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• Post #4493318

  NZ -- product recall Vogel’s breads sold in the South Island with a best before date of 15th August have been recalled because they may contain small metal pieces. https://www.mpi.govt.nz/food-safety-home/food-recalls-and-complaints/recalled-food-products/vogels-brand-various-breads-recalled-as-the-products-may-contain-foreign-matter-small-metal-pieces #NZ #Recall

• Post #4440727

  A US oil company connected to Trump has landed drilling equipment in Greenland. They don't have permission to land the equipment, let alone to drill two test wells within a conservation area. Climate-aware Greenland stopped issuing drilling licenses in 2021, but the USians intend to piggyback on an existing license. Emboldened by Trump's international aggression, their motto appears to be "Who's gonna stop us?" This action will produce headaches that Nato members don&#3...

• Post #4301353

  Fresh from perverting the beautiful game to allow more commercials (extended half times & drinks breaks), overturning a red card at Trump's request and degrading FIFA's reputation by presenting the warmonger Trump with a made-up bling 'peace' prize, FIFA President Gianni Infantino's Trump-sucking has reached its climax. He's proposed selling 20% of the World Cup business to American venture capitalists, specifically Jared Kushner's brother. The Union of Europe...

• Post #4252351

  Private company Taylorville Resource Park takes industrial waste from Christchurch, trucks it over the Southern Alps to Greymouth and stashes it on unstable land next to Greymouth's water treatment plant. What could possibly go wrong? And cue climate change. The torrential rain which flooded Greymouth on Friday also caused a landslide from the dump site onto a road. The slip was big enough that two cars smacked into it in the dark. There's little can be done to stop the operation beca...

• Post #4250660

  In a triumph for NZ First's fragile white cookers and racists everywhere, English has become an "official" language of NZ. Ignoring the facts -- NZ laws are written in English and Parliament conducts its business in English -- the English Language Bill passed its third and final reading at Parliament yesterday. At the first reading of the bill, NZFirst leader WInston Peters said the purpose of the Bill was to help solve a "virtue signalling narrative..." He's an eld...

• Post #4211669

  Talk about jobs for the boys! Luxon's government has handed their pet real estate company Bayleys $2.4m in the past nine months for disposing of 941 state houses. In an uncanny coincidence, Bayleys just happens to be one of the National Party's biggest donors. And Pharmac Chair Paulya Benefit is a director of Bayleys, but insists that she had nothing to do with it. Yeah, right. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361012822/major-national-donor-paid-25m-selling-state-houses #NZPol #Bay...

• Post #4192002

  The NZ government has rejected a ban on the public sale of fireworks. This decision defies public opinion and lacks common sense. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/govt-rejects-calls-to-ban-public-sale-of-fireworks-q5pk852b #NZPol #Fireworks

• Post #4103491

  Four headlines in today's Guardian. Spot the odd one out. #ClimateChange

• Post #4009400

  This is sad. Papatoetoe Intermediate School has cancelled its school camp this year because so few families could afford it. Last year camp cost $240/ This year, it's over $350. Only 160 out of 750 students confirmed they could go. School camps are a right of passage for kiwi kids. I curse the coalition government which has made so many families so very poor. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/771967/auckland-school-forced-to-cancel-school-camp-as-families-unable-to-afford-it #NZ #Edu...

• Post #3932417

  This seems significant. The Bank of England will stop accepting bonds linked to coal. This means commercial banks can no longer use bonds linked to coal as “collateral” when they borrow money from the BoE. "The Bank’s new policy suggests that bonds linked to thermal coal are now too risky to sit on its balance sheet, as an international shift away from dirty fossil fuels towards greener energy could end up wiping out their value." Please. Let it happen! https://www.theguardian.com/...

• Post #3901047

  Those who keep a wary eye on New Zealand's cooker community should note that twisted conspiracist Billy Te Kahika is in hospital following a heart attack. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361007901/billy-te-kahika-jnrs-condition-deteriorates-after-heart-attack #NZ #Cookers

• Post #3798316

  In Sam Neill's 2023 memoir, he ripped into his old Christchurch alma mater Christ's College and elite education in general. He said many of the students at the boarding house were the “product of generations of inbreeding”. “Canterbury farming families, for some reason, like to marry among their own. The gene pool is very small. You would think that a cursory examination of how they bred their Corriedale sheep would’ve been helpful in this regard. Sadly, no.” Sam lived by his convicti...

• Post #3686640

  Another former National MP and certified cooker joins NZ First. Harete Hipango, who now identifies as Harete Hipango-Brownlie, was a supporter of the anti-vax 'Voices for Freedom' group. S'funny, you never hear a peep from VfF these days. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/691707/nz-first-haven-former-mp-harete-hipango-brownlie-latest-to-make-the-jump #NZPol #Hipango #NZFirst

• Post #2848138

  We have cowboys in our forests. In 1993 the Samnic Waingaromia Project was launched with a prospectus offering "Invest $80k... get returns of $1.3m." The actual return was $27k and the average investor lost $50k on the deal. Now the same company has appeared before the environment court denying any responsibility for the forestry slash and debris they left behind on a 1,000ha block outside Gisborne. The court wasn't having any of it. Samnic must clean up the remaining woody de...

• Post #2516894

  In case anyone still thinks cruise ships sound like fun, spare a thought for the 1,700 passengers of the 'Ambition' currently stranded off the French coast. Up to 50 passengers are thought to have gastroenteritis and one person has died. The world's most environmentally damaging form of tourism is also becoming one of the most dangerous. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/595128/1700-passengers-held-on-cruise-ship-over-potential-acute-stomach-bug-sickness #CruiseShips...

• Post #2501749

  NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced yesterday that "immigration was an emerging political issue..." But Paul Spoonley says Luxon is offering a solution for a problem which doesn't exist. Our points-based immigration system is discerning, we don't have waves of refugees knocking at our door and the majority of Kiwis view immigration positively. Prof Spoonley politely suggests that the PM is reacting to race baiting from Act and NZFirst, "both...

• Post #2435558

  While many countries are wrestling with retaliatory tarrifs on US stupidity, China is doing a clever thing. Sure, they slapped a 39% tariff on US goods, but they've also introduced 'export licensing' for a few critical minerals including dysprosium, terbium, tungsten, indium, and yttrium. They've turned off a tap the US didn't realise it relied on. This is a good analysis from someone who knows the subject. https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/05/china-jus...

• Post #2121607

  West Harbour people -- a boil water notice has been issued for all DCC-supplied properties from District Rd in Roseneath to Lewis St in Deborah Bay. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/boil-water-notice-west-harbour #Dunedin #Flooding

• Post #1821306

  The NZ Police manual has been updated. In future, officers who encounter sovereign citizens and learn they hold a firearms licence are to refer the individuals to the Firearms Safety Authority for review. Furthermore, "... where an officer suspects an individual represents a security threat, they should contact the National Security Group at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet." The days of treating cookers as harmless cranks are ending. https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/2...

• Post #1820913

  With National sagging in the polls and haemorrhaging voters to NZFirst, the scrap between Luxon and Peters consumes a lot of oxygen. Former National Minister Chris Finlayson doesn't believe Luxon's coalition will make it as far as November. He calls NZ First "an excrescence." I looked it up -- it's warts and pimples. "... I think the best thing the National Party can do is try and extricate themselves from this grisly coalition and declare war on New Zealand First…...

• Post #1792025

  Kudos to the Independent for this excellent headline. "King Charles gives Trump a shiny gift" https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-charles-state-dinner-gift-white-house-royals-b2966850.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub #Headline #UK #Charles

• Post #1731590

  This is a ten minute exposure of a comet, specifically R3 PanSTARRS. Look at the utter mess Musk and his buddies are making of our night sky, and they're only getting started. There are currently around 10,000 Starlink satellites in space. Musk wants to increase that number to one million. Follow @sundogplanets for up to date info on satellite pollution and some charming goat news. Photo by Uli Fehr -- via APOD https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260427.html #SatelliteTrails #APOD

• Post #1622671

  RE: https://mastox.eu/@ZackPolanski/116456447403331400 Check out the trajectory of the UK Green Party. Voters are seeking an alternative to oil-based centrism, austerity and a system based on inequality. Only one party promises a cleaner, fairer future. It's time. Vote Green. 💚 #UKPol #VoteGreen

• Post #1397986

  Keith Ng at the Herald has a good summary of what's known and where we're at. "MMH has confirmed that only a single stolen user account was used in the attack. Posing as a normal user, the hackers were able to trick the application interface into providing the files for 127,000 other users. The control mechanisms meant to stop one user from accessing other users’ files had failed, or did not exist." It sounds like they accessed one person's files, then...

• Post #1339493

  98% of Fonterra shareholders voted to sell the goose which laid the golden eggs and today is pay day. The average *tax-free* payment to shareholders is $400k. Farmers voted for the sugar hit, disregarding the fact that the next time the milk price drops, Fonterra's consumer brands won't be there to cushion the shock because they're now owned by French company Lactalis. Short term thinking is not much of a strategy. If anyone knows why this sale of business assets for p...

• Post #1061147

  Ventusky is one of my favourite weather services. Wanna see cyclone Vaianu in pretty colours? Click the play button to animate the predicted path, which currently hits most of the North Island and clips the top of the South. Stay safe, everyone. https://www.ventusky.com/precipitation-map/3-hours#p=-39.1;175.9;4 #Ventusky #CycloneVaianu

• Post #960276

  It's official. New Zealand's butterflies are disappearing quickly with this survey showing a 50% decline between 2009 and 2025. This mirrors what I've observed in my own garden. Ten years ago we had loads of butterflies. This year there have been hardly any. Bee numbers have also been very low. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/591601/survey-shows-significant-decline-in-new-zealand-s-butterflies #NZ #Butterflies

• Post #890063

  National's cruel cuts have left NZ's health service in a mess. Wellington hospital's ED entered critical code red status -- when demand outstrips available staff and beds -- four times in one night. A witness says "Nurses and doctors were in tears. There were some security guards in tears. There was so much yelling going on and patients and their family members were being so grumpy that they were throwing things..." Between January and October last yea...

• Post #844151

  As NZ moves towards a social media ban for children under 16, Charlotte McLauchlan argues that forcing kids to change their behaviour is the wrong approach. She says it's the social media giants which need regulation and this is our chance to get it right. If our politicians weren't so trivially tribal, there'd be a damn good case for cross-party cooperation on this issue. https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/29/a-small-country-with-a-big-chance-to-hit-social-media-platform...

• Post #694439

  Another day, another fast-track project which would normally have failed most environmental and planning laws has been rubber-stamped by the Luxon government's 'experts'. This time it's the "Ayrburn Screen Hub" which will be plonked in Dalefield... one of the wealthiest parts of the Wakatipu. On the surface it's a film hub and the financial viability of studios is always a dodgy one. However friends of friends who work for Winton have l...