It needs to be hung, drawn and quartered and replaced with a truly Independent Anti Corruption Commission, overseen by a senior judicial officer and accountable only to a Parliamentary Select Committee with balanced party representation.

*Ollie North getting ChatGPT to update his CV before emailing the White House personnel office*

Or, indeed, in any country whose laws devolved from Britain's (bc I'm not familiar with others, it may be even more broadly applicable). The Dickensian mindset that the poor belong in the workhouse, and gaol if they offend in any way, while the gentry can be Jack the Ripper, seems ingrained in DNA.

Where would we be without your diligent, brilliant work? And I mean that literally, and sincerely. It's like one of those weird rocks that somehow remains standing as everything around it is eroded away.

That's how I learned and all my life I've made a living using words in one way or another. Yet I'm often told to "dumb it down" (which I find immensely frustrating - if there's a word that means something, why use a dozen smaller words that end up being less precise?!). I am, as they say, shook.

And cops & prosecutors know this. They'll 'win' just by charging you because a) your name is forever besmirched by the "where there's smoke..." types (& those who don't actually believe that but use it as a weapon in arguments), and b) you'll be brought to your knees by paying the bulk of your costs

Ha, that link was hidden as "graphic media" 🤔 But yes, you're absolutely right. In fact you could stop at "vision" and still be right. I want to know the vision even if those with whom I disagree, but the NZ way seems to be seat-of-the-pants tinkering, informed only by the vaguest of prejudices.

The question at the end of the highlighted bit is so weighted with unwarranted optimism it's about to fall off the page. Muldoon, Kirk, Lange... all had a comprehensive vision for this country (good or bad). No one since then has, because they've all been drawn from the political-managerial class.

There was one family in our entire street better off than most. We'd probably call them upper middle class now. But they'd never buy the school fundraising goods or the bake sale. I asked mum why, when they had more than any of us, they were so mean? "How do you think they GOT rich?" she answered.

Possibly, but likely 18 months from now if the current OIA queue is anything to go by.

Sorry to bring something from the Other Place, but this struck me when I read it. King is a perfect example of someone who's elevated to an expert purely on the basis of lived experience. That does not qualify you to manage millions (unless *that* is your experience).

"Punches will be pulled" is singularly the most off-putting description of any content I've ever read. I don't want a comic artist pulling punches. I don't want a musician pulling punches. I don't want a fiction author to do it either. And I sure as hell don't want it from a magazine 🤢

So there's hundreds of NZ community stations who aren't recognised or supported by govt (unlike in AU, UK, US, Canada etc), who are actually broadcasters (on FM & online) not covered by the BSA because to do so would mean admitting they exist & open a debate govt doesn't want 🤷🏻‍♂️

I have an app which gives me access to thousands of online broadcasters. There's maybe a dozen from NZ. Who's "protecting" me from the content on all the rest of them? Asserting extraterritorial rights to regulate is something Australia is trying to do, with only limited success, on large platforms.

Better idea: masochists pay you $4,000 a month to prevent them touching their phone.

I don't know what's going on in your life, but hang in there. The trans people I know are some of the most interesting, challenging, and kind folk I've met and add much to the world, and I'm sure you're no different.

The problem I have with this is that it lets all those who've come since off the hook for blindly continuing neoliberal economic policies. They've had decades to reverse Thatcherism. Instead, they've kept the worst & abandoned the sliver of good (eg the chance to buy your council house @ a discount)

Done. Never got to study it at school (didn't exist in the prehistory times) but had to do semiotics via the study of art for postgrad comms & the petitioner is right, there's layers to it that combines multiple disciplines you'd never have time to study individually.

More fool them for not buying houses with the money! We all know that's the one investment no government's going to touch 🤦🏻‍♂️