Peter Ashford
@peterashford.bsky.social
940 followers 770 following 1.8K posts
Software engineer. Dad. Ex game-dev. I like talking to nice people.
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Reposted by Peter Ashford
elenem.bsky.social
I think it's okay to talk about the good as long as you also discuss the bad (I say as someone who had to eulogise an abusive Dad and didn't hold back). It's the way the media only ever focuses on the good and ignores the full legacy that's gross
Reposted by Peter Ashford
paullecomtephoto.nz
Sad for his friends & family, but there better be no eulogising of this evil bugger.

His Govt’s ‘mother of all budgets’ kicked off inter generational poverty & under employment. Unforgivable.
peterashford.bsky.social
That's what I had, and it was great. Do it!
peterashford.bsky.social
Spare me the hagiographies for Jim Bolger. He ushered in the most rapacious budget in NZ history, embedding inequities that persist to the current day. #nzpol
Reposted by Peter Ashford
rmmbr.bsky.social
I've spent the past 2 months working on a single #painting. This isn't it! I'm taking a few days off and wanted to paint a fun, loose and expressive #portrait.

Over 2-3 hours, I needed to abstract a lot of the features so I tried to focus on flat shapes and changes of hue and value to get a 3d read
Painting of a woman with dark afro. She looks out the canvas, head slightly tilted up. The light dapples through her afro and onto her face. The painting is loose, textural brush strokes with sharp delineations between light and shadow. She is painted in warm reds, browns and yellows. Surrounding the portrait are red and yellow squiggles that, on reflection, add nothing but I think they look cool
peterashford.bsky.social
That's cool! What makes the colored stripe?
Reposted by Peter Ashford
grantbrookesnz.bsky.social
Simeon Brown tells young jobseekers to “get a paper run” on RNZ this morning 🙀

He is so out of touch, he thinks neighbourhoods still get a daily newspaper delivered
#nzpol
Reposted by Peter Ashford
davidsirota.com
This is some of the best political news I've seen in a very long time.

There's a clear a way to end the Citizens United precedent by changing state incorporation laws - and now luminaries in both parties are forcing a vote on it in the 2026 election.
peterashford.bsky.social
I don't agree. I share your scepticism regarding the peace holding, but iI think the weight of western world leaders recognising Palestine was part of the process of change. Certainly not sufficient in and of itself, however
Reposted by Peter Ashford
styler.bsky.social
I’m enjoying the retaking of frogs. I always felt incredibly sad for the original illustrator of pepe who had his creation stolen and exploited
Reposted by Peter Ashford
toderianuw.bsky.social
@BrentToderian.bsky.social urged the government to stop waiting for market forces and instead take deliberate steps to catalyse change. ‘Don’t hope and pray. Be intentional. Fill the gaps. Activate the dead spaces. Make things happen!’”

Read this, with your own city in mind.
brenttoderian.bsky.social
NEW: “The cost of inaction is greater than the cost of transformation,” Toderian said. “You can’t afford not to act.”

This article does a pretty good job capturing the energy, urgency, and (some of the many) ideas in my very blunt “Call To Action” this week in Kingston, Jamaica. Follow-thru is key!
Reposted by Peter Ashford
taniaroxborogh.bsky.social
What the actual fuck is this? What is the point of having a select committee? of having democracy? I can't even...
duncanwebbmp.bsky.social
The select committee report on the Regulatory Standards Bill is in.
📝166,000 submissions.
❌98.7% opposed.
Yet National are going to continue supporting it.
🗣New Zealand could not have been louder, but Luxon still isn’t listening.
Regulatory Standards Bill:
Select Committee Report:
166,000 submission total
0.7% supported
0.6% unclear
98.7% opposed

AUTHORISED BY DUNCAN WEBB MP, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS WELLINGTON
Reposted by Peter Ashford
xkaosmagex.bsky.social
When our MPs are attacking unions they are attacking workers.

#nzpol
kiwistevemc.bsky.social
I’m sick of RW govts trying to separate “the unions” from their members.

“The unions” can’t take strike actions without balloting members. “The unions” aren’t forcing members to strike; they can’t. Members are voting to strike, because of shite offers from this govt.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blames unions for ongoing strike action
"I think people are getting sick of unions prioritising the politics over patients," Christopher Luxon says.
www.rnz.co.nz
Reposted by Peter Ashford
lollardfish.bsky.social
It turns out that protecting hate speech did not create the conditions to protect other kinds of speech; instead, it protected hate and allowed hate movements to take over all the institutions of that might have defended the rest of us.
peterashford.bsky.social
This is exactly what my partner and I think is going to happen.
Reposted by Peter Ashford
peterashford.bsky.social
It's not about results, it's about optics
Reposted by Peter Ashford
rimaanabtawi.bsky.social
“This war is absolutely about displacement & ethnic cleansing, the right-wing fever dreams encouraged & fomented by the PM.

Likud, Netanyahu's party, has organized a conference called "Preparing for Settlement in Gaza," headlined by 9 Knesset members, for Oct 21, 2025.”
@ntarnopolsky.bsky.social
peterashford.bsky.social
Would a Gaelic speaker understand Irish?
Reposted by Peter Ashford
tracyexplains.com
Nope. It’s worse. @johnfugelsang.bsky.social introduced as a _comedian_ was shut down by @stephruhle.bsky.social last night for saying something about Felon that’s likely true and it was … funny.

That’s how little backbone they have. I’m old enough to remember when news orgs weren’t so… wussy.
gtconway.bsky.social
Is it just me, or does it seem the press is actually and completely terrified to report about Donald Trump's physical and mental health the way it would have if anyone else were president?
Reposted by Peter Ashford
jamnpp.bsky.social
Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world,... I feel like I can't take it. And my heart is just going to cave in.
Reposted by Peter Ashford
lukeskyjumper.bsky.social
We need to be lifted to a place where getting paid doesn't mean life or death.

UBI enables a politically active population.
peterashford.bsky.social
I was very impressed to learn that Liam understands the feelings of colonised people because he's fond of his family's farm.
alans-world.bsky.social
#NZpol

It has been interesting, COUGH SPLUTTER, seeing these results come out while watching "I'm not racist... But" Episode tonight... (especially Liam Hehir kinda wheedling around a bit on some land-related 'comparisons' before getting a "Uh... see here's the thing" from other panelists, AHEM).
mrjeffhowell.bsky.social
The Olive green areas are councils where citizens voted down Māori wards (the little blue blob in the middle is Kirikiriroa, which voted by a whisker to retain theirs).
Coincidentally those Olive green areas also pretty accurately represent land confiscated by the crown after the Waikato wars.