Aunt Benjy 🇳🇿

Texture is the reason I won't eat avocado, and why I gag if I bite into a chunk of gristle.

My dad was determined that I should lke oysters. I'm not sure how people manage to choke down something that mostly resembles salty fishy snot but more for him I guess.

Cartoon. Title: “Hindsight” Four frames, with Health Minister Simeon Brown and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. First and second frame, sitting at a table, with drinks and having a serious conversation, Brown is saying, “the main take-away from the Covid Inquiry is, when the shit hits the fan… (third frame, both laughing) Stand well back and shout advice” Last frame, walking away, with Brown patting Luxon on the back, saying, “Crikey, that wind is picking up” as a page of a newspaper blows past, with “Cost is Living. War. Fuel” printed on it. Down the bottom of the cartoon it say “To be continued…”

The Covid Inquiry should have been an opportunity to see how we might respond to the next pandemic, or similar large scale emergency, better. For the greatest public good, not political point scoring, with the benefit of hindsight.
My Stuff #cartoon today #NZpol #PublicHealth #Covid #Fuel

photo of a Great Tit (a small bird with a black head, white cheek patches, and a yellow chest) perched on a cylindrical wire mesh bird feeder filled with peanuts. - Bird feeders are probably making birds evolve longer beaks > British people really like bird feeders strangebiology comments - "I am not going to tag the name of the bird, because I'm pretty sure I would get tagged as NSFW if I did, but I assure you their beaks are getting longer and it’s probably because of the UK’s obsession with bird feeders." champawattigress comments - "GREAT TITS GAIN MASSIVE PECKERS, MORE AT 11!

The comments haha

Luxon to be bestowed honorary matai title in Samoa, at his request The title, which Luxon would receive on Monday, the Samoa PM said, was, ‘Tui-Sinave-ma-Ulumotootua’.

At HIS request.

Not everyone was thrilled.
www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

The Grinch stealing the star from the top of the Christmas tree

The "move fast and break things" crowd were fine with doing racist, sexist and illegal shit when they thought Elon had their back. It's finally getting through to them that he doesn't. Elon has moved on.

Other pro tip: if a charity shop has a loading dock or a system that makes it easier to drop off donations, go there too. They'll have a high turnover.

Thank you. I appreciate your insight.

Of course not. The Labour government did that, and everything they do is wrong.

Melania hails herself as a 'visionary' at women's event First Lady Melania Trump, in remarks at a White House Women’s History Month celebration, lauded herself as a “visionary” while giving advice to guests.“As a visionary, I know success is not born overn...

Oh jeez, I feel queasy...

www.alternet.org/melania-trum...

42 people. millions of trans people are being tortured by their governments because of 42 people.

Ways the govt could quickly help New Zealanders reduce fuel usage, but probably won’t 🤷, for reasons:

⚠️ Lower speed limits
🚌 Encourage PT (eg bring back half-priced fares)
🚲 Encourage active modes (eg pop-up bike paths)
🛤️ Move freight from road to rail (eg ramp up KiwiRail)
🏡 Support work-from-home

To: newstips@stuffdigital.co.nz Date: 12 March 2026, 16:12 Kia ora Team, Please update this misinformation in your headline immediately, it is absolutely not correct that catching the virus is our new booster and is deeply negligent to give this impression to the public. Please confirm this has been updated, and see correct info here: "What many people don't realise is that getting Covid repeatedly is not like building immunity, it's more like accumulating damage. Each infection raises your risk of long Covid and serious complications." - University of Auckland associate professor and vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/wellbeing/each-wave-of- covid-19-means-accumulated-damage-for-our-health-savs-expert

The Covid immunity cycle: Why catching the virus is basically our new booster Lloyd Burr March 12, 2026 • 4:00am

I have emailed but if anyone can reach Stuff more quickly that would be great.

This is misinformation - a correction needs to be issued, an apology given, and a process put in place so this doesn’t reoccur.

It is unacceptable and negligent this has been up for a full day during a health crisis.

Trump Makes 'Most Blasé Admission of a War Crime by a US President in History' | Common Dreams "The ship was unarmed," wrote one war journalist. "That’s why Trump and Hegseth chose to murder them."

Trump Makes 'Most Blasé Admission of a War Crime by a US President in History' www.commondreams.org/news/trump-i...

Yeah, once you relinquish US citizenship, they're not fond of giving it back

It took me 5 minutes to determine that Brian Cartmell is a far right extremist with ties to white supremacists and he should be forcibly expelled from the country.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_...

The secretive Tory donor with the golden visa – and the ear of the Beehive Who is the British billionaire who, during his visit to Wellington in December, met with four ministers in the space of 25 hours?

Don't let this one fly under the radar either

thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-...

Why do we keep letting them in? Don't you have to be of good character?

Early advice from the Minister for COVID-19 Response to Cabinet was that a strong health response was the best economic response. This was repeated in the Cabinet papers of 20, 23, 27 and 30 August, and 6 September. The 20 August 2021 paper set out the evidence officials considered supported that advice. ° New Zealand’s infection and death rates were among the lowest in the world. ° New Zealand’s unemployment rate was at the pre-COVID level of 4 percent, because jobs and businesses had been protected with the wage subsidy. Unemployment in New Zealand peaked at 5.3 percent (whereas in the United States and Canada it rose above 10 percent). ° Economic activity in the March 2021 quarter was 2.4 percent above the previous year. ° The Government was in a ‘strong financial position’ – net core Crown debt stood at 31.2 percent of GDP at the end of May 2021, 8.8 percent lower than the forecast 44 percent (a difference of approximately $40 billion). ‘This gives us options to keep investing to protect New Zealanders and accelerate our recovery’

So Chris Hipkins not only took advice & kept the economy afloat and jobs and businesses alive through #Covid-19, he pushed to keep Kiwis healthy and alive at a time when corpses were piled up across Italy, UK, US, and India.

Kudos @chrishipkins.bsky.social #nzpol #newzealand

Screenshot of a National advert with a photo of Hipkins saying in all caps (in white text): It's official: Half of Hipkins' $60B Covis spend (in red text) not spent on pandemic

But that's not what this pushed advert telling me!
And considering my search history and political leanings, that's not my algorithm suggesting that as something I'd be interested in 😅
How much did THAT cost

Friends of ours gave up keeping their own chickens because dogs walking off lead would nip in, kill a couple, and return to their owners without them ever knowing. The owners never believed it when they were told either.

You do realise that everyone who had the original smallpox vaccine is dead😱

Coincidence. Total coincidence.

RIP to the legless walking dead

Going to a restaurant and screaming “FOOD!” at the waiter so as not to elevate my customised desires into primacy.

A tweet from comedian Tig Notaro dated 8/1/19 that reads “All the wrong people hate themselves.”

Tig Notaro had a similar thought during the first Trump admin:

this is like

the thesis statement of our times