In association with our mates Bigpipe Broadband we’re livestreaming a different video game every Wednesday at 7pm on Facebook Live. Join José Barbosa and a cast of roped in innocents for these highlights from a journey into utter mayhem. As Easter draws to a close José and special guest Natasha Boyland celebrate the Resurrection with … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookshops in the English-speaking world. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Good Sons: A Novel of the Great War by Greg Hall (Mary Egan Publishing, $32) “Greg Hall says his first novel is the perfect tribute to family members with strong Oamaru links who fought during World War 1. Mr Hall, … Read more
Join us as we follow the progress of Cyclone Cook, live from the buckets under the large leak in The Spinoff’s roof. For official cyclone updates for the Auckland region, see aucklandcivildefence.org.nz. For updates on the national states of emergency, see civildefence.govt.nz.
We asked retro packaging super-collector Steve Williams for his top 10 Kiwi food labels of all time, and this is what he told us. Read more about Steve Williams’ collection of historic NZ food packaging here. 1. 1969 Nestle Milky Bar Chocolate Wrapper. “Great early example of the classic “Milky Bar Kid” on a wrapper.” … Read more
Some of New Zealand’s top comedians share the most offensive, obnoxious and flat-out sexist comments they’ve received over the course of their careers. “I don’t want to be kissed by you, you stubbly, smelly, fuckwit with a beard in an unhappy marriage, go kiss Ben Hurley” was Justine Smith’s response to a guy who ran … Read more
Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website. Kristin Hall: Remembering Big Fresh, New Zealand’s greatest supermarket of all time “This one time at Big Fresh, I was going up to press the moo cow button and some other little c*** pressed it right before I got there. I lost the fucking plot and … Read more
Head of news concedes ‘regrettable error’ over TV and online stories on what appears to be a phantom Hamilton police survey. Broadcast and text stories relating to a purported police survey about beggars on Hamilton streets have been removed by TVNZ following a Spinoff report published this week. “We didn’t verify there was a survey … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the English-speaking world. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Hit & Run: the NZ SAS in Afghanistan & The Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson (Potton Burton, $35) Hager, in an interview with Vice: “I feel confident that one way or another, they [the government] haven’t … Read more
One ominous graph and some stray thoughts on the Canon Media Awards nominations, out yesterday. The Canon Media Awards nominations came out yesterday, celebrated in the customary style by our nation’s media outlets. We spent a morning trying to disentangle the data and see what it all meant, but ended up exhausted and confused, so … Read more
There’s no denying it now: autumn is here, and with it shorter days and cooler temperatures. But then again, feijoas! Test your knowledge of all things autumn below. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
New Zealand’s record on child abuse and neglect is a scar on our conscience. A new agency seeks to change that. Expert Emily Keddell explains what it’s intended to, the pitfalls it could face, and that controversial ‘vulnerable children’ label. On Saturday the government launched the Ministry for Vulnerable Children (Oranga Tamariki), replacing Child, Youth … Read more
Just another Sunday night for the fund manager, philosopher and new political party leader, discussing the issues with the people on social media. Yesterday on Q and A, deputy PM Paula Bennett dismissed the idea of a tourist tax. Gareth Morgan, leader of the nascent Opportunities Party, didn’t like that, particularly given the behaviour of some … Read more
Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website. Simon Wilson: Auckland’s transport crisis: how it was made, and why it will only get worse “AT also wants light rail to the airport, and that’s would probably be the same line, extended from the bottom of Dominion Rd. But there’s the problem: the government has confirmed … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the English-speaking world. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Hit and Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson (Potton & Burton, $35) “The New Zealand Defence Force appears to have destroyed the journalistic reputations of Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson”: Ian … Read more
The former defence minister says civilian death suggestions are plausible, and that NZ needs to ‘find out what really happened’ in Operation Burnham. Wayne Mapp, the New Zealand defence minister at the time of the Tirgiran Valley raid at the heart of the claims in Hit and Run, has admitted in a blog post at … Read more
In association with our mates Bigpipe Broadband we’re livestreaming a different video game every Wednesday at 7pm on Facebook Live. Join José Barbosa and a cast of roped in innocents for these highlights from a journey into utter mayhem. In anticipation of the remastered Crash Bandicoot series coming later this year, José invites avowed Bandicoot … Read more
The Chief of the NZ Defence Force, Lieutenant General Tim Keating, has wholesale rejected Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s account of events in their book Hit & Run (read a summary of its contents here), saying NZ troops have never operated in the villages where, according to the book, at least six civilians were killed. Hager … Read more
Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website, featuring a lot of rent week and Hit and Run. A Landlord: I’m a landlord – but the negligence and greed of other landlords makes me ashamed to admit it “And lucky, lucky us. It has cost us nothing, not a red cent of our own … Read more
Today we’re celebrating Rent Week with some cold hard facts and figures. Test your knowledge of the New Zealand rental market below. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here. This post is part of Rent Week, a series about why the experience of renting a home in NZ is so terrible, and whether anything can … Read more
The week’s best-selling books at the best bookstores in the known world. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Hit & Run: the New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson (Potton & Burton, $35) “The allegations in Hit & Run are shocking on a human level, but the notion of … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we look for shows you might like to watch from their catalogue. This week, we figure out how you can fill the void before the next season of Vikings with help from the show’s newest star. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s that … Read more
It’s Rent Week here on The Spinoff, so why are we writing about house buyers? Because the booming housing market is a key driver behind the current surge in renting – and because stories like these demonstrate the enormous challenges faced by those attempting to make the leap from renter to home owner. We talk … Read more
Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson have just published Hit & Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the meaning of honour, which they say ‘tells the story of a dark and guilty secret of New Zealand’s recent history’, and makes the case that six civilians were killed and 15 wounded in an SAS operation. … Read more
What does the dream of owning a home mean in 2017? Is it still achievable for those not already on the property ladder – or even a worthwhile goal? And what are you willing (or able) to sacrifice in order to reach it? The Spinoff wants to hear your stories. If you hadn’t heard, things … Read more
Nicky Hager is launching his latest book tonight at Unity Books in Wellington. No one knows what it’s called or what it’s about; join us as our correspondents keep a close eye on the author and the bookshop throughout the day. 7:37am: Nicky Hager is awake, and has walked into his kitchen for breakfast. He toasts a … Read more
To celebrate the opening of the Spark Boroughs Victoria Park basketball court, The Spinoff gathered together a motley crew of musicians and media-types to play a ‘friendly’ game of 5-0n-5. Watch the highlights here. In the media team: Duncan Greive, Madeleine Chapman, Paul Williams, Melanie Bracewell, James Roque, Jamaine Ross. In the music team: Henry … Read more
Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website. Duncan Greive: The incremental radical: Bill English meets the Spinoff “Despite his having been marked as a future prime minister since at least university, he seemed to have found a happy and natural ceiling. Yet, thanks to that shocking announcement in November, here he is – … Read more
News broke overnight that David D’Amato, the antagonist of David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s Tickled documentary, has died. The film-makers have issued a plea for respect over his passing The star of Tickled is David Farrier, the dogged and dazed New Zealand journalist who started pulling a thread online and found it attached to an array of characters, … Read more
The week’s best-sellers at the two best bookstores in the Western World. AUCKLAND STORE 1 Can You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young (Victoria University Press, $30) Tweet on Monday from Fergus Barrowman, publisher at Victoria University Press: “I’m told the next thousand Can You Tolerate This? have just hit the warehouse and are more than … Read more