Alice Webb-Liddall 
As New Zealanders start to consider the end of the Covid-19 outbreak here, it’s time to look outward, to the many refugees in overcrowded, underfunded settlements worldwide. In Cox’s Bazar on the southeast coast of Bangladesh, refugees fleeing war, famine and death live in one-room bamboo structures with plastic sheet roofs. Toilets are shared between … Read more
Reality TV star Harry Jowsey has been taken to task on YouTube by a British teenager over a $600 online business accelerator scheme. He was the charming Aussie with the Ledger-esque smile who graced our screens last year in New Zealand reality show Heartbreak Island, and more recently made his international telly debut on Netflix’s … Read more
Delivery services for supermarkets across the country are filling up weeks in advance, leaving immunocompromised people without options. Students up and down the country have been stepping up, through the Student Volunteer Army, to help those in need. If anyone had said at this point last year that a smile from a stranger passing on … Read more
Everyone has had different coping strategies during lockdown, and for many around the country, this has meant taking to the kitchen. Here’s what your iso cooking says about you. Nobody knew what alert level four was going to do to us. We didn’t know which hobbies we would take up, which crafts we would learn … Read more
The country has been asked to prepare for a shift back to alert level three, which will entail the reopening of schools and early childhood education centres. Educators are worried lack of clarity around the reopening of schools could risk student and teacher safety. On Thursday, Jacinda Ardern laid out guidelines for a relaxation of … Read more
Among the endless pile of plastic and food scraps being produced every second, some small businesses are creating a shift in how we treat our waste. Callaghan Innovation’s C-Prize this year has a focus on these initiatives, aiming to reduce the waste we’re sending to landfill. Around a quarter of the waste New Zealanders send … Read more
Amid the seemingly endless bad news at the moment, a new initiative is trying to get people to think positively. While the world may seem like it’s slowed to a crawl, there are still people out there creating and innovating. The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically altered how we’re living, but aspects of this change could … Read more
The way we buy our food has changed hugely since the lockdown began. Small New Zealand producers have taken a massive hit, closing stores and struggling with online demand. Here are some ways shoppers can help these businesses. In the first week of lockdown, shoppers panicked. It was a perfectly natural response to the fear … Read more
If you’re a movie-lover but don’t feel like funnelling more money to a giant global corporation right now, good news: there are plenty of free – and legal – streaming options out there. You just have to know where to look. The number of people with access to linear television is growing smaller and smaller … Read more
A week into level four lockdown, people are probably starting to feel a little cooped up. To help with this, some subscription services and brands have begun to make their products temporarily free. Here are just a few things currently on offer. For those with the privilege of free time during this isolation period, there’s … Read more
By now, everybody should know about staying in their bubble and leaving the house only for essential services and exercise, provided social distancing rules are followed. Does this mean people can still take the boat out, or go surfing? “Staying at home will save lives,” said Jacinda Ardern in a question and answer session she … Read more
As of midnight last night, the country is in lockdown. The rules are: stay in your bubble for the next four weeks. But what is my bubble and how far can I stretch it? At 6.30pm on Wednesday, New Zealanders shared a collective shriek when all our phones went nuts with an emergency alarm. It … Read more
We’re being told to stay home and limit social interaction, but for hundreds of New Zealanders sleeping rough that’s not possible. So what care is in place for them? On March 21, prime minister Jacinda Ardern issued a directive to New Zealanders: stay home. As of midnight last night, this rule has been enforced. Police … Read more
Widespread community transmission of Covid-19 would be calamitous in the Pacific Islands, where health infrastructure is limited. What steps are they taking to fend it off? The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by Spinoff Members. To support this work, join Spinoff Members here. Update 19/03, 2:45pm: Fiji has confirmed its first case of … Read more
Alice Webb-Liddall speaks to RNZ business editor Gyles Beckford about the language of markets and economics in relation to Covid-19. Let me start by saying I am in no way a business journalist. I enjoy having money but the technicalities of how it works both before and after it’s in my bank account are mysterious … Read more
Cameo is a website where fans can pay for their favourite movie, television, sports or social media star to send them personalised video messages. In the throes of a full-face rash, I paid two of the country’s top sportspeople to send some positive vibes my way. For a while I’ve been obsessed with the idea … Read more
An Auckland dad is offering good money to someone who can teach his daughter the basics of being a YouTuber. Vlogging has boomed in popularity among young people in recent years as a potential career path, but how achievable is it, and is it safe? Sandeep Khurana is a busy dad. He works in real … Read more
Jennifer Ward-Lealand’s dedication to acting, directing and te ao Māori saw her named the 2020 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year at a special dinner in Auckland last night. Alice Webb-Liddall speaks to her about how she hopes to nurture the future of the craft that has given her so much. Back in the 80s … Read more
The amount of methane emissions for which humans are responsible could be as much as 40% higher than thought. What does that mean for the fight against climate change? New international research suggests that the volume of methane emissions humans are producing is dramatically higher than previously thought. The findings, which rely on lab work … Read more
Netflix’s new release Horse Girl promised a quirky indie dramedy from its trailer. In reality, it’s a nightmarish time-warped look into the mind of a mental illness sufferer, writes Alice Webb-Liddall. There was a horse girl in every primary school classroom. The one with ballet flats and low ponytails and books covered in pony-themed duraseal. … Read more
The controversy over the fate of RNZ Concert, and the proposed youth music network to replace it, have sucked up a lot of attention this week. But the idea the government might foot the bill for a new youth brand haven’t gone down well with iwi stations suffering from years of underfunding, writes Alice Webb-Lidall. … Read more
New Zealanders insure their cars and contents at almost four times the rate that they insure the thing that pays for all of this – their income. Alice Webb-Liddall learns about insuring her most essential asset. Going about their daily lives, most people don’t think about all the different ways things could go wrong. It … Read more
It’s Aquarius season, which means it’s time to unpack why exactly young people are so into astrology all of a sudden. Alice Webb-Liddall asks two social media astrologers, one astrology enthusiast, and a counselling astrologer what the stars are saying. So it’s mercury retrograde that made you put an x on the end of an … Read more
The birds of Polynesian legend are part of birth, death, and everything in between. Now, a PhD thesis from the University of Otago undertakes the first ever in-depth exploration into the manu of mythology. From the flittering pīwakawaka that woke Hine-nui-te-pō and caused the death of Maui, to the Tahitian doves bringing figs to earth, … Read more
The first two episodes of TVNZ’s new action series The Dead Lands were released to a worldwide audience of millions last night. Alice Webb-Liddall spoke to some of the cast and crew about the epic genre-bending show, and what it means for New Zealand television. When The Dead Lands was released in 2014, some called … Read more
Later this year New Zealand will vote on whether to legalise cannabis, but it’s far from a new idea, as a 1975 study reminds us. Alice Webb-Liddall looks at the views of two Otago University academics, 45 years apart. In 2013 Uruguay became the first country to fully legalise cannabis for recreational and medicinal use. … Read more
Auckland’s property market is increasingly hard to crack for first-home buyers, but co-ownership could be the answer. Executive director of YouOwn, Nigel Spratt explained how it works to Alice Webb-Liddall. Despite the constant headlines about yet another 19-year-old who’s bought a house, the property market seems geared against anyone under 40 purchasing property. Coming to … Read more
The year is 2020. The people want content. There are now hundreds of thousands of podcasts in the world, and the number is only growing. The Spinoff promises there are only 11 podcasts currently worth listening to (please don’t ask anyone else). Here they are. The Spinoff has been making podcasts since before they were … Read more
The average New Zealand house price has hit a record high at over $700,000. What could we buy outside of Auckland – and around the world – for the same price? For the first time since records began in 2007, the average asking price for a house in New Zealand has risen to over $700,000. … Read more