After a short but successful career in China, table tennis champion Chunli Li moved to New Zealand to coach. She soon discovered she was better than everyone, and that was a problem. Chunli Li trains alone. In the basement of the Panmure YMCA, four regulation table tennis tables occupy the floor space. On the wall … Read more
‘Racism and white supremacy have no place at the University of Auckland’, reads the letter, signed by many of the university’s most senior academics. A large and growing group of staff at the University of Auckland have spoken out over the re-emergence of white supremacist propaganda on campus in an open letter. The staff members, … Read more
Members of the university community on the re-emergence of white supremacist posters and stickers on campus, and the response from the vice-chancellor. A university is a shared idea. We are not simply an institution with policies and processes, or an employer with employees. We are a community dedicated to the creation, preservation and sharing of … Read more
In the last public debate of the Auckland mayoral campaign, the three leading contenders fronted up to a crowd of rates-averse elderly people – and an unlikely hero emerged. Hayden Donnell reports. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism, click … Read more
How are students gambling, and is it possible to actually make a success out of it? Nina Minogue spoke to a few gamblers to find out in a story originally published by Critic Te Arohi, the Otago University student magazine. Between 2017 and 2018, New Zealanders lost nearly $2.4 billion on gambling between the TAB, … Read more
Louise Hutt is running for Hamilton mayor on a progressive platform. She talks to Hayden Donnell about her plans to start a political movement that will reshape local politics in the city lovingly known as the Tron. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: School holiday fears of measles spread, pressure on Northland public health system, and logger who criticised Shane Jones goes public. The measles outbreak is approaching a potentially dangerous phase, with school holidays underway. Warnings were issued last week that cases could spread further around the country, as the … Read more
Business confidence is at its worst level since the financial crisis and interest rate cuts aren’t doing the job. The government needs to step up, writes Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. Business confidence is crumbling. In two surveys out this week firms have highlighted weak demand, capacity constraints, government policy uncertainty, and poor pricing power … Read more
New Zealander Kristin Hall spent a year living in a rural Irish town that last month became the centre of an internet-stoked frenzy over refugees. Oughterard may be half a world away, she writes, but it could easily happen here. I was scrolling through Twitter the other day when I saw a tweet from renowned … Read more
What are you going to be watching in October? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Neon, Amazon Prime and TVNZ on Demand. Click here to read our listings for September. The Biggies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33JCGEGzwU Watchmen (NEON, Season 1 weekly, from October 21) This HBO series is set … Read more
An update from Auckland, Waitematā and Manukau DHBs reveals that two women have lost unborn babies as a result of complications from measles. Fewer cases are being reported, but the risk is still real. What happened? The Auckland Regional Public Health Service advised that while there have been no deaths, five pregnant women have contracted the … Read more
A re-recorded Kiwi classic, the best song by pop music’s greatest diva, a supergroup of country’s finest highwomen – they’re just some of the tracks gracing The Spinoff’s songs of the month for September 2019. International ‘Highwomen’ by The Highwomen There are many things I love about country music: it captures narrative better than any … Read more
If you see a woman walking barefoot around Parliament, it’s probably Wellington policy advisor Amy Russell. She explains why she rarely wears shoes, and why the raised eyebrows don’t bother her, much. By and large, I don’t wear shoes. I mostly walk barefoot to and from work. I go barefoot in the office. I go … Read more
There’s so much more to Central Otago than ski slopes and luxury lodges. We’ve put together a list of all you need to know before you explore this stunning part of our backyard this summer this summer. If you’ve got friends or relatives visiting Aotearoa, top of their list should be sorting out their NZeTA … Read more
The political status quo is unfit to confront the climate crisis. We need more of those who will take to the street for what they believe in, rather than sniffing out snide put-downs from air-conditioned television studios, writes New Zealand’s youngest parliamentarian. A large contingent of Pasifika South Auckland students led tens of thousands of … Read more
The High Court rejection of the Free Speech Coalition’s challenge to the cancellation of an Auckland event by Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux carries a cruel irony for the zealous right. If the current madness of modern life permits, cast your mind back to the middle of last year. Two “right-wing provocateurs” from Canada (ship … Read more
The resistance to drug testing from the NZ First spokesperson for law and order could have severe consequences, writes the team at KnowYourStuffNZ. For five years KnowYourStuffNZ has been carrying out drug checking at festivals. In that time, we have helped thousands of festival-goers to make safer and more informed decisions. We help people avoid … Read more
A series of reviews, published today, found little evidence of health benefits from reducing red or processed meat consumption, and already they’re proving highly controversial. NZ experts assess the findings. Existing guidelines tend almost invariably to advise people to curb the red meat component of diets. Following five reviews of “the relationship between meat consumption … Read more
They might be on the pricier side but books editor Catherine Woulfe is feeling much better using startup Little & Brave’s compostable nappies to deal with her daughter’s epic poos. Our daughter is a champion shitter. From day one she had an innate sense of timing: we’d place her on high on the change table, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New fishing quotas in effect today, it’s not to late to vote so go and sort it out, and Shane Jones vows revenge after gentle reprimand. New fishing catch limits come into effect today, particularly targeting the under-threat tarakihi. The details of that threatened status were … Read more
Just a glance at our child obesity stats shows how severely inadequate our current advertising codes really are, argues public health medicine specialist Dr Michael Hale. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, or so the saying goes. So when a well-known fast food restaurant offered 50,000 ‘free’ burgers to consumers last month, there … Read more
Voting in local elections is under way, and you should have received your ballot papers by now in the mail. But if you haven’t, don’t panic. Jolisa Gracewood, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall have put together this guide to how to vote anyway. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. … Read more
Alex Casey wraps on a tinfoil hat and falls down the rabbit hole of the Married at First Sight NZ universe. Shared universes and character crossovers are having a massive moment right now. The last Avengers movie was basically just the Met Gala of superheroes. M. Night Shyamalan pulled a classic “him” on us all … Read more
University of Auckland vice-chancellor Stuart McCutcheon says a new batch of posters from a white supremacist group is ‘unfortunate’ but the university will not remove or condemn them, reports Daniel Meech. This story was first published on September 29 in Craccum, the University of Auckland student magazine. The University of Auckland’s campus has played host … Read more
Simon Sweetman on a collection of essays by Pulitzer-winning critic Emily Nussbaum, who righteously resurrected Buffy the Vampire Slayer – and, at her best, is unafraid to thoroughly critique herself. What Emily Nussbaum knows is that dressing up to eat a burger and pay double is fine sometimes, if it makes you happy. But what … Read more
The groundswell of protesters across NZ on Friday is cause for optimism. But if results don’t follow, the calls for more direct action that confronts the status quo will grow, writes Peter McKenzie. Half an hour after the #SchoolStrike4Climate marchers began arriving at parliament, organisers got worried. Two young student coordinators, in pink high-vis vests, … Read more
Art activist group the Guerrilla Girls has been calling out gender bias in the American art world since 1985. Their survey show, Reinventing the “F” Word, is in its final weeks at Auckland Art Gallery. But what’s the picture on gender representation closer to home? How equal are the opportunities for male and female artists … Read more
TVNZ’s new online-only series Colonial Combat pits the the inhabitants of Kauri Bay – Māori, settlers, men, women, and many more besides – against each other in the ring. Dan Taipua reviews. The place is Kauri Bay, kind of. The year is 1836, sort of. The people are Māori, and All Other Comers. The stakes … Read more
Throughout history, fashion has had the power to advance cultural discussions, writes Grace Stratton. For its summer 2019 issue, fashion magazine i-D – constantly hailed as a source of inspiration in fashion culture – put neurodiverse environmental activist Greta Thunberg on its cover. By featuring an advocate like Thunberg so prominently, i-D is telling us … Read more