Last year, everyone loved getting home, flicking on the telly and seeing beloved household names like Jami-Lee Ross and Simon Bridges night after night. Fans of this cult classic political drama rejoice: it’s been picked up for another season. Here we are, 2019, and it’s all go on the sequel to the smash political hit … Read more
Hitman 2 has plundered from our shores before, but this time, has it taken the story and likeness of our most notorious South Auckland MP, Judith ‘Crusher’ Collins? Adam Goodall goes down the rabbit hole. I’m a Hitman fan. A Hitfan, if you will. But more than that, I’m a fan of New Zealand. I’m a … Read more
There’s no doubt that the Spice Girls are one of the biggest bands of all time. But how have they fared in the 20 odd years since? Sam Brooks ruthlessly ranks their solo careers. The footsteps and cackle at the start of ‘Wannabe’ are as era-defining as pop music gets. Hell, that entire song is … Read more
Auckland Zoo director Kevin Buley believes the majority of zoos around the world should be closed. However, he says Auckland Zoo is one of the few good ones. He showed Alex Braae around the zoo and explained why he believes the animals here live better lives than they would in the wild. A spider monkey … Read more
Before The Joe Rogan Experience, before even Fear Factor, Joe Rogan was an actor on a much-loved show called NewsRadio. Laura Vincent reminisces over the hunk before the era of podcasting. I’m an expert on Joe Rogan. You know the guy, right? If not from yelling enthusiastically at UFC cards you’ve surely heard of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, … Read more
A measles outbreak in Canterbury has prompted a rush for vaccinations and airtime for anti-science perspectives. Jess Berentson-Shaw explains how the media can report responsibly on the issue It is no secret, I love an effective vaccine. I love that all children can have a healthy childhood through the actions of both their own parents and … Read more
Refilleries such as GoodFor and Be Free Grocer say their time has come, with consumers from Ponsonby to Palmerston North seeking a zero-waste option. Horror stories such as sea turtles being found with hundred of pieces of plastic in their gut are shocking people into realising the planet will slowly strangle if we don’t stop … Read more
An Auckland secondary school teacher posted some thoughts on the climate strike. They were smart and pithy thoughts, so with permission, we’re republishing below. Here’s why you’re all wrong about the student “strike” about climate change that may or may not be happening. Firstly, they should all be encouraged to go on the protest. Secondly, … Read more
Pussy Riot’s Masha Alyokhina has been travelling from Auckland to Wellington overnight to join SOUL (Save Our Unique Landscape) in presenting a petition to MP Marama Davidson on the steps of parliament this morning. She speaks here about why she supports the campaign. It’s a real honour that Pussy Riot can be a part of this campaign. Today … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Measles cases surge in Canterbury, Vodafone reportedly outsourcing jobs to India, and Shane Jones says Kupe facility funding story is a beat up. Measles cases are surging in Canterbury, and there are warnings that the highly infectious disease is now “circulating widely in our community.” The local DHB said late … Read more
SkyCity’s moves to set up an offshore online gambling subsidiary throw up a huge range of questions about just how tax should work in the digital age, writes tax consultant Terry Baucher. The news that SkyCity is voluntarily paying perhaps as much as $40 million in “tax” sounds like someone actually took seriously the remark … Read more
Take urgent action on climate change or face mass, worldwide death – that’s the stark message of a new global protest movement that calls itself Extinction Rebellion, who have recently become active in New Zealand. Alex Braae reports on a demonstration the Auckland chapter undertook, and the increasing alarm being caused by climate inaction. What … Read more
Long term abuse and grooming happened to me and I waited two decades to take it to court. I can talk about this now when others can’t, because I was lucky, writes Amanda Thompson The Leaving Neverland documentary is out and I can’t watch it. Good luck to you amateur sleuths who will be glued … Read more
Alex Casey rips open the velcro on Married at First Sight Australia‘s biggest scandal yet. There’s a lot to be said about the latest sordid season of Married at First Sight Australia. For a start, there’s the slimy cheating scandals, the violent outbursts of rage and the relentlessly sexist gaslighting. And then there’s the very … Read more
Asking eight-year-olds the hard questions about climate change wasn’t really the plan for John Daniell and Noelle McCarthy when Auckland Zoo asked them to do a podcast. But it turns out that kids are readier to look at our environmental reality in the eye than most. Listen to Good Ancestors, a four-part podcast that examines … Read more
Activist group SOUL Solidarity Pōneke will march through Wellington to parliament tomorrow to protest development at Ihumātao in Auckland. Catherine Delahunty takes a stroll on the whenua to remind us why Ihumātao’s supporters can’t give up yet. On a quiet Tuesday morning, I went out to Ihumātao and went for a short walk with Pania … Read more
With 2020’s ‘reeferendum’ on the horizon, all kinds of businesses – from the small and local to the massive and multinational – have their sights set on lucrative new opportunities. This story was originally published on RNZ alongside this Insight documentary On a suburban street in Auckland’s Grey Lynn, Karma Cola’s road-marking-yellow, corrugated-iron-clad headquarters, encloses whirring … Read more
The Auckland City Mission is in the midst of a $90 million redevelopment. Gareth Shute, once a volunteer at the Mission, talks with long-serving staff member Wilf Holt about how the Mission has developed over the past two decades and what lies ahead for this nearly 100-year old institution. Back in 1999, I was a … Read more
Last night, the first part of the Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland aired on TVNZ. Katie Meadows looks at what it means for the popstar’s legacy. This piece involves descriptions of child abuse, sexual assault and grooming. Since Leaving Neverland first aired, one of the first questions to be asked in a world where Michael Jackson is an abuser … Read more
It may be a noble ambition, but this is a misguided, misdirected effort, and has the potential to block the path to a healthier planet, writes New Plymouth secondary school student James Macey On Friday, 15 March, school students around the globe will be going on “strike”. In New Zealand, the “School Strike 4 Climate” … Read more
As a generation, we will not be complicit in the death of the planet. This Friday’s climate strike is our way of showing that we can change the world, we can face down those who disregard and ignore us, and still come out on top, write Auckland secondary school students Grace Wilkie and Libby Morrison As … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: SkyCity charges ahead with controversial online gambling plan, Defence Force releases review into Afghanistan allegations, and coal use to continue for decades in Canterbury. SkyCity has come up with a novel way of mollifying the government’s concerns over a planned offshore-based online casino. The NZ Herald reports the company … Read more
A landmark court ruling in Australia reexamines journalism’s weight on its practitioners, writes former AUT professor Lyn Barnes. At last, it’s finally being acknowledged – secondary trauma encountered on the job as a journalist can do psychological damage. The $180,000 awarded to the Australian woman in a Melbourne court case last month may not be … Read more
How important is accessibility when it comes to enjoying and appreciating our art? Sam Brooks reviews Blanc de Blanc and The Magic Flute, both part of the Auckland Arts Festival. Accessibility means a range of different things when it comes to art. The first thing that might come to mind is the physical accessibility; how accessible is … Read more
There are at least as many bi and pansexual people in the world as lesbians and gay men combined, at least according to surveys of western countries. But bisexuality is poorly understood – leaving bi and pansexual people feeling that their sexuality is invisible or invalid. Episode 1 of the new season of RNZ’s BANG! podcast … Read more
Barkers CEO Jamie Whiting writes about turning around an iconic NZ business – and a new mission to make it sustainable. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine under the title The New Barkers In 2008 it’s fair to say I was burnt out. I had started working at Hallensteins straight out of high … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Alex Casey: Long blacks for lads, hot chocs for ladies: what’s the deal with that? “Gendering food and drink is all the rage these days, from National’s sausage sizzle innuendo to Whittaker’s new gender reveal chocolate bars. Blue for boys, pink for girls. Sausages for boys, clueless political … Read more
The current New Zealand innovator of the year, Ian Taylor, is on a mission to sear the real story of New Zealand’s discovery into the minds of a generation of New Zealanders. In 1990 a team from the University of Otago’s small computer science department entered the world’s foremost test of computational skill: the ACM … 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. We back! It was a real family affair on the latest Dietary Requirements, with Sophie’s most excellent mum and sister, Emerald and Mimi Gilmour, joining us in the studio. The Gilmours are a … Read more