Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 13h

The Urban Advisory has started a longitudinal New Zealand Housing Survey, asking renters & owners about their experiences & hopes. Natalie Allen says unhappy renters want more choice. Here's our 'Mini-Hoon' on the survey results. Free to all. #NZpol thekaka.substack.com/p/mini-hoon-...

Mini-Hoon: Natalie Allen on housing choices

The Urban Advisory has started a longitundinal New Zealand Housing Survey, asking renters & owners about their experiences & aspirations. Dr Natalie Allen finds unhappy renters wanting more choice

thekaka.substack.com

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 15h

#nzpol The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate by 0.5%. That sounds great. But banks only cut interest rates that much when the economy is in trouble - and not when things are going well. This cut is a sign of economic weakness, not strength. A 😄🧵

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Très Kewl @treskewl1.bsky.social · 14h

Must watch

Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 15h

Mini-Hoon: Ganesh Nana on a failing 'strategy'. Just ahead of today's 50 basis point rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, I spoke to economist Ganesh Ahirao about the Government's fiscally-tight & failing approach to economic management. #nzpol thekaka.substack.com/p/mini-hoon-...

Mini-Hoon: Ganesh Nana on a failing 'strategy'

Just ahead of today's 50 basis point rate cut by the RBNZ, I spoke to economist Ganesh Nana about the Government's fiscally-tight & failing approach to economic management

thekaka.substack.com

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 15h

They sell themselves.

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 15h

Mini-Hoon: Ganesh Nana on a failing 'strategy'. Just ahead of today's 50 basis point rate cut by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, I spoke to economist Ganesh Ahirao about the Government's fiscally-tight & failing approach to economic management. #nzpol thekaka.substack.com/p/mini-hoon-...

Mini-Hoon: Ganesh Nana on a failing 'strategy'

Just ahead of today's 50 basis point rate cut by the RBNZ, I spoke to economist Ganesh Nana about the Government's fiscally-tight & failing approach to economic management

thekaka.substack.com

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Foxy @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 17h

Curia Poll - Carried out between 1 and 5 October

Labour: 31.2⬇️2.6%
National: 29.6%⬇️3.5%
Greens: 12%⬆️1.3%
NZ First: 10.6%⬆️2.5%
ACT: 6.6%⬇️0.1%
Te Pāti Māori: 4.4%⬆️0.1%

Centre-left bloc 61 seats - Centre-right 59 seats

PPM
Chris Hipkins: 20.9%⬆️3.2%
Christopher Luxon: 19.8%⬇️1.9%
#NZPol

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 16h

The word ‘croc’ features six times on the front page.

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 16h

So it’s 50. With more possible. www.rbnz.govt.nz/hub/news/202...

OCR reduced to 2.5%

Monetary Policy Review media release and the MPC’s Record of Meeting, which summarises the committee's discussions, leading to the decision.

www.rbnz.govt.nz

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 18h

Tangled webs woven.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 18h

NVIDIA and OpenAi:

Concerns that their “increasingly complex and interconnected web of business transactions is artificially propping up the trillion-dollar AI boom.“

@bloomberg.com $NVDA 👀
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 18h

I wonder how this all might end.

Conor Sen @conorsen.bsky.social · 18h

“The unique deal structure, with the debt backed by the GPUs as opposed to the company, could provide a playbook for tech firms looking to decrease debt exposure.”

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

The Cathy Wilcox @cathywilcox.bsky.social · 21h

Canaries.
My @smh cartoon.

Two scenes. 1: advisor to Albo at his desk: “Sir, I must inform you that our canaries-in-the-coal-mines of climate change, transparency, accountability and social equity are all looking sickly…” PM: “Hmm…”
Scene 2: Albo at a lectern with press around: “…and that’s why my government is proud to announce the development of a new SUPER BREED of canaries…”

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Matt Davies @mattdaviescartoon.bsky.social · 19h

Chilling. Newsday.com/matt

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 18h

Good points. I would love to see livestreamed cabinet meetings. Would even pay for a subscription.

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · Nov 30

It is scattered all over Twitter because it was an albatross around my neck for many years. But I think these are the 3 main graphs.

Every other country's Business Confidence is a better predictor of GDP

NZ Business Confidence is uniquely uncorrelated to GDP

It is about political reckons and what the past was like

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 19h

While I really don't want to go back to being "the business confidence data guy" of 2019. It is about a 40 point difference in party in power given similar conditions.

bsky.app/profile/thou...

David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · Nov 30

It is scattered all over Twitter because it was an albatross around my neck for many years. But I think these are the 3 main graphs.

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Patrick Reynolds for a greater Auckland @patrickreynolds.bsky.social · 20h

What makes biz go delusional about the economy? Oh yeah, their party in power.
How great is the gap between reality + generally agreed right-wing public policy? Dead wrong about public finances + society, no matter how good they are at running own businesses? Via @bernardchickey.bsky.social

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Interest.co.nz (Unofficial) @interestnz.nzcow.com · 18h

📢 Number of properties available to rent up 24% compared to a year ago, with the average asking rent down $20 a week

Bad news for landlords with rental stock levels up, asking rents coming down

www.interest.co.nz

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 20h

In the final week of council elections, I spoke with Bryce Ed Edwards about the need for more transparency & vigilance around lobbyists & candidates in local democracies. It’s open to all. #nzpol
thekaka.substack.com/p/mini-hoon-...

Mini-Hoon: Bryce Edwards on councils & lobbyists

In the final week of council elections, I spoke with Integrity Institute Director Bryce Edwards about the need for more transparency & vigilance around lobbyists & candidates in local democracies

thekaka.substack.com

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 21h

Would love to see this done for NZ media.

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 1d

Does the news reflect what we die from?

The image presents a comparison of the leading causes of death in the United States for 2023 and the media coverage these causes receive from three news outlets: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News.

In the footer, it notes the data sources, indicating that the information is based on media mentions from Media Cloud (2025) and death data from the US CDC (2025) and the Global Terrorism Index, with a clarification that values are normalized to sum to 100%.

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Leon Simons @leonsimons.bsky.social · 21h

The most important data in the world comes from NASA satellites.

Here I plotted both hemispheres.

It shows that the Northern Hemisphere now absorbs more sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere and that both Hemispheres absorb more light than they radiate heat to space, leading to faster warming.
1/

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Leon Simons @leonsimons.bsky.social · 1d

I just updated this NASA CERES graph. The regional level of Absorbed Solar Radiation increased by 4.2 W/m² in 20 years!!

That's more than the global greenhouse gas forcing increase since 1750!

The 2 W/m² Net Flux increase indicates that there is a lot more regional warming in the pipeline.

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

(((𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊𝙲𝚘𝚘𝚔))) @creativeelc.bsky.social · 1d

My cartoon in today's www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Luxon giving his 'best' advice to unemployed youth...

#NzPol #Caricature #Cartoon #PoliticalCartoon #EditorialCartoon #Luxon

Cartoon. Title: Youth 'Pep' talk...

A tiny Luxon is in the hall talking to young people. He's standing on a stool with his hand casually in his pocket lecturing a room of youth.

He's saying, "The world doesn't owe you a living! BUT... if you grow up to be a landlord..."

In the audience over 20 young people with varying expressions react to his speech. One in particular is looking at us with a distinct angry face.

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Reposted by Bernard Hickey

Guy Body @bodycartoon.bsky.social · 1d

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Banx @banxtoons.bsky.social · 1d

From today's @financialtimes.com #lecornu

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Daryl Cagle🗞📰 📚 📝🖌 🖥 🎨 @cagle.bsky.social · 23h

Here's another one of my cartoons, animated by AI, with an AI voice that I think is funny. AI came up with the voice, I didn't prompt it. Trump's hand is a bit funky, but the hand is funny too. Should we make more of these? (Remember to subscribe to our free newsletter cagle.com/subscribe)

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