Little is known about selenium intakes and status in very young New Zealand children. However, selenium intakes below recommendations and lower selenium status compared to international studies have been reported in New Zealand (particularly South Island) adults. The Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS (BLISS) randomised controlled trial compared a modified version of baby-led weaning (infants feed themselves rather than being spoon-fed), with traditional spoon-feeding (Control). Weighed three-day diet records were collected and plasma selenium concentration measured using ICP-MS. In total, 101 (BLISS n=50, Control n=51) 12-month-old toddlers provided complete data. The odds of selenium intakes below the estimated average requirement was no different between BLISS and Control (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.39, 2.03), and there was no difference in mean plasma selenium concentration between groups (0.04 μmol/L; 95% CI: -0.03, 0.11). In an adjusted model, consuming breast milk was associated with lower plasma selenium concentrations (-0.12 μmol/L; 95% CI: -0.19, -0.04). Of the food groups other than infant milk (breast milk or infant formula), “breads and cereals” contributed the most to selenium intakes (12% of intake). In conclusion, selenium intakes and plasma selenium concentrations of 12 month old New Zealand toddlers were no different between those who had followed a baby-led approach to complementary feeding and those who followed traditional spoon-feeding. However, more than half of toddlers had selenium intakes below the estimated average requirement.

How do cabinet reshuffles affect the parliamentary opposition's use of no-confidence motions in the government? Opposition parties employ no-confidence motions as electoral signals to highlight government incompetence and to position themselves as a government in waiting. We argue that cabinet reshuffles – which prime ministers use to respond to policy failures, scandals, poor ministerial performance and disloyalty – present an opportunity for the opposition to deploy no-confidence motions to this end. The incentives to deploy this strategy, however, are contingent on the nature of the party system and are greatest where party-system concentration positions a single opposition party as the alternative to the government and sole beneficiary of a no-confidence vote. We test this expectation using a multilevel modelling approach applied to data on reshuffles in 316 governments and 16 parliamentary democracies, and find support for our expectation: cabinet reshuffles raise the probability of no-confidence motions conditional on party-system concentration.

We assess the evolution of glaciological structures during the 2003–05 surge in the Paulabreen glacier system, Svalbard. Glaciological structures on the glacier surface were mapped using aerial photographs captured in the early stages of the surge (2003) and 5 years after surge termination (2011). Three-dimensional measurements of glaciological structures were collected at the tidewater front in 2013. These datasets document the physical changes during (1) the late quiescent phase; (2) the early phase of the surge as the surge front propagated down Skobreen and advanced into Paulabreen and (3) the final stages of the surge following the surge front reaching the glacier terminus. Crevasse patterns and clusters of arcuate shear planes record zones of compressive and extensional flow associated with the downglacier progression of the surge front. The transfer of surging ice from Skobreen into Paulabreen caused lateral displacement of the medial moraines to the northeast. At the ice front, this movement tilted glaciological structures in the same direction. Structures at the southwest margin record strike–slip faulting and the elevation of debris into the ice in a zone of compression and transpression. We summarise these observations in a schematic reconstruction of structural evolution during the surge.