Nau mai, haere mai.

I don’t know about you, but 2023 has felt somewhat relentless. It began in earnest with Jacinda Ardern’s surprise resignation, rapidly followed up with the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, chucked in a cost-of-living crisis for good measure, and hasn’t let up since the country elected its first three-way coalition government.

If you feel like a lie down that’s perfectly understandable, I know I do. But first, we here at The Conversation NZ need to thank a few people.

Firstly, to our tireless and dedicated authors from all our valued member universities. A great deal of journalism involves calling and quoting experts in order to make sense of a given issue or event. But our model means we work directly with them to distill and convey their knowledge and research for a general readership. Heartfelt appreciation to you all.

And secondly, to our readers. We’ve seen newsletter subscriptions and readership numbers grow, both on our own website and through our many republishers. It goes without saying that you’re the reason we exist, so thank you – and please keep spreading the word!

Our Australia-New Zealand editor Misha Ketchell wrote this week about social cohesion – something he said “comes from the slow and unglamorous work of listening to people carefully, paying them respect and giving them the benefit of the doubt”. (You can read the full post below.)

These aren’t particularly fashionable ideas in the click-driven, frenetic, social media simulation we’re all wrestling with, but they're a decent mission statement nonetheless. So if you value our work and would like to join our 800 new monthly supporters across Australia and New Zealand, you still can.

Finally, we hope you have a great – and conversational – Christmas and New Year, and that you get a chance to rest and revive. We’ll be back in January – until then, mā te wā.