If you want to do something to reduce your carbon footprint, you’ll probably consider both an electric vehicle and installing rooftop solar panels. But which is more effective? With overseas research often inapplicable to New Zealand, one man ran the Aotearoa-specific numbers. Phil Jones is not your average greenie. He’s worked in the sustainability sector … Read more
Don’t fall for the spin that presents this latest revision of a historical hostel building type as some kind of genuinely community-based housing, argues Mark Southcombe ‘Co’ is hip and cool. It’s fashionable as a prefix for all sorts of community-based and community-led, co-operative, collaborative and collective housing models. The prefix is also being co-opted … Read more
Not calling it ‘Facebucks’ might be a lost opportunity but the giant social media platform’s new form of money could offer benefits to New Zealanders, writes Aaron McDonald. Facebook’s foray into cryptocurrency has a lot of people shaking their heads in unequal parts of confusion, disbelief and misunderstanding. Blockchain is an emerging technology, one that … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to John Henderson, a partner at one of … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. The team is back to give it a good old Kiwi try across the seas this week, perhaps one of the biggest reality TV weeks of the year. Dancing With the Stars NZ had one explosive finale, … Read more
Mt Albert isn’t exactly known as a cyclist’s paradise, but it has some good rides if you know where to look. Local rider Helen King shares her secrets to cycling in the suburb. Being a bike enthusiast in Mt Albert can feel like being a Labour voter in Epsom: you know you’re in the minority … Read more
In episode eight of The Offspin, we break down the best game of the tournament so far, and talk about the shattered dreams of South African cricket. Writer and journalist James Borrowdale grew up with dreams of South African cricket running through his brain, but they’re long gone now, traded in for a Black Caps … Read more
After 15 seasons, pretty much every doctor on Grey’s Anatomy should be fired or in jail. Sam Brooks revisits all the wild fireable offences that have happened in television’s longest-running medical drama. Fourteen years ago, a little show called Grey’s Anatomy descended upon our screens and captured the hearts of millions. It made stars of its unknown … Read more
The CEO of Air New Zealand Christopher Luxon has resigned, leading to feverish speculation that not only will he get into politics, but that he’ll be the next National PM. Why? Watching the takes unfold around the apparently imminent and glorious political career of Christopher Luxon, it’s hard not to feel a little powerless about … Read more
For anyone considering fixing up a bike, sourcing bike parts, or with an interest in perusing a yard full of years’ worth of trash-turned-treasure, now is your time. Loop Groop – the Eden Terrace co-op that rescues and repairs old bicycles and provides space for people to tinker with bikes themselves – is being forced … Read more
City of Girls is not a cautionary tale, but rather a celebration of what happens when women cease to be cautious, writes Scarlett Cayford. I’ve loved Liz Gilbert for a while now. It wasn’t Eat, Pray, Love that won me over, though I have read it a multitude of times as it was one of … Read more
Concern about nitrates in Canterbury municipal water supplies emphasises the need for new ways to solve the nitrate problem, and Dr Anna Garden might be the scientist to do it. Dr Anna Garden is not your typical chemist. You won’t find her in a laboratory. She sits at a computer imitating experimental conditions unachievable in … Read more
Public service chief executives are now more interested in making their mark than providing government ministers with decent advice – and it’s having disastrous consequences, a former senior Treasury official writes. Sometimes on a Tuesday morning you may hear a low, vaguely rhythmic rumble coming from a Treasury meeting room. A handful of its middle-aged … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Third Oranga Tamariki inquiry announced, Herald highlights iniquities in health sector, and significant new claims around Operation Burnham. A third inquiry into Oranga Tamariki has been announced, and this one looks like being the most significant. It is being launched by chief ombudsman Peter Boshier, and Radio NZ reports … Read more
A mortar and pestle, a pair of scissors and a cooking pot are among the objects Cambodian refugees have kept with them since resettling in New Zealand. Kim Hak grew up in Cambodia just after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, listening to his family recount their memories of the time. He heard his … Read more
We’ve heard a great deal about the Kiwi response to the Christchurch terror attack but less from inside the event. Historian Ann Beaglehole considers how we support victims to ensure the history is written from their perspectives. When outside forces attack, there is a risk of victims focusing inwards and becoming alienated. Following the Christchurch … Read more
It is going to be a long journey to rebuild communities where people feel safe after the Christchurch terror attack. But if we commit to working together, it’s possible, former refugee Dennis Maang writes on World Refugee Day. Following the Christchurch terror attack, I’ve wondered how I will be able to regain the feeling of … Read more
Wahida Zahedi’s love for Christchurch began with a postcard of the Port Hills, sent from almost 14,700km away. This World Refugee Day, she shares her journey from Afghanistan to her new home. Christchurch. How can I describe this magical city? The place I now call home. A city full of dreams, happiness, hope, laughter and … Read more
John Key insisted that the CEO of the bank had been treated in the same way a junior teller would be. Can anyone take that seriously, asks Cat MacLennan When I was a lawyer at Manukau, we used to sit in the lawyers’ room and marvel at the lenient sentences given to the rich, to … Read more
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Driver, a game whose innovations pioneered some of gaming’s biggest present-day trends. Sam Brooks takes a look at the groundbreaking game’s launch – and the series’ unfortunate decline. The year is 1999. The first Super Smash Bros. has come out, the fourth Tomb Raider game to use the same engine as the first … Read more
Last week the Ministry for Children’s practices around uplifting children and putting them in state care were exposed in a harrowing investigation by journalist Melanie Reid. It’s no coincidence Māori are disproportionately targeted, writes Tina Ngata. If you venture into the websites for the Ministry for Women, Ministry for Children and Ministry of Health, the … Read more
Waiheke Island’s favourite four-legged activist may soon be taking a road trip to protest the plans for a floating marina at Kennedy Point. Alice Burton reports. Sue Pawley and her sheep Multi have been an unstoppable force ever since the battle over the proposed marina at Kennedy Point started a few years ago. Together they’ve … Read more
Women are told that their artistic life ends when motherhood starts. But Anna Knox knows that isn’t the case. I was living in Saudi, trying to finish a novel I had started on the UEA (University of East Anglia) Creative Writing programme when I first learned I was pregnant. My partner and I had been … Read more
Other suburbs have their appeal, but one rises above them all. Hayden Donnell argues Mt Albert is the best place to live in Auckland. First, a terrible confession: I grew up on Auckland’s North Shore. For most of my life, all I knew were Planet 8 board shorts and bowl lattes; golden sand beaches clogged … Read more
So thick, so luscious, so versatile. Yes, it’s strained yoghurt, but readers, it’s so much more. Something wonderful happens when you put a sieve of yoghurt over a bowl and sit back and wait. Don’t hurry it: the more patient you are, the more you will be rewarded. As the whey slowly drips from the … Read more
AliExpo 2019 proved New Zealand’s ‘clean, green’ image remains as strong as ever, reports Jihee Junn. At Alibaba’s e-commerce expo on Friday, ‘brand New Zealand’ was at its sales-pitch best. There were face masks, eye masks, hand creams and serums made from the most natural of ingredients this side of the world had to offer. … Read more
The scale of departing ANZ NZ CEO David Hisco’s public humiliation by his employer doesn’t fit the crime he’s said to have committed, Gareth Vaughan of interest.co.nz argues. ANZ New Zealand’s town square disgracing of David Hisco, its CEO of almost nine years, is extraordinary. He delivered in spades for ANZ NZ’s shareholders for almost … Read more
With the release of the Zero Carbon Bill, Flick CEO Steve O’Connor worries that our zero carbon ambitions will be impeded by an electricity market that’s not working as it should. Right now, we’re sandwiched between two pieces of policy work that have the potential to shape fundamental outcomes in the electricity industry: the recently-announced … Read more
It’s the biggest question in public art: which of these strolling sculptures would smash the other? Tara Ward plays referee. Who would win in a fight: Boy Walking or Giant Hand? It’s a question that’s perplexed both scientists and statues for at least a week, and a mystery so consuming I will never rest until … Read more