Madeleine Chapman | The Spinoff

Madeleine Chapman

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Madeleine Chapman is a contributing editor. She was editor of The Spinoff 2022-2025.

Madeleine Chapman

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Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men sits in the sun with the ocean behind him, eyes peacefully shut. Around him, hands appear brandishing supermarket rewards cards and promotional items

Rage against the machine: I refuse to join any supermarket rewards programmes

a collage of images, the main being a woman with brown skin holding the head of an older person as she helps them drink from a glass of water. around her are images of a receipt, a pill bottle, a showering chair and a slipper

NZ’s retirement village population is almost entirely white. Where is everyone else?

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I thought I wouldn’t cry this Commonwealth Games, then along came David Liti

a crowded montage of athletes wearing black New Zealand singlets and celebrating or mid-competition with a gold background

We are so good at athletics right now

four pacific women in office attire smile for headshots overlaid on a black and white map of Auckland electorates

Labour’s biggest election challenge? Making sure Pacific people can vote

a male gymnast in a red competition uniform stands looking off to the side with a dark, blurred background behind

DON’T WATCH: Gabriel Langton’s horror Commonwealth Games fall isn’t entertainment

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Jump scare: The Commonwealth Games start in 48 hours

a newborn babies hand close up with a white sheet background

Are New Zealand’s ‘outdated’ surrogacy laws finally set to change?

a weather map of new zealand showing drier than usual colours covering all of the north island and the east coast of the south, and wetter than usual colours on the west and south coasts of the south island

El Niño is here! What’s El Niño, again?

a single blue and red police light on a stark black background

She called the police for help – they banned her from her own home

two grey parking machines overlaid on a pile of new zealand bank notes

Business is booming (if you’re a car park)