New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas. Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go to international charities because Kiwis prefer to give as close to home as possible. … Read more
A nightmarish and near-fatal high-speed pursuit of a New Zealand Chinese family concluded with a judge rejecting the prosecution’s request for hate crime sentencing. Tze Ming Mok discusses why New Zealand’s approach to hate crime is utterly useless. I don’t like horror movies. I could only watch Get Out while on a plane, on a … Read more
The Māori midwives on the frontline of whānau care and Oranga Tamariki scrutiny say their voices are going unheard and their wisdom unheeded. *All names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved Newsroom’s powerful investigation into Oranga Tamariki’s attempt to ‘uplift’ a newborn baby at a Hawke’s Bay maternity ward has alarmed … Read more
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers. Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine or farm equipment, then it’s celebrating creatives. You may have come across a flour-pasted … Read more
In Melbourne last week the New Zealand prime minister addressed a crowd of Australian residents desperate for a little ordinary humanity in a politician. But Joe Nunweek found one passage a little too typical of what we’ve seen and heard from our leaders before. Thursday, 18 July: a big night for New Zealanders in Victoria, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Second round of gun law changes announced, hundreds with conditions like Down syndrome get early Kiwisaver, and a major refusal to participate in March 15 inquiry. The second major phase of gun law reform has been announced by the government. Interest reports a gun register will be … Read more
Almost as soon as it was announced, the Royal Commission tasked with probing the lead-up and response to the terrorist attacks in March attracted criticism, both over the process and its engagement with Muslim groups. Former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres was invited to attend today. He won’t be there, however. In a letter … Read more
While researching NZ on Air for a recent history, Duncan Greive noticed a shocking 30 year trend. News broke over the weekend that Love Island NZ, Three’s biggest announcement of the year, will now not screen in 2019, and realistically is unlikely to be made at all now. The fall of a much-discussed, much-critiqued reality TV … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews the second season of Big Little Lies, which generated as much social media conversation as its first season did critical acclaim, for better and worse. Light spoilers for the second season of Big Little Lies. Big Little Lies felt like the TV phenomenon of 2017. It united three of the most acclaimed actresses of … Read more
Ruby Porter’s debut novel, Attraction, is a lucid, layered story of three young women on a road trip across the North Island. It’s one of the best books we’ve read this year. Here, Ruby writes about her grandmother – who is not like the grandmother in her book – and Levin, and how the two … Read more
In 2003 the Silver Ferns won the Netball World Cup, breaking the Australian Diamonds’ 16-year winning streak. In 2019, they’ve just done the same thing. Leana de Bruin was a rookie in that 2003 team, and talked to The Spinoff about the hard work and emotional high of becoming world champions. Just 11 months since … Read more
One of the many unspoken rules of British life is that when one is drinking at the pub with others, one buys rounds. For the naive New Zealander, it’s stressful AF, says Elle Hunt. At the pub one Friday night in London a few weeks ago, I was at the bar with a large group … Read more
What if you could grow a house from seed or 3D print a new subdivision in a week? The housing sector is ripe for disruption – could technology be the magic bullet we need? Jo Aitken sounds like she’s pitching an episode for the next season of Black Mirror. Her ideas about the future of … Read more
The architect of the incredible turnaround the Silver Ferns have enjoyed is now off-contract. So now that the World Cup has been won, how can Netball NZ keep Noeline Taurua on the books? Radio NZ’s Ravinder Hunia recounts the journey and analyses her options. The Silver Ferns winning a gold medal against their toughest rival … Read more
Fifteen tracks, 22 guests, one album. The Spinoff Music listens to Ed Sheeran’s No. 6 Collaborations Project and considers why each track really shouldn’t work – and the sometimes surprising reasons why they do. 1. Beautiful People – Khalid Khalid and Ed Sheeran are two of the biggest stars in the world right now – … Read more
A personal journey from reasonable trepidation to sweet love for the video game Minecraft. It was barely a week after I said to my sister “I don’t let the boys play any games” that my children’s Minecraft obsession began. We had agreed that Fortnite was likely the worst (I’ve never played it but spoke with … Read more
Sephora store employees may have swept some confetti down Auckland city’s drains on Saturday, and people got angry… at an entire generation. On Saturday, French cosmetics giant Sephora opened its first New Zealand store on Auckland’s Queen Street. Excited makeup enthusiasts queued overnight for the honour of being the first through the doors to get … Read more
More than 20,000 Aucklanders don’t have access to regular showers or the ability to wash their clothing. Alice Webb-Liddall tags along on a shift with Orange Sky, who are giving homeless people back these basic needs. On an overcast Friday morning outside the Auckland City Mission, a group of volunteers are gathered around an orange … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Many claim leadership positions around farming emissions, concerns rise about deported gang members in small towns, and superyacht predictions panned. Now apologies if you feel like this is repetition – we did have a Bulletin last week about the plan to phase agriculture into the emissions … Read more
Six things councils can do right now to make the ’emergency’ worth more than the paper it’s written on. Councils are declaring climate emergencies across the country, but with only a decade to cut carbon emissions in half, it’s time for them to act like this is an emergency. So, what can our cities be … Read more
Orchestral music performance is an art form, but how do you engage with something you’ve never experienced before? Samiyah Alghamdi and Anna Knox attend NYO Celebrates in Wellington and unpack what they hear. The National Youth Orchestra and the New Zealand Youth Choir were performing as part of the NZSO’s 2019 Podium Series, which was … Read more
Tara Ward reviews Funny As, a series that documents the history of New Zealand comedy, and manages to be a key part of that history in its own right. Kiwi comedy has come a long way since Fred Dagg first fell out of a Land Rover, and new documentary series Funny As: The Story of New Zealand … Read more
Cave à Vin founder Zane Kelsall says he has been in ‘intense therapy’ following sexual misconduct claims in Halifax. Last week, The Spinoff published a story about Cave à Vin, a new wine bar on Auckland’s North Shore. The story hailed the vision of its owner, Zane Kelsall, who had recently emigrated from Canada with … Read more
Hundreds of artefacts connected with the lesbian community in New Zealand are displayed in a small volunteer-run museum in West Auckland. Charmaine always had crushes on girls. When she was head girl of Auckland Girls’ Grammar, she fell in love with her deputy. Her mother warned her of the dangers of intense friendships with women, … Read more
From a school for budding beekeepers to a street-side garden growing produce for locals, Auckland’s abuzz with projects making the city safer for pollinators. Auckland’s a hive of activity aimed at helping our pollinators and it’s all a part of For the Love of Bees. A living social sculpture, it invites everyone and anyone to … Read more
Aldous Harding is coming back to New Zealand. In the lead-up to her shows, she spoke to The Spinoff about live TV, maturity, and the weirder interpretations of her songs. Aldous Harding is calling from her home in Wales. Only a couple of minutes in, the call drops. I worry I’ve said something to upset … Read more
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Aaron Jones, founder of Christchurch-based reusable bag company Zerobag. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Zerobag. Zerobag is a New Zealand-owned company started 10 years ago that specialises in locally designed, high-quality, long-life reusable … Read more
Aaron Kreisler looks beyond the gags in this survey of an artist and his dogs at the Christchurch Art Gallery. “The dog really must love him, it’s so incredibly patient…”, a woman says to her daughter, punctuating a screening of Coin toss (1972). In a collection of short single-take videos, American artist William Wegman participates … Read more
Created by future ACT Party leader Richard Prebble after an epic reform bender in the 80s, NZ on Air has just marked its third decade. Duncan Greive relates its history and asks: is the funder still fit for purpose? It’s a time-honoured tradition for NZ on Air to host parties the night before its board … Read more