Alice Te Punga Somerville

IIML grad Simone Kaho is awarded the 2025 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writer’s Residency with a project that asks 'What if our most profound connections aren’t just with family, but in deep attunement with nature, recognising patterns in the unseen, and finding new ways to move forward?'

A cute baby elephant

Elephants are born weighing 250 lbs. They are the biggest babies on earth except for motorists when they see a bike lane

bvv is so st heliers it hurts

BREAKING: The number of Palestinians who have died from Israeli-induced starvation in Gaza has risen to 147 people, including 88 children, says Gaza's health ministry.

🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/ym2wr7

my passport doesn’t expire for a few years but it’s tempting to lose it and get a new one so my next passport has te reo on top too 🤔 #uruwhenuaaotearoa

A major new resource by a wonderful team that will be essential for anyone teaching, and researching, South Asian histories of Britain. A huge congratulations and thank you for making this wonderful, and much needed, site a reality!

#skystorians

blood bag, ultrasound picture, chart up all in black and red tones.

Striking. After Texas banned abortion, ER visits for early miscarriage rose 25% and blood transfusions surged 54%.

Doctors delayed care like D&Cs out of fear of prosecution. More women nearly bled to death. buff.ly/egXhmm7

#medsky #ObGynsky 🛟🧪

Emerging Māori Writer in Residence | Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o Te Ao / International Institute of Modern Letters | Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Apply for the Emerging Māori Writer in Residence—$15,000 stipend, mentorship, and writing space.

Spread the word: applications for our 2026 Emerging Māori Writer in Residence are open! Spend 3 months working on your project with a writing room, a mentor from the Māori arts community, and a stipend of $15,000. Picture shows our 2025 writer, Dr Pounamu Jade Aikman.
www.wgtn.ac.nz/modernletter...

Applications close soon for the Fall 2025 Indigenous Internship Program at MOA providing training opportunities for Indigenous people in the areas of Collections Management, Conservation, Library and Archives, Oral History, and Curatorial. Deadline: July 20. https://f.mtr.cool/jvhfksudwc

Can’t make this up.

"Christians" in Congress ignoring Jesus's command to not pray in public (Matthew 6:5-7) to beseech permission to ignore Jesus's command to give to the poor (Matthew 19:21) with their hideous Big Ugly Bill.

These are not Christians. They are selfish scoundrels who only pretend to follow Jesus.

How did the poor guy mowing your lawn every two weeks become the biggest national security threat, rather than a Defense Secretary posting war plans on Signal?

Aid seekers in Gaza have come under fire again on Wednesday. It’s been happening for weeks and has killed hundreds of Palestinians according to local officials. #AJStartHere's @sandragathmann.bsky.social explains what’s going on ⤵️

T+28 days.

My fave things roarsome readers have said about it so far:
‘Quietly radical’
‘Lit with hope’
‘Empowering’
‘Compassionate’
‘Deeply serious and political’
‘Thought provoking’

Others have already said they will be teaching with Vanished next academic year. Thank you to everyone.

The mounting arrogance of David Seymour Weekend freebie edition

“He’s (Seymour) all in favour of the marketplace of ideas until people turn up to do business and he doesn’t like the look of what they’re selling. Then it just turns to insults.”

Thank you @davidslack.bsky.social for capturing the man #NZpol

“Simplistic and pat; smug and dead wrong”

Zohran Mamdani is saying things like “poverty is a policy choice and politicians have a duty to their constituents to make their lives affordable” and it is making a lot of politicians very very scared that they may actually have to start doing some actual service in their public service jobs.

Generational change is coming: Since Zohran Mamdani won on Tuesday night, more than 1100 young people have reached out to @runforsomething.net to explore a run for local office -- one of our biggest spikes of the year yet.

I am finding this so fascinating - this is the second highest number of submissions ever on a Bill in Aotearoa and we’re just… not reporting it?
Why? The number for the Treaty Principles Bill was reported immediately 🤔

Still nothing - less concerned and more alarmed.
Journalists with context as to why the second largest submission to a Bill (with this high level of public engagement/opposition in the same year) isn’t deemed newsworthy please advise…

In a shock move, Luxon does what some folk who will directly benefit from it bent his ear about rather than actual well-considered policy.

This guy is terrifyingly easy to play/manipulate.

Court says Australian broadcaster ABC wrongfully dismissed journalist Journalist Antoinette Lattouf had been fired in December 2023 for expressing views supporting Palestine.

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf had been fired in December 2023 for expressing views supporting Palestine.

So National has withdrawn Aotearoa from the Beyond Oil & gas Alliance, a climate change treaty. Arseholes. #nzqt

omg shame 🤦🏽‍♀️

The $53m cost of losing our reo | E-Tangata “Cultural harm was no longer just ‘sad but unmeasurable’. It had become economically quantifiable. We'd created a bridge between how we understand our losses and how legal systems work.” — Atawhai Tib...

“Cultural harm was no longer just ‘sad but unmeasurable’. It had become economically quantifiable. We’d created a bridge between how we understand our losses and how legal systems work.” — Atawhai Tibble.

The President's disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.

AOC: “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

Everyday 💙💪🌊

This is what it’s all about.

When people get what the #RSB means, they activate.

You don’t need a law degree to submit. You just need a voice. And time’s running out.

Make your voice count. Submit and encourage others to find their voice.

#nzpol #RSB #ProtectTeTiriti

Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.

Health NZ told to give private hospitals 10-year outsourcing contracts Hospital outsourcing contracts have tended to be short-term, but Health Minister Simeon Brown has made a new request.

And there it is, quietly and executed through a Letter of Expectations - the privatisation of our health system. Not voted on. No consultation - just admin.
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...