Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily. Today on The Spinoff: The All Blacks haka controversy, Auckland’s big Christmas tree and an excerpt from Diana Wichtel’s new memoir. But first: Toby Manhire on former National and Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye, who has died aged 44.
“I remember distinctly the 2020 interview that Nikki Kaye gave to Kathryn Ryan on RNZ that morning. It was just after the departure of Todd Muller as National leader, with the party reeling still from a period of unimaginable bloodletting. Kaye – who had played a role in the coup that had seen her elevated to the deputy leadership – had just announced that she was quitting politics. Kaye accepted the timing, with an election imminent, was ‘not great’. But she could not have predicted ‘the events that have occurred in the last period – the most extraordinary thing I have seen in my life in politics.’ And something else: her recent breast cancer diagnosis had reinforced her view that ‘you have to live every moment … You have to know when your time is up and you’ve given it your all.’ It signalled the end of a remarkable 12 years as a member of parliament. She had been minister for education, for ACC, for Civil Defence, for youth. She’d twice seen off challenges from another promising young politician, Jacinda Ardern, in Auckland Central – a territory she prowled day and night like a proud, enraptured cat. She’d overcome breast cancer. She’d been picked by some as a future leader. Indeed, she had become acting leader of the National Party for a few, tumultuous days. All that, and she even found time to complete ultramarathons. And, impossibly, Kaye was still just 40 years old. She seemed to have in front of her the possibility of, I don’t know – a second chapter doesn’t quite capture it; almost a second life. Which made the news today of her death, at 44 years old, after cancer encroached again, seem crueller still.”
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All Blacks haka controversy: A bold statement or brand risk? The coalition’s priorities, and the challenges it faces, in year two Bad news for grinches: the Christmas tree in Auckland city is wonderful The cost of being: An ebike-riding, vinyl-loving dad who ‘only spends what I have’ Diana Wichtel: ‘Virginia Woolf might have made a decent TV reviewer’
The Spinoff Live in Auckland: The Year in Review is on sale now After a sold-out event in Wellington, Anna Rawhiti-Connell will take a running jump backward into the year’s biggest headlines, political dramas and Spinoff yarns in Auckland at Q Theatre on December 11. Anna will be joined onstage by special guests, rose-tinted glasses and Christmas cheer.
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The indomitable Nikki Kaye
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