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openpolicy.bsky.social
Andrew
@openpolicy.bsky.social
2.4K followers 570 following 12K posts
I think and know about open government and freedom of information. All posts in a personal capacity, RTs ≠ endorsement.
Born at 323 ppm
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openpolicy.bsky.social
Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · Oct 14
Netanyahu was never interested in a #ceasefire.

It was always about ethnic cleansing, colonialism and genocide.

The west won’t act as he burns children alive.

It is the biggest moral failure of our time, and the failure to stop it hasn’t even done what the Democrats hoped - secure re-election.
Screenshot of a tweet by the Haaretz newspaper on Xitter, which reads: “Netanyahu's government is not seeking to revive hostage talks and the political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip, senior defense officials tell Haaretz.” The tweet was posted at 9:45 am NZ time on 14 October 2024. https://x.com/haaretzcom/status/1845566429078458563
Reposted by Andrew
pengzell.bsky.social
Problem about the loneliness epidemic is, it's everywhere except in representative survey data. Let's look at where the claim comes from. 1/
jonmellon.bsky.social Jon Mellon @jonmellon.bsky.social · 8h
Case in point, @pengzell.bsky.social just sent me 5 papers proving that there’s not actually any evidence for a loneliness epidemic. My mind is highly changed
February 17, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Andrew
reuters.com
Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and US presidential hopeful, dies at 84, NBC News reports reut.rs/4am7HuX
Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and US presidential hopeful, dies at 84, NBC News reports
U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, an eloquent Baptist minister raised in the segregated South who became a close associate of Martin Luther King and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, has died at age 84, NBC News reported on Tuesday, citing his family.
reut.rs
February 17, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Andrew
nzjazzhistory.bsky.social
I did not know this, and it's clearly time to stop buying their products.
korimakoecology.bsky.social Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 3h
"The French-owned jams and preserves maker has applied to the Department of Conservation to discharge the 12,000 cubic metres of remaining industrial wastewater stored in ponds, near its South Canterbury factory, onto the Hae Hae Te Moana River Conservation Reserve."

newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/16/e...
Endgame for Barker’s wastewater pond issues becomes clear
Despite buying the neighbouring property, the fruit processor Barker’s applies to spread wastewater on a conservation reserve
newsroom.co.nz
February 17, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Andrew
defendourjuries.bsky.social
The unlawful proscription of Palestine Action

The High Court’s ruling that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful is a huge relief for those who care about the need to protect freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest.

www.bindmans.com/news-insight...
The unlawful proscription of Palestine Action | Bindmans
The High Court’s ruling that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful is a huge relief for those who care about the need to protect freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest.
www.bindmans.com
February 17, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Andrew
johnnyryan.bsky.social
My piece in The Guardian this morning: Europe’s path to technological independence from the U.S.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Europeans are dangerously reliant on US tech. Now is a good time to build our own | Johnny Ryan
By trusting the US, we handed Trump a kill switch. Yet Europe’s digital sovereignty is an achievable goal, says civil liberties campaigner, Johnny Ryan
www.theguardian.com
February 17, 2026 at 7:32 AM
openpolicy.bsky.social
@keithng.bsky.social
robmanuel.b3ta.com Rob Manuel @robmanuel.b3ta.com · 3h
Your job today, is to find the most inappropriate thread on which you can recommend that that they install linux, and then screenshot it and report back
February 17, 2026 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Andrew
paulbernal.bsky.social
Very, very strong Torment Nexus vibes.
February 17, 2026 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Andrew
declassifieduk.org
Last year the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) gave the Met Police war crimes unit a complaint against 10 Britons serving in the IDF.

We've revealed there are over 2,000.

PILC says our findings show “the issue is far deeper than we could ever believe.”

www.declassifieduk.org/over-2000-br...
Over 2,000 Britons served for Israel amid Gaza genocide
Exclusive: Declassified obtained data on the number of UK nationals in the IDF. We are publishing it for the first time
www.declassifieduk.org
February 17, 2026 at 8:16 AM
Reposted by Andrew
eey0re.bsky.social
So if you want to unlawfully summarily dismiss someone without notice, just give them a pay rise to $200k first? They won't have any rights to bring a personal grievance or legal proceedings in respect of the dismissal.
www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/governm...
Employment Relations Amendment Bill 175-3 (2025), Government Bill – New Zealand Legislation
www.legislation.govt.nz
February 17, 2026 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by Andrew
paulbernal.bsky.social
Opportunism to sneak in privacy-invasive tech and law is a pattern with both companies and governments
February 17, 2026 at 7:44 AM
openpolicy.bsky.social
Because New Zealand’s welfare system isn’t punitive enough already.
February 17, 2026 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Andrew
beehivenz.bsky.social
A new release is available from Hon Louise Upston.
Government to clarify welfare and ACC payments
The Government is introducing legislation to clarify the law on the impact of ACC payments on welfare entitlement and ensure the process is fair.
www.beehive.govt.nz
February 17, 2026 at 6:57 AM
Reposted by Andrew
musicalchairs.bsky.social
Regular reminder that money is created either by Govt spending or bank lending. The phrase 'public money' for the former seems entirely appropriate.
Indeed, bank lending is effectively state licenced.
February 17, 2026 at 6:54 AM
openpolicy.bsky.social
My kingdom for an EV that doesn’t spy on me or my surroundings and transmit that data to its manufacturer to be sold, or to government.
vaspanagiotopoulos.com Vas Panagiotopoulos @vaspanagiotopoulos.com · 17h
A Haaretz investigation has found that at least three Israeli cyber companies are currently operating in #CARINT; one has developed an "offensive" tool that can potentially tap into your 🚗car's microphones and cameras.

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
February 17, 2026 at 6:51 AM
Reposted by Andrew
nzctu.bsky.social
#nzpol The Employment Relations Amendment Bill has passed. This is a dark day for working New Zealanders.

Our Government has let Uber and the ACT Party set the agenda for employment law in this country. They need to grow a backbone and stand up for the interests of New Zealand workers.
Dark day for working New Zealanders as the Employment Relations Amendment Bill passes - NZCTU
The passing of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill is a dark day for working New Zealanders, says New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi President Sandra Grey.
union.org.nz
February 17, 2026 at 4:06 AM
Reposted by Andrew
london.gov.uk
Measles spreads easily. Ensuring you and your loved ones are up to date with your MMR or MMRV jabs is the best protection. Contact your GP to get vaccinated.
February 16, 2026 at 5:27 PM
openpolicy.bsky.social
Apropos the Infrastructure Commission’s recommendations for Aotearoa, “the EU’s climate advisory board urges countries to prepare for a catastrophic 3C of global heating.”

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Daunting but doable’: Europe urged to prepare for 3C of global heating
Advisory board member says adapting is ‘not rocket science’ but Europe already paying price for lack of preparation
www.theguardian.com
February 17, 2026 at 6:29 AM
Reposted by Andrew
nihilcurtis.bsky.social
We should borrow from @rowan.monster and every time someone mentions AI at work, reply using "fascist imaginary machine" instead of AI.
February 17, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Reposted by Andrew
morgangodfery.bsky.social
The fractured information ecosystem is fuel to the fire that wealth and income inequality lit. Frightening
February 17, 2026 at 6:09 AM
Reposted by Andrew
seanjones.org
The “you have to be Christian to be British” proposition is not worth debating. It’s abject nonsense. You know it and they know it. Just call it out for the racism it is.
February 16, 2026 at 10:59 PM
openpolicy.bsky.social
Well, here’s a painting done by an ancestor of mine, of someone who had something to say about defining the English language.

johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/front_...

#nzpol
A painting of Samuel Johnson, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. In the preface to A Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson acknowledged that his optimistic plan to "fix" the language had been thwarted by the ever-changing nature of language itself: Those who have been persuaded to think well of my design, require that it should fix our language, and put a stop to those alterations which time and chance have hitherto been suffered to make in it without opposition. With this consequence I will confess that I flattered myself for a while; but now begin to fear that I have indulged expectation which neither reason nor experience can justify. When we see men grow old and die at a certain time one after another, from century to century, we laugh at the elixir that promises to prolong life to a thousand years; and with equal justice may the lexicographer be derided, who being able to produce no example of a nation that has preserved their words and phrases from mutability, shall imagine that his dictionary can embalm his language, and secure it from corruption and decay, that it is in his power to change sublunary nature, or clear the world at once from folly, vanity, and affectation. Samuel Johnson, in the Preface to his dictionary: “When I took the first survey of my undertaking, I found our speech copious without order, and energetick without rules: wherever I turned my view, there was perplexity to be disentangled, and confusion to be regulated; choice was to be made out of boundless variety, without any established principle of selection; adulterations were to be detected, without a settled test of purity; and modes of expression to be rejected or received, without the suffrages of any writers of classical reputation or acknowledged authority.”
February 17, 2026 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by Andrew
bernardchickey.bsky.social
Ambitious for (some) New Zealand(ers)
1newsnz.nzcow.com 1News NZ (Unofficial) @1newsnz.nzcow.com · 7h
📢 "Workers who should be employees will be denied basic entitlements just because a company wants to call them a contractor," a spokesperson for union E tū says.
Govt's controversial employment relations bill passes third reading
www.1news.co.nz
February 17, 2026 at 5:26 AM
Reposted by Andrew
propublica.org
Pregnancy became far more dangerous in Texas after the state banned abortion, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis, which found the sepsis rate for women hospitalized as they miscarried in the 2nd trimester shot up by more than 50%.

(Published Feb. 2025)
Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.
ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.
www.propublica.org
February 17, 2026 at 4:00 AM
Reposted by Andrew
maetl.bsky.social
NZ has not really come to terms with how far developed the disinfo networks were that led to riots and flames on the parliament grounds.

It's been brushed off as individual cookers without much serious introspection in public of the information ecosystem and funding conditions that led to it.
February 17, 2026 at 5:43 AM
Reposted by Andrew
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Cabinet Secretary: ministerial direction www.gov.uk/government/p...

This definitely does not read like Starmer is giving the Cabinet Secretary a bung to go quietly – you're just imagining that
In respect of value for money, I have consulted Civil Service HR and legal advisors and have had due regard to Managing Public Money and the consideration of Sir Chris Wormald's employment rights in the circumstances. The proposed award is greater than what Sir Chris Wormald would be contractually entitled to. However, I am informed that a settlement of this level is necessary given that this is a departure from a high profile, unique role that has been agreed at very short notice. Given the complexity of the legal position and the information to be considered at this time, it is not possible for me to conclude to the level required whether the proposed settlement amount represents value for money or not. However, you as Prime Minister can take into account wider considerations, in particular the public interest in bringing this matter to a conclusion and the prevention of distraction from the effective operation of Government.
February 17, 2026 at 5:47 AM