Toby Manhire 
Plus, how we feel about housing affordability and the state of the NZ economy compared to the world, in results from a new Stickybeak poll for The Spinoff. This week marks a year since New Zealand’s first confirmed case of Covid-19, and the support for the measures imposed at the border to throttle the inward … Read more
Plus, how we feel about housing affordability and the state of the NZ economy compared to the world, in results from a new Stickybeak poll for The Spinoff. This week marks a year since New Zealand’s first confirmed case of Covid-19, and the support for the measures imposed at the border to throttle the inward … Read more
The national vaccination roll-out begins today. Might the reluctant have a change of mind? Here’s what new Stickybeak polling for The Spinoff tells us. Vaccination is under way in New Zealand, with the first doses going to the small group that will be conducting the vaccinations yesterday and the showpiece launch of the roll-out taking … Read more
The eighth in a series of polls by Stickybeak for The Spinoff shows popular sentiment remains strongly in favour of the NZ approach to the pandemic. Ten days out from the anniversary of the day New Zealand reported its first positive case of Covid-19, with the first batch of vaccines set to be administered on … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for February 1. Contact us at info@spinoff.co.nz. Keep The Spinoff ticking by donating here. 5.45pm: NZ ‘deeply concerned’ about Myanmar coup The minister of foreign affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, has issued a statement in response to events in Myanmar (see 1.45pm). Here it is, in full: “Aotearoa New Zealand is … Read more
There are now three returnees who contracted the virus in the Auckland isolation facility then went out into the community while positive. These are some of the questions that need to be resolved. At 10.20pm last night the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two cases they’d been treating as probable were now classified … Read more
In 10 x 100, we survey a group of 100 people via Stickybeak and ask them 10 questions. Last month we quizzed Wellingtonians. Today, we ask NZ drivers how they’ve found a holiday period without international tourists, and what they get up to while they’re on the road. Across Aotearoa roads have been packed with … Read more
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change. As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer app daily in January, … Read more
Summer reissue: In May, Simon Bridges was rolled as the leader of the opposition. Two months later he opened up about his tenure, the state of politics in New Zealand and, of course, the baby yaks. First published July 31, 2020. Simon Bridges did not hide his disappointment when the National Party caucus turfed him … Read more
North of 50 million posts were served up for your reading pleasure (and, let’s face it, sometimes, reading terror) across the year. As we bid farewell to 2020, here are the 20 that got clicked on the most, countdown style. 20 A better visual breakdown of the 2020 election results Remember the election? Neither. Here’s … Read more
Summer reissue: Just over two months ago, Simon Bridges was rolled as the leader of the opposition. This week he opened up about his tenure, the state of politics in New Zealand and, of course, the baby yaks. First published on July 31, 2020 Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. … Read more
The contents list is nearing completion, and the location options are coming together nicely. Last week we announced our plan to literally encapsulate the year 2020, and literally to bury it: a time capsule. A bit futuristic, a bit nostalgic, and a convenient alternative to reviewing the year by staring helplessly into the endless void. … Read more
Coffee habits. Waiheke ferries. Hair straighteners. The scoops were served up faster than a midsummer beachside dairy when Jacinda Ardern spoke to Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire to recap the year. The prime minister phoned in to the Spinoff Gone By Lunchtime studio for an end-of-year interview last week that spanned all the essential subjects: … Read more
This has been a year of amazement and endurance. Let’s bury it together. How do you tell a story like 2020? The lockdown year. The bubble year. The suppurating mouth ulcer year. As with just about every media operation around this infectious planet, we’ve been wondering how to sum up such a terrible and cacophonous … Read more
The shadow minister for multicultural affairs has made a statement to the Australian parliament calling for reflection and action on the Christchurch mosque attack. Andrew Giles, the opposition spokesperson for multicultural affairs in Australia, has called on his compatriots to take heed of the Royal Commission into the Christchurch mosque terror attack that was released … Read more
In a new regular feature, we survey a group of 100 people via Stickybeak and ask them 10 questions. Today, what do Wellingtonians think about perceptions of their city? And what do they think of Aucklanders? Can’t beat Wellington on a good day? Andrea Vance can. Wellington based Stuff columnist beat the city to a … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for December 5. Get in touch at info@thespinoff.co.nz 2.00pm: Cases continue to surge in hotspots The sunny news of zero new cases in New Zealand finds its tragic contrast in ongoing reports around the world. In Brazil, for example, the latest officially reported tally recorded 43,209 new cases and … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for the weekend. Contact us on inof@thespinoff.co.nz Sunday November 15 7.00pm: Regional trade pact signed The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been agreed in a virtual ceremony with 15 national signatories from the Asia-Pacific region –the 10 members Asean, plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. India … Read more
New Zealand’s highest court has ruled internet entrepreneur Dotcom and three others liable for extradition on all but one count – but they had been wrongly denied a judicial review, so that will need to be heard before it goes to the minister. What has the Supreme Court ruled? The court has ruled that Kim … Read more
With the Green deal done, attention moves to the top table. Here are some of the problems the PM will be hoping to solve. The deal with the Greens signed and sealed, the next order of business for Jacinda Ardern is to announce her cabinet. That’s expected to happen today, with the ceremonial business starring … Read more
And what do the results in the general election tell us about how they might go? Toby Manhire weighs it all up. When do the results come through? The latest instalment in the time-transcending New Zealand election campaign comes this Friday, October 30 at 2pm when the Electoral Commission will reveal the preliminary results in … Read more
The common theme in international media is the Labour leader as antithesis to Donald Trump – but not everyone is bowled over. A landslide win for the New Zealand Labour Party saw the acclamation flow abroad for Jacinda Ardern. Similar plaudits were forthcoming for Jacinta Ardern, Jacinda Adern and Jacinta Adern. I didn’t get past … Read more
All the news and reaction as NZ wakes to a Labour landslide. You can reach us at info@thespinoff.co.nz 3.15pm: A better visual breakdown of the 2020 election results Electoral results maps can often be deceiving, over-emphasising large but sparsely populated rural areas and under-emphasising densely populated ones. So policy analyst Stephen Beban has created the hexamap … Read more
As of 7.20pm, Labour is on track for twice as many seats as National. Any hopes of a nail-biter election have dissipated just a few minutes after polls closed – at least as far as the biggest party of the next government is concerned. As of 7.20pm, with 4.2% of the vote counted, Labour is … Read more
Jacinda Ardern is on course to become prime minister again, but what sort of government would she lead into the 53rd New Zealand parliament? The first thing to say is that it’s not over yet. The parties are still out there campaigning, the undecided voters could all suddenly decide in one direction, the pollsters could … Read more
Everything you need to know about the timings for Saturday and beyond. When will the election result be known? Polls close at 7pm on Saturday October 17. And we’ll get a pretty good idea of how the parties have done very soon after that. How soon? For the first time, the majority of New Zealand … Read more
Does it sounds like a Key-English slogan, or something from Ardern-Robertson? Labour is ahead in the polls with a few days to go until decision day, and as incumbents you’d expect some of their messages to echo those from governing parties of days gone by. Grant Robertson and Jacinda Ardern have both, repeatedly, admiringly invoked … Read more
The peerless Policy tool returns for its third edition, and it’s better than ever – fully geared to easily compare both parties and candidates across all the important issues. “The stand-out success of the 2017 election is the Policy tool published on the Spinoff website,” said political commentator Bryce Edwards three years ago. Now it’s … Read more
Policy.nz now comes with added referendum information – the simple, elucidating, bullshit-free way to get the essential information you need. Our expectations for Policy.nz in 2020 were high, and they’ve already been exceeded. As of lunchtime yesterday the site had recorded more than 305,000 unique users and 460,000 sessions, serving up more than two and … Read more