Sunday, March 29, 2026
Artist says he's the man for Paul Henry role - 2010
Artist says he's the man for Paul Henry role
By MICHAEL FOX
The artist advocating unemployment is using his newfound notoriety to plump for axed Breakfast host Paul Henry's job.
Wellington beneficiary Tao Wells, 37, sparked controversy – and a heated reaction from Dominion Post readers – when it was revealed he was setting up a taxpayer-funded "beneficiaries' office" to promote the virtues of being unemployed.
Creative NZ provided a $3,500 grant for the Manners St office, which is open to the public for at least two weeks from today as part of the Letting Space public art series. The Beneficiary's Office urges people to forsake jobs they don't like rather than endure eight hours of "slavery".
Wells' benefit has since been suspended as Work and Income investigates him for receiving income above the maximum allowable as a result of the grants – something that he denies. He said it was an "absolute lie" to suggest he benefited personally from the Creative NZ funding, as it all went to the Wells Group, of which he is the director. He admitted the funding let him and five colleagues work on the exhibition.
Wells said the anger prompted by his argument was a response to the issues he raised, not an attack on him. "The anger is very real and it's not about me. It's about feeling ripped off – we are collectively being ripped off."
He disagreed that beneficiaries were getting paid for "doing nothing". "Everyone who is alive works to live. Now what is that work? Is it just purely financial? It can't be – we all rip off our jobs, we all participate in other things that we're not supposed to at work.
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"If we didn't, society in itself would collapse. If we didn't notice our neighbour, if we didn't say hello, if we didn't do the extra things – I feel ridiculous even having to make those points but this is the state of things."
He was not advocating for people living off the state but "living for the state". However, he did not have any ideas on how this would be achieved, admitting "we're making this up as we go".
When asked what he'd learnt from the experience, he said: "That I want Paul Henry's job. I'm outspoken, I'm not afraid to speak my mind, not politically correct – and if all those people thought that that was important about Paul Henry, then they should feel the same way about me. And I am unemployed."
An earlier version of this story said the Beneficiaries Office art programme, Letting Space, received $40,000 from Creative New Zealand. In fact, it was only given a total of $3,500.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4242452/Artist-says-hes-the-man-for-Paul-Henry-role
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Midnight Oil - Dreamworld
The Breakfast Creek Hotel is up for sale
The last square mile of terra firma
gaveled in the mail
So farewell to the Norfolk Island pines
No amount of make believe
can help this heart of mine
End
your dreamworld is just about to end
end
Fall
your dreamworld is just about to fall
fall
Your dreamworld will fall
So shut that buckle and turn that key again
Take me to a place they say
the dreaming never ends
Open wide
drive that mystery road
Walk through Eden's garden
and then plunder as you go
End
your dreamworld is just about to end
end
Fall
your dreamworld is just about to fall
fall
Your dreamworld is just about to fall
Sign says honeymoon to rent
Cloudland into dreamland turns
The sun comes up and we all learn
Those wheels must turn
End
your dreamworld is just about to end
end
Fall
your dreamworld is just about to fall
fall
end
Your dreamworld is just about to end
fall, fall, fall, fall
your dreamworld is just about to fall
Thursday, March 26, 2026
new investigation revealing how billionaire Leslie Wexner and Jeffrey Epstein built a corporate welfare state in Ohio, creating a model of "public-private partnerships" that privatized government, funneled billions in taxpayer money to big tech data centers, and is now driving up electricity bills while gutting public schools and healthcare. Webb details how Wexner created a de facto private government in his hometown of New Albany, Ohio, which evolved into Jobs Ohio—a private corporation that controls the state's liquor tax revenue with zero public accountability—and has become the blueprint for a techno-feudal state promoted by the "dark enlightenment" figures like Peter Thiel and JD Vance. She warns that Ohio is a petri dish for a nationwide takeover, where data centers are replacing public infrastructure, digital IDs are mandatory, and federal legislation is stripping local governments of the power to resist. Webb also dissects the coordinated effort by Compact Magazine, Peter Thiel, and Soros-funded outlets to dismiss the Epstein scandal, and raises concerns about Joe Kent's emergence as a potential controlled opposition figure designed to manufacture a "domestic terrorist" profile the government can later use against anti-war populists."
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
I'm reaching out to me hero's, well one in particular, I dried direct message, but I don't think he uses it, I know how to contact him if I really want to, but I haven't felt like going directly to that, I'm trying to invent and enjoy the creation of a meeting. I am such a fan already, I'm satisfied. But this time, I've tried contact him through his fiance, on her comments page. Just my right mix of hopelessness and ambition based in recognized yet repressed actual community
Monday, March 23, 2026
Sunday, March 22, 2026
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