If Facebook’s announcement that it’ll ban praise and support for white nationalism and separatism sounds familiar, that’s because it is, writes Paul Brislen for RNZ. Nearly two weeks after the terrorist attack in Christchurch was aired live on Facebook, the company has finally responded in public. From next week it will implement a ban on “praise, support … Read more
The Opportunities Party is in the midst of a sweeping transformation, with founder Gareth Morgan stepping away and a new group around Geoff Simmons taking over the leadership. When The Opportunities Party launched ahead of the 2017 election, it was all but synonymous with Gareth Morgan. After years of high-profile ventures and acerbic interventions into … Read more
The queen of 2019 combining with the queen of a generation, a New Zealand band with the new teen-dance classic, a local artist breaking the floor with a new banger. These are the songs of the month – seven international, three local – as picked by The Spinoff’s culture editor Sam Brooks. International ‘Quiet Company’ … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Don Rowe: Grass Roots: the wāhine of Hikurangi Enterprises “Inside the common room at the Tikitiki school, Melanee Paenga is crying. A director at Hikurangi Enterprises and tutor of the EIT hemp cultivation course, she is one of the few young adults employed in the … Read more
Taking the time to make pasta by hand is a soothing, restorative experience, as is making sourdough bread. Combining the two, then, is a recipe for a very zen afternoon – not to mention a delicious dinner. I’ll never forget the first time I made pasta. I was 13 or 14 and we lived in … Read more
Metroidvanias are some of the most notoriously difficult, directionless games in existence, but for Jesse Dekel, they were a rock during a rough time at sea. The very first Game Boy Advance I destroyed was one of those clear-blue ones. I smacked my 8-year-old head into the thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display screen with the force of … Read more
Decisions about what speech gets regulated should made by the people affected by these rules. That’s the whole point of democracy, write two Canadian professors. When it comes to dealing with online hate speech, we’ve ended up in the worst of all possible worlds. On the one hand, you have social media platforms like Facebook … Read more
For many reporters covering the Christchurch terror attacks, detachment and objectivity gave way to human emotion, and journalist turned academic Dr Rukhsana Aslam argues that’s perfectly fine. To be objective, neutral and dispassionate while doing a story is the long-practised norm of journalism. It is the principle we journalists live by. We are trained to … Read more
Even if you can’t have kids naturally, that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be a parent, writes Sharyn Graham Davies. “If you can’t have kids naturally through heterosexual intercourse, then you’re not meant to have kids. We already live in an over-populated world. There are almost 8 billion of us.” “We shouldn’t waste time, … Read more
An update to James Dann’s groundbreaking 2016 investigation, now with 25% more shirts. It has been three years since the first Warriors Jersey Power Rankings appeared on The Spinoff, and a lot has changed in that time. They qualified for the finals for the first time in close to a decade, lost their best-ever player … Read more
With the erstwhile corporate king of Easter now a persona non grata, where’s a marshmallow egg fan to turn? To this list, that’s where. Let’s be honest here. Let’s be truly blunt with each other, New Zealand. The only reason we need a Top Five Marshmallow Easter Eggs 2019 is because you can no longer … Read more
Two seasons, one Eliza Dushku and a pre-Hangover Zach Galifinakis – how could a show with all this fail? Sam Rutledge writes about the two-season wonder that was Tru Calling. I have a controversial opinion for you: the shortlived Fox network drama Tru Calling was actually good. “Wait, what show?” I hear you ask. Fair question. It … Read more
The Kiwi success story is working for an agency that developed stealth aircraft and the scheme to bombard Vietnam with Agent Orange. After weather delays and problems with a dodgy video transmitter, Rocket Lab finally launched its first mission of 2019 this week. As it’s usually told, the story of New Zealand’s entrance into the space … Read more
In the second part of a series in which The Spinoff gets to know who, what, where and how our food gets to our plate, Alex Casey learns about how olive oil is made. The bright lights and smooth floors of the supermarket are a world away from the soil and sun, the plants, animals and … Read more
A former leader of NZ’s far right communities says groups have closed up shop, but we must interrogate their claims and listen to the voices they try to speak over. Kate Hannah writes for RNZ. “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the … Read more
A journalist reflects on a career in which the media has felt like a hostile environment for Māori and other minorities. Most Pākehā couples that applied to adopt in the 70s didn’t want Māori children. Māori boys were at the bottom of their wish-lists. The couple that did adopt me were one of the rare … Read more
Every week on The Primer we ask a local business or product to introduce themselves in eight simple takes. This week we talk to Dr Will Barker, CEO of biotech startup Mint Innovation which recovers valuable metals from electronic waste. ONE: How did Mint Innovation start and what was the inspiration behind it? Mint was founded in … Read more
Two survivors tell their stories of the mosque attacks and the days that followed, after watching the National Remembrance Service at Hagley Park. MD Faysal survived the terrorist attack at Al Noor mosque. Tofazzal Alam survived the second shooting, minutes later, at Linwood mosque. The men, Muslim New Zealanders originally from Bangladesh, spoke to Toby … Read more
The only published and available best-selling book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $33) After vying for pole position on our top 10 for a few … Read more
Before Fortnite, there was Runescape. And well before Runescape, there was an eternal class struggle. Emilie Rākete writes about the moment the two collided in the most unexpected way. RuneScape was once declared the world’s largest multiplayer online game. Millions of people were entranced by its blocky graphics and repetitive gameplay. Like many young people in the early … Read more
The editor of Critic Te Arohi backgrounds the magazine’s major investigation into sexual harassment and troubling culture at Knox, one of the University of Otago’s oldest residential colleges. Over the past month Critic Te Arohi, the University of Otago student magazine, has been investigating how Knox college deals with sexual assault and harassment, and how … Read more
New verse from Syrian-New Zealand poet and high schooler Mohamed Al Mansour. In Lebanon I had a big football team, twenty-three players and two captains. My two best friends in the team were Ali Ahmad and Mohamed. Ali Ahmad is fast and Mohamed is tall. We played in the same place every time. The ground … Read more
For most of his life, Brian Ireland had no idea about his Māori whakapapa, but when he discovered it he found a whole new way to look at the world and to teach about how we look after it. He spoke to Simon Day about bringing mātauranga Māori to the Auckland Zoo. “Most of this … Read more
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke at the National Remembrance Service today. This is what she said. E rau rangatira mā, e ngā reo, e ngā mana Tēnā koutou katoa Ngāi Tahu Whānui, tēnā koutou E papaki tū ana ngā tai o maumahara ki runga o Ōtautahi Haere mai tātou me te aroha, Me te rangimārie, … Read more
Christchurch shooting survivor Farid Ahmed, whose wife was killed on March 15, spoke at the National Remembrance Service today. This is his speech. Allah says in the Qur’an, “Do not say about those who are killed in the service of Allah, in the worship of Allah, that they are dead, but know they are living. … Read more
Madeleine Chapman goes through starchy hell to rank every flavour of chip available in New Zealand*. *Of course I will have missed some and of course you’ll let me know. Sorry and thanks in advance. This list is so long it really doesn’t need an intro. Hell-123) Any novelty flavour ever Get directly in the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Remembrance service in Christchurch to be broadcast nationwide, skepticism about social media extremism crackdown, and warnings made before bridge collapsed. All eyes will turn to Christchurch today once more. A National Remembrance Service will be held to mark two weeks since the mosque attack, which took 50 … Read more
An independent review panel says the education system is not working well enough for students with special educational needs and disability, and wants more funding to reduce the burden on parents and schools. But, argues IHC’s Trish Grant, nothing short of widespread transformation is required. Max, now 14, began his education at a special school … Read more
We should think very carefully before making changes to laws that will affect civil liberties, writes Thomas Beagle As the initial shock and horror of the Christchurch mosque massacre begins to subside, people naturally turn to the question “How could this happen?” How did the perpetrator become radicalised? And how did our intelligence agencies miss … Read more