New Zealand is in recession, so why are so many in the finance industry so confident about the future? Fergus McDonald of Nikko Assset Management explains. This was a year of fear, anxiety, uncertainty and global economic defibrillation. And yet for investors and owners of assets – from art, to gold, to property – it … Read more
With Britain’s shambolic government locking down London at the last minute, the prospect of Christmas – which had been something to hold on to at the end of a dreary, isolating and distressing year – went up in smoke. “The air feels different,” said my boyfriend as we went for a walk on Sunday, one … Read more
Sam Brooks muses on being without family for the festive season, and creating new traditions from the ashes of the old. When you think of the word orphan, two images come to mind. One of them is an ash-faced boy who wants more gruel, and the other is of a redhead girl with implausibly clean … Read more
The pod squad gathers for the last time this year to celebrate and commiserate the best and worst food and drink of 2020. In the final episode of the year, Sophie, Alice and Simon share their culinary highlights and lowlights from a year that had nearly everything. It started with Simon and Sophie adding children … Read more
This festive Italian specialty is as delicious paired with a Christmas Eve nightcap as it is with a Christmas morning coffee – and yes, there’s still time to make it. I love the magic of Christmas. The carols, watching Christmas lights begin to twinkle as night falls, stockings hung by the fireplace and Christmas sweet … Read more
Charlotte Muru-Lanning is an ethical consumer, and she wants a hot AF party dress for the festive season. Why is it so damn hard to find something sexy and sustainable? For many, lockdown meant reflecting on our normal ways of doing things, as the pandemic cast a magnifying glass over how cruel, unsustainable and frankly … Read more
‘A kick in the face for Christmas’ – that’s how Catherine Delahunty, chair of Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki, describes the news that her group must pay almost $80,000 in costs after losing its bid to stop a toxic waste dump near Waihi. It’s the week before Christmas and I am trying to buy grandchildren presents … Read more
Looking for something great to watch on broadcast television this Christmas? Good luck. It’s been a grim year, and if you’re facing Christmas without streaming options like Netflix or Neon, then you should prepare for the worst. There’s nowhere grimmer than free-to-air TV this festive season, unless you like repeats of Tipping Point: Lucky Stars, … Read more
Learning to read is taught at school, but learning to sit properly isn’t. Here’s how to keep an oily spine. If you’re reading this, you probably know how to read. But do you know how to sit? Summer is coming, which means one of our family members is about to gift us a book and … Read more
As New Zealand returned to normality following community outbreaks of Covid-19, commuters in much of the country went back to taking the bus and train. Auckland was different. Remember June and July? Those halcyon days following the first lockdown, when it seemed like we’d beaten Covid and alert level one would last forever. New Zealanders … Read more
The Spinoff was in mortal peril in late March, before its members came to the rescue. Managing editor Duncan Greive takes a look at what those members made possible in this most memorable year. Illustration and design by Ezra Whittaker and Lauren Maree Stewart. I’m writing – exhausted and, if I’m entirely honest, with a … Read more
As 2020 draws to a close, Michael Andrew asks the economists what they made of a year of dire forecasts, record spikes, lockdowns, recessions and resilience. It’s April 2020, New Zealand is in the middle of the nationwide level four lockdown, and I’m on the phone with my old university lecturer, Professor Paul Hansen – … Read more
Elise Sterback is leaving The Basement theatre after seven years as its executive director. Battling post-Covid instability, she’s led the Auckland institution to a new artist-first strategy, renewed long-term funding and game-changing sector vision. It’s been a rough year for the arts, but the Basement Theatre, in its classic number-eight-wire fashion, has clambered through and … Read more
Simon Day spoke to Charlotte Ward, chief people officer at Kiwibank, about what it was like to return to Aotearoa in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Charlotte Ward has constantly been on the move. Now, she’s found her way home and doesn’t plan on going anywhere any time soon. The newly appointed chief people … Read more
New Zealand’s supply of vaccines to the Pacific may cap a critical role in the region’s rising geopolitical tensions, writes Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk. Last week’s announcement New Zealand has secured enough vaccinations not only for its own population, but for Pacific Island “neighbour” nations, is significant for more than just the fact that we have a … Read more
From the comforting to the confronting, the uplifting to the bizarre, telly kept us sane in this godawful year. Of all the heroes we looked to this year, there’s one that doesn’t get the respect it deserves: the humble television screen. This year when we retreated to our homes to stay safe, old mate telly … Read more
Pour yourself some eggnog and join the hosts of The Spinoff’s podcast network for our annual Superpod. Once a year delegates from Gone By Lunchtime, Dietary Requirements, The Real Pod, Papercuts, The Fold and On The Rag gather around some microphones to discuss the key events, issues, heroes and villains of the previous 12 months. … Read more
Emily Writes lists the essential items you need for your family holiday. Packing to go on summer holiday is an art and a scientific problem. It involves using both sides of the brain. An emotional and intellectual operation that can make or break your summer. If you’re going on a summer holiday don’t let the … 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. Today’s charts cover the whole of 2020, up until the end of Sunday, December 20. A note on Auē – we’re pretty … Read more
The weakness of the Royal Commission report is that it treats Islamist extremist terrorism and extreme right white nationalist terrorism as different categories, when in fact they are part of the same problem, argues former Green MP Keith Locke. Much of the commentary on the Royal Commission report into the Christchurch terrorist attacks falls short … Read more
The contents list is nearing completion, and the location options are coming together nicely. Last week we announced our plan to literally encapsulate the year 2020, and literally to bury it: a time capsule. A bit futuristic, a bit nostalgic, and a convenient alternative to reviewing the year by staring helplessly into the endless void. … Read more
The speed at which Sydney’s new Covid-19 outbreak has spread should be a lesson in the dangers of complacency, says Siouxsie Wiles. With news of a new strain of the Covid-19 virus spreading in the UK, it looks like Australia’s Christmas plans are also up in the air with a new cluster of cases in … Read more
Technology is helping New Zealand’s small businesses focus on the important stuff and freeing up their valuable time, while dealing with the challenges and opportunities of a pandemic. As a nation of five million, we love to hold up our shiny success stories of Kiwi businesses that have made it big on the world stage. … Read more
Imprisoned New Zealanders are facing an escalation in life-threatening self-harm attempts as the Department of Corrections grapples with a mental health epidemic, according to documents obtained through the Official Information Act. Peter McKenzie reports. This story discusses depression, self-harm, suicide and traumatic events. Prison isn’t pleasant. It is a place of restraints and restrictions where … Read more
An extra question for our esteemed politics watchers this year: what would they add to the Spinoff time capsule, our mechanism to literally encapsulate (and bury) the year 2020. Read more from our political year in review here. Some hand sanitiser – it’ll probably still be good to use when they crack the box open … Read more
Auckland councillor Cathy Casey sizes up what life is like for the city’s dogs and their owners – and finds there’s plenty of room for improvement. In the world’s great cities, dogs are well integrated into everyday public life. Amsterdam has some of the world’s most liberal dog policies and everywhere a Parisian goes, a … Read more
Craig Sisterson pays tribute to a legend. On December 12, one of the world’s greatest spy masters slipped from this world. Not from an assassin’s bullet in a darkened alley, poisoning from a nerve agent, or a wretched betrayal by someone wrongly trusted; but pneumonia. After a lifetime entwined with spycraft, David John Moore Cornwell, … Read more
Last year Al Jazeera news anchor Kamahl Santamaria wrote one of our most read stories, reflecting on a tumultuous 2019 for Aotearoa, as observed from the other side of the world. Here he shares his thoughts on how the world saw his homeland throughout another huge year. I wrote a piece like this at the … Read more
A new, more infectious strain of the Covid-19 virus has reportedly emerged in the UK, prompting the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to announce new restrictions to try to curb its spread. Dr Siouxsie Wiles explains. Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA … Read more