Newsletter
Tough on crime
I posted this two years ago, in the Facebook days, but it seems relevant again now. Kids are still more important than cars. Leaders of every stripe need to know it.
Anna McMartin
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Neither perfect nor silent
A confidential update for my lovely paid subscribers - please note the difficult content. Thank you for being the kind of people I can share this with.
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The (im)patient
It was only after her death - I was thirteen at the time - that I realised. My Nana was one of the most interesting people I’ve known. She had three of my favourite qualities: intellectual curiosity, a moral compass, and the occasional urge to wind people up for
Newsletter
Nerd Sunday: How Budgets work, for people who hate numbers and are cynical more generally
In the first post in this series, I promised something a little less boring than it sounded. Can I deliver again?
Newsletter
Thought for the day, 15 May 2022
Not concerned with accuracy. Not concerned with detail. Not concerned with public health. Not concerned with financial stewardship. Not concerned with intergenerational welfare. Not concerned with our ethical - our constitutional - commitments, dating back to 1840. Just concerned with the weak and lazy comfort that comes from, you know,
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Getting our house in order
This is a confidential update for my lovely paid subscribers. Be warned, it's one of those posts where I crap on about my personal life.
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Gaslighting for God
When I was sixth form, in religious education class, we talked about abortion. By that time - we’d been children raised in the faith, but were now sixteen and seventeen - we knew the dogma. The difference, I suppose, was that we now felt old enough, cocky enough, to
Newsletter
Holy hell, Dave
Kia ora Dave Has the sexy Christian coldcall approach worked for you? Like, EVER? Because even if I had eternal life, you'd still be waiting. No one reads a shit line like this and thinks, Yahweh to go, Dave! You need to altar your approach. Guess you'
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Minding our language
Remember Grampa Simpson? Of course you do. This week, the Otago Daily Times published a column by Joe Bennett, attacking the use of te reo Māori by RNZ. It's an odd piece. Bennett starts out complaining he doesn't follow the news, and only likes listening to
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In recognition
I can’t remember how he let me know that he was there, just behind me – with a word, or with a tap on the shoulder. Whatever way, I turned around. I’d just filed off the bus with the others, was finding my bearings under an unfamiliar sun. We’
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Ambitious
This is an update in confidence for my much-appreciated paid subscribers.
Newsletter
Joining the club, after it's stopped being exclusive
I had the slightest tickle of symptoms yesterday. A friend was in town with his family, and we talked about catching up. I wasn't sure, so I mentioned what I thought was my mild sniffle, and he decided to play it safe. He was with a parent who