The End is Naenae

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High functioning

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Nerd Sunday: Going gangbusters

We've heard a bunch of reckons from politicians. What does the evidence say?

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Thought for the day, 19 July 2023

I believe in reason, in being reasonable, even if I don't always practise what I preach.   I'm not aligned to any group, but I'm a left voter.  I try not to be slavish about it, or tribal.  I know batshit people on the left

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Takiwātanga

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A sequel

Please be warned that this post is deliberating confronting.

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Of memes and metaphors

It's unpopular opinion o'clock. Years ago, at university, I read The Handmaid's Tale. It was memorable, mostly because I actually finished it. I was not a gifted student. We’ll leave it at that. It was memorable for other reasons too. I suppose I

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Obliging

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Thought for the day, 17 May 2023

I don't yet know what happened. No one does. I get that. But we know it happened in a doss house, not in an upscale hotel or a golf club or a koru lounge - and that the people who flung themselves from the windows weren't

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Words

Marama Davidson did not use the right words. She had been hit by a man on a motorbike, and hurt; and perhaps in another time or place, a public assault on a woman leader might have garnered concern. But this is New Zealand, and this is now, and Davidson did

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Thought for the day, 24 March 2023

Posie Parker. I don't feel qualified to weigh in on the visa issue. I don't know what the rules are, whether they're reasonable, or whether they've been correctly applied. I feel fully qualified to weigh in on the Nazism issue. The rules

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Reparation

Two cautions. The first is that this is a violent and traumatic story. The second is that I'm not a lawyer, so I've stuck as closely to others' expertise as I can. Any errors are entirely mine.

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Thought for the day, 6 March 2023

She won't ever know, but she paved the way for my kid, because she expanded the horizons of that kid's mum. She was never to be reduced to a single thing, an identity, an obliging tick in a two-dimensional box. Trans and a leader. Trans and

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Unconditional

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Thought for the day, 27 February 2023

Chester Borrows died today. I didn't know the man in person. If I had, I can't imagine I would always have agreed with him. He was party faithful through and through: a dyed-in-the-wool Nat. I would struggle to sell my soul to the political machine; and

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Thought for the day, 15 February 2023

You don't get to lay claim to big feelings when you're warm at home and the power's on. When there's food in the fridge, and you can account for the people you love. When the mysteries of climate and science direct the

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Giving up

When my friend and I met at a café near my work, in January, neither of us could remember the last time we’d seen one another.  That wasn't just because we were, let's be honest, having trouble remembering.   It was the best part of three

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Thought for the day, 31 January 2023

I'm so delighted that Campbell Johnstone has told the world he's gay - the first All Black to do so. What I'm ambivalent about is some of the responses. Not the homophobic ones: my response to them is pretty straightforward. It's some

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Packing up

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The order of things

I must have driven through Pākaraka, near Whanganui, although I don’t remember. Whenever it was, the little town would have borne a different name. Objectors say you can’t change the name of a place: that’s wiping out history. And they insist, you can’t just wipe out

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Thought for the day, 21 January 2023

My unease is with so many other people's ease. It's not that I have a problem with either of these men - or more than I would with any other leader of their respective parties. I'm grumpy: guilty as charged. My problem is with

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Thought for the day, 19 January 2023

In my time as a public servant, I've worked under a few Prime Ministers. I can't say I particularly loved any as individuals - I'm just not that into party politics - and I've disagreed vehemently with plenty. But I can say

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Requiem

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When you haven't got a prayer

It was an awkward conversation, and if I could have slunk out of it, I would’ve. I was at work, and a British colleague sat down with me. We were both part of a large government department in Wellington. I was working at the time with the Māori policy

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Thought for the day, 8 December 2022

Not being able to do stuff irks me. To be honest, I wouldn't necessarily even do the stuff if I could. But like everyone else, I want the choice to be half arsed, not have it thrust upon me. Iain came round to do my section yesterday, after

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Bad blood

I have always admired blood donors, although I'm not one (health reasons). I love them because of all the things they're prepared to give.  Their blood, of course.  Their time.  Their resources, to drive to a place they can donate - and maybe to take an