Very sad to learn that Terence O'Brien passed away on Thursday, just short of his 87th birthday. Terence was a distinguished New Zealand diplomat, serving in Bangkok, London & Brussels early in his career. He later served as Ambassador in Geneva (1980-83), to the EU (1983-86) 1/7

Do people become conservative with age? An update with 21 countries and 546,013 individuals. The fascinating plot comes from John Burn-Murdoch, based on the UK and US, and shows; 1. People become more right-wing with age. 2. Millennials are different. But is this true everywhere?

imagine being a chinese visitor having to pass a negative test only to arrive and see that nobody was masking, nobody had air cleaning or adequate ventilation, and nobody had received a booster for nearly a year

This huge painting is part of the Robin White retrospective at Auckland Art Gallery. It mourns the 49 Japanese men shot dead at Featherstone POW camp nearly 70 years ago. Traces of the POWs persist on many NZ streets: they were forced to make chimney blocks at the camp.

Huge news - NZ may just be on the cusp of entry into Eurovision

Free research idea: measure levels of polarisation, extremism and misogyny in New Zealand before and after this change.

The coverage of this has been absolutely mediocre. Not a word about the broader strategic context or the questions it raises for whether (and how) NZ should have more explicit industrial policy. Same intellectual standard as blaming govt for potholes in roads.

1/9 Images of Egyptian thugs beating protesters under NZ supervision haunt me because they bring back stories I heard in Tonga about the aftermath of the riot of 2006. NZ sent police & troops to help 'stabilise' the kingdom after the riot. Our cops were accomplices to torture.

No matter your political views, the abuse, sexism, and vitriol Jacinda Ardern has had to endure has been beyond hideous. I truly hope she enjoys no longer having to put up with that.

1/7 Jacinda Ardern won't be remembered as a great reforming PM, in the mould of Savage & Fraser, who built a welfare state & a state-managed economy, or Lange, who undid Savage & Fraser's work. Ardern didn't make any radical changes, but she did bring something new to NZ politics

Imagine if jacinda had legalised weed then finished today's announcement by lighting up fat one

After a well deserved rest Ardern should create a think tank like the Helen Clark Foundation so she can promote the policies she opposed when she was PM.

'"Hopefully with our meeting on Monday next week we are able to open the door to that kōrero."' Ngāti Kauwhata demonstrate how to have a mature and informed conversation in difficult and awkward circumstances. rnz.co.nz/news/national/…

Hi NZ-based people: my fantastic student, Maria Kopilevich, is conducting a survey on public attitudes towards surveillance & privacy in New Zealand. Please consider completing and / or sending it out widely. Thanks! The link is here: auckland.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e8…

I guess this is us now...

1/20 The Herald just ran a sad & fascinating article on the fatal bombing at Wellington's Trades Hall in 1984. Altho it contained new information, the piece made an old mistake by identifying the Trades Hall tragedy & Rainbow Warrior bombing as NZ's 1st terrorist attacks.

So Port Waikato has caused a potential 1911 scenario - the incumbent limps on until they lose a vote of no confidence: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911_New_…