Race briefing: The fierce pit fight for control of Hamilton City Council

In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Hayden Donnell dips his toe into the extraordinary battle for the Tron. 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? Hamilton! You know the one: … Read more

Celebrity Treasure Island Power Rankings: My kingdom for a couch

It’s week three of Celebrity Treasure Island, and what a forking great week it was. Tara Ward power ranks our favourite celebrity contestants as they compete to win that sweet charity cash.  Welcome back to another glorious week in Paradise, as our beloved CTI contestants dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged their way through tense eliminations, … Read more

Boy crushes and girl power: Remembering Creme magazine, five years on

‘A girl’s best friend’ was Creme magazine’s tagline, and for many girls growing up in New Zealand in the early 2000s, that was absolutely true. Five years after Creme shuttered, Amanda Robinson looks back at a teen phenomenon. When I think of Creme magazine I think of grocery shopping at the Foodtown in Glenfield Mall, … Read more

The Bulletin: Reaction to the Kiwibuild reset

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Range of reaction to Kiwibuild reset, Peter Ellis dies before Supreme Court appeal can be heard, and calls for apology for te reo suppression.  Hang on, it is still called Kiwibuild right? The government’s flagship policy, which has by most metrics been a disaster, has been … Read more

This is the long and sorry Warriors saga. Now it has a shot at a happy ending

The latest twist in the Warriors tale might be grim, but it comes as little surprise to sports journalist and former Warriors CEO Trevor McKewen. He traces the club’s long and sorry history I know that by now a lot of people don’t care what happens to the Warriors. I’d like to think this piece … Read more

Can New Zealand really lead the world in green hydrogen?

Right now, ministers are envisioning a future in which an over-supply of renewable energy is captured, stored in hydrogen cells and exported. Is that realistic? Jenée Tibshraeny from Interest takes a hard look at the potential and possibilities. The government wants to position New Zealand as a front-runner rather than a fast-follower on the development … Read more

Auckland measles outbreak: expert answers to frequently asked questions

Many Aucklanders have a lot of questions about the ongoing measles outbreak. The Science Media Centre went to the experts for answers. Measles is continuing to spread in Auckland, and officials are saying anyone travelling there should make sure they’re immunised at least two weeks before they go. From 1 January to 3 September 2019 there have been 975 … Read more

Cheat sheet: Megan Woods hits reset on the beleaguered KiwiBuild programme

Almost two years on, the coalition government’s flagship KiwiBuild programme has been given a ‘reset’, with the big 100,000 target – and all the targets along the way – thrown in the bin. What just happened? Megan Woods has pressed a reset button, detonating a controlled explosion beneath the government’s big KiwiBuild housing programme. The … Read more

13 Reasons Why is nothing more than trauma porn, and it’s dangerous

On the back of season 3 of Netflix’s hit teen drama 13 Reasons Why, Katie Meadows argues that the show’s unremitting darkness poses real risks to young viewers. Two years after it first aired, and a month before the release of season 3, Netflix announced it was at long last cutting the painfully graphic depiction … Read more

‘The country we have is already a ghost’: On stories, and hope, and climate change

Ahead of his appearance at the Going West Festival, author Jeff Murray insists the stories we tell ourselves – and each other – will make all the difference in how we cope with climate change.  “I a Koro Meketanara tētahi pāmu – TI-HAI-TI-HAI-HAU . . .” I read Old Macdonald Had A Farm to my … Read more

Things I Learned at Art School: Yvonne Todd

In the third instalment of Things I Learned At Art School, Megan Dunn talks to Yvonne Todd, the 2019 Arts Foundation Laureate who has received the Theresa Gattung Award for Female Arts Practitioners. Todd discusses fashion, Madonna’s aging process and what photography students never need to photograph again.  What did you learn in art school? … Read more

Please, nobody tell the Home Office: I have failed at being British

Tests on citizenship are very revealing about our ideas of ‘national identity’, writes NZ-British human mashup Elle Hunt. I’d come across a sample “Life in the UK” quiz online – 24 questions on the culture and heritage of the British isles, of the kind posed as part of the application process for citizenship – and idly … Read more

The Bulletin: Hints of change in major health system review

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: 300 pages worth of health system review delivered, exportable green hydrogen examined, and small hospitality businesses pushed to the brink by Uber Eats.  A massive doorstopper of a review has been delivered, into a sector that has been a massive headache for successive governments. The NZ Herald reports … Read more

Free school lunches is just part of something much, much bigger

Last week saw the publication of the new Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, on which the future of New Zealand quite literally depends, writes Claire Achmad of Barnardos. Something that has never happened before for children and young people in this country happened last week. Behind the school lunches policy (which you probably heard a … Read more

Helen Clark: New Zealand needs legal weed

Former prime minister Helen Clark has called for New Zealanders to vote yes when they hit the booth in next year’s cannabis referendum.   Former prime minister Helen Clark says New Zealanders should vote yes to the legalisation of cannabis and the wiping of minor cannabis-related convictions at the 2020 cannabis referendum. The recommendation comes off … Read more

Revealed: The famous and interesting candidates standing in our local elections

You may think you’re not interested in the local elections. But did you know the candidate pool is a smorgasbord of celebs, oddballs, and otherwise interesting people? Hayden Donnell reports. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. There’s so much at … Read more

The Spinoff goes to New Zealand Fashion Week 2019

Last week was New Zealand Fashion Week 2019. The Spinoff sent along two Fashion Week novices – culture editor Sam Brooks and staff writer Josie Adams – to cover it. Here are their wildly varying experiences of the annual fashion event. Sam Brooks attended NZFW from Monday through to Thursday. Josie Adams attended Friday through … Read more

The invention that’s saved one million lives

Sixty years ago Volvo invented the modern seatbelt then gave it away free to the world. Now, to celebrate that anniversary, they’re doing it again – this time with millions of dollars of hard-won safety research.   In a steel tunnel in Sweden, a giant rubber moose is in trouble. Watched from every angle by high-speed … Read more

Linda Burgess, this is your life: her new essay collection, reviewed

Loved Linda Burgess’s essays for The Spinoff? Now she’s written a whole book of ’em. And it is, predictably, terrific. With love, Linda Burgess writes simply in her dedication.  With love, and god there is so much of it here, in these essays, this “memoir of sorts”, you’ll get to the end and feel like … Read more

If NZ really wants to revive youth sport, there’s one obvious nation to emulate

A squad of New Zealand’s big sporting bodies just announced they were ‘taking a stand’, to ‘create a positive experience for all young people playing sport’. If they’re serious about achieving both a healthier national culture and a slew of world-class athletes, the model should be Norway, writes Trevor McKewen. “It’s time to change our … Read more

What is Boris Johnson? An evolutionary biologist had the perfect term

The prime minister of Britain neatly fits the description of a ‘sneaky fucker’, writes Tony Burton Boris Johnson is a sneaky fucker. I mean that in the technical sense. The term is attributed to evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith to describe the male deer who trick their way into the dominant male’s harem rather than … Read more

‘We need to use the collective for equality’: the angel investor calling for a fairer society

Named Angel of the Year by Enterprise Angels, investor Alan Dick talks about the importance of making resources available to a wider group of people. Alan Dick knows a thing or two about investing. Experienced in everything from IT and tech, to manufacturing and kiwifruit, Dick became an angel investor six years ago. Since then … Read more

The Bulletin: How cancer sufferers have taken govt announcement

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Cancer sufferers react to govt’s new plan, data shows big increase in land sales for forestry, and a striking warning about NZ’s future of defence. Over the weekend, the government made their major announcement on addressing the cancer treatment model. So with the benefit of a … Read more

‘Not a level playing field’: NZ restaurants speak out on Uber Eats

Small businesses have told The Spinoff that hefty commission fees from the global delivery giant are pushing them to the brink, and are asking why global fast food chains get a discount. Small hospitality businesses are paying substantially higher commission rates to Uber Eats than fast food giants using the food-delivery app, and some say … Read more