Milk and Honey Festival organisers Lani Purkis and Teresa Patterson on celebrating women in the New Zealand music industry on International Women’s Day. What’s the Milk and Honey Festival? A platform for women to celebrate women in the NZ music industry on a day internationally set aside for women, a platform for younger women to … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Media Molecule’s Dreams, the game that allows you to turn your dreams into (virtual) reality, and share them with a likeminded community. Throughout my teenage years, I had dreams that my teeth would fall out, or that I had loosening teeth on the verge of falling out. Recently, these dreams of teeth … Read more
Should you stay, or should you go? Your burning questions on travelling in the time of coronavirus, answered. Should I cancel? If you’re planning on travelling to China, Iran or some regions of South Korea and Italy, yes you probably should. All of mainland China and Iran have now been officially designated ‘do not … Read more
A recent, previously unpublished poem by Auckland poet Murray Edmond. I Loan Jeanette Fitzsimons my Pen on the Plane She has important stuff to prepare. I’m just reading Balzac. A silly story about falling in love: a man hides in a woman’s bedroom so he can watch her undress. It’s definitely getting worse … Read more
Ever-increasing varieties of zero-alcohol beers beckon the sober or sober-curious from the supermarket shelf. But are any of them any good? We investigate. Ah, non-alcoholic beer. If your immediate thought response to that sentence is “What’s the point?”, look, we don’t blame you. But The Spinoff is nothing if not brave: we go places others … Read more
An excerpt from an essay by Treaty and constitutional law expert Dr Moana Jackson, taken from Imagining Decolonisation, the latest in the BWB Text series from Bridget Williams Books. James Cook’s belief that he could take this country for England in 1769 because he had ‘discovered’ it, and the whole discourse in the 1830s about … Read more
For the decade Sue Bradford spent in parliament as a Green MP, party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons led by example, bringing a quiet but steely determination to everything she did. The news of the sudden death of Jeanette Fitzsimons has been a shock. My heart goes out to her dear partner of many decades, Harry Parkes, … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the fifth week of The Bachelorette NZ, with special thanks to Nando’s. The boys have escaped jail for the Argentinian countryside this week, complete with rabbit hunting and a whole lot of prickles. Steve tries to serenade his way to a kiss, Liam goes on a jean short journey … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20) Six weeks at the top of the Auckland chart, now. … Read more
I have reason to believe that New Zealand’s reputation for being corruption-free and its sense of well-being don’t fully align with reality, writes Timothy K Kuhner. Read more from the special Spinoff series on electoral funding, Money Talks, here. This series is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join Members to support more of this important … Read more
Like Benee, BBNO$ and about a thousand other acts that suddenly became superstars in the last 18 months, Ashnikko is blowing up off the back of a TikTok craze. But dig a little deeper and you’ll see that there’s much more to this blue-haired rapper than Miley Cyrus memes. Barely a second into the intro, … Read more
Challenged this week over Shane Jones’s comments about Indian students, NZ First Party leader and deputy prime minister Winston Peters insisted that he had been ‘expressing the views of some in the local Indian community’. This week the Indian Weekender newspaper editor Sandeep Singh sought the views of the community directly. Here’s what they said. … Read more
In an interview with the editor of the Indian Weekender, Sandeep Singh, the prime minister has her harshest words yet for Shane Jones over his comments about Indian students. Below, the interview in full. See also: NZ Indian community leaders respond to Jacinda Ardern. Sandeep Singh: One of the most pressing issues that our community is … Read more
A new poem by Wellington poet Sam Duckor-Jones. Reading time: Approximately 10 minutes. Party Legend Vote for me / I’m from a very distinguished flame / I attended a school for gifted merchandise / Yet this is also an everyman’s story / I have a very relatable familiar regular story / Sure … Read more
These activists are not above the law. But where does the moral line lie in a global emergency, asks Environment Canterbury councillor Lan Pham. * Be good citizens. Use your manners. Abide by the rules. They’re messages that are drilled into us from an early age, and form part of the social “contract” most of … Read more
Nearly 30 years after its first episode, award-winning sitcom Mad About You is back. Tara Ward travels back in time to celebrate the show’s most ’90s moments. Mad About You is back on our screens, and it seems the only thing that’s changed since 1999 is the colour of the Buchmans’ kitchen cabinets. The series … Read more
Advertising doesn’t have to ruin a radio station, says former bFM programme director Bill Kerton. In fact, it can make it stronger. In the mid 1990s I found myself programme director at Auckland’s 95bFM. You couldn’t have found a more intense, dedicated group of creative, free thinking, anti-establishment wankers if you tried – yet we … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tauranga passes draft budget featuring massive rates rise, JLR makes further donation allegations, and more Covid-19 cases confirmed. We’ll start with a regional story today, because this is one that has implications for plenty of other places. Local body politics in Tauranga is getting absolutely steamed … Read more
We’ve all got teeth, so why can only some of us afford to look after them? The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read the rest of the series here.
If we truly have a robust plan for Covid-19, there are three ways to take it to the next level, writes former pandemic planner Richard Simpson. In the same week the media psyched us up about a Lotto jackpot, how surprised can we be that some people went panic-buying at the supermarket over a looming … Read more
Formerly known as Tom Lark, Shannon Matthew Vanya is an artist familiar with reinvention. The Spinoff is extremely excited today to premiere his new single ‘Closer’, a roller disco hit that walks a careful line between Japanese city pop and smooth French neo-disco. Here, Shannon explains how it all came together. I worked on a … Read more
Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire are not medical doctors or, in fact, doctors of any kind, but here they overcome this minor impediment and solve coronavirus. The Gone By Lunchtime trio look at the political and economic implications of the outbreak, weigh up Jacinda Ardern’s “don’t deport your problems” broadside at Scott Morrison … Read more
As New Zealand suffers from drought and the effects of climate change become more severe, now is not the time for New Zealand to be shipping water offshore, writes Cat MacLennan. At the bottom of the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world’s ocean, explorers in 2019 found four new species of crustaceans … 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 Grace Stratton from All is for All. Around a quarter of New Zealanders have accessibility considerations, but very … Read more
The third case involves an Auckland man in his 40s. And it almost certainly means a fourth. What’s the latest? The Ministry of Health has revealed more information about the third positive test for Covid-19 in New Zealand. The case was confirmed early this morning but without any detail. In light of those details, it … Read more
What makes us save and invest the way we do? Jihee Junn explores how history and culture have shaped our approach to investing and why, despite our ‘rockstar economy’, many are feeling left out. A lot of great things happened in 1987: New Zealand officially went nuclear-free, Māori became recognised as an official language, and … Read more
Born and bred in Dunedin, Vanessa Worm is now known in nightclubs the world over. She talked to Josie Adams about how being punk got her signed to one of the world’s best club music labels. Vanessa Worm – real name Tessa – is calling from her bed in Melbourne. Stage names, sleep-ins, jet-setting; she’s … Read more
An Auckland dad is offering good money to someone who can teach his daughter the basics of being a YouTuber. Vlogging has boomed in popularity among young people in recent years as a potential career path, but how achievable is it, and is it safe? Sandeep Khurana is a busy dad. He works in real … Read more
Scary amounts of food are being dumped by the commercial food industry on a daily basis. In 2014, Katy Barfield decided to do something about it by founding Yume, an online B-to-B marketplace for surplus food. Here are five important points from her recent talk in Auckland. Three thousand cartons of Coco Pops. Nearly five … Read more