Jai Breitnauer

Guest writer

Jai Breitnauer has worked as a writer and editor for 18 years, and her passions include parenting, health, sustainability and vegan food. Social justice is at the core of her work. She lives in Auckland, with her architect husband and two dance-mad boys, one of whom has additional needs.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (Photo: Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

Chris Hipkins needs a reality check on kids with special learning needs

The education minister’s claim that all learners are supported in state schools is so clearly untrue that it makes me despair.

By Jai Breitnauer | 23rd July, 2021

Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images

The broken promises that led to Brexit Britain

In her first years of adulthood, Jai Breitnauer found herself living in a bold and hopeful nation. More than two decades on, she laments on how the Britain we know now came to be.

By Jai Breitnauer | 24th January, 2021

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We miss New Zealand desperately, but we’re staying put in education exile

Half a million New Zealanders are predicted to return home in the wake of Covid-19, but our family won’t be on that list until New Zealand sorts out its approach to special needs and disability education.

By Jai Breitnauer | 4th December, 2020

How it feels to be on the outside looking in. (Photo: Getty Images)

A simple request from those of us shut out by managed isolation fees: Be kind

People like me already don't know when we will see 'home' again, thanks to the forthcoming border fees. We don’t need to be judged for it too.

By Jai Breitnauer | 3rd August, 2020

Emergency military hospital during influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas, United States in 1918 or 1919 (Photo: Creative Commons)

The lessons New Zealand learned from Spanish flu

'Stay in your bubble' didn't exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how vital it is that we do so.

By Jai Breitnauer | 4th April, 2020

Empty shelves confront shoppers at a London branch of Sainsburys supermarket, March 18, 2020 (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The darkness fell so fast: A dispatch from Britain under Covid-19

Government mistrust, confused messaging and fear have blighted the UK's approach to the pandemic

By Jai Breitnauer | 26th March, 2020

Little boy learning to ride a bicycle with his Father

The issue with disappearing dads

Jai Breitnauer on what happens when male role models start disappearing from a child’s life.

By Jai Breitnauer | 22nd February, 2020

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An end-of-year celebration of small miracles and everyday triumphs

The success stories of people with extra struggles may not get awards and trophies, but they're worth celebrating all the same, says Jai Breitnauer.

By Jai Breitnauer | 12th December, 2019

Breach of duty, indeed fraud, has rarely been constrained in New Zealand by such logic – but we might be about to observe the power of a new handbrake (image: Getty Images)

On the horror and futility that is the Disputes Tribunal

The small-claims mediation process is meant to give real people a voice, but the financial and emotional sacrifice just isn’t worth it, writes Jai Breitnauer

By Jai Breitnauer | 22nd October, 2019

The road to Aoraki Mount Cook (Getty Images)

A life divided: An immigrant says goodbye to New Zealand

After years living in New Zealand with her family, English writer Jai Breitnauer is going home. Or is she?

By Jai Breitnauer | 28th August, 2019