Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 53m

“A major new report has called for sweeping reform of New Zealand’s drug laws, warning punitive approaches are fuelling addiction, overdoses and inequality and leaving the country unprepared for the illicit drug market.”

#nzpol

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

Screenshot of an article from Stuff NZ by Bridie Witton titled: ‘Colossal Failure’ - Drug Foundation calls for law reform as three die each week.

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 3h

It’s so frustrating that there was no pushback from the interviewer. The Greens aren’t the ones calling people losers, dropkicks, layabouts, lazy, bottomfeeders, dogs, mobs and bludgers etc etc etc.

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 4h

The National-led government has been avoiding questions about whether it is joining in preparations for a US military confrontation with China. The public does not know what New Zealand military staff are discussing in secret meetings. Until now….

#nzpol

newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/09/s...

Secret defence notes pointing to sensitive China preparation left at op shop

The National-led government has been avoiding questions about whether it is joining in preparations for a US military confrontation with China. A series of Official Information Act requests on this su...

newsroom.co.nz

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 2d

“The government’s recent changes to benefits feel like this: the house is on fire, and this policy is them turning off the smoke alarm and saying it’s fixed.

Sometimes a policy is so stupid it makes you question the very fabric of reality.”…

#nzpol

craigrenney.substack.com/p/a-small-wr...

A small wrinkle in the Jobseeker policy

The government’s recent changes to benefits feel like this: the house is on fire, and this policy is them turning off the smoke alarm and saying it’s fixed

craigrenney.substack.com

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 2d

Share a TV series from the 2000's you love. 📺

My choice: Outrageous Fortune

Reposted by CuriousCat

Miss Inge Pisodés @quiteamess.bsky.social · 3d

AI at its peak

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 8d

Paywalled - accessible article here.
archive.ph/a85UO

Screenshot of an article from the ODT NZ by Matthew Littlewood titled, ‘Frankly Astonished’: Concerns raised over Health Minister’s meeting. Paywalled - accessible article in the comments.

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 8d

Concerns are being raised about privatisation after Health Minister Simeon Brown met representatives of a controversial multinational company that runs prisons and hospitals.

“The Minister must immediately & fully disclose the nature, purpose, & content of his discussions with Serco.”

#nzpol

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Reposted by CuriousCat

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 19d

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 19d

Got this cd last week. Hadn’t heard of Kneecap before the furore over their support for Palestine.

I love this soundtrack. Parful, Guilty Conscience, and, H.O.O.D are bangers. Liberty Belle by Fontaines DC is great too. Excited to watch the movie now.

Photo of the soundtrack cd - Kneecap: Music From the Motion Picture

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 20d

In the past year alone, the current govt has passed a law that gave more of our taxpayer money away to benefit landlords ($2.9 Billion) than the govt has spent in the entire 36-year history of all the Treaty of Waitangi settlements ($2.2 Billion).

#nzpol

drgarypayinda.substack.com/p/maori-ward...

Māori Wards, Local Votes, and Citizenships-for-sale

My eye-opening voyage as a regular voter looking at local government elections.

drgarypayinda.substack.com

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 22d

This is a government run for the benefit of corporations, not people, whose every policy is united by one goal: to maximise profits & power for the corporate rich. Making money not off of producing things, but by hoarding assets & charging rent.

#nzpol

drgarypayinda.substack.com/p/govts-dirt...

Govt's dirty little Treasury Secret is finally out: Will this govt cut healthcare and raise the retirement age?

Why is the only option to hit the middle class and poor harder? Never do we see Govt or the Treasury suggesting that rich corporate owners pay their fair share.

drgarypayinda.substack.com

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · 23d

“Māori were once regarded by Pākehā as a dying race and the language was to be the first casualty. That was a false prophecy.”…

Paywalled - accessible article here: archive.ph/MDGwA

#nzpol #ToitūTeTiriti

Screenshot of the title of an article in the NZ Listener - Aaron Smale: Te reo rises again.

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Reposted by CuriousCat

Tim @timward2014.bsky.social · 24d

NZ media right now:
- The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich: What we know
- Reinhard Heydrich - the outspoken champion of free speech and tolerance
- Heydrich slaying: Who would do such a thing?
- Heydrich's widow vows to continue his glorious work
- FSU: We should all mourn Heydrich
#nzpol

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Reposted by CuriousCat

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 25d

"…and Magda Goebbels made a great strudel.”

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Sep 7

“The stakes in healthcare are high, and they’ve put a hatchet-man on the job.”…

#nzpol

drgarypayinda.substack.com/p/simeon-bro...

Simeon Brown accused of unlawful action just days after Health NZ was (again) found guilty of unlawful action.

How long can this go on?

drgarypayinda.substack.com

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Sep 4

The review…

thespinoff.co.nz/books/17-06-...

Review: Turncoat takes an intergalactic approach to colonisation

Tīhema Baker's ingenious and hilarious new novel explores what it feels like to be colonised through the lens of satire and sci-fi.

thespinoff.co.nz

CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Sep 4

Loved the laser kiwi mention.

Paragraph from the book, Turncoat by Tīhema Baker. A reference to the laser kiwi flag.

“Even when Mother filled us in on her secret plan for New Zealand to protest MEET which I won’t outline in full here (but involved a giant projection of New Zealand’s greatest icon: a now extinct flightless bird that reputedly had the ability to fire coherent-matter beams from its cornea), all I could think about was the infuriating ‘Seen’ mocking me in my tree.”

CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Sep 4

Just finished this great book: Turncoat by Tīhema Baker.

Saw a review of the book and thought it looked interesting. It was awesome, highly recommended.

#pukapuka #ToitūTeTiriti

Front cover of the book, Turncoat by Tīhema Baker.

Back cover of the book, Turncoat by Tīhema Baker.

‘I see you’re coming to terms with what it means for a Human to serve the Hierarch.’
‘Well, I know that a lot of Hierarch edicts completely contradict Human values. I was prepared for that when I began here—’
‘Were you?’

Daniel is a young, idealistic Human determined to make a difference for his people. He lives in a distant future in which Earth has been colonised by aliens. His mission: infiltrate the Alien government called the Hierarch and push for it to honour the infamous Covenant of Wellington, the founding agreement between the Hierarch and Humans.

With compassion and insight, Turncoat explores the trauma of Māori public servants and the deeply conflicted role they are expected to fill within the machinery of government. From casual racism to co-governance, Treaty settlements to tino rangatiratanga, Turncoat is a timely critique of the Aotearoa zeitgeist, holding a mirror up to Pākehā New Zealanders and asking: “What if it happened to you?”

About Tīhema Baker

Tīhema Baker (Raukawa te Au ki te Tonga, Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai, and Ngāti Toa Rangatira) is a writer and Tiriti o Waitangi-based policy advisor from Ōtaki. He has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington, for which he wrote this novel

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Reposted by CuriousCat

Shawn Hill @shawnhillnz.bsky.social · Sep 3

Kea in the Hooker Valley | Aoraki Mt Cook. Aotearoa New Zealand

While these two were dancing around for the the tourists... Another three were sneaking around to the unguarded bags 🤣

#newzealand

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Aug 31

Which TV series have you rewatched more than once…

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Aug 30

“It’s hard to know whether it is more Animal Farm or Nineteen Eighty-Four but this Government is racking up a growing list of reforms that it claims will achieve the very opposite of logic.”…

Paywalled - accessible article here…
archive.ph/nUF2m

#nzpol

Screenshot of an article from The Post NZ by Vernon Small, titled, Government’s Reforms Verging on Orwellian.

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Aug 28

“In an ideal world, people blind to social inequity should not be given the power to govern the less fortunate. Yet here we are.”…

#nzpol

werewolf.co.nz/2025/08/gord...

Screenshot of the title of an article by Gordon Campbell, ‘On ACT’s Fake Defence of Equality’.

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Aug 28

Drop something TELEVISED...

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CuriousCat @felissapien.bsky.social · Aug 26

Accessible article here…
archive.li/q2U0Y

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