Duncan Greive shares his three philosophies on buying shares in global giants for people who are curious but terrified about investing. Like any perfectly normal twenty-something, I started investing in sharemarkets after reading a Warren Buffett biography. I came across The Making of an American Capitalist in a second-hand bookstore. It’s a well-regarded account of … Read more
Florida-based New Zealand writer Chloe Lane talks to Wellington artist Andrew Beck about life among the Trump devotees and swamp manatees of America’s strangest state. On New Year’s Eve, my husband and I and our one-year-old drove for two hours south-east of where we live in Gainesville, Florida to look for manatees. When the weather … Read more
The coronavirus outbreak is testing New Zealand’s emergency plans, but public health experts warn there are much bigger threats to prepare for. RNZ’s John Gerritsen investigates. “Super volcanic eruption, asteroid strike, artificial intelligence gone wrong.” Researcher Matt Boyd is listing some of the possible threats to human existence. They sound terrifying, but what is really … Read more
The New Zealand arts community is reported to be furious with the government about its treatment. Isn’t it always, writes Ben Thomas. In his story on the mooted changes to RNZ’s music delivery, Toby Manhire yesterday noted that “it’s fair to say that the arts and culture community in New Zealand is on the whole … Read more
The merger of TVNZ and RNZ is a huge boost for government-controlled media. Duncan Greive asks what that means for the rest of the sector. Last year, NZ on Air convened a meeting of senior executives from almost all the main news organisations in New Zealand. Around 20 surrounded a large table at the Heritage … Read more
Got a glut of zucchini? Turn ’em into chips and they’ll be gone in a flash. It’s that time of year again when gardens are bursting at the seams with fresh produce, and if there’s one crop on which you can rely, it’s zucchini. I have three plants in my garden this year, and two … Read more
Waitangi Day brings together all groups of people, of which politicians are just one, writes Leonie Hayden. I travelled up to Waitangi with a Ngāti Kahungunu friend, her first time there on Waitangi Day, and my fourth. Arriving at Te Tii marae on Wednesday morning, having missed the leaders’ welcome the day before, we took … Read more
Yes, the capital’s having a shithouse summer, but there are plenty of reasons to look on the bright side, says Emily Writes. The world-famous Routeburn Track will be closed for the “foreseeable future” and Milford Track is staying shut for at least a few more weeks after terrible storms hit the south. Mataura, Gore, Wyndham … 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. (This week is slightly skewed due to Waitangi Day – both stores totted up their data a day early). AUCKLAND 1 Before … Read more
A new poem by Tauranga poet Marcel Currin. Riding home from work I’d been dreaming about the soft edges of the road. It was a radio dream. The voices were upside down. Something on the ground was interesting to them. Later I was awake. I don’t know when. My eyes were loaded with fog. … Read more
Tara Ward watches Netflix’s new reality shows The Circle and Next in Fashion, and discovers that gentle TV can still be gripping TV. Breaking news, friends: Netflix has the magic sauce on how to do reality right. Its latest reality shows The Circle and Next in Fashion are wildly different to each other – The Circle is a … Read more
EVolocity is using innovation, creativity and the incoming electric vehicle revolution to encourage kids into STEM education. Madeleine Chapman talks to its founders about the how and why of their mission. If the kids make an electric vehicle that can travel faster than 50km per hour, there may have to be an intervention. That’s too … Read more
Crocs aren’t ‘back’, they’re timeless. Josie Adams writes in defence of the injection-moulded clog that just won’t quit. When my flatmate mentioned she was going to fashion store North Beach, I asked if she could pick me up some Jibbitz™. “What the fuck is a Jibbitz™?” was her response, and then everyone laid into me … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Long cleanup looms after Mataura floods, anger inside and outside of RNZ at major proposed changes, and quarantine in effect for Wuhan returnees. The evacuation warnings for several flooded-out South Island towns have mostly been lifted. But there will be a long cleanup ahead for the … Read more
Concert FM is to be stripped down in favour of a new station for youth, even as the government prepares bigger plans for restructure. Toby Manhire on the mood inside and outside the national broadcaster. No one seriously thought things could stay as they were. RNZ’s music outputs had been subject to reviews, personnel changes, … Read more
It’s Aquarius season, which means it’s time to unpack why exactly young people are so into astrology all of a sudden. Alice Webb-Liddall asks two social media astrologers, one astrology enthusiast, and a counselling astrologer what the stars are saying. So it’s mercury retrograde that made you put an x on the end of an … Read more
Yep, there’s a book of the TV show and yep, it’s just as wonderful. In this extract, funeral director Francis Tipene explains why you don’t need to splurge on send-offs, how he keeps his act together – and why he cringes when people talk about ‘closure’. Funerals don’t need to be expensive. People can choose … 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 Jimmy Hayes from Minaal. This week’s podcast guest is a Kiwi making a big impact on the global … Read more
Given the escalating climate crisis and other looming environmental issues, has capitalism proven antithetical to the survival of the planet? Opportunities Party leader Geoff Simmons says no. There is no doubt: we need to change the way we live to save the environment. And we need to save the environment to have a chance of … Read more
A plane-load of evacuees have arrived on an Air New Zealand flight from Wuhan. They’ll go into quarantine. But what does ‘quarantine’ mean, in practice, and what are the other realities for public health workers on the frontline? Richard Simpson, formerly of Auckland Regional Public Health Service, lays it out. Standing in front of the … Read more
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the second week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s. The dramatic second week began with Lily walking in to the mansion and ended with The Mole revealing his true moley self to the bewildered men. Will the twists ever stop? Maybe everyone is a mole! The … Read more
Fresh off another Ockhams nomination, here’s one of New Zealand’s foremost historians on the realities of research – and the end of a golden era at our national archive. It felt like I had finally reached the inner sanctum of New Zealand historians. In January 1993 I arrived in Wellington on a three-month contract researching … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her fourth power rankings for The Bachelorette NZ, where the red flags are raised and lads are crazed. Click here for previous instalments. In the words of Tavita, I simply did not expect everyone to open up so hectically this week. We had men weeping, we had twists and turns, we had … Read more
The idea of paying someone by signing a piece of paper may seem foreign to younger people, but less tech-savvy New Zealanders are having to adapt to a world without cheques. When Kiwibank announced in May last year that it was going to do away with cheques from the end of this month, some of … Read more
I would love to see New Zealand lead on bringing true ‘stakeholder capitalism’ to life, and my time at the World Economic Forum suggests the world is up for it, too, writes Shruthi Vijayakumar. I strapped on the crampons and stepped onto the icy, main street of Davos, the Promenade. The cafes, ski stores and … Read more
Histories of colonisation ought to be remembered, including the horrors and atrocities, but also the endurance and empowerment found in trenchant resistance and the fight for sovereignty, writes Radhika Reddy. India and Aotearoa are both grappling with decolonisation. In this ongoing struggle to wrest free from the legacies of colonialism, each society can learn from … Read more
Why do they never swim? How much do they drink? And more of your burning questions about Love Island UK, answered at last by Tara Ward. According to Love Island UK, the journey to true love is paved with blue skies, beautiful people and a thousand pairs of budgie smugglers. Nothing makes sense about sending … Read more
The birds of Polynesian legend are part of birth, death, and everything in between. Now, a PhD thesis from the University of Otago undertakes the first ever in-depth exploration into the manu of mythology. From the flittering pīwakawaka that woke Hine-nui-te-pō and caused the death of Maui, to the Tahitian doves bringing figs to earth, … Read more
They’re ‘clean’, they’re ‘natural’, they’ll get you lit but not make you fat – or at least that’s the aim. Premixed spirit-based drinks have shed their low-brow reputation and are taking over a summer barbecue near you. But are they any good? The Spinoff finds out. For many years, RTDs had a terrible reputation: brightly … Read more