Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.

If you haven’t seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, I recommend you do while it’s still showing in cinemas. It’s the story of a revolutionary (Bob, played by Leonardo DiCaprio) who spends his young adulthood blowing things up in the name of change, and his middle age living in a constant state of paranoia. It’s a great movie that shows the effects – personal, societal – of rebellion on all sides of the political spectrum.

But it’s the supporting character of sensei Sergio (Benicio del Toro) who has stuck with me weeks later. Sergio is a community man who runs a martial arts school and lives a quiet life. Without spoiling too much, there is a scene where Bob in his frantic, high-risk life needs Sergio’s help, and quickly. Despite the imminent threat, Bob is made to introduce himself individually to every member of Sergio’s family (of which there are many) while attempting a getaway. It’s a short scene but it perfectly illustrates the two types of activism and action.

Bob is all about the big picture, the big risk and the big change. He put himself in the firing line and exists on the fringes of society in order to survive. Sergio knows that there is no big picture without caring for the people closest to you first, and enacts his revolutionary change one person at a time, in his own home and community.

It is easy to feel helpless when the world is melting, children are being killed and even the chambers of parliament here in New Zealand can feel beyond reach. It is easy to feel on the fringes of society even when you’re right in it. But even overwhelm on a macro level doesn’t change the fact that tomorrow you’ll wake up, eat your breakfast, maybe mow your lawn or catch the bus into town to meet a friend. A few days later you’ll still put out your recycling bin even though you know climate change is getting worse.

You’ll still walk or drive or bike to work on the footpaths and roads in your city even though there are decisions being made in the halls of power that make you feel despair.

But the irony is that New Zealand is one of those rare paradise nations where individuals and small groups of people actually can make change. Anyone can put themselves forward to represent their community, and those representatives are accessible to all. And the easiest action of all: a vote.

The 2025 local elections are set to return one of the worst (if not the worst) turnouts in history, with Auckland currently tracking at a dismal 23.1%. Those numbers suggest a widespread sense of “what’s the point” among the vast majority of New Zealanders.

There are many, many people all over the world who have reason to feel genuinely helpless. Those of us in New Zealand who have the opportunity to vote for change in our most immediate community and don’t? That’s not helplessness, that’s a choice.

We’ll be publishing live updates of the results and other fun facts on The Spinoff today from 9am and if you’re reading this on Saturday morning and are yet to vote, you have until 12 noon on the dot to drop your papers into an orange bin (outside supermarkets, libraries etc).

The stories Spinoff readers spent the most time with this week

• Two Swifties try to figure out why Taylor Swift’s new album kinda sucks – a conversation between Alex Casey and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith
• Windbag: The case for every Wellington mayoral candidate by Joel MacManus
• The cost of being: A Wellington data analyst who loves a sweet treat
• Alex Casey asks an evergreen question. What do you do if there’s a Nazi flag in your neighbourhood?
• Hayden Donnell: Nation upset at the inevitable result of its own actions

Feedback of the week

• On Help Me Hera: I regret the way I left my ex – is it too late to say something?​“This made me think of the great Chumbawamba line: ‘Nothing ever burns down by itself – every fire needs a little bit of help'”
• On What do you do if there’s a Nazi flag in your neighbourhood?“NZ should follow Australia and ban Nazi insignia. It is threatening and offensive .The police should pay a visit to this house, even if it’s not illegal they can still strongly suggest they remove this flag. It is deeply offensive to families whose parents and grandparents were holocaust victims. It could also incite violence as someone could take it into their own hands to remove it or spray paint it.”
• On How effective have the healthy homes standards really been?“These issues are very important, and better policy solutions are needed. Young children under 2 can have their lungs permanently damaged by such exposures (I am retired respiratory paediatrician), and end up too sick to work as adults.
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  A very large Wellington study showed that if all their housing were free from damp and mould, almost 20% of these hospital admissions (1700 per year) would be avoided.
  Ingham et al Thorax. 2019 Sep;74(9):849-857. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2018-212979. Epub 2019 Aug 14”