Your Place

Parliamentary privileges and punishments.

What do you do when you're in your place
What's going through your whirling mind
I wish I could see inside of your place
It looks like a better place than mine
Numbers divine
You have to find

Songwriters: Henry Binns / Sam Hardaker.

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Today’s newsletter is about the injustice and racism of the suspensions faced by three members of Te Pāti Māori over the haka in defiance of the Treaty Principles Bill. An action that broke the rules yet was a moment of pride, which many of us felt, given the context, was not only understandable but also right.

I had intended to leave this open to all, as with many recent editions, but with subscriptions continuing to decline, I’ve reached a point where I need to do something different.

While I would greatly prefer to make my writing available to all, I work too hard on this to continue giving it away for free if the very fact that it’s available for free discourages folks from renewing their subscriptions, or new readers from subscribing.

My apologies to those who this inconveniences, and I hope this doesn’t sound egotistical. I believe I’m doing good work, and it’s not unreasonable to be paid for it.

I appreciate that costs are high, so to make it as affordable as possible while still providing an income, I would like to offer all readers who are not currently paid subscribers a 30% discount for the first year if you would like to access my paid content. That is $70 for 12 months, or $ 7 per month, less than $2 per week.

To those remaining as free subscribers, I will continue to offer at least one free newsletter every week. If /when subscriptions increase, I will increase the amount of free content. I’m not trying to get rich here; just aiming for a sustainable level of income that allows me to write, ideally without paywalls.

To my paid subscribers, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support. Rest assured, I’m in this for the long haul and have no intention of stopping. I will write this newsletter for as long as you read it, barring any unforeseen circumstances, and I’ll see you on the other side of this paywall.