Best of BusinessDesk: My top columns from 2025

Maria Slade joined BusinessDesk in 2024, having earlier worked for most major NZ media outlets.

Mon, 29 Dec 2025

A brush with Auckland’s unseemly side (published 20 Oct)After all the nights out over the years that have passed without incident, I didn’t expect it to happen at 8.20 in the morning on the way to work. He came from nowhere, yelling “fucking bitch” as he karate-kicked me off the kerb outside NZME’s offices. The police were good and encouraged me to fill out a report, but all I could tell them was that an agitated, black-clad stranger of medium height and medium build had inflicted a crazed blow and t...

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