Stewart Sowman-Lund 
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 25, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ is in level two. More details here. Official information here. Get me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum There … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 24, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ is in level two. More details here. Official information here. Get me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: The day in sum … Read more
Stewart Sowman-Lund talks to the anonymous, ideologically opposed creators of two Facebook meme pages about the role the Gen Z mainstay plays in our political landscape. In total, almost 70,000 people “like” the two biggest New Zealand political meme pages on Facebook. Out of the entire “team of five million”, that’s not a lot. However, … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 21, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ is in level two. More details here. Official information here. Contact me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 20, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ is in level two. More details here. Official information here. Contact me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.15pm: The day in sum … Read more
Three years. Two leaders. And a whole lot of diplomatic shade. This week, our country was name-dropped by a celebrity (twice), except that celebrity was sitting US president Donald Trump and the name-drop was a bizarre claim that the relatively small cluster of Covid-19 cases in Auckland right now was a “big surge”. The prime … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 19, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ is in level two. More details here. Official information here. Contact me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: The day in sum … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 18, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Contact me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 6.45pm: The day in sum There were … Read more
New data from tech giant Google shows just how well Aucklanders are complying with our level three lockdown restrictions – and how their behaviour compares to those in Victoria. It’s been about a week since we learned that Covid-19 had returned to the community. A day later, on Wednesday August 12, Auckland was placed into … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 17, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Contact me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day in sum There are … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 14, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Get me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz. 6.30pm: Super Rugby Aotearoa finale cancelled The … Read more
A Wellington restaurateur was told by health officials that one of his venues had been visited by a Covid-positive person. So why did the health minister and director general of health not know anything? Stewart Sowman-Lund reports. You’d think the possibility that Covid-19 was in capital would be big news. Big enough, perhaps, that the … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 13, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Get me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz. 8.50pm: Case at Glamorgan Primary in Torbay, … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 12, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news and Covid-19 as it returns to the community. Auckland is now in alert level three and the rest of NZ level two. More details here. Official information here. Get me on Stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: The day in sum Four probable … Read more
The latest headlines as community transmission returns to New Zealand. 11.35pm: ‘Bugger’ – David Seymour “Tonight’s news is not what anyone hoped for,” said Act Party leader David Seymour in a post on Facebook. “There will be time enough to ask why this has happened, but right now the goal is to get on top … Read more
An Auckland psychic healer yesterday announced she would be running for parliament. Less than 24 hours later, she wasn’t. So what happened? And why is she accusing Jacinda Ardern of treason? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates. It’s been a big year for Jeanette Wilson. In June, as the Covid-19 crisis was continuing to spiral around the world, … Read more
Welcome to Election Live for August 10, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launches soon. Get me on Stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 6.45pm: The … Read more
Welcome to Election Live for August 7, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: The day in … Read more
Welcome to Election Live for August 6, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 3.00pm: Parliament adjourns; Ardern, … Read more
Parliament has just passed a new law that will leave renters with a sense of relief. But many landlords aren’t too pleased. What’s all this then? The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill passed under urgency this evening. It amends existing law around renting to increase rights for tenants. According to associate housing minister Kris Faafoi, who’s … Read more
Welcome to Election Live for August 5, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 6.45pm: … Read more
In the wake of National’s leadership woes, The Spinoff sat down with the party’s most popular face in recent history to talk Covid-19, Judith Collins – and why he thinks our border should be more ‘flexible’. John Key is confident about our country’s future. In part, that’s because he tunes in each morning to Newstalk … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 4, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum New rental regulations are set to pass under urgency today, as parliament enters its final sitting week. Owlcatraz shut … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 3, bringing you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum National won’t have selected its new Auckland central candidate in time for the electorate’s first debate. Hopeful candidate Nuwanthie … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 31. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 5.45pm: The day in sum An inquiry found serious failings by the NZ Defence Force in the wake of 2010’s Operation Burnham raid which killed a … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 30. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.15pm: The day in sum A new 1 News poll offered slightly better news for National than Sunday night’s bleak Newshub numbers. The leaking of private … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 29. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.20pm: The day in sum The government revealed its plans to charge some returning Kiwis for isolation. NZ First will support the law change, but Winston Peters … Read more
Judith Collins today unlocked the secret of her political comedic code. ‘When my eyebrow goes up, it’s a joke,’ she told reporters. Enlightened, we’ve gone back through her first speech as National leader, to excavate the punchlines. On a trip to the comedy capital of Palmerston North yesterday, Judith Collins announced that no one had … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 28. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.45pm: The day in sum New Zealand’s extradition treaty with Hong Kong was suspended due to China’s controversial national security law. China responded by calling the … Read more