Vibeke

Patti! #aotearoapets

Shit-poster in chief

NZ govt announcement:
"We gave all the money to our mates, the landlords. To compensate, we sacked all the government workers. That crashed the economy, so we're going back to the old favourite of beating up ppl on benefits".

Schools aren’t using air purifiers because they are too costly to run as opposed to data centers that are cheap as chips and fine. The way we have devalued human life ought to be studied but we have also defunded higher education so 🤷🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

Yep, it's the same old "bash a beneficiary" or "lazy youf" rhetoric to gain a couple of votes.

Lazy Luxon chasing 4000 kids to save approx $1.3M year but won't chase Destiny church charitable trust or Gloriavale, with charities estimated to be avoiding $2.0B year in tax avoidance.

That’s a lot of empty words right there considering the state of the housing supply and affordability of housing in New Zealand. Forgive us for laughing out loud.

Graph of public pension costs as % of GDP for OECD countries in 2021 (latest data). NZ is lower quartile at around 5.1%. OECD average is 7.8%. Plenty of Euro countries are around 10% or above.

Looks like a good time in the news cycle to tackle three big myths 🧵
❌ NZ pension costs are an unsustainable burden ❌
Seriously, no, for lots of reasons.
1. Our current Govt spending on pensions is low compared to most other advanced economies. And... [1/n]

"Pedestrian seriously injured after being hit by car, Botany Rd in East Auckland closed." Screenshot of a news story in the NZ Herald from Monday 29 September 2025. The first line of the story reads: "A worker close to the site where a pedestrian was struck by a car in East Auckland said he heard a loud “bang” noise before a rush of sirens." This year, Botany Rd was one of over 1400 Auckland streets that had its speed limit raised by order of the current government, in this case, from 50km/h back up to 60km/h. In a move that runs counter to evidence and good practice, the government's new Speed Rule (authored by Simeon Brown and rolled out by Chris Bishop) *reversed* speed reductions implemented since 2020 on the spurious grounds that safer speeds impacted "productivity". The speed reductions were aimed at making roads safer for everyone using them, whether in a car or not. A quick search of "Botany Rd serious crash" explains why Botany was one of them. Today's crash seems to have happened along a stretch of Botany Rd that has shops and bus stops on both sides of the road, but the nearest signalised crossings are around half a kilometre away in either direction.

"Six hurt in SH1 crash near Taupō." Screenshot of a Radio NZ news story from Monday 29 September 2025. This stretch of State Highway 1 recently had its speed limit raised back up to 100kmh from 60kmh. The speed limit had been lowered due to a history of serious and fatal crashes along this key route. Many locals were appalled by the reversal, as the highway runs through popular and busy holiday towns. For context, see this story from June 2025, in which the Taupō District Council's deputy mayor describes it as "grossly inappropriate”. https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/360717092/holiday-communities-livid-about-speed-limit-reversals and this NZ Herald story https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-speed-rules-100kmh-through-a-lake-taupo-campground/G2VZI4VSJZCTLKP3K444D6H2VU/ which describes some of the worst crashes in this area. "Until 2020, the speed limit remained 100km/h. Between 2000 and August 2023, there were 284 crashes reported on the 10km stretch of road from Motutere to Hallets Bay. Nine were fatal and 22 others were serious."

"'Significant delays' afer stock truck rolls on SH5 Napier Taupō Road." Screenshot of a Radio NZ news story from Monday 29 September 2025. SH5 had its speed limit raised this year back up to 100km/h from 80km/h, as a priority of the current government. Speeds had been reduced to 80km/h due to the ongoing history of serious and fatal crashes on this highway, which is the only link between Napier and Taupō. The return to 100km/h sparked concern from road safety experts. For further context, see this story from February 2025: "An independent study released after the drop to 80km/h concluded the lower speed limit on Napier-Taupō Rd prevented 34 crashes in the first 12 months following its implementation. Crash data also showed there had been fewer crashes on Napier-Taupō Rd since the drop to 80km/h." https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/napier-taupo-rd-speed-limit-rise-to-100kmh-sparks-safety-debate/5QTIH2LPTFGAFAAOWTME3AD7IE/

Three major crashes today on roads where the current NZ govt *increased* the speed limit (previously lowered for safety reasons) in pursuit of "productivity"?

Serious injuries. Lengthy closures. Costly disruptions to lives, whānau, the transport network, our health system. This is not productive. 😞

Note: not a New Zealand flagged vessel despite the name. Although NZ hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory this week either with Winston Peters’ surprise at the UN.

The local 🚞 near our base in Tokyo

Not good enough to take 20 days to count special votes

But recognising Palestinian statehood is not a race

Feel like our priorities on what's urgent may be a bit skewed

Cartoon. Image shows NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Gaza’s ruins, talking to a gaunt woman, huddled with her two children. He’s saying, “New Zealand is a very principled nation. We won’t be rushed”

New Zealand prevaricates on whether to recognise Palestine as a state, or not.
My Stuff #cartoon today #NZpol #Palestine #Gaza

Oh no! They used to be dependable. Also enshittified?

We do not generate more income as a nation by giving tax cuts to land lords or tax breaks for billionaires selling heated tobacco products - instead we generate inequality and deplete health #WrongTrack #nzpol

All of Govt's 2024 coal earnings spent treating damages at a single mine The Stockton mine is hoping for a fast-tracked 25-year extension, as historic damages are costing the Crown more than it earns from all coal mine royalties

I'd forgotten this piece by Fox Meyer. Shows the annual cost to the govt of treating acid mine leakage at a single coal mine is greater than the annual royalties paid by the entire coal industry. Coal is a climate disaster, it only survives on govt subsidy. newsroom.co.nz/2024/12/02/a...

'Misery for homeowners': expert warns against Luxon's building sector plans A building insurance expert says the government's plans to shake up the building and construction sector will lead to more homeowners footing large bills for shonky building.

An ever-so-casual reminder that the bill for the leaky buildings deregulation fiasco is around fifteen to twenty times larger than all Tiriti settlements either finalised or in progress put together. www.1news.co.nz/2025/09/20/m...

Wait, what??

80 years on in Hiroshima. Commemorating the horror. Pleading for peace. Why are we still bombing children? 🕊️

Loved cycling in Hiroshima. Loved the Okonomiyaki. Catching the boat to Matsuyama now

Kippu desu

😂 does not compare

We get emergency alerts in Japan too #cozyintrain #typhoonseason

It’s also that digital platforms and services are by their nature enshittifying our physical experiences

Patti the puppy at Palm Beach today #aotearoapets

This here is proof that we should keep backing local print publications 🤣 the whole family is grinning

So proud. He nailed his PR (in all senses of the word)

The 'two languages confuse children' line is literally assimilationist shit from two generations ago that has been so massively debunked even as whole cohorts lost their mother tongues at school.

Kids around the world can cope with multilingualism but not New Zealand kids apparently- this is truly the government of dumbing things down

"If we find six of 68 government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history," Swarbrick said.

Almost immediately, Speaker Gerry Brownlee condemned the remark as "completely unacceptable" and demanded she "withdraw it and apologise".

Swarbrick shot back a curt - "no""
#nzpol

Haha. She would nibble your hand