Eleanor G

🎶 I'm too toxic for Reform, too toxic for Reform, where toxic's the norm... 🎶

I'm struggling with this because while she clearly wants the Blob to sound sinister and deep statish, it actually sounds kind of cute and cuddly, like The Secret Blob of Blue Dryer Socks or The Sinister Blob of Tasty Chocolate Pudding

She's like the political equivalent of the version of Roxanne that speeds up every time Sting sings Roxanne.

things Liz Truss will say have been infiltrated by the blob as the year goes on: I'm a Celebrity, the presenting team at GB News, her Uber rating, a dog that declines to let her pet it in a park

This is really getting more bizarre everyday. What happened to her?

Billionaire dies during penis enlargement surgery - JOE.co.uk Surgeons have been banned after a billionaire died during penis enlargement surgery.

If you haven't had penis enlargement surgery before your trip down to the Titanic, can you even call yourself a billionaire?

www.joe.co.uk/news/billion...

Thank you 🙏 He's hoping to pick up some contract work so if anyone is looking for a specialist in standards and systems for vocational quals .....

Screen grab from NZ Herald with headline: "New jobs data today - hopes unemployment is finally falling"

This did not age well.

(Article was posted at about 10.20am. Unemployment stats came out at 10.45am. Unemployment is up.) #nzpol

This is also an object lesson for my kiwi colleagues: because NIH is controlled by Congress and not the executive branch, it is far better protected from political whims than is the NZ science establishment. A new president can't just do away with the whole thing!

A man (30s?) has dug himself the perfect reclining chair hole.
His head and shoulders against a sandcastle headrest.
A cup holder dug off to the side holding a beer
A huge grin on his face.
Who needs to bring a chair to the beach when you have a shovel?! (4)

🧵Spotted at the beach in Aotearoa New Zealand

A sturdy man (60s?) is fast asleep on an All Blacks towel.
Hairy tum moving up and down with tremendous snores.
All is peaceful. All is well.
But what is this?!
Two giggling small humans (5 & 7?) approaching with a bucket of water?
Oh no!
SPLOOSH! (1)

Who could have foreseen that making a lot of people redundant while doing nothing much to bring the economy back into growth for a whole year would result in high unemployment

It's a mystery for the ages

some people nap through their sick days on the couch and some people make swol bat available to the masses www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/1781...

I am absolutely genuine when asking this:

Are there any significant economic indicators for New Zealand that are now better than they were ahead of the last election?

Inflation is lower, but was trending down heading into 2023 election, and is trending up now.

Photos reveal behind-the-scenes glimpse of new Michael Sheen play New photos have been released of Our Town, the first production by Michael Sheen's Welsh National Theatre.

My pics on the Beeb www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Dima got laid off from a temp job in December one year and I remember how horrible that was. I hope your husband finds something soon - will keep you both in my thoughts ❤️

In today’s NZ Herald

Glad to hear that ❤️ so hard to keep one's spirits up when times are tough

Screetshot: 13-years-old me: Don't tell me what to do! Me now: Could someone tell me exactly, in chronological order and with great detail, what I have to do?

Partner just sent me this.

Like a knife to the heart.

I'm feeling luckier than ever that I've mostly been able to work through chemo, otherwise things would be really grim.

On a grey summer day, I spotted a field of sunflowers down the road. When I stopped the car, it was apparent it extended a lot further than I had realised. Stock food, I assume.

This boss is wearing the full bananapants suit, with a matching banana hat full of bees.

Early contender for Worst Boss of the Year, for sure.

Black (tabby) cat seen from behind, looking out across the lawn

Just had a visit from this little cutie - looks black from here, but in the light, it's more like a black tabby.

Marijuana dispensary called Maslow's Hierarchy of Weeds.

A saxophone shop called Maslow's Hierarchy of Reeds

Screen grab from Stats NZ, showing that unemployment is up to 5.4% in the December quarter.

Bloody hell. More people out of work.

Time to stop wittering about "green shoots" and face the reality: this government is failing New Zealanders. #nzpol

www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/u...

My husband was let go the other week in the middle of a 90-day trial (thanks for reintroducing those, Coalition of Chaos) and I can confirm it's slim pickings on the job front out there 😬

Unemployment rate highest in a decade as it rises to 5.4% Worse than expected, the unemployment rate rose to 5.4 percent by the end of the year, the highest level since 2015

bAcK oN tRaCk

Unemployment rate highest in a decade as it rises to 5.4% www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

#nzpol

Peter Mandelson is obviously a very charming man. Funny, well connected, gossipy, you hear a lot of people talk about him with affection in Westminster. My own stand out memory of him is a little different. The first time I met him was at my first ever Labour Party conference, I was a trainee reporter in my early twenties. In other words, I had no status or any connections really at all. And I guess the best way to put it, is that Peter Mandelson was dismissive rather than charming. The reason I'm saying this is because I think it goes to the heart of Westminster's problem, a problem that I believe is deeply connected to the Epstein scandal (in Epstein’s world status - connections - and money - was everything.) Because people who look at Westminster - in the same way as they might look at Washington - and think, this is a closed group of elites, who all know each other, who go to the same parties, and share the same in jokes... well, to a large extent, they are right. There are too many people in Westminster who look over the shoulder of the person they're talking to see if there's someone more important in the room. Status is everything... what stories can they give me... how can they further my career? The personal and the professional become blurred. And Peter Mandelson is the embodiment of that. Charming, well connected, gossipy. In the inner circle. If we're honest with ourselves, that's the reason he's been allowed to fail and then be rehabilitated so many times. It's the reason he was given the best job in politics - US Ambassador - despite being friends with a paedophile. And it's the reason he's had a softer landing than many others would have in his position. A softer landing... until now. Because after the latest dump of Epstein emails, there really is no coming back. Not even for the most charming man in Westminster.

It's almost like there's a pattern emerging here.