Christchurch resident Sara Green* reflects on what it was like growing up Jewish in New Zealand, and what it means to be an ethnic minority today. My initial intent with this essay was to give a personal perspective of how it felt to belong to an ethnic minority in New Zealand. Then the world as … Read more
After the Black Caps’ victory over Sri Lanka in their first match of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Calum Henderson has made an important update to his ranking of every New Zealand ODI shirt. Has any other team in world sport worn such a wide and varied range of colours as the TelstraClear New Zealand … Read more
In the second episode of The Offspin, esteemed uniform ranker Calum Henderson joins the podcast to discuss the Black Caps’ comprehensive victory over Sri Lanka, uniform fashion trends and Simon Doull’s glorious goatee from 1999. It’s 2.30am on Sunday, Simon has driven back from the beach to be here, Alex has come from a wedding, … Read more
Why would anyone go to a men’s summit, in an age of online self help videos and feminism, let alone bother to host one? Critic sent a reporter to find out by spending a day with Dunedin’s Men’s Rights Activists. Update, 10 June 2019: Hans Laven, the clinical psychologist who appears in this story, has … Read more
A slice of this slathered in butter makes for the perfect savoury snack. This loaf provides a wonderful burst of flavour that will brighten up any lunchbox. Make it as a loaf or in muffin tins for handy snacks. And as with the banana bread I shared last week, it’s always better with a generous … Read more
In our Q&A series, The Lightbulb, we ask innovators and entrepreneurs to tell us about how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Ming Dapiere, founder of packaging company R3pack (pronounced R-Three-Pack) which provides compostable and recycled courier options. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for R3pack. R3pack is a … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Sam Brooks: The 10 most shocking moments in the blistering new book ‘Whale Oil’ Slater tried to add Blomfield’s 10-year-old daughter on Snapchat Well after the armed attack, and a fair way into the protracted legal battle between the pair, Slater, or someone pretending to … Read more
Ever wondered what those huddles of blokes with their tiny yachts are up to? Alex Casey hit the Onepoto pond to find out. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. It was a 250,000-year journey to get to one perfect moment in Onepoto Domain on Auckland’s North Shore. All that needed to happen was a volcano erupting, … Read more
Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we’re joined by booze enthusiast Meg Abbott-Walker for a special episode celebrating drinks. For the first time in our 11-episode history, we don’t eat a single skerrick of food on air. … Read more
The fight to save Ihumātao has been raging for years. Now, with the arrival of the Fletcher diggers imminent, the kaitiaki are staying true to their peaceful, positive protest approach. On a sunny day out in south Auckland, the handful of people at Ihumātao are stuck into work early, painting chairs, stacking firewood and cleaning … Read more
Ahead of the Black Caps’ first match in the 2019 World Cup, superfan Simon Day longs for his former leader. Every day I miss Brendon McCullum. Whenever he was on the field as captain I felt an unusual sensation as a longterm Black Caps fan – optimism. No matter what the scoreboard said, I thought “we’re … Read more
The state should massively increase its investment in teachers, but take off the blinkers and recognise the best teachers should earn more – it works in the rest of the economy, argues the ACT leader A recent Spinoff article starts by quoting me as wanting to set $1 million aside as a fund to better … Read more
Hannah McGowan, who has lived on a benefit for most of the past 20 years, responds to the news that WINZ has been accessing the private communications of beneficiaries. Last month I outlined my situation as a welfare recipient and the ongoing effects of WINZ policies on my working and personal life. Essentially, if I … Read more
For Auckland is a new Spinoff podcast of civic conversations with people working to create and sustain a better Auckland for all. In episode three, host Timothy Giles speaks to Pania Newton about the fight for Ihumātao. So much of New Zealand history is defined by our conflict over land. In Māngere, south Auckland, the … Read more
The wellbeing budget is a genuinely big idea, and deserves to transcend a messy week, writes Duncan Greive. Nineteen-thirty-four was not a good year for the USA. Five years into the Great Depression, and five years from the worst world war. The economy stubbornly static, dangerous fascists rising across the Atlantic, the dust bowl at … Read more
What does a Sleater Kinney collaboration with St Vincent, an epic mashup, and the return of bro-music’s moodiest navel-gazers have in common? They’re all in The Spinoff Music’s best songs of May 2019. International ‘Hurry on Home’ by Sleater Kinney 2019, and the only thing that can save the world is a Sleater-Kinney song produced … Read more
The Red Bull 64 Bars series has become a hotbed of local hip-hop. Hussein Moses asked the artists who had stepped up to the mic to break down their favourite one-liners from a series that’s full of them. Now seven seasons deep, and on the eve of the next group of young talent stepping up … Read more
Despite dominating the political agenda for much of the year, tax was barely mentioned in the budget. That doesn’t mean the work there is over, writes Greg Thompson of Grant Thornton New Zealand. Budget 2019 was strangely silent on all things tax – odd given the level of investment and attention the Tax Working Group … Read more
What did international coverage get right about the 2019 Budget? Not a hell of a lot, writes Alex Braae. “I read the foreign news to understand my nation.” So said Matt Berninger of band The National, in a line from the song ‘Fashion Coat’. The government’s 2019 budget – the first ever Wellbeing Budget at … Read more
New poetry by Wellington poet and artist Ana Iti. All the way to Te Rerenga Wairua Does the spirit intrinsically know what direction to travel to get to Hawaiki? Or Heaven? Is there some colonial idea of blood quantum that first has to be observed? Would the saliva of the intangible get processed by … Read more
Today is Love Your Local Venue Day, part of NZ Music Month, and it marks the 15th anniversary of beloved Auckland venue The Wine Cellar. Gareth Shute pays tribute to the best dive bar in town. This piece is republished with permission from Audioculture.. The Wine Cellar has become a well-loved landmark within the live music … Read more
Recognising that mental health is affected by the environment we live means we can focus on getting the fence built at the top of the cliff rather than the therapist at the bottom, writes Olivia Wills. The build-up to the world-first “wellbeing” budget was anything but dull. With documents leaked and a hack which was … Read more
The essential best-selling book chart in New Zealand, recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa by Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Please read this breathtaking extract from some of O’Malley’s finest work. 2 The Meaning of Trees … Read more
Season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race comes to an end tonight, leaving a void in the souls of its massive fandom. But don’t put away your merch money yet – there are plenty of local acts waiting to steal your heart. In the immortal words of Jasmine Masters, RuPaul has fucked up drag. With the … Read more
You may have seen the picture, but do you know the people and the policies behind it? Hayden Donnell takes a trip inside Auckland’s newest lobby group, OpenTheBooks. Read Clive Matthew-Wilson’s response to this article here Have you ever looked at Auckland’s sclerotic roads, its traffic jams stretching to the horizon, and thought: “You know … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Govt gives and takes with first Wellbeing Budget, Treasury Secretary under immense pressure, and dozens of kākāpō sick from fungus. The question was asked in yesterday’s Bulletin – what does this government value enough to put real money towards? In the end, the Budget that was delivered wasn’t … Read more
Should a convicted murderer be allowed to help run a charity? Can you start a charity to support your addiction? Should Greenpeace and Family First be treated differently? These and other issues are being addressed in the Charities Act review. How do you know that when you donate to a charity, your contribution is going … Read more
Labour’s debut wellbeing budget is a solid jump to the social spending left but could hardly be described as transformational, writes Maria Slade in Wellington. With its wood panelling and forest green décor parliament’s neo-classical 1920s debating chamber has a surprisingly inviting feel. Normally a humble business reporter based on Auckland’s CBD fringe, I felt … Read more