com/watch?v=vDsp2a…

And just remember, the words of the whiner-in-chief of the National Party about Hipkins: "The most positive thing he's done is get Covid." Nasty, venal, spiteful. The fish always rots from the top and Tories continue their woeful form.

"Exactamundo", as the saying goes. In other words, not certain politicians relying yet more fear to drive up uncertainty.

#NZPol OK, one job LEFT to do, Aotearoa! Let's not have the last word go to the worst of politics! Let's help get people who haven't voted out there! Let's not throw our most vulnerable to the scrap heap! Let's show them we ARE better than this! YOUR. VOTE. COUNTS.

The majority of analysis on Gaza has been *ludicrously* barren in terms of real nuance. But *some* rays of hope (the analysis OF the analysis) can still get through, at least IMO. They include t.ly/WTtxi and t.ly/1cQSv and this t.ly/0OBE3

Reminder for people who want me to only speak about disinfo and extremism As a working class person I'm going to be significantly impacted by the policies our new government is implementing, of course I'm going to be speaking out

The man is a thug, and has a child's level conception of law and order (unfortunately, that's tended to be the attraction for their voters: just not thinking much about issues). Nobody can be as evidence-free as they are and then get to demand people take them seriously as well.

We've got critical infrastructure issues and a main connection between two islands now relegated to dredging up some 2nd hand dross to 'sAvE mOneY', which will inevitably fail because that shit is always unsuitable to *our* conditions, bc *short termism* and "fuck it, tax cuts!".

Gordon Campbell: On National Passing Bad Policies Under Urgency ift.tt/JM71daX

Something something book title mumble mumble The Hollow Men something something another book title Dirty Politics mumble mumble. And in fact - it's gotten way worse, but it takes two to tango as the saying goes: *enough* voters *wanted* these hypocrites. That's all they needed.

Bingo (and frankly, his interview in the latest AA mag wasn't much more coherent on future strategies regarding transport overall).