Anna McMartin

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It's not a House. It's a home.

I'm catching up with today's news, and I'm disappointed (if completely unsurprised) that we've missed the opportunity for a conversation about the role of tikanga in Parliament. We're led to think about the House as this place of neutrality and

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See you next Tuesday

Look, I don't have a problem with the C word. But like any responsible user, I appreciate there's some careful etiquette around it. And that etiquette is what makes our nation great. We’re good c***s, mostly. But I'm not happy with some

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Thought for the day, 12 May 2025

Pondering. It's not obvious to me how a ban on social media for under 16s would work. And I agree there's potential for negative consequences. I'm the mum of the trans and autistic kids. Trust me: I understand that finding community matters a lot.

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The crumbs from his table

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What if we just let ourselves fall in love with the land?

An entwinement with the kupu of my friend.

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Three years

This post is for Dan.

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Thought for the day, 17 April 2025

Some reflections, and I hope they won't come across the wrong way. I haven't yet read the UK judgement, so I can't comment much. I'll just say that courts are there to interpret the law, not say whether they like it or

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Naming names

Name suppression is often seen as a way for rich people and predators to escape consequences. Is that fair, and what needs to change? A caution that this post is challenging - take care.

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Thought for the day, 8 March 2025

People say, 'You can't beat Wellington on a good day'. They're usually talking about the weather. And they're wrong. I say this affectionately, as someone who lives some thirty kilometres and five degrees up the road, in Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta

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Jam sandwiches

Back in the day, we got jam sandwiches and we were grateful. Sigh. I’ve been watching the intergenerational debate play out over school lunches. My first set of musings is here. This is the second set. There’s been a bunch of advice from everyday people, many of whom

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Thought for the day, 1 March 2025

RNZ: don't be dicks. Photos of politicians carry weight, especially in a social media-orientated world. Editorial choice around photos sends deliberate signals. [Picture description: An irrelevant and unflattering photo of the Prime Minister eating.] Sometimes photos are chosen to lionise politicians: think a triumphant Trump after a bullet

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Out to lunch

The school lunch kōrero is a fascinating exercise in not recognising intergenerational privilege. Here are the arguments I'm seeing: * Parents fed their kids back in the day. * It's parents' job to feed their kids, not anyone else's - and if the parents can&

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Maybe it ends in Naenae?

I lived in Naenae, Lower Hutt, for several years, before our family moved a few kilometres north to Upper Hutt. When we shifted, I thought about changing my pen name to ‘Straight Outta Trentham’, but rapidly realised I couldn’t be bothered. And anyway, I still feel an allegiance to

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Manning up

Kia ora Brian I’ve spent time in both churches and libraries, and I can tell you which I prefer. Here’s a story about me and my older kid, although I don’t expect you’ll like it much. You’ve been pretty clear: those ‘family values’ of yours

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Thought for the day, 5 February 2025

A reflection. Humans are both stupid and sublime. I thought about this a lot when I wrote my PhD. I studied social policy in Aotearoa, and the contrasts in our history captured me. We were a nation that, at our height, built ten thousand state houses a year to give

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Sunshine boy

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I thought fascism would be less squalid than this

I learned about World War Two through family and movies and in class. I wasn’t especially worried. Humans learn from experience. We seldom mess up that badly twice, I figured - or, at least, not on any kind of scale. The battles of that time didn’t interest me,

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In good faith

This is a story with questionable characters. You've met some of them before.

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After the hīkoi

People who take the train to and from the office in Pōneke are, more often than not, Pākehā and comfortable.

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The best you can give is what you have

The COVID-19 inquiry is starting to drip feed its findings, and I'm having a lot of feelings. Some of those feelings come from being a person who worked in the response in 2020. I can't even begin to say how awful it was - and I

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Consent, intent

This piece is about the use of the 'rough sex defence' by men who harm women. I focus on ideas, not acts of violence, but it remains a challenging read. As always, a reminder I'm not a lawyer.

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Thought for the day, 6 November 2024

I've thought carefully about the kind of words I want to toss into this cauldron. I'm feeling disillusioned of course, and angry, and bereft. But I can't let myself be without hope. Subscribe now Things have been shit before and things will be shit

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Thought for the day, 27 September 2024

Being laid off is horrific in a way that's hard to explain to those who haven't been there. If you're lucky, you'll find something else soon: mostly your self-worth and your sense of security will suffer. If you're unlucky, the

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Ake ake ake

Lies aren't always fleeting - and monsters are no more self-made than better men. This post contains distressing violence and racism. Please take care.

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Sharing news, seeking advice