Tim

On this Jan 6, 1941, the Four Freedoms were introduced.

The Four Freedoms (2026 version):
- Freedom from speech
- Freedom from worship
- Freedom of want
- Freedom of fear

Just some minor changes from the original 😉

lol. Apparently, NOT a monarchy, but lese-majeste IS a crime. George III is giggling.

Nitrates in water: ECan's rule-making fell short of law over allowing discharges, High Court rules The High Court stopped short of ordering the regional council to change the rule relating to the discharge of nitrates because of the amount of time that has lapsed.

Maybe ECan could try not being corrupt and incompetent, bending over backwards to issue licences to pollute to all and sundry? Just an idea.
#nzpol
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Depressingly, the NZ Labour Party has a lower % of Māori MPs than ACT, only outdone in their lack by National.

State Department Designates WNBA As Terrorist Organization

State Department Designates WNBA As Terrorist Organization https://theonion.com/state-department-designates-wnba-as-terrorist-organization/

For a country that prided itself on not being into kings, the US has rapidly transformed itself into a fawning monarchy…

Clearest example of governments being more interested in regulating individuals rather than institutions/organisations. We do not have lobby groups and donations, just the one vote. Make sure YOU separate glass and plastic but we aren’t gonna a do a damn thing about data centers or Big oil.

What do you think is the greatest ever TV news clip? For me this can never be beaten...

New Trump envoy says he will serve to make Greenland part of US Denmark warns Washington to respect its sovereignty, while Greenland says it will decide its own future.

Lebensraum *and* “The Greater North West Atlantic Co-Prosperity Sphere” are now official US policies.

Let that sink in…
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Tried The Wire (on Neon)? I’m rewatching for the third time in 6 years…

A majestic volcanic mountain literally shrouded in cloud as seen from an Air New Zealand plane

True fact, I am now 57 years old & I have never seen Mt Taranaki on the west coast of Te Ika-a-Māui North Island, not by land nor air.

Flying back to Ōtepoti Dunedin earlier in the week I almost got excited, yeah the whole mountain was draped in cloud.

Boooo

So, today I'm wrapping up People Watching. Massive thanks to everyone who has supported it & all the cool people I've met and drawn. I wrote an article in the Sunday Magazine today talking about the lessons I've learned doing it - and there were so many.
www.thepost.co.nz/culture/3609...

The old classic meme: I’m in this *post* and I don’t like it.

Yes, and also…

Bernie is begging NZ breweries not to create an endless procession of hazy. He asks that other beer styles are represented so that he can go to the pub and actually have the choice of a beer that doesn’t remind him of the times he has vomited in his own mouth.

Me when I sit down and think for longer than two minutes:

Tell you when NZ suffered from mass uncontrolled immigration: it was 1850-1960 approx.
#nzpol

An effect of the changes to the Electoral Act is that a well off, likely right wing voting criminal who was part of the system who gets a home detention sentence for, say, possessing child porn will get to vote next year. A less well connected offender sent to prison for the same crimes won’t #nzpol

The 2025 Golden Jandals for conspicuous contributions to NZ politics The most coveted and glamorous footwear-themed political prizes in the southern hemisphere are back.

Silver Jandals
... To Barbara Edmonds for saying, well, it’s here, actually, in response to the perennial show me the money challenge on capital gains tax

#nzpol

Also - bin Working For Families perhaps? - basically a govt subsidy for low-pay employers.

Hon BROOKE VAN VELDEN: Research by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has found that the minimum wage increases have been the main driver of wage compression over the past 25 years, which has narrowed the gap between low and middle income earners. The , which measure how close the minimum wage is to the median wage, increased by 32 percent between 2000 and 2023, while the minimum wage increased by over 75 percent, with adjusting for inflation. This is quite concerning because we know that people out there across our broader economy feel hard done by when the minimum wage starts catching up to their own wages.

Absolutely fuck all the way off with this shit. What a ghoulish thing to say.

Economic growth no longer linked to carbon emissions in most of the world, study finds Analysis marking 10 years since Paris climate agreement underscores effectiveness of strong government policies

You know it. Aotearoa is on the list where this isn't happening. 🙄

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Headline from December 16, 2025 that reads “Man jailed for more than five years for collecting child exploitation material”

Headline from December 17, 2025 that reads “Disgraced former top cop Jevon McSkimming avoids jail over objectionable material”

Just saying

New flu strain putting severe pressure on healthcare across Europe, says WHO At least 27 of 38 countries in WHO’s European region are reporting high or very high influenza activity, body says

Govt cancels Flu Tracker.

Nek minnit:
#nzpol

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Ummmm… how are we this stupid? How are 2000 people and builders and developers this stupid in this country?
Why are we still allowing this?
Insane.
#nzpol

So the supermarkets have breached Golriz’s privacy and were called out by the Privacy Commissioner.

1) Where’s the public apology and cost of damages to Golriz
2) When are these weird men going to stop obsessing over her and other women of colour in politics?

#nzpol

I'm shocked that the inaugural recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize would be preparing to wage war on another country to seize its resources. It's almost like that prize was a cynical and meaningless gesture.

Employers can fix this by not paying near the minimum wage…

You're not meant to SAY the "we have to keep the lowest paid poor so everyone else knows they're better than them"

Photos of ACT politians brooke van velden and david seymour, with roadcones put on their heads in a cartoonish style. Money notes are flying around under them in the same style. Text underneath reads "they spent $150,000 of your money to remove 200 road cones."

Families fight to put food on the table. Meanwhile the ACT Party and Coalition Government spent $150,000 on a 'Road Cone hotline'.

Closing after 6 months & 200 cones removed, costing Kiwis ~$750 per cone (and they gutted Worksafe - putting real lives at risk!)

We too wish this was satire ¯\_(ツ)_/¯