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1 week ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
One of the year’s most anticipated shows returns with a dash of brain splatter, a dollop of human heart, and a focus on the toll of terrible decisions. The first season of The Last of Us ended with Ellie (Bella Ramsay) asking Joel (Pedro Pascal) to swear that everything he has told her about the Fireflies is true. Driven by protectionist instincts, Joel lies. He didn’t shoot up a hospital or his former comrades and steal Ellie away to let correct moral instinct jeopardise it all.
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2 weeks ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Luxon has an opportunity to emerge as a stabiliser without the diplomatic risk of poking the bear in the White House. Last month, pundits from across the political spectrum were begging Christopher Luxon to add a modicum of clarity to the way he communicates after a disastrous interview with Mike Hosking following Andrew Bayly’s resignation. There was a flurry of speculation about his leadership amid poor polling for the coalition government and Luxon personally.
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3 weeks ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Nicola Willis strongly signals she’s willing to get serious about supermarket duopoly, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Nicola Willis seeking information how to attract a third player to marketNew Zealanders could be forgiven for being wary of announcements about tackling the supermarket duopoly.
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4 weeks ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
The Children’s Commissioner describes the current situation as “untenable, inequitable and inadequate”, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ‘Untenable, inequitable and inadequate’Earlier this week, RNZ’s Anusha Bradley reported that the country’s only publicly funded paediatric palliative care specialist is on extended leave.
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4 weeks ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
It’s a response that has nothing to do with children and everything to do with adults. On Sunday, my family had a picnic. We went to Grey Lynn Park, lazed around in the autumn sun, and appreciated the corny, wholesome vibe of being together. My siblings and I are all aged between 39 and 45 years old, and my parents are in their 70s. For the most part, we have moved past aggravating each other and settled into the stage of life where being alive, well, and together is not taken for granted.
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1 month ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Float, dance or run to see this spectacular show at the Auckland Arts Festival, but whatever you do, don’t miss it. A realisation of the very best of this country’s creative ambitionIt’s easy to forget the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre at the Aotea Centre, with its three tiers of seating and large capacity, has the potential to be an immersive cocoon. The revamp, completed in 2012, saw the installation of sizeable warm-wood panelling, vastly improving the acoustics.
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1 month ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Marmite should be basking in the same warm prime ministerial glow as Weet-Bix right now, but the finance minister had other plans. In case you’ve been buried under a pile of melted plastic for the last two months, school lunches have become something of a political norovirus. An endless spray of stories featuring pictures of “food” that, in some cases, looks the same as it would when coming back up, has been haunting the government’s hunt for cost efficiencies and David Seymour’s dreams.
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1 month ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Three cinemas, 1,315 minutes, two streaming platforms, too much sand and one vaping cardinal. Every hero’s journey starts with a call to adventure. Maximus Decimus Meridius, or Russell Crowe as we call him, found his family dead and was sold into slavery. Forrest Gump started running. Luke Skywalker was summoned via a plaintive cry from a holographic Princess Leia. I, too, was called to a quest by a plaintive cry and a gladiatorial gut howl.
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2 months ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
It’s important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, but how much political deference is due when it isn’t peaceful? Commenting on Destiny Church members storming a children’s event at the Te Atatū library and community centre on Saturday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said it’s important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful protest, but the Destiny Church protest went “too far”.
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2 months ago | 
thespinoff.co.nz | Anna Rawhiti-Connell
The Jono & Ben star is self-aware and surrounded by extraordinary women in Three’s latest local comedy series. The first episode of Vince, written by and starring Jono Pryor, opens with intrigue, a loincloth and a man in the middle of some kind of breakdown. As the titular character, a tattooed Pryor stands in an orange loincloth in a small supermarket, scoops a load of cayenne pepper out of a bulk bin and drops it.
