Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Several new community cases announced in Papatoetoe cluster, Wellington City Council fallout continues, and new child poverty stats released. Several new community cases were announced in the Papatoetoe cluster yesterday, but at this stage the alert level appears to be staying at one. Our live updates has details … Read more
With the roll-out of a Covid-19 vaccine gathering steam across New Zealand, here’s a quick explainer on what goes into it and how it works. Support the Spinoff by becoming a Member – and score a Toby Morris tea towel. Who is getting vaccinated? First on the list to be offered the vaccine are the … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auckland moved back to level one, a somber day marked in Christchurch, and new but incomplete child poverty figures out today. Auckland is back to level one again today, after a very brief lockdown relative to the others. As our live updates reports, it follows a solitary new … Read more
With the roll-out of a Covid-19 vaccine gathering steam across New Zealand, here’s a quick explainer on what goes into it and how it works. Support the Spinoff by becoming a Member – and score a Toby Morris tea towel. Who is getting vaccinated? First on the list to be offered the vaccine are the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Several new community cases announced in Papatoetoe cluster, Wellington City Council fallout continues, and new child poverty stats released. Several new community cases were announced in the Papatoetoe cluster yesterday, but at this stage the alert level appears to be staying at one. Our live updates has details … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auckland moved back to level one, a somber day marked in Christchurch, and new but incomplete child poverty figures out today. Auckland is back to level one again today, after a very brief lockdown relative to the others. As our live updates reports, it follows a solitary new … 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
Early trials of every approved Covid-19 vaccine involved giving them to animals. Ethicist Ben Bramble explains why vegans have a legitimate right to be upset about this – but why they should get the vaccine regardless. Some of my vegan friends are reluctant to get the Covid-19 vaccine. These vaccines do not contain animal products, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Jabs galore as vaccine rollout gets underway, ten years since Christchurch earthquake marked, and health ministry accused of trying to gag Mental Health Foundation. The first jabs in a long campaign of Covid-19 vaccinations have been given this weekend. It perhaps marks something of an end … Read more
Today the NZ vaccination programme begins in earnest, with the first doses provided to border workers. Why is that so important? Siouxsie and Toby spell it out, cheesily. With the arrival of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine into New Zealand and the start of the roll-out to our border and isolation/quarantine workers and their families, we now … 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
While the level two announcement brought a sigh of relief for many across Auckland, South Aucklanders are still concerned about what the latest Covid outbreak may mean for the region. Another South Auckland outbreak of Covid has community support workers concerned about the impact it’s having on the mental health of its young people. Maria … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wild Wellington Council meeting sparks controversy, managed isolation cleaners being paid minimum wage, and major new report on tourism’s environmental footprint released. The Wellington City Council has made a dramatic series of votes, in a bid to come to grips with their current budget crisis. Many … Read more
With the Covid-19 immunisation programme beginning this Saturday, a South Auckland city councillor is warning not enough is being done to combat misinformation. South Auckland and Pacific leaders are calling for a concerted public information campaign to ensure those most needing the Covid vaccine aren’t put off from getting it. Auckland councillor Daniel Newman says … Read more
Having recently moved here with his family from the UK, Chris Hall reflects on sending his two young children to school in New Zealand for the first time as well as the sacrifices that were made along the way. After my girlfriend and I dropped our children off for the start of school two weeks … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Why the lockdown is being lifted, last NZ troops to leave Afghanistan, and efforts to recover Pike River bodies come to an end. We got the news yesterday that the alert levels will be shifting down to level two for Auckland, and level one for … 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
My Food Bag has been the poster child of the ever-popular meal-kit game since it first began trading in 2013. Now that it’s heading to the stock market, investors are lining up to get in on the action. What’s all this then? New Zealand’s longest-running meal kit delivery company, My Food Bag, has been in … Read more
Intern stage manager Janaye Henry just had her first big gig running today’s alert level change announcement. Here’s how she went guiding Jacinda Ardern and Dr Ashley Bloomfield through the briefing.
Some border workers are now undergoing daily spit testing. Does this mean the end of nasal swabbing? We explain how the tests work and why the two tests co-exist. Voluntary saliva testing has been rolled out at Auckland Airport and the Jet Park quarantine facility for border workers, sparking hope for some that the sometimes … Read more
The scarcity of Covid-19 cases in New Zealand allows our formidable scientists to learn things you simply can’t in places where the virus is widespread. This helps us not just strengthen our controls but contribute to the world’s understanding. The new community cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand remain a bit of a mystery. Fortunately, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Morrison responds to Ardern serve over accused terrorist, we’ll find out later today if lockdown will be lifted, and Sallies report shows those with least are going backwards. A diplomatic rift has opened up over the case of the accused terrorist captured on the border … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How the latest Covid-19 outbreak is being felt, NZ woman captured on Syrian border on suspicion of being a terrorist, and bipartisan commitment to supporting Saudi war effort revealed. Yesterday was a day of significant developments in the Covid-19 outbreak and third lockdown, and I’ll … Read more
No decision on extending lockdown can be made until officials are able to conclusively trace the path of the virus from the border, write Michael Plank, Shaun Hendy and Siouxsie Wiles. New Zealand’s latest community cases, the first to be infected with the more infectious B.1.1.7 variant of Covid-19, have a plausible link to the … Read more
Three new community cases of Covid-19 and an unknown source have plunged Auckland into lockdown and the rest of the country into alert level two. Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles tackles some of the critical questions we now face. Could we be looking at a situation as worrying as last August in Auckland? Yes. Like in August, … Read more
A surreal anti-lockdown protest took place today outside the Auckland electorate office of the prime minister, who is currently in Wellington. Alex Braae went along. If the anti-lockdown protesters outside Jacinda Ardern’s Mt Albert electorate offices say their voices aren’t being heard, they’re absolutely right. For most of this afternoon they were drowned out by … Read more
Dr Sarb Johal is an expert in emergency management and disaster psychology. His advice has been central to our government’s world-leading Covid-19 response, and he’s helped NZ, the UK and WHO develop psychosocial responses to crises such as H1N1, the Canterbury earthquakes, and the Christchurch mosque attack. This is an extract from his new book … Read more
While lines for a Covid-19 test grow around South Auckland, as Justin Latif reports, those living at ground-zero of this latest outbreak remain determined not to let it overwhelm them. “Gutted.” That’s the reaction of fellow students of the Papatoetoe High pupil who tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend. “I was gutted when I … Read more