With Bae Suah’s novels, two translators bend language to speak the unexplainable. When I was at primary school I was given a tiny doll in a match box. On the matchbox were printed the words Mon Ami. “It means ‘my friend’,” explained my next-door neighbour who was at high school and probably the coolest person … Read more
Need to scratch that Gone Girl itch from years past? The Secrets She Keeps is the new Australian thriller that asks how far you should go to get the perfect life. Pre-lockdown, influencers were king and there was no better way to feel stink about your own life than to step into theirs. This is … Read more
It’s the perfect time to write your own locked-room murder mystery – easy, right? Read more from the lockdown letters here. How do I feel? Sick of vacuuming that’s for sure. Sick of ignoring the voice that says, “you can’t see the dust anyway so why bother?” Since I went into self-isolation I’ve been teaching my … Read more
At the beginning of the level four lockdown Emily Writes spoke to children across the country about how they were feeling and what advice they might have for grown-ups. Almost four weeks on, she checked in to see how they were doing. The day we went into lockdown I decided to have a chat to … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Health worker representatives outline string of problems, millions more going to food banks, and mayoral pay in the spotlight. If you were watching the Epidemic Response Committee yesterday, one thing would have become very clear, very quickly. The health sector is in serious trouble, viewed from … Read more
Some criticisms of the National Party leader have been way over the top, but there’s no doubt he badly misjudged the nation’s mood on Monday, writes Ben Thomas. Among the many distant memories of life before lockdown is the belief that the National Party’s superior social media game would sink the government in 2020. Designed … Read more
A lot of people are very reasonably concerned about the implications of schools and early childhood education reopening. Siouxsie Wiles explains what the latest studies can tell us about the risks. When Aotearoa New Zealand heads to alert level three, schools and early child education centres will be opening again. They will only be available … 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 made possible thanks to donations from The Spinoff Members, with support from the Science Media Centre. These posts collate the most recent statistics and present them as charts and maps. The Ministry … Read more
Like the rest of New Zealand, musicians Marlon Williams and Finn Andrews (The Veils) are in lockdown. They caught up via video chat to perform covers of one another’s songs, talk about their punk dads, and reminisce about backstage karaoke. Before the lockdown, musicians Marlon Williams and Finn Andrews were set to embark on a series … Read more
Business after Covid: In the first of a series featuring business leaders assessing the world which will rise after Covid-19, Rachel Taulelei of food and beverage business Kono looks forward to a renewed commitment to kaitiakitanga. Mate atu he tētēkura, ka whakaeke mai he tētēkura As one frond perishes another grows in its place. Having … Read more
Thousands of magazine subscribers are out of pocket following the closure of the New Zealand arm of the Bauer publishing empire. Cat MacLennan is one of them, and she has a message for the company’s German chief executive and majority owner, Yvonne Bauer. Tēnā koe Ms Bauer, I am one of your magazine subscribers in … Read more
Answering hundreds of calls a day from anxious KiwiSaver investors, Kiwi Wealth’s head of customer services Matt Beach paints a picture of how some New Zealanders are handling the Covid-19 downturn. For essential services everywhere, from supermarkets to gas stations to toilet paper manufacturers, the overriding message of the lockdown has always been the same: … Read more
A honey-scented, seed-studded loaf that’s super adaptable. And no kneading required! It was about six weeks ago that the supermarket shelves were first stripped bare of hand sanitiser and toilet paper. A week or so after that whole aisles of bread racks stood empty as the panic-buying took hold. And now here we are confined … Read more
Morgan Godfery reveals some straightforward reflections while completing domestic chores, such as, well, socialism or barbarism? Read more from the lockdown letters here. I spent the last four weeks taking my darkest, densest books off the shelf, skirting around their edges, reading and re-reading their back covers. Should I open it from the front? Do I … Read more
Cook Islands-based New Zealander Shaun Bamber is currently in Auckland quarantine, counting down the days until he can be reunited with his family. It’ll be even longer before he can return home to Rarotonga, currently the epicentre of one of the strictest border control regimes on earth. Last week I left what might just be … Read more
Get a quick fix of your former wriggling, rhyming, library-going life in this extract from Susan Edmunds’ debut novel. Editor’s note: Mummy Needs a Break is perfect low-key lockdown fodder. From the blurb: “With a devilish toddler and baby number two on the way, Rachel’s big dream is to one day go to the toilet … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auditor general to investigate PPE supply, NZ man dies in Peru reportedly after testing positive for Covid-19, and government criticised over lack of small business analysis. The auditor-general will investigate the health ministry’s handling and distribution of personal protective equipment, after weeks of health worker concerns … Read more
I can’t deny that it’s lovely to be able to go almost wherever I want. But would I want my grandmother to be here? My mum and dad? Sarah Habershon on life in a country pursuing a herd-immunity strategy. I live on the first floor of a converted water tower atop the tallest hill in … 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 … Read more
Without the sounds of the day-to-day competing for attention, Scotty Stevenson has taken some time over the past four weeks to listen. I heard my father talking tonight. He’s been dead seven years. His voice was deep, filled with an understated enthusiasm, imbued with eternal encouragement, just as I remembered it. I heard it while … Read more
The latest in our series of Covid-19 charts, graphics and data visualisations. David Garcia created 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 the early afternoon, … Read more
Bree finds her purpose, Claire finds a new way to save lives, and Roger finds some maggots. Tara Ward recaps season five, episode nine of Outlander. We have lived, loved and laughed our way through five seasons of our beloved Outlander, but after this week, we can finally claim to have seen it all. My … Read more
When we look at the numbers, our brains can play tricks on us, writes Siouxsie Wiles. Did you hear about the testing of the general population in Iceland for Covid-19 that found that half of the people who tested positive didn’t have any symptoms? When I heard that, the first thing I thought was: shit, … Read more
Missing international travel? At a loose end? It’s time to learn a language, the easy way. These are hard times for lovers of travel. Even if you weren’t unlucky enough to be forced to cancel a trip, there’s no getting around the fact that, for the foreseeable future, international travel is over. The winter trip … Read more
The economy is facing its worst crisis in almost a century, with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of people imminently losing their jobs. So why is the sharemarket chugging away at its own recovery? Alex Braae speaks to some experts to get an explanation. How’s the economy doing? In normal times, the most regularly … Read more
For a few weeks we haven’t been able to escape each other or ourselves or our own terrible cooking. But at least the celery soup is a prison of my own making. Read more from the lockdown letters here. I’m not a good cook. “What’s for lunch?” my workmate Kirsten used to ask, as I emptied … Read more
Midwife and lecturer Billie Bradford explains the impact stress can have on pregnant women and why support for low-income families is so important right now. The Covid-19 pandemic has turned our society upside down. It’s a stressful time for everyone, and this stress and change is likely to impact pregnant women in New Zealand in … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Contact tracing in focus as NZ prepares to leave lockdown, how businesses should manage level three, and Winston Peters fails in bid to sue National MPs. The decision is in, and we will be leaving level four – just not until next Monday night. PM Jacinda … Read more
Rebuilding Paradise with Paul Henry marks the controversial presenter’s return to primetime to talk about New Zealand after Covid-19. Sam Brooks reviews. It has to be addressed: A significant amount of people don’t want to see Paul Henry back on our screens. He’s done a lot of bigoted shit, including but not limited to mocking … Read more