A Thicket of Steves

That the Free Speech Union's conference audience is applauding the suggestion of basically banning non-Christian religions should pretty much put an end to their being taken seriously by media as a voice for principled free speech advocacy.

But it won't

James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.

Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."

Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫

A building with faded yellow walls and pink trim displays three flags on a balcony — the Māori flag on the left, the transgender pride flag in the middle, and the Palestinian flag on the right. Below the balcony is a sign for “Middle Eastern Market” written in English and Arabic, with an image of a coffee pot and spices. The shopfront has glass doors and signage that also reads “Welcome Middle Eastern Market” in both languages.

Share this to scare Brian Tamaki

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat: Did Women Ruin the Workplace?

Did the New York Times ruin journalism?

Govt's climate strategy: Let it burn Comment: The Government has relentlessly pursued policies that boost climate pollution – even if they cost more or jeopardise NZ's reputation, Marc Daalder writes

Paywall lifted: At every turn, the Govt has opted for whatever would actually lead to more pollution and a warmer world – even if it costs more, jeopardises NZ’s reputation, overturns a campaign promise or clashes with the Govt’s other priorities.

The long retreat:
newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/07/g...

Word of the Day is ‘catchfart’ (17th century): an obsequious individual who sucks up to the boss and always follows the political wind.

In today’s Weekend Herald #nzpolitics

If you’d told me 35 years ago — hell, 2 days ago — that a member of Milli Vanilli would someday be nominated for a Grammy against the Dalai Lama, I’m not 100 percent sure I’d believe you

Information on the 2025 Marsden Fund round Information about the number of funded proposals in the 2025 Marsden Fund round broken down by research area and institution, also including gender and ethnicity data

I'm sure it's totally coincidental that the AoNZ government's changes to the Marsden Fund have been followed by successful applications led by female investigators dropping from 55% to 33%, and successful applications led by Māori investigators dropping from 13% to 5%. 🫠 🧪

He's desperate to give off the Illusion of leadership by making his problems and people disappear!

A black and white photograph of a settlement, Parihaka, with a great snow capped mountain (Taranaki Maunga) in the background

Today, 144 years ago, 1600 Crown troops invaded a pacifist settlement that was the centre of resistance against British colonialism. The leaders were arrested, the settlement sacked, the people violated.

For many in Aotearoa, November 5th is Parihaka Day, or Te Rā o te Pāhua: The Day of Plunder.

Love how National proudly opposed the Treaty Principles Bill, and wore it like a badge of honour.

Then basically rolled it out anyways. They’re dismantling and removing anything that honours the treaty, and undermining Māori.

Without consultation too like yesterday.
Depressing.

Happiness review – Schitt’s Creek meets Glee in charming Kiwi musical comedy Rebecca Gibney and Harry McNaughton lead an ensemble cast in a scrappy, joyful comedy about amateur musical theatre

If you've not seen Happiness, go on treat yourself.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

As a former school board member, this is fucking outrageous. If you are a parent, find the details for your school board members and email them immediately to tell them you expect them to give effect to Te Tiriti whether it's mandated by legislation or not.

I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.

‘Experts’ on saving for retirement in New Zealand never talk about low wages or extortionate rents and childcare costs. Telling people to save, while supporting the status quo that makes it impossible really grinds my gears. #nzpol

Congrats to the good people of the Onslow-Western ward of Wellington, you've elected a man who thinks being a Councillor is beneath him (but he'll still keep the salary, thanks)

Several lawmakers said Thursday that the Pentagon relayed that it did not need to know the identities of those being targeted in the attacks, or if those killed had been trafficking drugs. “What they told us is they have to show a connection to a designated terrorist organization or their affiliate, and as long as they can show that connection, they believe they are authorized to strike,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-California) said in an interview. But such connections could be as much as “three hops away” from a known drug trafficker, Jacobs told reporters after the briefing.

Off the top of my head, in terms of degrees of separation I managed to get from myself to *Jimi Hendrix* in "three hops," this is a WILD assertion to make

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Now we know how National would have handled the Covid pandemic. The 20,000 we saved would be dead.

Folks, people who appreciated Siouxsie's work during the pandemic and/or who like free speech and academic freedom should help out here if they can. And that's all of us, one way or another, right?
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport
www.economist.com/internationa...
"In London cyclists now outnumber cars in the City by two to one and in Paris, they outnumber motorists across the whole city. In Copenhagen bikes account for almost half of commuter journeys to work and school."

Emily (Emily Writes) and I drafted a letter to Andrew Little about his decision to appoint Ray Chung as chair of the CCO Review & Appointments subcommittee. We think this is unacceptable given his past behaviour. Here's a template for a letter if you agree:
sites.google.com/view/really-...
#nzpol

Hey team - @siouxsiew.bsky.social's university spent > $1.5m defending a case that their lawyers largely conceded in court. This was a huge waste of public $$$, but despite Siouxsie's win, she remains out of pocket. Please support Siouxsie after she supported us: www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...

‘Under my mayoralty [misogyny] will not be tolerated, it will be rewarded’ - angry andy.

Just a note to say that @rebeccamatthews.bsky.social didn’t get a chair role. Ray did.

why don't we get this headline about National, ACT or NZF for open corruption, internal backstabbing and accelerating social murder?

*Grammar

instead of spending a bajillion dollars on a new tunnel to the airport couldn't we achieve the same goal cheaper by moving the beehive to miramar

Cool how we say to our kids “you can be whatever you want to be” but the reality is that for women and girls who might want to be in public life, we’re actively doing almost nothing to prevent gender based violence - it is currently a deliberate choice to allow this in our policy and in our culture.