Summer reissue: Less than half of New Zealand adults have a will. One hundred per cent of New Zealand adults die. Sam Brooks writes on why you need a will. First published February 29, 2020. Before you read any further, ask yourself this one question: If I dropped dead right now, reading this piece, would … Read more
For many whānau, Christmas can be a difficult time of the year, accentuating the absence of those who have passed away. Nadine Anne Hura reflects on love, loss and regret on this first Christmas without her brother. Jimmy Barnes says that life’s too short for burning bridges, but what I want to know is whether … Read more
Nadine Anne Hura’s brother was different, like Māui. Equal parts curious, reckless, determined and brave, he couldn’t leave things alone. He needed to know. I found my brother in a crowd of 60,000 people under the stars. It was 1993 and U2 was on tour at Mt Smart Stadium. If I said I remembered the … Read more
Piiata the lab was supposed to paper over the cracks of Nadine Anne Hura’s broken family with beads of glittering gold. Instead, she began to dismantle the house one panel and one cushion at a time. She was second to last of the litter and fully golden. We took her home and called her Piiata. She … Read more
As the past few weeks have starkly revealed, we can’t always conflate the occupants of a single residence into one neat group. Anthropologists Susanna Trnka and Sharyn Graham Davies explain. On March 23, New Zealanders were presented with a stark and unprecedented demand to get into our “bubbles” within 48 hours and stay there for … Read more
Less than half of New Zealand adults have a will. One hundred per cent of New Zealand adults die. Sam Brooks writes on why you need a will. Before you read any further, ask yourself this one question: If I dropped dead right now, reading this piece, would my loved ones know exactly – to … Read more
Eileen Merriman has whipped out three fine novels for young adults since debuting in 2017. Moonlight Sonata is her first crack at writing for adults. In this first chapter Merriman sets up a beatific family holiday – New Year’s, the beach, deckchairs and drinks – and injects a dose of abject wrongness. They see the … Read more
Unless we look closely sometimes we forget the important role our closest guides have on our lives. On his grandmother’s 103rd birthday, Arun Jeram takes a moment to examine his grandparents’ legacy. When most people discover I have a granddad who is 103 and a grandmother who is also 103, and they are both alive … Read more
Follow Calum Henderson’s advice on how to occupy the annual family Christmas chasm between lunch and dinner with these guaranteed crowd-pleasers on Freeview. Ah, the classic Kiwi Christmas: pohutukawa trees in bloom, the abandoned remnants of a backyard cricket game strewn across the lawn, a fresh pavlova in the fridge. The whole family together under one … Read more
Whānau Ora is under review, with the findings being released this month. Dr Chris Tooley speculates on what the future holds. Whānau Ora was set up by the Māori Party in 2010. It is an intensive intervention programme aimed at and defined by whānau, delivered upon kaupapa Māori frameworks. Kaiārahi (navigators) work with whānau to … Read more
Michael Petherick learned the hard way that while failure means losing in sport, in business it can be exactly the feedback you need to get you back on track. The road to small business success is littered with cautionary tales of failing and financial distress. But if your venture gets off to a rocky start, … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes looks back on the change to her family when she had a second child. When I was pregnant I really worried my relationship with my first baby would change. We were so close, and I was concerned that a new addition to the family would put a strain on us. … Read more
Setting a budget and sticking to it is really hard and The Spinoff Parents regularly gets asked to pull together budget tips that real parents use. Here are the best crowd-sourced tips from parents in New Zealand. We’ve tried to split this series into parts – because we were sent so many tips. This week we’ve compiled … Read more
Is Christmas Day the best or worst day of the year? Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has crowd-sourced a list of the characters you’ll break bread with today. Tis the night before Christmas, and your house is a mess. The kids have gone feral, and you’re not feeling #blessed. You’re starting to sweat about lunch the next … Read more
Growing up disconnected from her father and his side of her family, Tamsyn Matchett never understood her Tongan identity. On Saturday at Mt Smart stadium she sang the Tongan national anthem for the first time, surrounded by her Tongan brothers and sisters. I grew up not completely sure how Tongan I was. Actually, I wasn’t … Read more
Thalia Kehoe Rowden imagines a future where we have mothers of young children and babies in Parliament. What a world it could be… Today in Parliament, the House passed a unanimous motion of congratulations to Prime Minister Golriz Ghahraman, on the birth of her third child. In a statement to the House, Acting Prime Minister, … Read more
In yesterday’s honours list Professor Hamid Ikram was made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit, for services to cardiology and education. His son, Ali Ikram, cheers on an extraordinary Pakistani Cantabrian. Families are stories. The one my father is most fond of telling concerns a visit to his grandfather’s house when he was a small child … Read more
Is Christmas Day the best or worst day of the year? Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has crowd-sourced a list of the characters you’ll break bread with this Christmas. Tis the night before Christmas, and your house is a mess. The kids have gone feral, and you’re not feeling #blessed. You’re starting to sweat about lunch the … Read more