Alison Campbell
@acampbelteacher.bsky.social
900 followers 720 following 3.6K posts
Biology educator, science communicator (I'm retired but still doing both!), foodie, dog-lover, avid reader, & somewhat addicted to cycling for pleasure. Occasional blogger: https://blog.waikato.ac.nz/bioblog/
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acampbelteacher.bsky.social
As will the near-total lack of focus on bluesky research, which is where the novel ideas come from.
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
Yes!!! We've got a friend (here in NZ) who makes them for us sometimes as a dinner treat.
Reposted by Alison Campbell
foxylustygrover.bsky.social
Didn't we say this would happen?! #NZPol
watershitdown.bsky.social
This stinks more than a soggy gumboot , King's execs get 527k which is what some other charities run on per year if they haven't been cut altogether by this cretinus gov..

#nzpol
Reposted by Alison Campbell
miravox.bsky.social
Ferrets are an environmental catastrophe. One ferret attack wipes out half a seabird colony on Karioi. A single grey-faced petrel (oi) chick survived in its burrow so the ferret came back for that one too. A potentially record breeding season, with at least nine pairs sitting on eggs is now nothing.
The Waikato Times
www.waikatotimes.co.nz
Reposted by Alison Campbell
sophieactual.mitsuko.nz
i'll extend this

everyone vote, and vote early, i don't mind for whom, that's your choice

but the the majority of Aotearoa are not stupid

just vote

i'm TPM, my silly little Celtic blonde airhead 🏳️‍⚧️ girl opinions aren't necessarily theirs but are more often than not very close

#nzpol
tepaatimaori.bsky.social
Four polls, same story.
@foxylustygrover.bsky.social ⬇️⬇️⬇️

The Government is sinking, but the real change won’t come from polls. It will come from people. From movement. From 2026.

The Māori vote is decisive. Enrol to vote.

#TePātiMāori #NZPol #OneTermGovt
foxylustygrover.bsky.social
Poll comparison: We've had four polls for the month now so it gives us a good picture in trends TL;DR Nats are toast

#NZPol
Reposted by Alison Campbell
mehr.nz
NZ's govt has announced reforms to science funding

just one line about basic science in there: "Discovery-led science & research will continue to be funded. This will sit outside the pillars & is essential for maintaining vibrant curiosity-driven science system"

yea mate seems like a real priority
A new strategy for the science system | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
The Government is changing how science, innovation and technology are funded and supported in New Zealand. The goal is a simpler and more strategic system that helps researchers turn ideas into solutions that benefit New Zealand.
www.mbie.govt.nz
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
They are totally screwing science over, & no mistake. This decision (to roll multiple funding sources into one & use non-expert reviewers) will seriously harm the NZ science ecosystem.
mehr.nz
a few of us made public comments regarding the govt's consolidation of NZ's research funding

Richard Easther @rjme.bsky.social, Lucy Stewart @lcsnz.bsky.social, Nicola Gaston, me, et al

admittedly mine is a bit less polite than the others

comments at www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/10/14/b...
Samuel Mehr, 2023 Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist; Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of Auckland; and Associate Professor Adjunct, Child Study Center, Yale University, comments:
“The consolidation of New Zealand’s primary sources of science funding is a terrible idea. It will weaken our global competitiveness and accelerate our ‘brain drain’ to Australia, Canada, Europe and various other attractive destinations for our top scientific minds.

“The biggest problem in the new science funding system its disregard for the importance of basic science, which isn’t even a ‘pillar’ and barely warrants two phrases of mention in the new funding structure. This year a Nobel Prize went to three economists who demonstrated that investment in discovery science drives sustained growth.

“One wonders if anyone in government noticed. Simply put: without core investment in basic science, our economy will suffer, and New Zealand’s universities will simply be unable to recruit and retain top talent.

“The second-biggest problem is moving oversight of funding decisions to the Research Funding New Zealand Board, which will be mainly comprised of non-academics. This is a highly unusual structure relative to the world’s top funding bodies, whose funding decisions are typically made by highly trained domain specialists. “Take the US National Institutes of Health, who spends more annually on science than New Zealand spends on roads, tunnels, and bridges. There, panels of expert scientists in all areas of biomedical research confidentially review grant proposals, providing scores for proposals; then, separate panels of ‘program staff’ — most of whom have PhDs in the area they are making funding decisions about — decide which proposals should be funded.

“Moving control of science funding decisions away from the experts and toward government ministers is a recipe for under-informed funding decisions that are likely to be biased by external influence, whatever topics are currently exciting (but don’t necessarily have any long-term value), and, worst of all, the personal interests of the specific members of the board.

“Basic science in New Zealand has yielded world-changing discoveries in neonatal care, life-saving genomic advances in cancers, and the invention of R, a programming language used at every university on the planet. This is the country of Ernest Rutherford! Our government can and must do better.”
Reposted by Alison Campbell
broadwaybabyto.bsky.social
Yes your taxes should support disabled people.

They should support homeless people.

They should support those living in poverty, children and the elderly.

This is literally the purpose of taxes, and I would far rather support those who need it than continue to enrich the elite.
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
Oh, totally. Another loathsome toad in a lineup of them.
Reposted by Alison Campbell
ahafoka.bsky.social
Here's something for New Zealand parents and teachers of primary age kids. It's free (and Riley and Steve are an awesome daughter / father team!)

#kikorangi
#sealife #marinelife
www.youngoceanexplorers.com/teacher
Teachers and parents, welcome to Young Ocean Explorers!
Explore New Zealand's fascinating underwater world with Riley and Steve Hathaway.
www.youngoceanexplorers.com
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
He's as awful as Luxon, just differently awful.
Reposted by Alison Campbell
norightturnnz.bsky.social
Anyway, Menéndez March has a real point here. Aotearoa has changed. who is represented in Parliament has changed with it. Our Parliament should accept those changes and keep up with them, not try and deny that they happened by forcing people to wear some foreign uniform.
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
I voted for Luxon cos he's most likely of that lot on the list to lead them into failure. Also the more votes he gets, the less likely he is to jump.
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
And as for Simeon's BS about poor behaviour being due to men not having to wear ties anymore!
acampbelteacher.bsky.social
I'm in NZ. It's a cartoon about *our* political system. And we have our own protests to organize.
Reposted by Alison Campbell
Reposted by Alison Campbell
Reposted by Alison Campbell
dacrispylettuce.bsky.social
NZ has appalling leadership supported by appallingly ignorant, selfish, greedy, short sighted individuals #nzpol
veronikameduna.bsky.social
Seems like a good time to share this again - given the government's decision to weaken the methane emissions target and not to put a price on agricultural emissions northandsouth.co.nz/2021/10/18/n...
"We Spent 25 Years Doing Virtually Nothing"
Why New Zealand is one of the developed world's worst climate laggards
northandsouth.co.nz
Reposted by Alison Campbell
dustchick.bsky.social
I've always said this, but since last November, I've been pointing this out frequently in whatever venues to whatever audiences I can: "The planet NASA studies most is Earth."
celestelabedz.bsky.social
A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.
reuters.com
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L
Reposted by Alison Campbell
nzjanette.bsky.social
Excellent piece by @mountaintui.bsky.social

The most telling quote: "Luxon sold the lucrative Heathrow slot for $27 million in 2019, stopping the 40 year London service, but only 4 years earlier, another airline purchased the Heathrow slot for $75 million. Today Air NZ can't get it back."
#nzpol
Prime Minister, Unions ARE Workers
Chris Luxon, Erica Stanford and Simeon Brown continue to gaslight Kiwi workers, in their latest instalment of divide and conquer
mountaintui.substack.com