From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, the world’s winningest road runner, Anne Audain. Anne Audain has won more races than she’s lost. In fact, of the 112 road races that Audain ran … Read more
Nine years ago, John Key introduced the number one song of The Rock 1000 countdown: Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name Of’. Johnny Crawford writes about this bizarre moment in NZ musical history. While some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses, some of them just want to rock … Read more
Former leader Gareth Morgan says The Opportunities Party’s remaining members are ‘grovelling, compromising political aspirants’ and that’s the least of new leader Geoff Simmons’ problems. Max Towle for RNZ In Depth asks: can Simmons rescue the party from itself – and does the party really hold any appeal to voters now its colourful founder is gone? … Read more
Charlotte Red talks to Sharon Van Etten ahead of her (sold-out) Auckland show tonight about her critically acclaimed album Remind Me Tomorrow and the shift from folk multi-instrumentalist to pop-rock frontwoman. There’s something about considering the passing of time in Sharon Van Etten’s latest album Remind Me Tomorrow that keeps you present. Only when you’re standing … Read more
Mark Manson has followed up his mega-selling The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck with another sweary self-helper. Mark Broatch tries to get into his head. Hi there. You might remember me from my previous book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. In that book, which I wrote when I was 32, … Read more
Our housing crisis is intimately linked to our prison overcrowding crisis, write Vanessa Cole and Ti Lamusse In May 2018, Charlotte was unexpectedly released from prison following a short period on remand. While in prison, Charlotte* lost her only source of income and the room she was renting. Her family were a major source of … Read more
Matariki is a time to gather with friends and family and reflect on the year that has been and plan for the year ahead. Here’s a quick explainer. Extra reporting by Leonie Hayden Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleaides star cluster. It rises during Pipiri (June/July) and marks the beginning of the Māori … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. Eid Mubarak to all. In today’s edition: Digital services tax takes shape, Corrections makes unexpected money out of prison canteens, and infant formula industry takes hit on China moves. We’re getting a much better idea of what the digital services tax is going to look like, after the release … Read more
The bike-hating sticker owner underscores just what a nightmare it is to try to get around Auckland on a bicycle, writes Amanda Chapman I first saw that awful sticker while stuck at a traffic light. It contained an iconised bike enclosed within a circular no symbol. Next to it, in all caps: GET OFF THE … Read more
In the land of hope and glory, the US president’s state visit is under way against a backdrop of wild insults between Donald Trump and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. Here’s the backstory. Not since Lindsay Lohan slandered the Northamptonshire town of Kettering and failed to switch on their Christmas lights has a transatlantic feud … Read more
A free, well organised event in Auckland is something to cherish. When it falls on a long weekend? All the more reason to spend a few of those extra hours among people far more talented than you. Alice Webb-Liddall went to Chromacon to browse the art and check out some of New Zealand’s hottest portrait … Read more
Climate treaties, sustainability goals and energy commitments are proliferating around the world. The answers to these targets must involve new materials and research in this area is happening in New Zealand, writes Dr Geoff Willmott. Last Friday, students across the country walked out of school for the second time this year in protest against climate … Read more
New research shows there’s been a dramatic increase in the number of New Zealand children getting injured playing sport. It’s a timely reminder that kids don’t need competition to be active, writes ACC’s Isaac Carlson. As a kid growing up in rural Wairarapa I got stuck in to just about every sport I could, as … Read more
Alex Casey meets Julz Tocker, the Dancing With the Stars NZ judge who refuses to sit down. If you’ve ever seen Dancing With the Stars NZ, you’ll know that judge Julz Tocker doesn’t do anything by halves. If anything, he does things by doubles. He meditates twice a day for 20 minutes. He has two … Read more
It’s not the screen use that’s the problem, but the type of content we’re consuming right before sleep. In both Europe and the US, more than 90% of adolescents have their faces buried in screens before bed. Often, this comes at a cost to sleep. Frequent screen users are much more likely to report falling … Read more
Four decades after holding a mirror up to Kiwi masculinity with the sensational play Foreskin’s Lament, Greg McGee is back with Necessary Secrets, a new novel that asks the same question: whaddarya? At a time when we might feel we’ve reached peak old privileged white bloke, it’s a brave writer who devotes the first 61 … Read more
She’s only 28, but Bailey Wiley already feels like an industry veteran. She’s been grinding away in Dunedin, Berlin, the US, and Auckland for years, and her latest EP is a smooth, personal reflection of these experiences. She sat down to discuss her new EP, the catharsis of Berlin, and the difference between her generation … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fears for cities with loss of trees, competitive battle looms for Dunedin mayoralty, and teacher strike talks to take place amid new secondary strike action. New Zealand’s urban environments are losing worryingly high numbers of irreplaceable mature trees, reports Charlie Mitchell at Stuff. It comes a decade after … Read more
Two women who entered parliament at the age of 23, albeit 42 years apart, discuss their parliamentary experiences Read an extract from The Political Years by Marilyn Waring here When Chlöe Swarbrick is introduced at events, she finds herself hailed as the youngest person to be elected to parliament since Marilyn Waring. “I’m very sorry. … Read more
Why do we strike? Because the profession is in crisis. Because Immigration NZ declined my teacher mate’s residency application owing to the fact her pay is 39 cents an hour too little, writes Christchurch teacher Annabel Wilson. I turned my school email to auto-reply at midnight on May 29 because I quite often get emails … Read more
A ‘wake-up call’ has been issued to businesses and the health and safety sector. A system that puts the onus on victims to come forward and face an intimidating complaints process needs a fundamental overhaul After decades of preventable workplace accidents and deaths caused largely by the nation’s ‘she’ll be right’ attitude, New Zealand’s health … Read more
It’s week eight of Dancing with the Stars, and (some of) our favourite celebs from past seasons return! Sam Brooks power-ranks the contestants. Credit where credit is due: This is a much better gambit than pairing people up with each other for devastatingly unbalanced triple dances. Who doesn’t want to see human lightbulb Barbara Kendall … Read more
If humans become extinct, what will take our place at the top of the pile? Luc Bussiere of University of Stirling takes a stab at it. Originally published by the Conversation in 2016 In a post-apocalyptic future, what might happen to life if humans left the scene? After all, humans are very likely to disappear long … Read more
Wellington’s music scene is diverse, vibrant, and full of community spirit – but it doesn’t come easy. Ben Lynch looks into the reality of being a music venue owner in the capital. Whether you subscribe to Wellington’s widely used moniker of ‘coolest little capital’ or not, there’s no denying that the city has a depth … Read more
Cartoon characters can be almost anything – people, animals, figments of your imagination. And they can also be hot as hell. In the last few weeks I’ve watched a lot of kids’ TV as my little ones have struggled through a seemingly endless string of viruses. It’s little wonder that your mind wanders when you’re … Read more
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, New Zealand Chinese writer Tze Ming Mok writes a beautiful, bitter letter to an old friend in Xinjiang, grappling with matters of conscience, community survival, and Anne-Marie Brady’s ‘Magic Weapons’ paper. Originally published in the new collection Life on Volcanoes: Contemporary Essays But where were we? You … Read more
Marshmallow justice warrior Amanda Thompson visits a real-life chocolate factory and quite possibly saves the Easters of the future. What’s in a shape? When is an egg not an egg? When it’s a cheaty hoval, that’s when. Last month I wrote a ranking of the world’s most important foodstuff, chocolate-covered marshmallow Easter eggs. What motivated … Read more
It’s Queen’s Birthday Monday, but it’s not the Queen’s birthday. Josie Adams explains her personal vendetta against this holiday and the monarchy in general. Queen’s Birthday celebrations will be held today, at Queen’s Wharf. This is not Queen Elizabeth II’s real birthday, nor do I believe she’s ever set foot on an Auckland wharf. However, … Read more
Taranaki workers who once earned six-figure salaries are having to rethink their lives after the government axed future offshore oil and gas exploration. Could alternative energy prove their saviour, asks Robin Martin for this RNZ Insight report Money never used to be an issue for geologist Gary Ammundsen. He was a “mudlogger” – responsible for … Read more