Over the weekend, Sir Ian McKellen resurfaced the extensive blog that he produced while filming The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand. Alex Casey plucks out the most wholesome highlights. It’s pretty cool that in the 20 years that have passed since Sir Ian McKellen posted his first blog about The Lord of the … Read more
After three years, Serena Williams is a champion again. Sadly not everyone was too thrilled about a mother competing. When Serena Williams won the ASB Classic women’s title in Auckland on Sunday, the sold-out crowd stood and cheered. As the organisers rushed the court to prepare for the trophy presentation, Williams left. She strode off … Read more
Crime Week: One’s a charismatic Māori cop who gave us the word “cunthooks”. The other’s a Vietnam vet turned maverick LA detective. Ngaio Marsh Awards judge Stephanie Jones on why she loves them both. On a recent Saturday evening, the author Michael Connelly sat inscrutable on a stage at AUT while a devoted reader (front … Read more
Tara Ward pays tribute to the one true constant in New Zealand television: The Shortland Street Christmas cliffhanger. If you’re going to watch one episode of Shortland Street, make it the annual cliffhanger. Each year our beloved New Zealand soap makes sure we step into summer with a big bang, bigger than Waverley’s hair in … Read more
As Australia came to terms with the fact that climate change is fuelling its bushfires, deniers began a rearguard action centred around claims that arson, not climate, is to blame. Media analysts Timothy Graham and Tobias Keller look at how bots and troll accounts tried to shift the conversation. In the first week of 2020, … Read more
The average New Zealand house price has hit a record high at over $700,000. What could we buy outside of Auckland – and around the world – for the same price? For the first time since records began in 2007, the average asking price for a house in New Zealand has risen to over $700,000. … Read more
The father-and-son team behind Zach, the medical AI that seemed too good to be true, have been found by Internal Affairs to have engaged in ‘serious wrongdoing’, with the trust providing ‘inconsistent, misleading and untruthful answers’. David Farrier looks at what went wrong, and tries to make sense of a very, very perplexing story. Read … Read more
Uber’s habit of pushing tax rules to breaking point is the reason Terry Baucher refuses to use the ridesharing service. But price and convenience outweigh most people’s moral indignation, he writes. In the 2010s the true extent of aggressive tax planning practices by tech giants like Apple, Google and Facebook emerged. These behemoths simultaneously piled up … Read more
It’s a Kiwi tradition fraught with outrage, red tape and injury. It’s also really bloody fun. Alex Casey takes a look back at the evolution of the lolly scramble in New Zealand. Legend tells of an impromptu lolly scramble that rocked the Wellington art scene in a matter of seconds. The year was 2003, and … Read more
Summer journeys: In the final of a special travel writing series, playwright and novelist Renée reflects on the past and ponders her future on an evocative drive up the East Coast. The Spinoff Summer Journey series is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism, click here. I know … Read more
In the latest from our pop-up podcast, The Spinoff Book Out Loud, Leonie Hayden looks at the 2019 Māori media review and asks ‘where’s the love for writers?’ Listen to Madeleine Chapman on life after those chip rankings, here, Alex Braae on Extinction Rebellion, here, Alex Casey on Sensing Murder, here, and Toby Manhire on the … Read more
Been wanting to join the sourdough club for ages but haven’t managed to find some decades-old starter with a suitably charming backstory? Fuggeddaboutit and make your own bubbly batch, after which you can give these bagels a whirl. Forget chasing that friend who keeps saying “yeah definitely!” (me), forget staring longingly at Instagram posts of … Read more
Auē author Becky Manawatu picks holes in her mahi and then starts to sew them up again, in this essay about colonialism and tikanga and the smoke in the sky. A wise woman once tweeted to me that “explaining is losing”, yet here I am. Explaining. Because when the world is on fire, we’re losing … Read more
From ads showing actual *gasp* blood to the mainstreaming of sustainable period products and commitments to addressing period inequity, it was a big 12 months for menstruation. When I first got my period at 13, I was petrified. I was scared to tell anyone and used a wad of toilet paper until I mustered the … Read more
The Spinoff’s royal correspondents report live from the thick of the Megxit fallout. The shock announcement by Prince Harry of Sussex Windsor Buckingham and Meghan Markle Sussex Windsor Buckingham Hull to step down from parades and waving from carriages has shocked the world. We are providing 24-hour news coverage of this fascinating event from our … Read more
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that limes get expensive while out of season. But they’re very, very, very expensive right now. Is there something more worrying going on? Alex Braae reports. There’s nothing like a squeeze of lime juice to make the flavours of a guacamole sing, not to mention to make a mojito possible at … Read more
In the year 2000 there was no Netflix or Amazon Prime or On Demand; the ‘too much TV’ era was still years in the future. So what did we watch instead? Beverly Hills 90210 came to an end The end of the 90s also signalled the end of Beverly Hills 90210, one of the defining … Read more
As the world’s leading coal exporter, Australia is burning down its own house, writes environmentalist Bill McKibben. This piece was originally published in The Nation as part of Covering Climate Now, a journalistic collaboration of 400 news outlets around the world to strengthen coverage of the climate story. One way to think about the devastating fires … Read more
A new poem by Wellington writer Laura Vincent. Anecdotal happiness There was a story on the six o’clock news “Scientists have discovered that only bad things are happening now It seems nothing good will happen on a grand scale ever again” In their carefully region-free accent the newsreader continued: “Experts are still working … Read more
From the deep south to the top of the north, The Spinoffers spread our culinary wings to sample regional delights galore over the summer break. Here’s what we can’t stop thinking about. FAR NORTH: PIE TIME ‘Twas a morning of a good ol’ wake and bake in the fa far north where my squad and … Read more
Sales of environmentally friendly dental care products are steadily on the rise, but as business editor Maria Slade finds it isn’t easy being green. Sorry planet Earth I’ve tried, truly I have, but I just can’t do bamboo toothbrushes. The feel of the rough wooden handles in my mouth is like fingernails on a blackboard. … Read more
I thought that by being super-informed about the US political process and arguing about it online I could influence the outcome, somehow. Which, obviously, I couldn’t, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. I’ve been addicted to US politics for most of my life. It’s an easy drug for political nerds to get hooked on: American elections are very … Read more
Last year was the fourth hottest year on record for New Zealand, and scientists say it’s only getting hotter. For the planet, and all of the people on it to survive, scientists the world over warn that we must stay within two degrees celsius of warming. Scientists and baby-faced Swedish activists alike know that the … Read more
Some people are just untidy. Madeleine Chapman is one of them, and this year she’s decided to embrace the mess. “I was going to clean that up,” I said, feeling a distinct shame I’d never felt before. The cleaner just shrugged. “It’s not that messy, we get this all the time.” I was panicking. I … 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 Mike Taylor, founder of Pie Funds. On this week’s Business is Boring, Simon Pound talks to a founder … Read more
Industrial robots can make our cars and planes, but for some reason the sight of a mechanical omelette machine filled Duncan Greive with existential dread. I wandered into the restaurant trying not to look too keen. It was an entirely futile exercise – the M Social’s kitchen had been open for breakfast for exactly two … Read more
Authenticity matters more than anything, writes Rosemary Williamson of the University of New England, an expert on leaders’ differing responses to catastrophic events. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been harshly criticised for being on holiday in Hawaii as the catastrophic bushfires were burning Australia. Since his return, he has visited stricken communities – most recently, … Read more
They are the clowns who shall inherit the earth – and for Trump, Johnson, Morrison et al, the jokester act provides the perfect political cover, writes Morgan Godfery. (This essay is extracted from new essay collection Public Knowledge: Radical Futures and is heavily abridged. Godfery goes on to argue for a revolution by degrees, beginning … Read more
Turns out that a lot of people are very mad at a lot of our iconic tourist attractions. This summer will go down in history as the first time that I stood in the shadow of the mighty L&P bottle in Paeroa. The rumours are true – I have never seen a botty so big. … Read more