What’s the issue with online porn, and is there really any way to keep kids from watching it? Porn you say? On a Sunday? Lord forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, but we need to talk about smut. Specifically, smut on the internet. The government is considering a number … Read more
It’s the grand finale of The Block NZ: Firehouse, but after a snooze of a season some fans are past caring. Long time Block NZ fan Tara Ward has a few ideas on how the show could get its mojo back. For eight long years, I’ve lived and breathed The Block NZ until my veins pulsed with … Read more
Got a surplus of lemons? Make these and you’ll be thanking yourself in those months when they’re few and far between. Like little rays of sunshine, lemons are such a fantastically versatile fruit suited perfectly to both sweet and savoury dishes. Their flavour is equally wonderful on its own as it is married with other … Read more
For weeks, Carpet Mill has been running a very strange full page in a national newspaper. Duncan Greive investigates. At first glance, you barely notice it. A large, mostly empty page in a newspaper. A scattering of text, some logos, enough so you don’t immediately clock anything amiss. Only, there’s something off about it. There … Read more
It’s one of the great genres of New Zealand news: the unusual thing that just blocked our main arterial road. Here’s a sampler. The Timaru sea lion A repeat offender. “He’s just living up what we have to offer here in Timaru … He’s been having fun as young guys tend to do,” said Timaru … Read more
This year’s crop of local election signs range from the inspired to the utterly terrifying. Professional illustrator Toby Morris delivers his analysis of the best and worst designs. 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 here. Faces, faces … Read more
With American comedy PEN15 landing on Neon today, Alice Webb-Liddall chats with its creators and stars about uncovering all the shameful secrets pre-teen girls thought they got away with. Being a 12-year-old girl is hard. There’s schoolwork, there’s parents who just don’t understand, there’s friendship dramas and there’s the encroaching threat of periods, first kisses, … Read more
Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we’re joined by one of Wellington’s finest sons, musician and food writer Samuel Flynn Scott. In our Wellington special, capital culinary evangelist Samuel Flynn Scott joins fellow displaced Wellingtonian Alice (plus … Read more
Peering inside shoe design icon Christian Louboutin’s brain is all in a day’s work for an Eden Terrace post-production studio that has turned the creative arts into a viable business. Sam Tozer is a bit like Dr Frankenstein, but instead of fashioning humans out of body parts he’s pushing the boundaries of technology in a … Read more
Most election meetings are by turns angry and boring. On Thursday, Alex Braae went along to a debate in the foothills of Wellington’s Mt Victoria and discovered that local democracy can be… nice? The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s … Read more
After more than 40 years the war on drugs has had brutal consequences for justice in New Zealand. The movement to end the war is gathering momentum. Like most wars started by the United States, the war on drugs was launched for spurious and racially-motivated reasons by cynical political hawks. And like most wars started … Read more
Families come in all different shapes and sizes. But when the British came to New Zealand they decided Māori families were the wrong shape. In this episode of Kaupapa on the Couch, we have a look at what family means in different cultures and the effects of colonisation on whānau and whakapapa. Written and presented … Read more
Being a student means exam panic, crappy flats and getting wasted, a lot. So what does that mean for non-drinkers? Chelle Fitzgerald talks to Otago University students who gave up the drink. This story was first published in Critic, the University of Otago student magazine. In late 2016, I decided to become one with wellness … Read more
Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden, Michèle A’Court tackle the past month in women, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. Mother Earth? What about Father Earth?! In cool news, the world is on fire and some men aren’t using reusable bags because they think it makes them look less masculine. There’s also the scarily familiar … Read more
The first of Team New Zealand’s America’s Cup boats was officially launched this morning. James Littlewood wandered down to the Viaduct at 6.30 on a cold, wet, Friday morning to see what all the fuss was about. The new boat hung in the drizzle looking not like a boat. But weird, like a ski boot, … 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 Erik Zydervelt, founder and CEO of Mevo. In a few years people will probably be looking back and … Read more
As part of this year’s World of Wearable Arts Award Show, musical director Paul McLaney has brought six of New Zealand’s best and most acclaimed composers together and commissioned a new work from each of them. Here they comment on each other’s work – not just for WoW, but across their careers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwMqdLxaFoM Tane Upjohn … 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. AUCKLAND 1 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo (Bloomsbury, $35) Here I’ll just open a random page and find a string of … Read more
John Tamihere opposed gay marriage and once called homosexual sex ‘unhealthy and violating’. Now he wants us to ‘move on’. Hayden Donnell follows him to a Rainbow Auckland debate. 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 here. The afternoon … Read more
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Josie Adams looks at those who would dare oppose Tim Shadbolt’s record reign. 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 here. Where? At the bottom of … Read more
A new poem by performance poet Carrie Rudzinski. Love Poem after Seven Years At this point it’s difficult to sleep without you. I prefer to take up the whole bed with you in it, just to listen to your protests before I fall asleep. I’ve said No to your drunk half-proposals more times than … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Farmers furious at freshwater proposals, small King Country town to have dual name, and cupboards bare at Auckland City Mission. The government’s big week of announcing things has continued, with the news dominated yesterday by their plans for freshwater. Once again, Toby Manhire has a cheat sheet which … Read more
Within households grappling with food insecurity, parents will often choose to go without essentials long before their children do, writes Dr Rebekah Graham. As a wealthy, food-producing nation, New Zealand has a responsibility to all its citizens to ensure access to sufficient food for health and well-being. Yet currently, almost one in five Kiwi children … Read more
Tensions have flared around the Wellington Council table, with one councillor accusing her colleagues of engaging in a form of climate change denial in how they approach related issues. Alex Braae 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
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. Dress us up in shit-covered clothing and send us to Disneyland with Richie McCaw, The Real Pod is back for another stonker week of real life in this foolish corner of the globe. In real news, influencers … Read more
Jordan Hamel interviews Gussie Larkin from Mermaidens ahead of the release of their new album Look Me In The Eye. Mermaidens have always been masters of subversion. Making music that challenges expectations of heavy rock, it jumps between genres to give listeners something as surprising as it is satisfying. Their legendary live shows can have … Read more
Earlier this week, a Twitter thread demonstrating the power of new face-swap app ZAO attracted tens of thousands of retweets. The user behind the thread, Auckland artist and game developer Allan Xia, explains what ZAO is, and what it means for your rights over your own likeness. Last Friday, a face-swap app called ZAO went … Read more
The hugely popular InnoNative market day, which sells 100% handmade and traditional Māori products, now has a more permanent home in Whangārei. Tucked among the industrial workshops near Whangārei’s Town Basin is a whānau-driven shop making a name for its authentic indigenous products. The InnoNative Market pop-up store occupies one corner of the larger business … Read more
The government has just published its plan to halt the degradation of waterways and restore the health of freshwater over a generation. But one group says it ‘throws farming under the tractor’. What’s this then? David Parker, the environment minister, has just announced government plans for waterways. “Our rivers, lakes and wetlands are under serious … Read more