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The Cat's Whiskers

@thecatswhiskers.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.1K following 8K posts

I’m a makipai, so don’t tell ngā ngeru. #NZPol #History #Culture #Museums #Leadership #Co-governance #Movies #Fashion #Climate and anything else that takes my fancy.

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The Cat's Whiskers @thecatswhiskers.bsky.social · Nov 19

Astonishing turnout

Kylie @styla73.bsky.social · Nov 19

This timelapse of Hīkoi mō te Tiriti in Pōneke today is awe inspiring.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlu7...

Hīkoi mō te Tiriti - A Time-lapse of the Hikoi Protest rolling down Manners St Wellington

YouTube video by The Traffic Fox / Traffic Updates HKW

www.youtube.com

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Newsroom NZ @newsroom.co.nz · 3h

Comment from Auckland University: Measles vaccination levels in NZ have dipped well below that necessary for herd immunity, exposing us to diseases we thought we’d consigned to history.

Open the door to measles, and it won't stop there

newsroom.co.nz

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Kieran @nug.monster · 3h

because collins thinks we're an american territory, and seems to have forgotten where her husband makes his money.

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🔪🔪🔪bryan 🔪 🔪 🔪 @murderxbryan.bsky.social · 3h

The news is so profoundly stupid

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Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 12h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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The Cat's Whiskers @thecatswhiskers.bsky.social · 3h

#nzpol Edwards is always wrong

Tory Whanau @misswhanau.bsky.social · 3h

Just got sent this from an article by Bryce Edwards. This is completely false, and he never once fact-checked it with me. My campaign was run by me and my small volunteer team. Comments like this reflect a tired mindset that assumes women can’t succeed in politics without a man pulling the strings.

7:50
:.!=
73)
concerns about transparency and public trust.
The Anatomy of influence - A Wellington case study
Many of the powerful vested interests behind local politicians are barely acknowledged. For example, how many Wellington voters knew that the current Mayor of Wellington, Tory Whanau, had her successful 2022 campaign essentially run by corporate lobbyist Neale Jones?
Jones co-owns and operates the Capital Government Relations firm with fellow political commentator Ben Thomas. The firm is the epitome of the "revolving door"

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Ben Ross @benakl.bsky.social · 3h

A SHAME we cant charge Ministers with Corporate manslaughter with indefinite prison times

Tony from Welly @tonywelly.bsky.social · 3h

What a fucking idiot Chris Bishop is.
Put the speed up to 100km in Horowhenua and a truck rolled and caught fire at South Manakau Road

The guy is an imbecile
Speed Kills
#nzpol

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A nother Martin 💙🌵 @ouijoy.bsky.social · 8h

This! A thousand times this.

“White ignorance doesn’t persist because there’s a lack of information—it persists because there’s a refusal to engage with it”

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Hayley @writagal.bsky.social · 4h

“Far more properties may have heat pumps – but while electricity prices remain sky-high, and warmth continues to leak from uninsulated rooms, many tenants can’t afford to use them.”

The fact the power company oligarchy and landlords without ethics continue on despite stories like this says it all.

The Spinoff @thespinoff.bsky.social · 5h

How effective have the healthy homes standards really been?

On the surface, compliance is improving. But some fundamental problems remain....

thespinoff.co.nz

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Treen | Toitū Te Tiriti @heyren519.bsky.social · 3h

#nzpol

Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 4h

OCR drop to 2.5% while effective mortgage rate (average weighted rate) is about 5.25%. By my calcs, effective mortgage rate needs to be around 4.25% to be stimulatory. That would require an OCR of below 2%. Remember, we have much more mortgage debt now, thanks to RBNZ being idiots in 2020/21.

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Idea Monkey 🧨 💥 🐵 @ideamonkey.bsky.social · 1d

Or, just keep posting this photo

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Grumpy @grumpyyetamusin.bsky.social · 3h

"But here’s the thing: for Black people, for Indigenous people, for anyone who has lived outside the warm glow of American exceptionalism, that shock doesn’t land. Because the truth is, this is who America has always been."

Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 8h

"Black people are tired. Not metaphorically tired—actually tired. The kind of tired that turns every group chat into a mix of gallows humor and emotional triage."

I write about white ignorance and how exhausting it is to hear white ppl insist "this isn't who we are, when it's ALWAYS who we've been.

White People’s Performative Ignorance Is Exhausting—Opinion

Disbelief over authoritarianism in America isn’t a cutesy personality trait. It’s a confession: You haven’t been paying attention.

rewirenewsgroup.com

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KiwiRed @kiwired.bsky.social · 3h

#NZPol Planet Luxon.

Guy Body @bodycartoon.bsky.social · 4h

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LostArcNZ @lostarcnz.bsky.social · 4h

Was reminded both on TV and earlier by my wife that it was protests outside politician's homes that stopped the Dawn Raids. With our politicians increasingly curating where they are available, I am unsure how I feel about it being a criminal act to protest outside someone's home.

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 4h

Curia poll shows Labour above National & Hipkins above Luxon as preferred PM; RBNZ cuts 50 bps; Sub-2% OCR possible; Nicky Hager reports officials prepping for war with China; Andrea Vance reports Bryce Edwards’ Integrity Institute is unravelling. #nzpol thekaka.substack.com/p/thursdays-...

Thursday’s Early Bird: National under 30% as OCR cut to 2.5%

Curia poll shows Labour ahead of National & Hipkins above Luxon as preferred PM; RBNZ cuts 50 bps; Sub-2% OCR seen possible; ; Today's scoops & cartoons too

thekaka.substack.com

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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 4h

I am begging men to go to therapy instead of running for office

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 6h

Speaking at a church, Jack Ciattarelli suggested he be called “big daddy” instead of governor if he wins:

“…his grandchildren do not call him grandpa. …They call him big daddy, and I was thinking when we win this race I kind of like that better than governor. Big daddy.”

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Caleb @sherricale.bsky.social · 4h

"The trove of secret documents from the Portsmouth meetings had been accidentally donated to a Hutt Valley Salvation Army store."

Whoo boy. I'm sure the officer with distinctively neat handwriting won't lose their job over this.

Newsroom NZ @newsroom.co.nz · 4h

Exclusive: The Government has avoided questions about whether it’s joining preparations for a US confrontation with China. Until now, the public has had no insight.

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

newsroom.co.nz

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Tairāwhiti Doc @tairawhitidoc.bsky.social · 5h

Sunrise, Thursday, 9 October, from Wainui Beach, Aotearoa / New Zealand.
This is the same place as Tuesday’s cloudy morning. Decidedly sunnier today.
Ata mārie / Good Morning ☀️

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7h

“One of the negative consequences AI is having on students is that it is hurting their ability to develop meaningful relationships with teachers, the report finds. Half of the students agree that using AI in class makes them feel less connected to their teachers.”

Rising Use of AI in Schools Comes With Big Downsides for Students

A report by the Center for Democracy and Technology looks at teachers' and students' experiences with the technology.

www.edweek.org

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5h

Pritzker: "It's unconscionable. This has never happened before. They're calling out troops onto the streets of a state that doesn't want them and they're not even telling us where they're gonna go, what they're gonna do. This hasn't happened I don't think since the Civil War."

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Assiduously Julie @awaterevalley.bsky.social · 4h

Nicky Hager: "It seems either defence officials are pursuing plans contrary to their own Government’s wishes or the Government is not being straight with the public."

Secret defence notes pointing to sensitive China preparation left at op shop
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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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 4h

Unsurprisingly, stopping bottom trawling is really good for life in the ocean. oceanographicmagazine.com/news/26-year...

26 years of video footage shows benefit of bottom-trawling bans - Oceanographic

The University of Gothenburg deployed machine learning to analyse 26 years of underwater footage and analyse seabed changes since trawling ban

oceanographicmagazine.com

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The Lincoln Project @lincolnproject.us · 5h

We would like to thank Kristi Noem for bringing cameras with her everywhere and collecting evidence for her future trial at The Hague.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 4h

This powerful JB Pritzker response to Trump's lawless threats is another reminder of what I tried to argue this morning: Pritzker understands Stephen Miller's theory of this moment, and he's responding accordingly:

newrepublic.com/article/2014...

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Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 15h

#NZpol ⬇️

Get your votes in!

The Press @thepress.co.nz · 15h

Well before the sun rises, the roller doors open to an unassuming warehouse in Christchurch. Voting papers for most local body elections in New Zealand will be processed here.

From about 5.20am, tens of thousands of votes from across the country are delivered, sorted and processed by Electionz’s…

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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 14h

Russia's disinformation campaign is now using deepfaked audio of Holocaust survivors to attack Armenia, in videos published on the 2nd anniversary of the Hamas October 7th attack on Israel.

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