Beck Sinclair

The Ministry of Education Responds School Attendance Policy Questions (un)answered

Friends! I am in an ongoing 'discussion' (tussle) with the Ministry of Education regarding a new attendance policy they are implementing for David Seymour's pleasure. I've written a few things about this now, here's the latest: andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/p/the-minist... Please share!

Luxon: Uphold Codes of Conduct - Hold your Government to Account  Responsible leaders welcome advice from experts and when they are creating laws and policies. They know good decision making means planning for the long term, considering diverse points of view ...

Letter now online to add support. Huge thanks to Action Station our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/lu... /🧵

A jar of pic's peanut butter that is half smooth and half crunchy, hence the name "Smoochy"

How about option C) half and half?
Introducing Smoochy to the chat....

Bollards and ‘superblocks’: how Europe’s cities are turning on the car In Paris, Barcelona and Brussels, authorities are adopting varied approaches to the task of reducing congestion and pollution

“A startling statistic emerged in Paris last month: during the morning and evening rush hours, on representative main thoroughfares crisscrossing the French capital, there are now more bicycles than cars – almost half as many again, in fact.”

And it has kept growing from there.

Leadership. #Paris

@orataiao.bsky.social are well worth checking out, and Parents for Climate Aotearoa too.

ADHD statistics show we continue to fail our young people A post for neurodiversity week

Some sobering stats:

"if a young person has ADHD they are more likely to be
➡️ prosecuted by police
➡️ charged or convicted in court
➡️ incarcerated.
This risk increases as individuals with ADHD proceed through the criminal justice system"

open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...

@paullecomtephoto.nz They must have heard your call!

Ghent city center. dramatic clouds, guy on a bike, people eating at outdoor cafes. photo by me.

I love the 15-minute city concept, with its focus on time, rather than speed or distance. Locating the necessities of life within easy reach makes speed irrelevant. With less time spent between places, we have more time to be places.

Sorry to hear that 😞

Such a powerful quote by Donald Shoup; “It's unfair to have cities where parking is free for cars and housing is expensive for people”

Some people don’t have money to feed their kids, because rent is too high. But at least cars can park for free. #schoollunches #nzpol

Human and nature dynamics (HANDY): Modeling inequality and use of resources in the collapse or sustainability of societies There are widespread concerns that current trends in resource-use are unsustainable, but possibilities of overshoot/collapse remain controversial. Col…

This ten year old paper by my friend & colleague Eugenia Kalnay and colleagues modeling the combined effects of environmental degradation and wealth disparity on societal stability didn't get much attention at the time. It feels especially relevant now: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Lifeboat Capitalism Some burn, some drown, and some make money either way.

With each disaster, it is important to say: This is happening because it makes some people rich, and those people are planning to escape on their own lifeboat without you.
www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/lifeboat-c...

#NZpol

BTW. Very worth a reread of this *too* (and, I might add, Bill Hales' comment responses too - particularly to a Richard Stephens, who really seems quite taken with a swathe of Neoliberal delusions, and thus received a detailed steamrolling in return).

PS. Apologies for a Double David 🥴

Treaty Principles Bill Aotearoa New Zealand history with Dr Vincent O'Malley. The New Zealand Wars, the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti, Māori and Pākehā relations and more

I have posted my submission on the Treaty Principles Bill here. Submissions close at midnight on 7 January and I have included a link to where you can make your own in the post.

www.meetingplace.nz/2025/01/trea...

Such an interesting and discussion and I loved the book so much!

Tamatha Paul (MP) has done an amazing 5 part series on TikTok about how to write an effective submission the the #TreatyPrinciplesBill, what to highlight and what is most impactful for Select Committees. You’ve got till January 7th - Get into it 🫶🏼 #nzpol

vt.tiktok.com/ZSj7bvocd/

TVNZ should be throughly ashamed of the way they edited the news item tonight that enabled David Seymour’s words to narrate the images of the Hikoi and Hana’s protest #nzpol

A BMW hits a bell bollard and is ready for lift off.

It’s lift off for our Bluesky account! Welcome aboard.
#WorldBollardAssociation🚀

100,000 Chinese students join 50km night-time bike ride in search of good soup dumplings Authorities impose restrictions on bike hire after huge group blocks a highway between Zhengzhou and Kaifeng in China, as night biking trend takes off

Dumplings, welcome to the war on cars.

www.theguardian.com/world/2024/n...

squareword.org 913: 6 guesses!

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟩🟨

<6:🟩 <11:🟨 <16:🟧 16+:🟥
#squareword #squareword913

Paris will be the first Olympic Games of the modern era that is 100% accessible by cycling, with new bike share and new cycling lanes everywhere.

My Tone Guesser Score: 91%ile for music and 98%ile for color.

check out our newest citizen-science experiment, Tone Guesser! 🎶🧪🧠

this game, led by @courtneybhilton.bsky.social, taps your visual and auditory perception to test your intuitions for how color tones and music tones fit together.

can you beat my score? try it at themusiclab.org/quizzes/toneguesser

And Nurse's?

Have you tried Squareword?
5 times the fun of wordle. squareword.org

Check out Rollers Bakery next time you're in Auckland!

When roads are dangerous for cyclists, only people willing to engage in risky behavior will ride on them. That sets norms for more risky behavior. When roads are safer for cyclists, they attract safer, more cautious cyclists, setting those norms. Safer roads lead to safer behavior.

PLEASE SHARE
RALLY - SATURDAY 8 JUNE, 1.00PM, WELLINGTON
It is time to take collective action! PSA, alongside other unions & NGOs PPTA, E tū, NZEI Te Riu Roa, `NZNO, UNITE, TEU, NZCTU, PWUA, MUNZ, VUWSA & many more have brought our collective membership together for this rally.

It’s good that there is still reporting on covid 🌊in NZ, but it would be good if that piece in the Herald went beyond recommending vax & gave basic airborne protection advice too like opening windows, running HEPA filters, & wearing a respirator if in close contact, closed spaces, or crowded places.

The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: The Table Why are we so bad at talking about wealth inequality?

Toby Morris’s reality check work needs a revisit everyday under the current Govt: #kikorangi

“The richest 10% of New Zealanders hold more than half the country’s wealth. The poorer half of the population, meanwhile, holds just 2%. So why are we still so reluctant to talk about wealth inequality?”

A postcard, front and back. The front shows a high-up view of Madison Square Garden in New York City, a road clogged with taxis and a building in the background amid other skyscrapers with a building-tall ad for Winston cigarettes. The back reads: It is hard to quit smoking, especially when you are a city. Sure, you stop buying cigs, but it is so easy to bum one from those who live inside of you. Your inhabitants want you to be happy--moreso, in fact, than they want you to be healthy. An angry city is less appealing than a dying one, as the latter (I hear) has a sort of fading charm. Sure, I'm addicted. There's no denying it. And yet, even my longest stretches of non-smoking have been defeated by second-hand smoke. All those cars pumping carcinogens into the air, so, so sweetly.

It is hard to quit smoking, especially when you are a city.

#SpecLit #FlashFiction