Posts by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
(DIR) Post #AVCkXSgcjeErAbN9U0 by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-05-01T07:49:31Z
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I will watch some of the coronation, if only because it's likely to be the only one I will ever see. It feels like watching history in the making. A weird, arcane ritual from times well past, from a colonial power whose history is one of destroying local institutions and customs. Nonetheless, it is part of my family history as a pākehā. I am very ambivalent about it and suspect the next coronation will be a much different affair. Time to draw a line under the monarchy, I think.
(DIR) Post #AW9ImBuyOFixvlgnGS by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-05-18T05:52:21Z
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After a day of bureaucrat-ing, I walk passed the local dairy, bathed in the soft early evening light. Lovely.#Dairy #suburbian #suburb #EveningLight #Wellington
(DIR) Post #AWLCxj3GnZacwD7LO4 by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-06-04T07:43:32Z
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@EU_Commission Great to see the EU Commission modelling the way with such good alt-text. That you!
(DIR) Post #AYPX9MQj96nyBKMguO by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-08-05T03:25:28Z
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I recently posted a list of Mastodon users that have some connection to Ōtepoti/Dunedin. I didn't think that was quite the best way to do it, so I created a Google spreadsheet with the list of users with some connection to Ōtepoti/Dunedin, including details from their profiles. You can see it at the link below. No doubt I have missed some users so please contact me for additions, corrections, or if you wish to be removed from the list.#Ōtepoti #Dunedin https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jt-pHJnPJasOluekpKrkueEaOxRLAysWZ35epUXeLHY/edit
(DIR) Post #Abu9hL6CE5xfpCfSNc by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-11-14T21:10:06Z
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Just had my latest Covid booster in a downtown pharmacy. Pretty busy, and *some* mask wearing. If you haven’t had a booster and are eligible, please get one.
(DIR) Post #Abu9i1DPdegoRkMoSW by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-11-14T22:01:13Z
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It is fashionable these days to bash the Health system but my latest COVID booster was available in my online health records within half an hour. I checked while waiting for a free blood test.
(DIR) Post #AcrDkcV9qo3ktlMAYy by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2023-12-16T03:25:10Z
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What in the name of [very_intense_swear_word] is wrong with these people? I mean, it's like they enjoy being evil. Mind-blowing. The #CoalitionOfCruelity indeed. #nzpol https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/504884/minister-pulls-brakes-on-cycling-and-walking-initatives
(DIR) Post #Ahst4Ouj0emEa2j7wW by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-05-06T08:11:25Z
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This is a so-called stumbling stone or Stolperstein in German. They are a brass squares initiated as a part of a project by German artist Gunter Demning, to commemorate the last place victims of the Holocaust chose freely to reside, work, or study. This one is outside 3 Buday Laszló utca in Budapest. A translation of the text is in the alt-txt.#YomHaShoah #Budapest #Stolperstein #StumblingStone #Hungary
(DIR) Post #Ak98DGj0gGZARVQTWC by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-07-21T06:00:23Z
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@strypey Metafilter requires a one-time USD5 joining fee and I pretty sure it's been that amount for ages - if not for the entire 25 years the site has been in existence. It's enough to keep spammers and trolls away, but not enough to be a barrier for anyone to join.
(DIR) Post #Al4RKnkzExzA3VN7Oy by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-08-17T20:43:28Z
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I can across this recent Spinoff piece in Metafilter of all places. It's a great read and, I dunno, made me a bit emotional.https://thespinoff.co.nz/aalife/24-07-2024/the-mana-of-digging-a-grave
(DIR) Post #AmNWDwonOCBPhsSV2e by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-09-25T23:19:53Z
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Students are more successful in any subject, including maths, when they can bring their entire selves to learning. That is especially true of their own language and all that brings along with it. Deprioritising te reo Māori at the expense of maths is just another way this government is further disadvantaging Māori and making them less likely to be successful. But not pākehā of course. This is what systemic racism looks like.#NZPol #racism #WorstGovermentEver https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/529086/te-reo-maori-teacher-training-cut-by-30m-to-fund-maths-resources
(DIR) Post #AnNZ73FiMullgSEjOi by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-10-25T22:07:31Z
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@KoraunuiPakeha Bernard Hiceky’s Substack newsletter The Kākā is always good value - I know Substack has its own issues though. There is always the Otago Daily Times who are independent, if a little parochial. No good answers I’m afraid. (I’m discounting the NZ Herald because, well, I don’t like them!)
(DIR) Post #Anj4lr6CjRoLPUS6BU by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-11-05T05:21:03Z
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Bernard Hickey nailing it again. Never a truer word said!“National risks becoming the Govt-leading host eaten from within by parasites as Luxon cedes National's 'small c' conservative centre-right instincts to extreme & non-mainstream policies”#NZPolhttps://thekaka.substack.com/p/national-risks-being-eaten-alive
(DIR) Post #AoWON44MapIiQNm8PY by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2024-11-29T02:51:31Z
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@strypey Agreed. And arguably that is exactly what we have been working through these past 50 years since the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal. There is no real definitive end point either - it is not a maths problem to be solved. It's a way of working that constantly evolves and changes as circumstances do. Honouring the Treaty is/should be very much a work in progress.
(DIR) Post #ApjyfxaG8v71UNlkx6 by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2025-01-04T05:30:28Z
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This is a list of links on the Regulatory Standards Bill 2025. It looks very useful if you are going to make a submission. It's not obvious where some of the links take, e.g. LinkedIn, but there are some great resources here. Final date for submissions is 13 January 2025.The Bill aims to give primacy in legalisation/regulations to private property and individualism, e.g. the neo-liberal ideal of privatising state assets, and transferring wealth to a few people.#NZPolhttps://linktr.ee/regulatorystandardsbill
(DIR) Post #AsnaWdaWTfdEJga0em by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2025-04-06T01:26:11Z
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@strypey I agree with your view, of course. But I also note the failure of many politicians to condemn the abuse Ardern's partner and child received. This abuse doesn't happen in a vacuum.
(DIR) Post #AuJ4lvYM0dBw6QUS6i by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2025-05-21T00:57:30Z
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@BobLefridge @aligorith Not sure how I feel about this. 2000 feels like an awful lot and may encourage long-winded posts - including from myself - which I suspect fewer people will read. I found the 500 limit definitely encouraged me to be more considered and concise. It will be interesting to see how it plays out in practice.
(DIR) Post #AzivttMwA6k2vaiQHw by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2025-10-30T04:36:53Z
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@strypey Yeah, like they only consult beneficiaries when changing the benefit regime, Māori when they restrict their rights, or migrants when they change immigration settings...
(DIR) Post #B0w0f68fXuCPZQPl2G by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2025-06-24T02:47:28Z
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In my view, Goldsmith is wrong here. My understand is that the Treaty is fundamentally about a relationship between the Crown and tangata whenua. Because that relationship has been breached and fractured over time by the Crown, Treaty settlements have been agreed upon to ensure that not only are past wrongs acknowledged, and where possible, put right, but as importantly the on-going relationship is put on a firmer, more equitable basis. Treaty settlements are not an end in and of themselves, but the basis for an ongoing relationship. They are "open ended" by design.#NZPolhttps://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/565012/treaty-negotiations-minister-says-settlements-with-iwi-can-t-be-open-ended
(DIR) Post #B2EQpoWWSyHV69Cu1o by paulhellyer@mastodon.nz
2026-01-13T01:58:45Z
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There has been a lot of recent comment recently about how Aotearoa, like many countries, is beholden to 'big tech'. Whether it is trying to regulate social media or where citizen's data is stored, governments, including ours of course, seem powerless to do anything about this. Cory Doctorow, tech commentator, advocate for human rights on the Internet, and coiner of the word, "enshitifcation" , wrote about this recently in The Guardian. He made the excellent point that when governments attempt to rein in 'big tech' they are threatened with US tariffs. He wrote, "Because – inevitably – the US trade rep had beaten me to every one of those countries and made it eye-wateringly clear that if they regulated tech in a way that favoured their own people, industries and national interests, the US would bury them in tariffs."I hadn't really comprehended that fully. Too naïve I guess. 'Big tech' has the US government - of any type - in their pocket and the US uses its economic muscle to enforce their hegemony. Frightening really. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/10/trump-beginning-of-end-enshittification-make-tech-good-again