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Comment: The difference between Christopher Luxon and Donald Trump *
Written By: AB - Date published: 1:03 pm, January 22nd, 2025
The agendas are not dissimilar, the political cultures are. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and the cat loses either way.Comment: America would never happen here!
Written By: AB - Date published: 12:57 pm, January 22nd, 2025
As you well know, the issue in the US is judges appointed by politicians, rather than selected and approved by a broad consensus of their professional colleagues. This means that the judiciary can no longer act as any sort of impartial constitutional ...Comment: Open mike 20/01/2025
Written By: AB - Date published: 3:39 pm, January 20th, 2025
That would make sense if universities collectively had the national interest in mind. But they are now profit-seeking enterprises, so of course Waikato wants a med school to drag students away from Otago and Auckland and (maybe) lift their world ranking to ...Comment: Luxon’s panicked reshuffle
Written By: AB - Date published: 3:14 pm, January 20th, 2025
Reti was clearly unable to convincingly sell the Nats' vision on health. The vision is that you can simultaneously cut funding for public health and improve the quality of the services it provides. To ordinary mortals this looks like a simple contradiction ...Comment: Open mike 28/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 12:50 pm, December 28th, 2024
Oh no - people who voted for the populist far right finding out that the forces behind the funny, loud-mouthed, empty vessel guy they voted for actually hate and despise them and will exploit them to the hilt given the sniff of a chance? Life is full of ...Comment: Open mike 27/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 10:43 am, December 27th, 2024
Monsieur Hooton dreaming of La Belle Epoque again?Comment: Open mike 18/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 1:18 pm, December 18th, 2024
It's not like we've never been here before. National have no love of higher wages and a former (now legendary and sanctified) PM apparently said so.Comment: The real purpose of the Ministry for Regulation
Written By: AB - Date published: 4:23 pm, December 16th, 2024
Yes - although when push comes to shove, libertarians will happily deploy the coercive powers of the state to keep their desired order of things in place. They are really closet authoritarians touting a very limited conception of liberty.Comment: The real purpose of the Ministry for Regulation
Written By: AB - Date published: 10:20 am, December 16th, 2024
Standard right-wing MO. Disguise a highly ideological and anti-social intention as a neutral and desirable quality such as 'quality' or 'efficiency', or even 'getting things done'. The ability of the Right to turn its self-seeking machinations into a ...Comment: Open mike 13/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 2:50 pm, December 13th, 2024
a scale of loss that will affect the ability to draft policy, execute policy, draft legislation and enforce regulations Yes - it's working as intended. It's a war on the state doing anything much, other than vigorously enhancing and supporting private ...Comment: Clusterfreak
Written By: AB - Date published: 1:42 pm, December 12th, 2024
She gives Eng Lit graduates a bad name - by her total lack of irony, reflection, sense of ambiguity, doubt, humility, sensitivity to human character or precision with words and meanings.Comment: Unacceptable
Written By: AB - Date published: 12:09 pm, December 7th, 2024
Boot camps are about more than PR. As Incognito noted at 3, they betray some central deformations in right wing thought. These are first, that people are born mostly bad and have the bad tamed and replaced with the good by forms of authoritarian control. ...Comment: Daily review 06/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 7:37 am, December 7th, 2024
Reform ahead of Labour? If true, that happened way more quickly than I expected. And Bastani is correct that Starmer offers no solutions. So Starmer will now use McSweeney to work on offering the appearance of solutions.Comment: Open mike 06/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 1:33 pm, December 6th, 2024
Isn't it great that that Luxon is so 'passionate' about 'outcomes' though? Surely that's the thing to 'celebrate' here? Maybe they are fleeing to attend those extra maths lesson being arranged by the (also extraordinarily 'passionate') Minister Erica ...Comment: Open mike 05/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 10:07 am, December 5th, 2024
They wanted to make the redundancies anyway simply to shrink the size of the state out of a pure ideological fixation. So they sneakily pulled the cost of those redundancies forward one year in order to worsen the deficit, then pointed at that deficit to ...Comment: Luxon Takes A Beating
Written By: AB - Date published: 2:17 pm, December 4th, 2024
Good roundup - thanks. It's good if men are slowly drifting away from the right. It's as though they need to see some concrete evidence of the CoC's destructiveness and weren't able to see it foreshadowed from the start - mainly because of the CoC's ...Comment: Open mike 04/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 9:45 am, December 4th, 2024
Luxon simply wants his preferred ideas about economics to be accepted as immutable, inevitable and above political debate. Economics, unfortunately for Luxon, is a highly contested ideological space and his preferred version of it (small state to avoid ...Comment: Daily review 03/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 10:13 pm, December 3rd, 2024
Yes. The Right's determination to rewrite history has been extraordinary, but not surprising. For the Right, such a clear and recent historical example of the power and success of collective commitment to the common good cannot be allowed to stand. It is a ...Comment: Open mike 03/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 1:49 pm, December 3rd, 2024
The long lunch with Boris Johnson is on today, proceeding in all its magnificence as I write. My invitation failed to materialise. But at least I can be amused by how the rugged, independent, free-thinking, entrepreneurial individualists of the financial ...Comment: Open mike 03/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 12:23 pm, December 3rd, 2024
Not being Deputy PM removes a constraint on Peters going into an election campaign. He will feel better enabled to be critical of Nat-ACT in order to save his own skin. As election years approach, Peters has always been sensitive to where public sentiment ...Comment: Open mike 02/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 3:23 pm, December 2nd, 2024
Richard Murphy points out some of the difficulties of implementing a wealth tax in this video (from 3:32 especially). They are mostly the difficulties of finding wealth and then valuing it. The very rich are good at both disguising its existence and paying ...Comment: Open mike 02/12/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 2:54 pm, December 2nd, 2024
Underwriting oil and gas exploration would reveal what it really is. A wasteful and inefficient handout to those provincial businesses (mostly in Taranaki) who will do well out of providing support services to the overseas oil companies. It's not a ...Comment: Electric Shock
Written By: AB - Date published: 1:17 pm, December 2nd, 2024
"...the average age of our car fleet at something like 14+years and a large part of that is made up of second hand imports. We are careful consumers..." Yes. Careful because most of us have to be - as you say. I remember English work colleagues visiting in ...Comment: Curia exited RANZ because Family First are unbalanced
Written By: AB - Date published: 11:31 am, December 1st, 2024
Mr. Farrar also states that although he advises clients on the relative merits of questions, ultimately he will accept the question if the client insists. This seems to be the nub of it. This is the thing that makes Curia look not so much like a research ...Comment: Open mike 30/11/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 12:08 pm, November 30th, 2024
It's terrible strategy to start the discussion with tax. Instead start with what you want to do and why (Sanctuary's suggestions at 5.1.2 for example). Make life substantially better for the bottom 80% of people and keep that shift as fiscally neutral as ...Comment: Caption contest
Written By: AB - Date published: 10:29 am, November 30th, 2024
"Hospital proctology services to be privatised" "New $1.50 lunches launched by Minister" "Preparing for brain surgery on Christopher Luxon" "Benefit cuts will still allow recipients to purchase nutritious meals" "Festival of non-woke food starts today in ...Comment: Open mike 16/11/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 7:14 pm, November 16th, 2024
I was a bit underwhelmed to see her emphasis on the 'sanctity of contracts' as a reason for honouring the treaty as it is, and for not attempting any unilateral reinterpretation it. It's a very conservative framing. I think contracts have limited sanctity ...Comment: Daily review 14/11/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 11:28 am, November 15th, 2024
Oh yes, he's a true believer. But he's not naive enough to think that it will happen by having everyone amicably agree to his Bill.Comment: Daily review 14/11/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 7:21 pm, November 14th, 2024
David Seymour has had a good day's work. He's done what he set out to do. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt. from Julius Caesar Act 3, sc. 2, [line 265]Comment: Open mike 09/11/2024
Written By: AB - Date published: 11:25 am, November 9th, 2024
The cruelty sounds like making Gazans move from where they are to a designated 'safe' area, then bombing that area. Then doing the same again over and over. The cruelty is the point. It's what makes the anti-Semitic right love Israel so much. It's an ...
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- The Quad can help Australia monitor China’s naval behaviour
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- Friday 7 March
E tū, representing many of NZME’s journalists, says it is “deeply worried” by a billionaire’s plans to take over its board. They are also concerned that NZ Post call centre jobs are gradually shifting to the Philippines as a cost-cutting measure. APEX have announced that more than 850 lab staff ...3 weeks ago
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- Truth Is a Beautiful Thing
Miles and miles on my ownWarm with shame, I follow onA language to find hard to hearNot to understand, just disappearCould you take my place and stand here?I do not think you'd take this painYou'll be on your knees and struggle under the weightOh, the truth would be a beautiful ...3 weeks ago - Winston taunts Luxon: ‘I made him PM’
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Yesterday, after kids got “steam burns” from hot school lunches, came the news of a kid in Gisborne who suffered “second degree burns” after opening one of the school lunches and accidentally splashing some on their leg.The student had to be rushed to A&E at the hospital, but it’s horrific ...3 weeks ago - The Hoon around the week to March 7
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and Elaine Monaghan on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II political landscape; and, on ...3 weeks ago
- Trump’s UN vote a defining act that points to day of reckoning for NZ
Of all the headline-making, world-reshaping actions of the second Trump administration thus far, perhaps the most defining is the United States’ vote against the resolution condemning Moscow’s invasion and supporting Ukraine’s territorial authority. The US has used its security council veto and superpower heft in questionable ways before, but this ...3 weeks ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #10 2025
Open access notables Snow Mass Recharge of the Greenland Ice Sheet Fueled by Intense Atmospheric River, Bailey & Hubbard, Geophysical Research Letters: Atmospheric rivers (ARs) have been linked with extreme rainfall and melt events across the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), accelerating its mass loss. However, the impact of AR-fueled snowfall has ...3 weeks ago
- If Trump’s US abandons liberal idealism, others must pick up the baton
Donald Trump’s description of himself during last week’s excruciating Oval Office meeting as a ‘mediator’ between Russia and Ukraine was revealing even by the standards of the past six weeks. It showed an indifference to ...3 weeks ago
- Trump is making the mistake that FDR shunned
In April 1941, Charles Lindbergh, the America First Committee’s most prominent leader, outlined his position that Nazi Germany’s victory was inevitable, that the United States should stay neutral and that Britain was ‘a belligerent nation’ ...3 weeks ago
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- Today’s fake news
Collins Unveils Very Special FrigateJudith Collins today announced a bold plan to address the navy’s billion dollar headaches.We’re so short of sailors that we’ve had to tie up half the fleet, and as if that wasn’t enough, our allies have been heavying us to upgrade the boats. Well, that would ...3 weeks ago - Many Reasons Adrian Orr Resigned
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Australia has no room for complacency as it watches the second Trump Administration upend the US Intelligence Community (USIC). The evident mutual advantages of the US-Australian intelligence partnership and of the Five Eyes alliance more ...3 weeks ago
- Thursday 6 March
Port workers in Lyttleton are warning that a proposal to cut jobs at the port will lead to more workplace deaths. The Government is doubling the number of nurse practitioners able to train in GP clinics, to 120 every year. They have also announced plans to lower the age for ...3 weeks ago
- Indonesia steps up defence relationships, but stays non-aligned
Indonesia has recognised that security affairs in its region are no longer business as usual, though it hasn’t completely given up its commitment to strategic autonomy. Its biggest step was a Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) ...3 weeks ago
- Trump has cut funding for transgender mice. The only problem? The mice aren’t transgender.
What a world we live in. It sounds like a satire piece, or perhaps a headline for some alternative universe where Stuart Little was a documentary. Source: TransVitaeSadly, it’s not. It’s a stunning indictment that the leader of the free world either can’t, or doesn’t, read. Yesterday in Congress, Donald ...3 weeks ago - Adrian Orr Jumps
I hate to break it to you babe, but I'm not drowningThere's no one here to saveWho cares if you disagree?You are not meWho made you king of anything?So you dare tell me who to be?Who died and made you king of anything?Songwriters: Sara Beth Bareilles.It’s hard to be surprised ...3 weeks ago - Britain’s cut to foreign aid undermines threat prevention
Britain’s decision to cut foreign aid to fund defence spending overlooks the preventive role of foreign aid. It follows the pause and review of USAID activities and is an approach to foreign aid that Australia ...3 weeks ago
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- Should Australia increase its defence spending? We asked 5 experts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Bergman, International Affairs Editor Both Labor and the Coalition are considering an increase to defence spending ahead of the federal election. Defence spending is currently at about 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), or around A$56 billion per year. The Coalition ...1 day ago - Despite some key milestones since 2000, Australia still has a long way to go on gender equality
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janeen Baxter, Director, ARC Life Course Centre and ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow, The University of Queensland Australia has a gender problem. Despite social, economic and political reform aimed at improving opportunities for women, gender gaps are increasing and Australia is falling ...1 day ago
- CPAG Calls On Ministers To Reverse Lunch Cuts With Budget Bid
Based on the 2023 and 2024 Budget Summary of Initiatives, CPAG refers to estimates of the cost of restoring school lunches to their 2024 standard, between $107-115 extra a year. ...1 day ago - No love lost as Winston Peters and Chris Hipkins trade barbs
Peter's State of the Nation mentioned Labour 30 times and accused the last government of a "litany of lies". ...1 day ago - Winston Peters vs the world
In a speech that channelled Trump-style rhetoric but stuck to old Peters themes, the NZ First leader mixed nationalism, culture war grievances and economic blame, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘outright litany’ of grievances Winston ...1 day ago - Will the $2.7b cost of tertiary courses be enough?
The government is spending $2.7 billion on tertiary courses this year, but there are early signs it will not be enough to cover all the enrolments. ...1 day ago
- Anne Salmond: The Emperor’s clothes
If you want to understand where this coalition Government is coming from, with its disdain for impoverished families and hungry children, Freddy the Frog, Te Tiriti, democratic conventions and other Kiwi decencies, George Monbiot’s The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism is illuminating.The book is short and vividly written, ...1 day ago - Alice in world No 1 land: Kiwi slalom skier’s big week
Alice Robinson is slightly disoriented. It can’t be blamed on altitude, or the weight of the World Cup medals she’s hauled in this season.When LockerRoom caught up with the Kiwi giant slalom star by video call last week, she had to think for a moment where in the world she ...1 day ago
- No love lost as Peters and Hipkins trade barbs
Former Cabinet colleagues Winston Peters and Chris Hipkins have traded blows, after the NZ First leader accused Labour of abandoning workers, and blaming it for the recession the current government has to deal with. ...1 day ago
- Protest against overnight healthcare cuts: ‘It’s just wrong’
Hundreds of people took to Napier's streets in protest on Sunday, campaigning against cuts to the city's after-hours health services. ...1 day ago
- Gloriavale on Waitangi Day
Every Waitangi Day, the choir used to go and sing at the Grey District Waitangi Day Picnic at Dixon Park in Greymouth. It was always a huge event. We’d stay up all night to make thousands of iced buns, which would then be handed out to people at the picnic.I ...1 day ago
- Luxon’s wins and compromises in India
Analysis: Christopher Luxon’s India visit proves mature relationships require compromise to achieve mutual benefits The post Luxon’s wins and compromises in India appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- In Delhi and D.C., Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters in their elements
Taking the train with Winston Peters and watching Christopher Luxon play cricket: what it's like traveling with a foreign trade delegation ...1 day ago
- Windbag: Why is it so hard to pedestrianise upper Cuba Street?
Urbanists who want their city to have more people-friendly streets need to face up to the biggest barrier to their goal: everything takes too damn long. This coming weekend, the annual CubaDupa festival will be held on and around Cuba Street. Some 80,000 people will descend on the central precinct ...1 day ago
- The Trump lads are abundant in New Zealand
New polling shows a global trend is very much alive here, too. Donald Trump’s historic return to the presidency was powered by one demographic more than any: support from young men – white young men, especially. One of the most remarkable realities within that trend is the gap that has ...1 day ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 24 March
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 24 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Climate risk reporting could stop investors from walking
Accountancy industry expert says failing to provide financial analysis of climate-related risks can lead investors to make incorrect assumptions The post Climate risk reporting could stop investors from walking appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Auckland was once a food garden managed by Māori. That knowledge could shape the future.
Comment: Māori once grew enough fruit and vegetables to feed Auckland, yet these days many struggle to afford healthy food.Today, Māori and Pacific people experience more food insecurity than other ethnicities in Aotearoa, because they are likely to have less income. The places they live are often food deserts – ...1 day ago
- The left must leave the past behind
Comment: Models that look to reinstate practices from last century relate to a past that has gone The post The left must leave the past behind appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- What the Royal Commission really said about the Covid response
Special report: Five years on from the first lockdown, Newsroom reads the entire 713-page Royal Commission into the Covid-19 response and examines the findings The post What the Royal Commission really said about the Covid response appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Daily crossword, Monday 24 March
The post Daily crossword, Monday 24 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Daily crossword, Tuesday 25 March
The post Daily crossword, Tuesday 25 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
- Homecoming a comedown for the coalition
It was a tough landing back in New Zealand for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who have returned home high on successful trips to India and the US, respectively.But Kiwis have given the National-led coalition a rating of 4.2 out of 10 in the latest Ipsos ...1 day ago
- View from The Hill: 5 things to look for in the budget – and why we really need another budget soo...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Jim Chalmers likes to boast, or marvel, that he is the first treasurer since Ben Chifley to deliver four budgets in a term. If Labor wins the May election, the treasurer will reckon the ...2 days ago
- Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier criticises Health NZ Te Whatu Ora OIA policy
Outgoing Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has reprimanded Health NZ and called the fines for Official Information Act breaches "laughable". ...2 days ago
- The State of Winston Peters
Comment: It’s going to be a big few weeks for the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters.Fresh off the plane from Washington DC and a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he delivered his New Zealand First party’s state of the nation speech in Christchurch on Sunday.By week’s end, Peters ...2 days ago
- Watch: Winston Peters’ State of the Nation speech
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been repeatedly heckled while delivering a State of the Nation speech in Christchurch. ...2 days ago
- Watch live: Winston Peters’ State of the Nation speech
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been repeatedly heckled while delivering a State of the Nation speech in Christchurch. ...2 days ago
- The House: Climate change adaptation – Parliament asks the small questions
Parliament's recent inquiry and debate on climate change adaptation asked small questions, looked short-term and inched towards reactive solutions. ...2 days ago
- An Ode to .. Lord Breen of Seymour
No news is good newsLord Breen of Seymour was taking the watersAt the Head in the Clouds Health Spa.A figure walked up the long, winding stepsTo his mountain top resort.It was the Court Surgeon.“What’s up, Sawbones?,” chuckled Lord Breen.“Why didn’t you fly up in the Royal Balloon?”“Lo,” said the Court ...2 days ago
- Green Party’s Swarbrick calls for urgent NZ action over Israel’s ‘crazy’ Gaza slaughter
Asia Pacific Report Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called on New Zealand government MPs today to support her Member’s Bill to sanction Israel over its “crazy slaughter” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at a large pro-Palestinian solidarity rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, she said Aotearoa ...3 days ago
- Resourcing concerns raised as new bill proposes three-day hospital stay for mothers, newborns
A new bill proposes the minimum hospital stay offered to mothers and newborns be upped from 48 to 72 hours. ...3 days ago
- ‘Step Backwards’: Uffindell’s Equal Voting Rights Bill Challenged
The draft bill was intended to stop any move away from the principle of equal suffrage, where each person gets an equal say in electing people, Uffindell said. ...3 days ago
- Local Government New Zealand crying foul over potential rates capping
President Sam Broughton said the government's proposal for a cap on rates increases would only make things worse, with Australian examples showing it would do the opposite to what the government wants. ...3 days ago
- Top Pacific diplomats ready for direct talks on Bougainville independence
By Leah Lowonbu, Stefan Armbruster and Harlyne Joku of BenarNews The Pacific’s peak diplomatic bodies have signalled they are ready to engage with Papua New Guinea’s Autonomous Government of Bougainville as mediation begins on the delayed ratification of its successful 2019 independence referendum. PNG and Bougainville’s leaders met in the ...3 days ago
- The Secret Diary of .. Luxon of India
MONDAYThe party of honoured New Zealanders were shown an old fort. “Awesome,” said Mr Luxon.He wore a gold turban, a white linen jacket, a peacock-illustrated waistcoat sewn with exquisite rubies, a white dhoti crafted from finest polyester with 1 1/2″ gold jari border, and a $625 pair of Christian Kimber ...3 days ago
- Cricket quips and Kiwi ships: Behind the scenes of Christopher Luxon’s India trip
Christopher Luxon's trip to India included the restart of trade talks, the tightening of defence ties, and more than a spot of cricket - RNZ's deputy political editor takes us behind the scenes. ...3 days ago
- Excavating a historical waka, and the story that goes with it
Six months after Vincent Dix and his son Nikau stumbled across remains of an ocean-voyaging waka while searching for driftwood on their property in Rēkohu/ Chatham Islands, the community is still buzzing over the discoveries.The big question locals want an answer to: where did the waka come, from and who ...3 days ago
- Short story: The coven, by Connie Buchanan
Leon Pritchard used to be absolutely ripped, back in the day. He exercised his muscles one by one at the gym, so that each formed its ultimate shape and could be easily seen by passing females, even at a glance. He worked hardest on his upper body and put the ...3 days ago
- What is fairy smut and why is everyone obsessed with it?
Never heard of Acotar? Unsure what makes fairies sexy? Nervous of romantasy? Bemused by the term Medievalcore? Herewith is all you need to know about the hottest publishing trend of the age. What is fairy smut? Fairy smut is a genre of fantasy romance (romantasy) that includes both fairies and ...3 days ago
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