Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by tristam

Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 1d

Provide free banking and mortgage lending at OCR+1 as a public banking service, and nationalise fossil fuel electricity generation (and incentivise generators to reduce it's use). Split wholesale / retail grocery and force sale of half of supermarkets to several new entrants. No more half measures.

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 23h

it will make a difference if Meta has to give you a clean feed. ie: one that reflects your interests and choices.

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 23h

… if we can legislate for accessible spaces & assistive technologies… it’s high time we legislated for recognisable reality… or at least the ability to control how information is accessed on the platforms we chose to engage with.

this might even mean that platforms benefit from diverse #ux

Ramsha Jahangir @ramshajahangir.bsky.social · 1d

Last week, a Dutch court ordered Meta to give Facebook & Instagram users the right to set a chronological feed by default - one of the first EU cases applying the DSA in civil proceedings.

To unpack what this means, I spoke with @bitsoffreedom.bsky.social:

www.techpolicy.press/what-a-dutch...

What a Dutch Court Ruling Against Meta Signals for Private DSA Enforcement | TechPolicy.Press

Tech Policy Press spoke with Rejo Zenger, Policy and Advocacy Lead at Bits of Freedom, to better understand the significance of the ruling.

www.techpolicy.press

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Richard Hills @richardhills.bsky.social · 3d

Unemployment has increased by 50,000 since he’s been Prime Minister. That’s 50,000 families affected.

Luxon is just giving up his responsibility as Prime Minister for his citizens - to look tough against people who are trying their best.

Where are the jobs?

David Cormack @davidcormack.bsky.social · 4d

god help me. this is just cruelty. these are human beings, you monsters.

'The world doesn’t owe you a living’: PM says 4300 teens will lose Jobseeker benefit next year

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BladeoftheSun @bladeofthes.bsky.social · 10d

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 11d

sign the petitions

(particularly if you reside in Aotearoa New Zealand) lifelineforpalestine.com/take-action

Lifeline for Palestine

lifelineforpalestine.com

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 11d

winston as a chinese sleeper agent, a literal manchurian candidate?! epic.

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 11d

we need to change the history of Aotearoa again… i found a 2,500 year-old Terracotta Warrior from Xi’an, China near Maupuia yesterday.

jk!

do you recognise this as a souvenir or something more interesting… ? full story…
www.reddit.com/r/Wellington...

From the Wellington community on Reddit: the archaeology of globalisation

Explore this post and more from the Wellington community

www.reddit.com

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 12d

TFW…

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27/09/2025
birdle.nz

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Idiot/Savant @norightturnnz.bsky.social · 12d

The Post denounces National's plans to strip 55,000 people of their votes as anti-democratic. Then they hide this democratic message behind a paywall.

So: fuck the paywall, here it is archive.ph/tdO56

archive.ph

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Vote Tākapu @votetakapu.bsky.social · 13d

Memes flying in at the speed of a diving tākapu (140 km/hr)! Check the thread!

Vote Tākapu at www.birdoftheyear.org.nz/australasian...!

#boty #boty2025 #birdoftheyear #birdoftheyear2025 @forestandbird.bsky.social

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MeatMechSuit @meatmechsuit.bsky.social · 16d

Suck it, racists. #nzpol

Photo of a referendum on Māori wards voting paper with ‘I vote to KEEP Māori wards’ ticked.

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Dane 🔜 NYCC AA L-34 @monkeyminion.com · Sep 1

I love the smell of consequences in the morning. Thank you, @dragoncon.org

An empty booth with a sign that says “vendor removed for selling AI art #ArtBYHumans”

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 18d

… can anyone explain why “our authorities appear to have all but acknowledged [that social media is] wholly ungovernable for a state of our size and power” is such a prevalent view from many people who do know better? thespinoff.co.nz/media/15-09-...

Tom Phillips, Clarke Gayford and rumours that won’t go away

Responding to intense social media speculation in the past has put authorities in a bind now.

thespinoff.co.nz

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 18d

a private, searchable diary built on structured, semantic data (with or w/o generated LLM summaries) is not the same as undermining the exploration of all or specialist knowledge humans have created and making connections for your own appreciation and education bsky.app/profile/jool...

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Ms Hooper @mshooper.bsky.social · 18d

“Nobody voted for Rogernomics 41 years ago — the free market failed our people in the 1980s and it is failing us today. The legacy of Roger Douglas must be torn down root and branch. It is time to end the era of neoliberalism once and for all.”

open.substack.com/pub/elliotcr...

Roger Douglas Calls For Class War

Roger Douglas, architect of NZ's broken economic model, is calling for Nicola Willis to resign. The former Finance Minister wants the government to pursue a more extreme programme of austerity.

open.substack.com

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 21d

It’s not offshore wind that’s killing whales.

Whale and her calf entangled in shark net off Queensland coast

‘Heartbreaking’ drone footage has captured the moment a mother and calf became trapped. Four humpbacks have been snared in recent days

www.theguardian.com

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 18d

… dang, birdle.nz is one of the best educational games i’ve seen in a while…

Birdle 🇳🇿 21/09/2025

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@forestandbird.bsky.social #boty closes at the end of the month!

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The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 21d

"That's when we become unstoppable."

🤝 @zackpolanski.bsky.social meets co-leader of New Zealand Greens Chlöe Swarbrick 💚

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Ira @ira.bailey.nz · 18d

Auror, the “we don’t do live facial recognition” company, rolling out live facial recognition across all of its sites in NZ.

Which is over 90% of big brand retail shops across the country 😑

👀 @jjw.wtf

Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 18d

With every story about private companies like Auror (in conjunction with US giant Axon) rolling out facial recognition in New Zealand, and police having access to the data without a warrant or production order, I’m left to conclude privacy is basically the Wild West.

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Stage set for much more facial recognition in shops

Auror's number-plate recognition technology is currently under legal scrutiny in the Wellington Court of Appeal.

www.rnz.co.nz

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 18d

unless Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori get their shit together — soon — Aotearoa NZ will happily normalise this same fantasist, regressive pathway www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...

Opinion | Britain Offers a Warning of What America Could Become

www.nytimes.com

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 18d

“tax is love” you can’t have social cohesion & infrastructure without it. this week’s economic news seems like a good time for that reminder.

(also, this article really annoyed Seymour back in 2018. which is almost good enough reason to share it forever)

thespinoff.co.nz/partner/28-0...

Tax Heroes: forget the rich list – who pays the most tax in NZ?

Today we launch Tax Heroes, a project created in partnership with the IRD which aims to ‘invert the rich list’, and instead focus on the entities that contribute the most to New Zealand.

thespinoff.co.nz

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Dave Lee @davelee.me · 19d

Dutch late night TV has its take

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tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 19d

paging #aotearoaNZsky… more of you might try out bitchat (a take on the web-less mesh networking comms concept by dorsey) www.bitchat.community

tristam @tristam.bsky.social · 19d

great perspective. but let’s not talk too loud about “nihilism as a service”… someone might pick it up…

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