Spark ramps up its Internet of Things (IoT) network with a leading investment in Kiwi tech company Parkable. Auckland-based startup Parkable has raised more than $4.6 million in its first funding round led by telecommunications giant Spark. The funds will be used to increase Parkable’s international expansion and continue developing its technology and product. Currently, the … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alice Neville leads a team of taste-testers in sampling the latest string to Indian culinary powerhouse Paradise’s bow. Paradise Indian Food, if you didn’t know, is kind of a big deal. Taking up an impressive amount of space in … Read more
The outbreak of measles has reached a dangerous tipping point. What does ‘herd immunity’ mean, and why does that matter? Welcome to New Zealand, 2019, where 850 cases of measles have been reported since January and experts are warning of mass contaminations at sports tournaments and public gatherings. I’m writing this from Auckland, where at … Read more
Hope, censorship, the Hong Kong protests and their threads across Asia and the Pacific: a conversation with artist Yuk King Tan, whose show Crisis of the Ordinary is at Starkwhite gallery now. A lattice screen made out of white plastic zip tie police handcuffs. Batons, bottles, drones and other protest objects, wrapped in many-coloured threads, … Read more
A shitload of acts, a shitload of stages, and the potential for a shitload of fun: how to attend The Others Way. Tonight, The Others Way festival makes its welcome return to basically everywhere on Auckland’s Karangahape Road. Part vaunted local music festival, part exercise in divining the exact organisational midpoint between chaos and transcendence, … 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) “The children, of course, add purpose, but the house feels like a … Read more
Blam Blam Blam’s records stunned Grant McDougall’s adolescent mind. He reflects on their impact and what it was like to finally see them live on their reunion tour, which brings them to The Others Way tonight in Auckland. It is winter, 1981. I am 12 and in Form 2 at Gisborne Intermediate. The Springbok tour … Read more
A prose poem by Wellington writer Susanna Gendall. Art The number of artists at the art gallery was overwhelming. It seemed there were too many. There were too many. Never would so many poems be assembled in a single building and people expected to walk around and read each one. It seemed an unfair burden … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Carnival Row, an Amazon Original which can’t break free from its own shallow edginess. The fantasy ghetto is real, and it’s hard to get out of it. Game of Thrones managed to get out of it through the sheer quality of the first season, and also by keeping its more fantastical elements … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: School food programme welcomed with questions about scale, vital tourist infrastructure under pressure, and Transmission Gully won’t be tolled. It’s difficult to do anything on a chronically empty stomach, let alone learn. That is the rationale behind a new announcement from the government, to provide students … Read more
Auckland’s latest mall development, Westfield Newmarket, had its first stage opening yesterday. Josie Adams went to see what all the fuss was about. The long-awaited Westfield Newmarket, on the site of the iconic 277 and now the largest shopping centre in the country, has opened some of its eventual 200-plus doors. Consumers across the supercity … Read more
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alice Webb-Liddall looks at the Gisborne District Council election. 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. … Read more
No show has ever delivered more and better sex than True Blood. Emily Writes looks back on a trashy high-art masterpiece. This content is brought to you by NEON – where all seasons of True Blood are streaming now. It was the scene in the basement that did it for me. Sex swing? Check. Alexander … Read more
In the latest episode of On the Rag, Alex Casey sits down with ALRANZ’s Terry Bellamak to bust some common myths about abortion. Since 2015, Terry Bellamak has been the president of the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ), a group that advocates for abortion law reform alongside further reproductive rights, including the … Read more
The ‘Ready or Not’ hitmakers talk ambition, competition, and how things change when you accidentally become the most buzzed-about young rap group in the country. Church & AP didn’t plan for this. The rappers born Elijah Manū and Albert Purcell were still attending high school in Auckland’s central suburbs when they started working together, more … Read more
A mystery donation to National has people asking how secure our electoral system is from corrupt foreign actors. Law expert Andrew Geddis explains what’s at stake. Following some damn fine newspapering by Matt Nippert, a $150,000 donation given in 2017 to National from the Chinese billionaire owned “Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry (NZ) Ltd” is … Read more
With Falling Inn Love, New Zealand gets its very own Netflix romcom – so how accurate is its depiction of small town NZ? Sam Brooks investigates. When the trailer for Falling Inn Love dropped earlier this month, I had my knives out, and so did the rest of The Spinoff office. A Netflix romcom set … Read more
Diana McDonald remembers the past 13 years through her son Daniel’s fight with cancer. She laughs at his sense of humour. She reflects on his determination to attend university after being diagnosed with a grade four brain tumour at 18. She mulls over the difficulties she and her husband Grant had balancing his needs with … Read more
After the success of the Policy tool in the 2017 general election, this time we’re going local – making it easy to compare the rival candidates in your area. In May 2017, a small group of young people from Wellington approached The Spinoff with an idea. “Proposal: interactive election content,” read the subject header. Their … Read more
Absolute scenes are unfolding in UK right now, with PM Boris Johnson getting an agreement from the Queen to suspend parliament. As you might imagine, it’s all about getting Brexit over the line. Alex Braae has a cheat sheet explaining all. Wait, he can do that? Yes, PM Boris Johnson does have the right to … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Environment minister blocks Waitaha River power scheme, Britain shaken by parliament suspension plan, and measles outbreak spikes in South Auckland. The government has made an important decision to not allow a West Coast hydro power scheme to go ahead. Stuff reports environment minister David Parker declined the … Read more
The Pop-Up Globe will be popping down at the end of its 2020 season and setting off overseas. Sam Brooks talks to its founder, Miles Gregory, about where the future of the company lies. More than 650,000 tickets; 17 productions; 1206 performances; 212 acting jobs. Regardless of where you stand on the Pop-Up Globe, the … Read more
Lani Wendt Young writes powerful Pasifika women who summon earthquakes and crack whips of pure flame. Today, in a fierce lecture presented by the New Zealand Book Council, she landed hit after hit on the all-white castle of publishing, finishing with this rallying cry for change. I read Little House on the Prairie to my … Read more
Kate Underwood shared some special seafood with Clarke Gayford and spoke to him about why the way we fish is so important. Even though he now has access to the ninth floor of the Beehive, Clarke Gayford is still a Gizzy boy at heart. He’s grown up on and in the sea. He has fond … Read more
After years living in New Zealand with her family, English writer Jai Breitnauer is going home. Or is she? I bloody love New Zealand. That might not always come across in the pieces I write, but I do. I love Jacinda and our lefty, greeny, don’t-mention-Winston government. I love the people who take their actual … Read more
1000 Words is a Spinoff series talking to the photographers behind our most iconic political images. In this instalment, Don Rowe speaks to Chris McKeen, the photographer who shot Pania Newton at Ihumātao. The story of Ihumātao is, in a certain sense, one of timing and potentiality. At a moment of ascension for a new … Read more
It is the second week of Celebrity Treasure Island and the gloves are officially off. Alex Casey power ranks the celebrity contestants vying for that sweet charity cash. Two weeks in and I am here to firmly agree with my Real Pod co-host in saying that Celebrity Treasure Island is bloody mindless brilliance. If you … Read more
The Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak has just been released in toy stores worldwide. Alice Webb-Liddall got the chance to try one out. It’s a Tuesday, and a snowy owl flies above my head on the way to work. It poops on me. That’s extra good luck, I think to myself. I get to work, make … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Foreign interference fears rise around donations, anti poverty group disgusted at tobacco company approach, and Labour MP Clare Curran to depart in 2020. The National Party has denied MP Todd McClay facilitated a major party donation while he was the trade minister, reports Radio NZ. The allegation … Read more