I keep imagining Anthony Albanese getting the news and being like 'What the fuck? One of our two oil refineries caught fire? Why now?"

Someone ploughed right through our local pedestrian crossing as I was on it - the second time this has happened. Again, the excuse was "I couldn't see you because the sun was in my eyes".

I dunno man if you can't tell if a person sized object is 5m directly in front of your car don't accelerate eh.

Tax Day is a reminder of America’s unequal tax system. But we can fix it | Zohran Mamdani, Gabriel Zucman and Joseph Stiglitz There is no justification for a regressive system in which the super-rich contribute less than the rest of us

"There is no justification for a regressive system in which the super-rich contribute less than the rest of us," write @josephestiglitz.bsky.social, @gabrielzucman.bsky.social, and @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social.

France passed a law requiring solar panels on every parking lot with more than 80 spaces.

Equals 10 nuclear reactors
Reduces heat island, shades cars

The US -- 800 million parking spaces. Most of them are uncovered asphalt sitting in direct sunlight.

Why aren't we doing this?

Mamdani: When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich

Well, today we're taxing the rich...

Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.

For the Avoidance of Diesel, and Doubt Yet another (not unexpected) fossil-fuel supply crunch is here.

@patrickreynolds.bsky.social on the Avoidance of Diesel (and doubt) during this fossil fuel crisis. This crisis is different from those in the past because we now have the technology and solutions to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. #nzpol
greaterauckland.substack.com/p/for-the-av...

I don't think New Zealanders quite grasp that this fuel crisis hasn't even hit yet. The supply chain from extraction to NZ retail is long. When the fuel stops arriving, the problem won't just be high prices.

Sure the process would be hard and stressful (my sympathies to all the civil servants and Ministers making hard decisions) but the logic seems pretty clear. I'd add that export freight should be prioritised to avoid cratering the economy for as long as we can. #nzpol

Diesel stocks fell from 51.7 to 49.1 days of cover in the latest MBIE update. For me, the direction matters more than the level. Days of cover is backward-looking. Those ships were contracted over… ... Diesel stocks fell from 51.7 to 49.1 days of cover in the latest MBIE update. For me, the direction matters more than the level. Days of cover is backward-looking. Those ships were contracted over 3...

@seaqub.bsky.social pointing out that a fuel response plan shouldn't be too hard to create. "Emergency services, food supply chains, medical transport, and grid maintenance at the top. Commercial freight for essential goods next. Discretionary logistics last." www.linkedin.com/posts/eaqub_...

A tax on wealth would help to address the issue that "The top 10% [of NZers] hold 67% of household wealth while the top 1% control 26%. Household wealth increased from 5.5 times national income in 1990 to 9 times in 2023, driven primarily by asset price inflation rather than productive investment."

They note that "The 2017-19 Tax Working Group found in its final report that in 2014/15, 70% of the wealth
that could be subject to taxing capital gains was in the hands of the wealthiest 10% of people in Aotearoa New
Zealand." In addition, we need to tax trusts and wealth more effectively.

What can we do about it all (aside from weep)? Well, like Treasury, Inland Revenue, the OECD and IMF, Tax Justice Aotearoa think we should introduce a capital gains tax. assets.nationbuilder.com/tja/pages/32... #nzpol

Capital gains tax back in the spotlight following IRD investigation A capital gains tax is back on the political agenda following a report showing the country's richest families pay about half as much tax on their income as an average New Zealander.

Tax Justice Aotearoa's Tax Policy Statement is focused on fixing some of the inherent inequalities in our tax system, which lead to NZ's wealthiest families paying just 9% tax on their income - half as much as the average New Zealander. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Tax Justice Aotearoa has released a magnificent Tax Policy Statement, pointing out that (much) of the sad state New Zealand finds itself in is because we are not taxing capital or wealth effectively. assets.nationbuilder.com/tja/pages/32...

China: In pole position to be the globe’s first electrostate | Robeco Global Explore 2025 energy trends: China’s solar surge, EV growth, heat pumps, and investments shaping the clean energy revolution.

And China is eating everybody's lunch when it comes to electrification and reducing dependency on fossil fuels. Almost as if single minded investment into R&D in a niche does pay off. www.robeco.com/en-int/insig...

Hydrogen Freight Fizzles As Batteries Take Over Global Trucking - CleanTechnica Battery trucks dominate 97% of sales in 2025, while hydrogen freight collapses under costs, failures, and shrinking market share.

Battery electric trucks are eating hydrogen's lunch: "Almost 90,000 zero emission trucks were sold in the first half of 2025, more than in all 2024, and 97% of them were battery-electric. Only about 1,000 [hydrogen] fuel cell trucks sold globally in that period." cleantechnica.com/2025/09/19/h....

BREAKING: Today, we joined a coalition of 1,000+ actors, directors & film professionals to oppose the WBD-Paramount merger — and to call on state AGs in CA, NY & beyond to act.

Concentrated media power hurts consumers, shrinks independent voices & threatens the stories we tell.

we throw it around quite often that these people are incompetent idiots living in fantasy lands, but it's literal. it's literally that. toddler-brained levels of mediocre.

Today is Yom Hashoah, the day of holocaust rememberence in Israel. It is a day to remember all those murdered by the Nazis, but also a day to remember the many civilians across Europe who risked their own lives to save Jewish friends, neighbours and strangers. In Judaism, we say of the dead 'zichron l'bracha', may their memory be a blessing.

We call on Israelis to reflect on this today, and to take the memories of their ancestors killed in the Holocaust as motivation to speak up and take action against the genocide being committed by their friends and neighbours today. The only way to truly honour the memory of those cruelly taken from us is to ensure it does not happen to anyone else. Never again means never again for anyone.

Wrote this today for Dayenu: New Zealand Jews Against Occupation. You cannot commemorate the victims of a genocide while perpretrating one yourself. The killing must end. The occupation must end.

Never again means never again for anyone.

and we should leverage better all the highly skilled and hard working migrants who come to NZ and help our country grow and provide essential services. Diversity can be a strength and super power, especially if it is grounded by the partnership embodied in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Is a Big Album Dropping? You Might Want to Watch the Road.

"A study, published in February, has found that over the past several years, traffic fatalities in the United States increased by nearly 15 percent on the same days as the biggest album releases from artists like Ms. Swift and Bad Bunny."

With an aim to have new people mainly living in higher density but liveable suburbs located in our major cities, where we already have the most infrastructure available. Rather than swinging every 6 years from 'immigration bad' to 'immigration good'

Personally, I think New Zealand's population is too small and it's morally icky to stop others from coming here, as the world becomes less and less habitable for many overseas. We should set an immigration policy focused on achieving a steady but constant growth in our major cities

Iran oil crisis: why NZ's car dependence is now a strategic liability - EUROPE SAYS By Timothy Welch* of

Iran oil crisis: why NZ’s car dependence is now a strategic liability

https://www.europesays.com/2862278/

By Timothy Welch* of Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Analysis – The war in Iran and the effective…

This state’s power prices are plummeting as it nears 100% renewables South Australia is proving to the world that relying largely on wind and solar energy with battery back-up is incredibly cheap, with electricity prices tumbling by 30 per cent in a year and sometimes ...

So great to see renewables plus batteries are collapsing power prices where they are rolled out at scale. The NZ Govt may be trying to reinvent the 1950s, with its love of expensive climate killing fossil fuels, but elsewhere history is moving on. www.newscientist.com/article/2514...

Screenshot from the linked article, which reads: “The cumulative record is damning. Over the course of little more than two years, the Luxon coalition has timed legislation to kill tribunal hearings mid-inquiry; introduced bills the day after losing in court; overridden the first-ever judicial enforcement of three decades of freshwater protection law; retroactively voided customary rights that had been lawfully recognised; reinstated a sentencing regime found to breach fundamental human rights guarantees; and legislated away a High Court ruling protecting sick and injured New Zealanders from unlawful government debt recovery.”

A useful piece, reminding us how NZ’s government has consistently failed to respect the judgments of the courts, and opted to legislate away the decisions they don’t like.

thejackalman.blogspot.com/2026/04/luxo...

France 🇫🇷 doubles electrification support to €10bn/year through 2030 — EVs, heat pumps, industry.
The reason?

The Strait of Hormuz crisis making fossil fuel dependence impossible to ignore.

Geopolitical shocks don’t just raise prices. They change what’s politically possible.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Opposition leader Péter Magyar at a rally.

Orbán's electoral crushing is a far greater achievement than most people outside Hungary realise.

He systemically consolidated power for 16 years, fixed the electoral map, abused govt power for political purposes & censored media.

The hurdles that Hungarians overcame for this moment were immense.

Talk of relocation after string of weather disasters, Christopher Luxon says A storm has once again brought flooding and destruction, along with uncertainty and stress.

Fresh from reversing virtually all NZ’s policies aimed at cutting climate pollution, our PM thinks he’s spotted a pattern in this string of extreme weather. I wonder what the cause could be? www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...