One of the most highly rated members of Jacinda Ardern’s Cabinet is under pressure over assurances given in relation to an immigration case. How bad could it get, asks Toby Manhire. There has never been a New Zealand prime minister more engaged with contemporary homegrown musicians than Jacinda Ardern. She’s forever bigging them up, giving … Read more
A new poem by Harry Ricketts. The Writing Life You want to write. You want to be published. You want to be read. You want to be a cult figure. You want to be reviewed. You want to write. You want to win prizes. You want to be anthologised. You want … Read more
It’s officially the festive season, and what does that mean? An office Secret Santa with a budget of $20 and you’ve picked your boss. Instead of settling for a bottle of average wine and a ribbon, follow our essential guide on what to get those unique workmates. At last year’s Secret Santa, I bought my … Read more
A woman who went on a Tinder date with the man who murdered Grace Millane tells her story, and issues a warning to other women to trust their instincts when something doesn’t feel right. First published on Newshub.co.nz I went on a date with Grace Millane’s killer while her body lay in his apartment. Yes, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes coming to fuel market, anti-vaxxer arrested in Samoa, and banks told to hold more capital. New recommendations to increase competition in the fuel market have been made by the Commerce Commission, reports the NZ Herald. Their conclusion is that it isn’t competitive enough, and they say … Read more
The birthplace of the Labour Party is once again at the forefront of a new movement, this time harnessing the power of the collective to step away from coal towards a low carbon future. Blackball is a small place with a huge history. This week the town, 29 kilometres from Greymouth, gained a long-awaited boost … Read more
Life expectancy is increasing all the time, and now actuaries and retirement experts say young people need far more information on what they’ll need to do with their money if they live to 100. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. The message from the Retirement Income Interest Group of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Are top sheets good or bad? Who is leaving giant dog poo piles everywhere? And why did Max Key delete his last Instagram post? Our investigative journalism continues as we try and get to the bottom of … 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 Jodie Fox, co-founder of Shoes of Prey. For many years, this week’s podcast guest executed every move from … Read more
The Spinoff presents the exclusive premiere of MAALA’s new music video, the Connor Pritchard-directed ‘Fire Burning’. Evan ‘MAALA’ Sinton says: I released Composure, my first album, in 2016 and then I did these two quite random singles – ‘In My Head’ and ‘Crazy’ – in 2017. Those songs were quite a weird tangent, which I … Read more
Stuck for gift ideas? We got you. The great news is: you’re spoiled for choice this year. The sheer number of high quality products being made or produced by Māori and Pasifika creators in Aotearoa means it’s easy to buy beautiful and local for friends and whānau this Christmas (and beyond). The bad news is, … Read more
In the latest episode of On The Rag, based on the podcast of the same name, watch as Alex Casey, Michèle A’Court and Leonie Hayden get real about women and safety. Fasten your seatbelts and hold onto your tits, the seventh episode of On the Rag is all about safety. What did we learn about safety … Read more
Yesterday, we published an essay by novelist Lloyd Jones lamenting the change in New Zealand’s book culture. Today, Alie Benge responds with a passionate defence of the modern NZ library. Lloyd Jones is worried. He couldn’t find the New Zealand fiction section in Tūranga library, and now the walls are crumbling. New Zealand’s literary scene … Read more
Tara Ward remembers the book that made every school project sing. If you went school in New Zealand during the ‘80s and ‘90s, there’s one book you’ll remember. The deep blue cover will be etched into your memory, the hand sketched drawings seared onto your emotional core. It was The Lettering Book, a wondrous volume of … Read more
The bill unveiled this week represents an excellent opportunity to take control of the supply of cannabis and properly reduce harms, writes Joe Boden, director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study. By now the harms associated with cannabis use are well-known. Research from New Zealand – in particular the Christchurch and Dunedin longitudinal studies … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Port move decision rapidly approaching, yet more pressure looms for NZ First party, and a big day for consumer banks and their capital holdings. It’s all happening this week on the port, and whether and where it will move away from downtown Auckland. Cabinet discussions are … Read more
As the Labour party prepares to release the findings of an investigation into its handling of sexual assault allegations, another ex-volunteer, who approached The Spinoff after the publication of Sarah’s story, shares her experience. The Labour Party’s response follows. I was heading home from work in March, 2016 when I saw my sexual assault in … Read more
From faster payments to ‘burden hunters’ that will hunt down and cut red tape, the government has announced a set of initiatives to make life easier for SMEs. Given it was actually quite good news the government’s announcement of measures to help small businesses flew surprisingly under the radar this week. Its biggest early Christmas … Read more
There have been concerns raised about the limit of cannabis that would be purchasable daily under a legalised regime. But what about the other drugs? Yesterday in the House of Representatives, Paula Bennett took to her feet and held aloft a bag (aka “baggie”) of herbs. It was oregano, reportedly, but the impeccable stagecraft had … Read more
Hakihea (December) brings clear skies, tui chicks and plenty of energy. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. Matiti Muramura is finally here, the third summer phase, indicating bright blue skies stretched across our shores. We look forward to golden days and bright, starry nights. Our tohu (signs) are the rising of Rehua … Read more
Richard Brimer’s photography exhibition Harvest is a little bit Humans of New York. Except it’s in Hastings, has zero pretension, and captures the diverse population of seasonal labourers who work the local vineyards and farms. Richard Brimer was born and raised in Hawke’s Bay. At 19 he worked his first vintage at Vidal’s winery in … Read more
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass. Can you believe this is our final episode for 2019? In this episode we give a scene report from the first Papercuts band-on-tour field trip where we headed to Wellington for the Verb Festival. And we bring you … Read more
Emily Writes reviews Frozen 2, the new movie that your kids will be watching until the end of time. The wind was howling like a swirling storm inside as I stood outside the Embassy with my two children. The line to see Frozen 2 stretched out onto the street. Hundreds of Elsas and Annas and parents … Read more
Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michèle A’Court tackle the past month in women, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. As Christmas breathes down our necks and summer threatens us with bikini waxing, it’s time to have a bit of a rage. November was a rough month for women in New Zealand. The Grace … Read more
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown discovers that maybe AI has better musical taste than humans. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. I am a middle-aged man and suddenly my … Read more
The ruling from the broadcasting regulator on a plainly anti-Semitic comment is unacceptable and suggests we have failed to learn the lessons of March 15, writes Juliet Moses of the NZ Jewish Council. Yesterday a ruling came out from the Broadcasting Standards Authority, otherwise known as the BSA, that was, frankly, BS. It considered whether … Read more
I know the humanity of New Zealanders is far greater than the zero empathy of a cartoonist and his bosses at a newspaper I will never bother reading again. But it still hurts, writes Christine Ammunson. There’s one thing about going home to Sāmoa you can’t get away from and that’s the beautiful babies. They … Read more
Social media users are hammering a newspaper cartoon making a joke about the Samoan measles epidemic. The infuriated include some of the cartoonist’s own colleagues. An Otago Daily Times cartoonist who saw humour in the deadly Samoan measles epidemic has found himself at odds with both colleagues and his editors. The Garrick Tremain cartoon ran … Read more
The reading and writing ecosystem in NZ is broken – and I blame myself and other writers of my generation who have not fought for its patch, writes Lloyd Jones. I was in Christchurch last week when a friend said excitedly, “I have to take you to the new city library. It is magnificent.” Now … Read more