A white rose bejewelled with raindrops is framed by the green textured of a garden heading into winter. Three rosebuds suggest this plant will not succumb without a fight

Iceberg in the rain

Damien Grant: There's no reason to listen to millionaires complaining about mining projects

There's no reason to listen to a convicted criminal complaining about Central Otago

Honestly 1st person I have ever heard describe Central Otago as *checks notes* "uninspiring".

Stuff really didn't have to publish this bullshit, they really really really didn't need to.

Magnets @PerthshireMags climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you're the one filming it

Uh-oh. Do we need a new version of @magnets.eurosky.social’s brilliant observation about how climate change will manifest?

In a surreal twist, people are now doubting footage that is both very real and very close to home—a result of AI imagery poisoning the waters:
www.tickaroo.com/e/GCRysAwNeu...

The end of oil? As fuel shocks cascade, 53 nations gather to plan a fossil fuel phaseout Frustrations at slow global climate talks has led more than 50 nations to begin plans to phase out fossil fuels – even as oil shocks raise the stakes.

Meanwhile theconversation.com/the-end-of-o...

CATL claims 6-minute charge and 1,500km range for new electric vehicle batteries Chinese group also slashes charging time in race against BYD for electric vehicle battery supremacy

1500km charge in 6 minutes!! “The boundaries of electrochemistry are still far from being reached, and the possibilities of materials science are still far from being exhausted" - Robin Zeng, CATL founder

Still think its all subsidies & copycat & no science or innovation?
www.ft.com/content/1773...

Oi Shane, Damien and The Mining Bros. you come for Sam Neill? you take on the rest of us 😤 #nzpol @samneilltheprop 21 April "From threats to me of PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, to MINI-TRUMP WANNABE Shane Jones yapping at my rear, to convicted FRAUDSTER writing articles… it has been an interesting few weeks."

For fucking once the media mentions climate change because it's an insurance company talking and they don't paper over the cracks

If only we had a gov making things better rather than taking us backwards #nzpol

Regional households face power price increases double the rate of major cities While the national average power price is rising by up to 10%, some regions are being hit much harder. In the Far North, households are facing increases of more than $400 a year, worsening energy hard...

Remember when RogerDouglas, Richard Prebble, Ruth Richardson, Max Bradford, et al, promised us cheaper power through competition?

How's that working out for us?

Send them your household bills.

www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

Average new UK electric car price is now lower than petrol vehicles Autotrader says average EV cost is £785 cheaper, in an important milestone in the move away from fossil fuels

Forget "total cost of ownership." In the UK, the average EV is now cheaper than the average ICE vehicle, up front. Sticker cost.

And of course the savings just keep accumulating after that.

'A storm every eight days' - country's biggest insurer calls for systemic response An increasing number of severe weather events were now happening in spring and summer, IAG says.

Wow, that hits hard.

A storm hit New Zealand every eight days on average in the last year.

Insurance claims more than tripled.

This is the #climatecrisis and it will get much worse — but how much worse, is still up to us.

In 1979 I went to an early Specials gig and I got hit on the head when they were throwing demo cassettes into the crowd. I’ve still got the ska to prove it.

Close-up of the inside of white cherry blossom.

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide." [A.E. Housman]

Easter is gone, but the cherry blossom is still with us - and it has been looking lovely this year.

#Photography #Spring #Blossom #CloseUp

Today’s Guardian Cryptic crossword includes the perfect clue to the reality of our government.

24 Across: Poor governments giving Socrates a kick, I fancy (14)

#nzpol

National insists on giving my electorate their worst MPs. I thought Colin King was rubbish (he was), but Smith is worse.

NB Stuart Smith National whip at the centre of NZ PM future debate has denied climate change for years & was lead whip who blocked the NZ climate minister from attending the world adaptation conference NZ was hosting last October - you couldn’t make this stuff up www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/science-o...

"This is important." - NZ @greens.org.nz Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, 5:50pm, 20 April 2026. Luxon lies to Aotearoa. #CoC have cut flood protection spending and investment by 💥41%💥 (compared to the previous govt) #FloodsNZ #ClimateCrisis

Can you send him up here?

Listen to @cubaraglanguy.bsky.social

#nzpol

Who are the Beehive Five?

Plucky backbenchers, living in the shadows, nourished only by crumbs of KPIs past.

Who will free them from their torment and lead the spull?

Oh brave and nameless Five, you carry the weight of a nation on your blue-suited shoulders.

Free the Beehive Five!

#nzpol

THREAD: The IEA global energy review 2026

* CO2 record high, but growth nearly ground to halt
* Clean energy shaved 3bn tonnes off CO2
* Fossil-fuel power pushed into reverse
* Age of Electricity "confirmed"
* "Extraordinary" solar growth
* Batteries up 40%
* EVs up 20%
1/10

Without stating your age, post a movie that released when you turned 18.

#NZpol

Look, this is literally how NZ is governed right now, and can't we just dump them ALL this time!!!

Come *on* people, how many times do we have to smack ourselves in the head as a country with this backwards ass shit over... and over... and over again?!?!

ENROL! ENROL! ENROL!

DO. IT. NOW.

Ukrainian cat activated. FPV drone eliminated. 🫡

A chocolate spoodle that rejoices in the name Truffle descends the brick steps in front of our farmhouse. The sky is grey and sodden.

Giving the hound a hoon between downpours.

PS: this is more or less the main plot conceit of Tim Winton’s Juice.

Only after I’ve dealt with the royal family.

Warming up the planet adds energy to the hydrological cycle, and makes storms - and especially rain - more intense.

If you have your head in the sand at the moment, you'll drown.

If only...

#nzpol

Precisely this.

#nzpol

There’s a big house in Port Hardy on D’Urville Island which was built as an escape place, but I don’t know if it has a literal bunker.

It inspired the primary location in my sci-fi climate fiction comic novel The Aviator.