The planners strike back: on the latest twists in the Unitary Plan

A thoroughly snackable summary of the late changes to Auckland’s doorstop rulebook being sought by the wonks at the Auckland Council The dizzying dramedy of the Unitary Plan has spun through one last plot twist before it lands in front of the ladies and gentlemen of the Auckland Council this morning. The council planning wonks have … Read more

What the hell just happened there? An illustrated guide to a big day for Auckland

The protracted and sometimes anguished birthing process for the Unitary Plan, the blueprint for Auckland’s future, passed a crucial milestone today. But you’d be forgiven for wondering what it all means. Here’s an attempt to explain, with some helpful pictures. First, a picture of a USB stick: What happened today? The Independent Hearings Panel recommendations … Read more

The Auckland housing story has changed a lot since that infamous pitchfork meeting

Five months after the infuriating marathon Auckland Council meeting on ‘upzoning’ comes a massive moment for the future of the city and its critical Unitary Plan. Between the two events, housing, and Auckland housing especially, has completely dominated the political agenda Five months and two days, so the adage goes, is a long time in … Read more

Ten serious (mostly) people who think Donald Trump will win the presidency – and why

His supporters at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and in comment threads around the world believe we’ll see a President Trump. But who else? Donald Trump has just finished his epic speech at a convention replete with mishaps and idiosyncracy. Despite the fact that he defied so many expert predictions that he stood almost … Read more

Ten devastating extracts from the Chilcot report on the Iraq War

The very long-awaited and very weightily long Chilcot report, from the inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, has just been published. We’ve read all 2.6 million words (we haven’t), and plucked out the bits that really tell the story. Sir John Chilcot took the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Centre in Westminster to … Read more

‘Resigned defeat and furious defiance’ – an Uber driver speaks

The NZ Uber wars are heating up with calls for a crackdown on non-compliant operators as drivers begin to challenge the company’s criteria and pay rates. We talk to one driver leading the charge. The NZ Transport Agency says the company’s revised rules, with drivers no longer requiring P-endorsed passenger licences or to undergo NZTA-stipulated … Read more

Introducing Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Prime Minister At Large

Could the NZ First leader really get the top job after the next election? Here are some alternative designations Turns out when you mix red and green the colour many see is black – a bumptious, puckish, pin-striped, double breasted sort of black: the black of Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party. This morning’s column … Read more

Labour and the Greens get into bed, Winston prepares his pyjamas, and other bad metaphors

Labeen? Grabour? The marriage of the two main parties of the left makes sense, but the course of true love never did run smooth. Shortly after the Labour Party’s calamitous defeat at the election in 2014, the soon-to-be-former leader David Cunliffe admitted that they had erred in rebuking an offer made by the Green Party, … Read more

A complete history of Bill English’s budgets in sick burns by the opposition

Bill English just delivered his eighth budget, and the opposition as ever had pre-cooked epithets to denounce it. Here’s how his budgets have been defined – heroically or hopelessly – by his enemies (and ACT) in the parliamentary budget debate since 2009. 2009 Labour leader Phil Goff said it was the Dishonest Budget Greens co-leader … Read more

‘Key’s popularity plummets’: does Newshub poll point to National nosedive?

Spoiler: Almost certainly it doesn’t. The most remarkable thing about John Key and his government’s support is how rock-solid it remains in the middle of term three. The poll result on housing, mind you, is striking. True to the digital-first mantra, Newshub has published its latest Reid poll online, eschewing the usual path of unveiling … Read more

The hunt for Panama Papers’ John Doe, part one: is it Kim Dotcom?

Theories have been circulating suggesting the mysterious figure behind the Panama Papers leaks may in fact be the NZ-based internet entrepreneur. The Spinoff begins its fearless mission to unmask John Doe by asking, is it you, Kim Dotcom? Rare is the day when the two most voluble and entertaining thought leaders of the New Zealand … Read more

John Key’s non-lawyer lawyer, Mossack Fonseca, and matters of sloppiness

The prime minister has suggested his lawyer was sloppy in his choice of wording in an email two years ago. Now, on assurances regarding Mossack Fonseca, is the sloppiness getting even sloppier? On April 13, the prime minister was widely reported as saying he had been assured that his longstanding personal lawyer, Ken Whitney, had … Read more

Beyond Prohibition: An Ika Table Talk event in association with The Spinoff

Guest host Ali Mau and a high-calibre panel discuss ideas in New Zealand and abroad to reshape drug laws in an edible event on Tuesday April 26. We at Spinoff Enterprises are excited to be joining Laila Harré’s Ika restaurant to present Table Talk, the monthly event combining intelligent conversation with food and drink. Drugs … Read more

‘The rounding out of Paula Bennett’ – lunch with National’s rising star

In a wide-ranging interview, the senior minister talks Wicked Campers, online abuse, her new cabinet roles, her (formerly) sexist dad, leadership ambitions, John Palino, and a whole lot more. The front page of the most recent Herald on Sunday trumpeted “The war on Wicked Campers”. For years the Australian-owned company had thumbed its bumper at … Read more

Pictures special: the man who dressed up as a wall, and 12 other outstanding Trump devotees

In a report on the aftermath of this past Tuesday’s primaries, the New York Times neatly captured the impact, allure and magnetism of Donald Trump, in adjoining paragraphs. Mrs Clinton, addressing supporters in Cleveland, did not mention the Mississippi or Michigan results, instead alluding to the vitriol in the Republican field. “As the rhetoric keeps … Read more

Crowdfund campaign launched for cameraman’s lawsuit against John Key

“I am not a political person but what I am is hurt,” says Bradley Ambrose ahead of his teapot-tapes defamation case at Auckland High Court. A crowdfunding campaign has been launched in an effort to ensure freelance camera operator Bradley Ambrose’s defamation suit against John Key makes it to court. The case, which is likely … Read more

‘I’m a cross between Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor’ – an interview with Labour’s Mr Nearly, Grant Robertson

The Spinoff meets Grant Robertson at the cricket to talk leadership close-miss, caucus divisions on the TPP, the future of work and waffle, and whether John Key is brilliant or Labour just plain useless. In the 2014 Labour leadership race, Grant Robertson was a whisker – one percentage point – from victory. He was comfortably … Read more

Means to an Ends: in praise of ridiculously short press releases

Five shining examples that reveal the glories of a super-succinct media statement. In a world of bottomless coffee, endless online scrolling, and prose that goes on much longer than it needs to, winding circuitously around corners and over bridges, as if crying out desperately for an editor or a blowtorch, much like this sentence, thank … Read more

February 6: The PM is a no-show at Waitangi. So where to go instead?

Only very rarely does the prime minister’s diary throw up an empty page, but so it was in the year of our lord 2016, after John Key decided he wouldn’t after all be travelling to Waitangi. It may be true that he once insisted he would mark the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty … Read more

The Spinofficial Information Act – our new rate card

Public bodies are increasingly demanding dosh from media making Official Information Act requests. We want your money, too. OIA! That’s the anguished sound of journalists across the country receiving responses to requests under the Official Information Act that go something like “Dreadfully sorry, O Intrepid Seeker of the Truth but we can’t provide the information … Read more

Summer Reissue: Interview with ACT Leader David Seymour. With Beer. And Rugby. And Breakfast.

David Seymour rode to the rescue of publicans and pub-loving rugby fans a couple of months back when he introduced a bill enabling licensed premises to open for World Cup screenings in the early, very early and very, very early morning. Toby Manhire catches up with the one-man ACT caucus over breakfast, beer and All … Read more

Summer Reissue: “A Kick Back Against Government Intolerance” – an Interview with Nicky Hager

Nicky Hager tells The Spinoff about his case in the High Court, Dirty Politics a year on, and his next book – “one of the most important projects that I could imagine”. Nicky Hager has been back in headlines lately after court documents revealed, among other things, that Westpac had provided his transaction statements to … Read more

Summer Reissue: “Australia’s Guantanamo Bay” – An Interview with the Christmas Island Mayor

Christmas Island made headlines in 2001 when the Norwegian ship MV Tampa attempted to land more than 400 asylum seekers on the Australian territory, an island nestled beneath Indonesia with a resident population of less than 2,000. For years before and after the island had been a target for so-called “boat people” travelling from Asia … Read more

Throwback Thursday: Remembering Muldoon, 40 Years On

How do we remember Rob Muldoon? Hardly at all, if the paucity of coverage around the 40th anniversary of his first election victory as leader of the National Party is a guide. And yet he’s surely the least forgettable Prime Minister New Zealand has seen. Everyone knows about the Great Counterpuncher On November 29, 1975, … Read more

On all that Susan-Devoy-Wants-to-Ban-Christmas Bullshit

Tis the season to be frothing at the mouth over beat-up stories about the PC brigade wanting to throw children’s Christmas stockings into a pit of fire. Beat-ups about do-gooders wanting to “ban Christmas” have become a mainstay of the leadup to the festive season the world over. This year in New Zealand, the target … Read more

Climate change: 21 Voices on COP21, the Crucial Climate Meeting in Paris

The French capital will host close to 50,000 visitors from Monday for the milestone fortnight-long climate summit. In the lead-up to the event, many people have had a lot to say. Below is a selection of the best and most eye-raising verbal (and illustrative) emissions. 1. Christiana Figueres: Paris Will Mark, Rather than Create, a … Read more