What reasons did people list for opposing the vaccine? How does New Zealand stack up against the US? And what do we think about compulsory face mask-wearing? UMR Research executive director Stephen Mills on the company’s latest findings. An online survey by UMR from late November found 74% of New Zealanders said they were willing … Read more
Every year since the distant past (2016) the Spinoff has assembled a pantheon of politics watchers to appraise the 12 months past and cast a gaze ahead at those to come. To kick us off in a year of Covid and voting, the champs and the flops of 2020. Alex Braae Champs Mark Ball Easily … Read more
The Spinoff launched a plan to bury a time capsule containing the epitome of this hell year before working out where we were going to plant the thing. Josie Adams was tasked with finding somewhere suitable. So, you want to bury a time capsule. First, stop. Does the future need this? Historians in a century … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for December 16. Reach me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum An interim report by the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care was released, detailing systemic failures in the state’s handling of abuse claims. The Treasury’s half year economic and fiscal update (HYEFU) said economic recovery will be … Read more
Wellington has come in for a bashing recently, but complaints about house prices, weather and infrastructure only tell part of the story. Lucy Revill shares a few of the things she’s most excited about for summer in the capital. At some point in my mid 20s, I decided to stop staring mournfully into my long … Read more
An Auckland bar attracted heat last month for hosting a US election party attended by MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporters. Three former employees have come forward to say that incident is the least of its issues. Former staff of popular Auckland bar Hoppers have come forward with allegations about the working environment they encountered there, including … Read more
All this week we’re looking back on some of the best videos published on The Spinoff in 2020. Today, 100 Year Forecast looks at the future of flooding in New Zealand. Watch all five episodes of 100 Year Forecast on our special interactive website HERE. Aotearoa is a steep and rugged country. Our settlements are … Read more
Fresh from the Press Gallery Christmas Party, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Toby Manhire and Ben Thomas convene for the final time in 2020 to recap the year in New Zealand politics. What do Jacinda Ardern, Chlöe Swarbrick, David Seymour, Labour’s Covid-19 response, the Māori Party’s return to parliament, National’s Todd Muller era, that disastrous campaign day on … Read more
Ex-member of the exclusive Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club and former New Zealand Herald owner Michael Horton has broken ranks with his former golf-playing peers to call out the club on plans to reduce the amount of rates it pays. Retired newspaper publisher Michael Horton and a small group of concerned South Auckland residents … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Swag of briefings to incoming ministers released, government outlines summer Covid resurgence plan, and Port Hills fire comes amid scorching week. A whole lot of papers around the end of one term of government and the start of the next have been released. The briefings to … Read more
Did a group of plucky young New Zealanders really save the Pacific from nuclear testing with some boats, bravery and beer? Not quite, write Sylvia Frain and Rebecca H. Hogue. Who doesn’t love a beautifully made commercial that makes us feel good about New Zealand and our place in the world? The latest in this … Read more
Nobody loves collecting up things and trying to put them in another thing like Hayden Donnell, who gloriously failed in his life mission to get a bunch of items of national significance into Te Papa Tongarewa. Who better to unleash on our new project: The Spinoff Aotearoa 2020 Time Capsule. Most time capsules are infused … Read more
The global pandemic forced millions inside and online, changing the way the world interacts and does business, and accelerating technology adoption. George Driver discovers how this year, New Zealand brought the future a little closer. March 22, 2020: I am standing at the door of my tent in a deserted campground on a Northland beach, … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for December 15. Reach me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 8.00pm: The day in sum The government unveiled its Covid-19 summer resurgence plan, including an instruction for New Zealanders to isolate in their holiday bubble and not return home, should Covid suddenly return. A Covid-19 vaccine would be ‘unlikely to replace all … Read more
Sesame Street returns to New Zealand screens this week, and nobody is more excited than Grover, the show’s friendly blue monster. If there was ever a year when we needed a furry blue superhero to rescue us, it’s this one, and Sesame Street has no time left to waste. The 48th season of the beloved … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe runs through her favourites. This is a joyfully subjective list, in no particular order, and with no real thought for how many are novels or non-fiction or non-fiction with illustrations, or whatever. They’re just books I flat-out love. Some we’ve covered during the year but others, equally deserving, completely whooshed past … Read more
All this week we’re looking back at some of the best videos published on The Spinoff in 2020. Today, Alice Snedden’s Bad News looks at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As Taika Waititi once said, New Zealand is racist as fuck. To find out what he meant, Alice and Kura (Ngāti Porou) … Read more
They’re under parliament buildings, in opera houses, even floating through space. And now The Spinoff is about to bury one for 2020. While stashing stuff for future humans to unearth has been a tradition for thousands of years, when did ‘time capsules’ become a thing? At the beginning of high school, it is these days … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Australia welcomes travel bubble talk, no new public info about Ihumātao, and speaker Mallard proactively arranges meeting with select committee. There’s still some water to go under the air bridge, but a trans-Tasman travel bubble could become a reality early next year. At her post-cabinet press … Read more
The Royal Commission report makes it clear that foreign intelligence partners and domestic intelligence agencies saw right-wing extremism as a low-priority local law enforcement issue, not a pressing national security threat, writes Paul G Buchanan. If one phrase sums up the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report on the Christchurch terrorist attacks, it is “systemic failure”. … Read more
An NCEA history exam this year included a poem by Lionel Terry, a white supremacist and cold-blooded murderer. Chris Tse, who wrote a book inspired by Terry’s victim, explains why the exam question has caused such hurt within the Chinese New Zealand community. I have a complicated history with Lionel Terry, and it pains me … Read more
In the final part of Coming Home, hosts Duncan Greive and Jane Yee ask what can be done to keep returning New Zealanders on our shores post-pandemic. Over the first four episodes of Coming Home we’ve heard about what’s been pushing New Zealanders to live and work overseas for decades, and what pulled so many … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for December 14. Reach me at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day in sum Quarantine-free travel with Australia is expected to be permitted in the first quarter of 2021. A commencement date for the travel bubble will be announced in the new year. Jacinda Ardern refused to confirm if a deal … Read more
If you love The Spinoff and are an experienced developer, we want to hear from you. The Spinoff is looking for an intermediate developer to join us in our Morningside, Auckland office to take ownership and responsibility for the development of the full Spinoff site. This includes writing extensible and robust full stack code in … Read more
This has been a year of amazement and endurance. Let’s bury it together. How do you tell a story like 2020? The lockdown year. The bubble year. The suppurating mouth ulcer year. As with just about every media operation around this infectious planet, we’ve been wondering how to sum up such a terrible and cacophonous … Read more
All this week we’re looking back on some of the best videos published on The Spinoff in 2020. Today, when Scratched caught up with Joeli Vidiri, the greatest All Black that never was. Most customers at Mitre 10 Mega in Pukekohe don’t realise they’ve just been greeted by one of the most exciting talents in … Read more
Two of Auckland’s best sandwich makers join sandwich aficionados Simon Day and Stewart Sowman-Lund to talk about their craft. Why are sandwiches so good? It’s a question anybody who’s ever eaten a sandwich has probably wondered at some point in their life. And who better to ask than this week’s Dietary Requirements guests, Aletheia Elder … Read more
First home buyers and investors compete as a record number of homes get snapped up. Businessdesk’s Brent Melville reports. Almost 10,000 houses changed hands last month, a 29.6% increase on last November. Latest data from the Real Estate Institute of NZ showed that was the highest monthly sales in 14 years. The frantic nature of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Trevor Mallard under pressure over legal costs, questions over why border testing review is still under wraps, and Massey academics speak out against cuts. Speaker Trevor Mallard is under pressure over the costs of paying out to end a defamation dispute. In the wake of the … Read more