All this week on The Spinoff, a series of pieces examine the crisis in our electoral funding rules. How did we get here? How might we fix it? Today, Action Station’s Laura O’Connell Rapira argues that the existing system simply cements the interests of the richest and most powerful. This series is made possible thanks … Read more
There’s a big pay disparity between nurses working for Māori health providers and nurses working at DHBs. And Māori voters aren’t going to ignore signs of indifference, writes Morgan Godfery. At the last election I was a know-nothing 25-year-old who truly, genuinely, thought a Labour-led government would catch up on nine lost years under National. … Read more
Something smelt strange in Outlander this week, and for once, it wasn’t Claire’s mouldy bread. Tara Ward recaps episode three of season five of Outlander. Outlander would be nothing without goats. Without the goat in season one, Claire wouldn’t have been noticed by the Redcoat, taken to see Black Jack, and forced to marry Jamie. Without the … Read more
One of test cricket’s great partnerships has been brought to an end. Alex Braae listens to the last call of Bryan Waddle and Jeremy Coney on Radio Sport. Watching Test cricket sometimes feels like sitting on the side of a pond on a summer day. Each ball is a pebble thrown into the surface, and … Read more
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass. It’s February and our latest episode is packed to the gills. We chat trigger warnings, American Dirt, festivals, movies, poetry and of course, have our usual book reviews and TBR piles. Tune in! Book news AWF Programme is … Read more
The debate around the affordability and value of NZ Super has flared up once again and many economists have given their two cents on the issue. But with so many variables and unknowns, it’s impossible to give a definitive answer, argues Jenesa Jeram. Figures have recently been released showing that more than 30,000 people are … Read more
Attention: aspiring writers and reporters. Today The Spinoff announces a brand new internship, running for six months and paid the living wage, for writers without newsroom experience who would like to join our Auckland-based team. The successful candidate will spend six months based at our office, gaining experience across reporting, feature writing, editing, video production, … Read more
An extract from West Coast photographer Julia Johnston’s upcoming book Coast Roaders with an introduction by her for Spinoff readers. Johnston speaks as part of the biennial Photobook NZ festival in Wellington on Sunday 8 March. I grew up in a place where mountains meet the sea. In the middle of it all is a road, … Read more
With te reo Māori classes about to start for 2020, the ‘no vacancy’ signs are going up around the country as people continue to flock to learn our native language. There’s no denying that a reo-volution is underway across Aotearoa. At Te Wānanga o Aotearoa we have around 8000 people enrolled on our te reo … Read more
What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. LITTLE UNITY, AUCKLAND 1 Māui & Other Legends by Peter Gossage (Penguin, $40, all ages) A massive 4.79/5 on Goodreads! 2 Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson & Sharon King-Chai … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: The latest on the coronavirus in NZ, political donations in the spotlight, and overhaul of fossil fuel investment in default Kiwisaver funds. To start today, an update to the story that has dominated conversations all weekend. At the time of writing, one person has been confirmed … Read more
Today The Spinoff launches a week-long series on politics and funding. With a host of donations under scrutiny, we’ll ask: how did we end up in this predicament, and how might we fix it? Launching the series, Otago University law professor and electoral law expert Andrew Geddis explains why the subject is of such fundamental … Read more
Plenty of people have lost their heads as Covid-19 is confirmed in New Zealand. At its most toxic, the targets are Chinese New Zealanders like me, writes Leizi Lee. The apocalypse is upon us. I know this because when I woke up this morning, my front lawn had turned into a sea of lava. To … Read more
A new report on the Covid-19 outbreak has some important insights into the way it has progressed, the severity of cases, and why we should be taking it very seriously. Siouxsie Wiles explains. The Spinoff’s ongoing coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. To support our journalism join members here. … Read more
Fossil fuels and illegal weapons get the boot as the government announces changes to default funds. What’s the news? KiwiSaver default funds are set for a major overhaul as the government rules out investments in fossil fuels and illegal weapons for future funds. It also announced it would be switching default fund settings from ‘conservative’ … Read more
Karina Kilmore, author of new crime novel Where the Truth Lies, thought she had her own life story all figured out. Then six years ago she got an email … Families have always been living, breathing messed-up hot spots of dysfunction. Think about your last family get-together. Did that sister of yours cause trouble again? … Read more
Breastfeeding in public can still be stressful for a lot of mothers. Gemma Bowker Wright lists her favourite places to breastfeed without the added judgement or worry. It makes me mad when I hear stories of mums being told they can’t breastfeed in public places. This shouldn’t still be an issue – it’s 2020, not … Read more
To celebrate the return of Country Calendar to TVNZ1, Alex Casey tracks down the show’s biggest canine fan. This Sunday night at seven o’clock, Suki will run to the television and demand that her parents turn on TVNZ1 so she can hear her favourite theme song. She’ll then sit, nose against the screen, to watch … Read more
By the end it was was best known for the drunken brawls that marked its conclusion each year, but for a time the Undie 500 was a (relatively) innocent Christchurch-to-Dunedin lark. Chelle Fitzgerald met up with Undie 500 founding member Matt McCloy for a nostalgic look back. This is an edited version of a story … Read more
Dads. We’ve all met one. Many of us have one, or had one. Some of us are one. But who are these strange creatures? Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris has been working on a new project illustrating fatherhood and life as a dad, and we’re presenting a new monthly series sharing some of these moments with … Read more
What are you going to be watching in March? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. Click here to read our listings from February. The Biggies Westworld (Season 3 on NEON weekly from March 16) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJbFA32_QY Welcome back to … Read more
We will soon see what happens when this coronavirus meets a woefully underprepared national response, writes microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles. In just a couple of months, Covid-19 has gone from the hypothetical scenario that infectious diseases experts have been warning the world might happen to a global reality that is giving financial markets the shivers. As … Read more
The New Zealand First MP’s attack on ‘students that have come from India’ comes as another prominent New Zealander completes a visit to India embracing, well, students that have come from India. This morning on Newshub Nation, the minister for the regions and verbal jukebox Shane Jones took aim at Indian students, and their impact … Read more
The On the Rag team assemble to dissect the previous month in news, media and feminism. It’s somehow the end of February so we’re here to look back at the month in Women’s Stuff. Uniform shorts are sending young women into counselling sessions at a a local high school, but why? How the hell did … Read more
From the tip of Farewell Spit to the very arse end of Stewart Island, there is one delicacy that unites Te Wai Pounamu: the humble green onion chip. But why? Alice Neville embarks on a quest for the true story behind this regional snacking quirk. I have many fond childhood memories of visiting my grandparents’ … Read more
A surge of Māori internet memes have appeared on Instagram in the past year tackling topics from land theft to a shared love of fry bread. They’ve been around since the dawn of the internet, but in the last few years memes have become intrinsic to popular culture. They’ve also become increasingly political. Indigenous groups … Read more
Visiting the Audio Foundation and the Michael Lett Gallery, both just off Auckland’s K’ Road, Tulia Thompson finds herself considering the galaxy and what it means to be human. You have to imagine you are viewing these on a stifling hot February afternoon. There is a cacophony of men and machines, orange road cones and … Read more
I had planned to write an unabashed rave review, and then another book landed in my letterbox – and I just couldn’t read those stories in isolation from my own experience, writes Spinoff books editor Catherine Woulfe. I want to write about two books that I’ve just read, and then I want to tell you … Read more
Less than half of New Zealand adults have a will. One hundred per cent of New Zealand adults die. Sam Brooks writes on why you need a will. Before you read any further, ask yourself this one question: If I dropped dead right now, reading this piece, would my loved ones know exactly – to … Read more