Kim Paton, director of Auckland gallery Objectspace, contrasts the creativity of artists online in lockdown with the “stunning awful blow” dealt at the same time to the cultural sector. In the panic of the lockdown announcement, I bought a sewing machine. I’ve always sewed. In my late teens and early 20s I earned money making … Read more
As we await a decision on moving out of alert level four, some big questions are in play. One of those is about contact tracing, explains Siouxsie Wiles. Illustrations and animations by Toby Morris. This work is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Help us to continue this work by joining here. On Monday, the … Read more
February 2020 is never coming back. In part one of a two part series, Duncan Greive looks at which industries will be smashed post-lockdown – and how elimination might provide unexpected opportunities to recover. As we turn to face the end of lockdown, the precise shape of which is necessarily still being determined, there’s an … Read more
The latest in our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. David Garcia helped create today’s charts. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in … Read more
The government provided a $12.1 billion stimulus package to cushion the blow of Covid-19. The NZIER public good team explains where that money is coming from, and how the whole thing works. Normal life is on hold. Buying and selling across New Zealand has ground to a standstill. While most of us attempt to do … Read more
The effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment and the Māori response to the pandemic are among the subjects of a slew of new NZ studies into Covid-19 and its impacts. Mirjam Guesgen reports. Studies designed to aid the national and global fight against coronavirus – including three clinical trials – are set to get … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New report paints dire picture for freshwater, outline of life in level three given, and bad times looming for property investors. The latest major report on freshwater quality has shown our rivers and lakes are still in a perilous state. As the NZ Herald reports, the stats revealed … Read more
The government’s extraordinary measures to halt Covid-19 and support the economy have had extraordinary public support. Tony Burton argues that the hard choices about who pays for it will be far less popular. I have lived with a skeleton since the lockdown. It’s white and shiny and takes up half the space in my living … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 7.00pm: … Read more
A tertiary support package was announced by the government this week in an effort to help students financially struggling due to Covid-19. However, Isabella Lenihan-Ikin from the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations argues that the new measures are simply not enough. On Tuesday, the government announced a Covid-19 support package for tertiary students. It … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Matthew Chapman from HR search company ChapmanCG. Matthew Chapman, founder of HR search company ChapmanCG, has grown his … Read more
The latest in our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. David Garcia helped create today’s charts. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in … Read more
The government has just unveiled more detail about what life will be like for New Zealanders under level three restrictions. What will it mean for schools, business and day-to-day life? The first point – we still don’t know when we’ll move to level three. That has not been announced today, and an update won’t be … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 7.00pm: … Read more
We’ve had a taste of what streets designed for people, not cars, could look like. Let’s take those lessons with us when we emerge from lockdown, writes Emma McInnes. Our cities feel profoundly different these days. The whine and roar of traffic has been replaced with the chatter of birds, the squeals of delighted kids, … Read more
On writing and not writing about bread. Read more from the lockdown letters here. I’m afraid that soon I’m going to write about bread. I can’t hold it much longer. This is a lockdown diary, I’m running out of thoughts, and the bread is coming – I feel it. Each of the fragments below can … Read more
Data crucial for making the alert level change decision is missing, two top advisers tell Phil Pennington of RNZ. There appear to be gaps in the government’s data on Covid-19 that must be filled before a decision is made on reducing the lockdown level, two top advisers say. Epidemiologist Michael Baker, who is on the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Term 2 starts with kids at home, media takes spotlight at ERC, and lockdown concern for those in overcrowded housing. Going back to school is always hard, but the start of term two has been something else entirely. With schools still closed because of Covid-19, and … Read more
Like many other of our rights and liberties, privacy has been upended by Covid-19. Privacy commissioner John Edwards looks at the hard choices we’re about to face. Privacy was described in a seminal 1890 essay as “the right to be let alone”. Now, in April 2020, we find ourselves instead obliged to stay alone. The … Read more
After lockdown, we will need to take a hard look at how we rebuild. ‘Infrastructure’ means a lot more than motorways, writes Dame Anne Salmond. In the wake of Covid-19, as New Zealand gets ready to make a graduated exit from lockdown, ministers, officials and other leaders are thinking hard about how to kickstart the … Read more
At today’s online meeting of the Epidemic Response Committee, media representatives have appeared in the unfamiliar seat of the interviewed rather than the interviewer. Here’s a highlights package. Committee chair Simon Bridges opened by acknowledging the parlous situation the New Zealand media find themselves in. He also noted that representatives of NBR and Māori TV … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
The latest in our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. David Garcia helped create today’s charts. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in … Read more
With more New Zealanders feeling isolated, anxious and stressed from the Covid-19 effect, the need to take a moment and establish a sense of calm has never been more important. That’s where a new free app can help. In late 2018, when mental health advocate and All Black legend Sir John Kirwan launched his company … Read more
When fiction and reality collide, asking ‘What if?’ takes on a new meaning. Read more from the lockdown letters here. Sometimes I find myself thinking, “What if?” It’s the default setting if your job is writing fiction, this insistent “What if?” Back in 2018 I began work on a novel. It was about a cruise … Read more
Worrying about inequality. Excited about electric planes. A huge Jacinda fan. Duncan Greive talks to a rebooted Paul Henry. Rumours have circulated for more than a year that Paul Henry was mulling a return to TV. He left the medium in a huff after his comments were accurately reported in a still-astounding Canvas profile by … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bleak Treasury scenarios show massive unemployment looming, rest home cluster claims more lives, and students disappointed at support package. The scenarios are in for how Treasury expects Covid-19 to affect GDP and unemployment rates, and they’re pretty bleak. You can read a report on them here, but … Read more
According to a group of academics, the New Zealand response doesn’t match the threat posed by Covid-19 and should be substantially loosened. Siouxsie Wiles unpicks their claims. A group of six New Zealand academics yesterday announced their “vision for a balanced response” to the Covid-19 pandemic. They are calling that vision “Plan B”. They even … Read more
The latest in our series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall. David Garcia helped create today’s charts. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry of Health typically publishes data updates in … Read more