Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: First published poll of the year spells disaster for National, China-NZ tourism promotion yanked, and rural firefighters struggling to find water. Hey, remember how I said the other day that National were having a good start to their year? Well, according to the first poll of it, they’re absolutely … Read more
Mark Thomas discovers that ‘reality’ in North Korea means theme park-style monuments, hopelessly pot-holed roads, and much bowing to Eternal Leaders. Living and working in Singapore last June you couldn’t avoid the mayhem caused by the first Trump/Kim summit. But you could also feel the anticipation. On subsequent visits to South Korea I felt as … Read more
The first day back in parliament comes with double gloom for Simon Bridges: not only did Labour overtake National in Newshub’s poll, but the ‘strong and decisive’ one is preferred as PM. Who’d bet against Collins having another tilt at the leadership before the next election, writes Toby Manhire Just less than four months ago, … Read more
Two beer experts share their tips for making the most of your brew, from how to store your bottles to the best kind of glasses to use. Too many of us aren’t treating our beer with the love, care and attention it deserves. It starts with the lack of respect we often have for beer, … Read more
All week this week we revisit the great poet James K Baxter on the occasion of a new book of his letters. Today: a selection of the letters written in 1969, dealing with his experiences at the Jerusalem commune in Whanganui, and a crash-pad in Grafton in Auckland. To Robin Dudding, Christchurch Dear Bob, After the middle … Read more
The ongoing strike action by resident medical officers (also known as junior doctors) is putting patient safety at risk, according to some senior doctors. Karen Brown of Radio NZ reports. Some senior doctors are calling for an end to the row between junior doctors and district health boards, saying each strike is more damaging to … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pride events take place over weekend in Auckland, analysis of why the Air NZ flight was turned back from China, and working groups abound on mental health. In the end, it wasn’t the disaster that many had predicted. The Auckland Pride march still went ahead, heading from … Read more
Bex de Prospo went from running music venues to spruiking ants and locusts to the country’s best restaurants. Now, after three years of trying to make a difference, she explains why Christchurch startup Anteater is shutting its doors. As we stood, evicted, on the side of a remote road in Cambodia, watching our tuk tuk … Read more
Does the way science gets passed down through generations make it harder for girls to get into? And what can help change that? Alex Braae reports from the first day of the 9th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. Science has long been a bit of a boy’s club. That’s not a figure of … Read more
Research points towards an unconscious, cognitive basis for racism and other forms of discrimination, suggesting that even the super-woke can be secret and subconscious racists, writes Danyl Mclauchlan I thought about this story a lot over the summer break. It wasn’t one of the huge scandals or rolling controversies from last year, or even one … Read more
New Zealand goes three for three at UFC Melbourne, culminating in Israel Adesanya’s win over Anderson Silva. Israel Adesanya’s victory over Anderson Silva in Melbourne was a masterclass in creativity and a coming-out party for New Zealand MMA. Facing down a near mirror-image of himself, Adesanya fought fluid and confident, switching his stance, here fighting … Read more
The only plausible explanation for the Radio Sport host’s diatribe against my colleague is an elaborate attempt at performance art – the alternative is heroic incoherence and worse, writes Toby Manhire It was a belter of a night at Eden Park on Friday. A sell-out crowd. A sea of mostly Indian flags; drumming and chanting. … Read more
Only in a sport as batshit as cagefighting could the main event fall through just 11 hours before the fight, writes Don Rowe from Melbourne. Nothing matters and everything sucks, but even more so if you’re invested in the UFC. Fans awoke this morning to the news that middleweight champion and hometown hero Robert Whittaker … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos, the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Tiny Portions sculptor Rose Young. I tend to treat YouTube as a test, forcing … Read more
Chef Luke Adams talks to Alice Neville about why cooking and eating with the seasons is so much more than a fad. Like “artisanal”, “authentic” and “bespoke”, the word “seasonal” has become ubiquitous in descriptions of food – to the point that it’s almost lost all meaning. That’s a shame, because eating seasonally is one … Read more
In a new exhibition, photographer Michelle Hyslop explores kauri dieback through the personal stories of the people close to the trees and their fight to save – and protect – the giants of the forest. In December 2017 Te Kawerau ā Maki placed a rāhui on the Waitākere Ranges in an attempt to prevent the spread of … Read more
She’s hidden it from her friends and her family – but she’s ready to come clean. Auckland councillor Cathy Casey is a Scrabble addict. This is her story. After thinking long and hard about it over the summer break, I have finally decided to come clean about a very secret part of my life. In … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Madeleine Chapman: There’s something off about the London Waitangi Day Pub Crawl “Drinking on Waitangi Day is fine – it’s a public holiday after all. And performing a haka overseas is cool. But combining all of those things has created a Frankenstein’s Monster of cultural … Read more
In the fourth part of his pro-wrestling-for-fitness adventure, Mike Kilpatrick aka Irn Bruce climbs to the top ropes and gives it his best shot Sometime after midday last Saturday, near the end of the IPW wrestling tryout that has been the main focus of my weight-loss and fitness goals over the last 18 months or … Read more
Sure, KiwiBuild has gotten off to a rocky start, but it’s far from a disaster, argues interest.co.nz’s David Hargreaves. In fact, with a few simple tweaks, it could even become a success. Some people can be pretty quick to call something a failure. In the eyes of some this government’s flagship KiwiBuild policy already appears … Read more
Alex Casey chews on the serious issues with Nela Zisser, competitive eater and YouTube sensation. Nela Zisser is planning her next big meal: an entire block of butter. Or perhaps three kilos of fish and chips. Or perhaps another attempt at eating 100 McDonald’s cheeseburgers. Despite the YouTube star being six years into her competitive … 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 James Koo, co-founder of student discount and job listings app Niesh. ONE: How did Niesh start and what was the inspiration behind it? Niesh actually started as a project between me and … Read more
Controversy over police insistence on wearing their uniforms led to their withdrawal from today’s Pride Festival march. So imagine Emilie Rākete’s surprise to see officers deployed in casual clothes just three days ago at Waitangi. By now most of us have likely heard about the public debate around police involvement in the Auckland Pride festival. … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week on Married at First Sight Australia, with special thanks to Nando’s. Join us as we recap the first explosive week on Married at First Sight Australia, objectively the greatest show on Earth. Jules and Cam are the love story of a generation, Jessika and Cyrell have the scariest … Read more
New poetry (untitled) by Wellington writer Gregory Kan. I thought that the things I loved were places I could always go back to but the spaces between things become places themselves and threaten to swallow me whole. I thought that knowing in just the right way would be enough to … Read more
It’s been a few months since Spider-Man came out, and its follow-up DLC, The City That Never Sleeps, has ended its run. Sam Brooks looks back at the game, and how well the DLC fares compared to the original. Spider-Man was the game I enjoyed most in 2018 and it wasn’t something that I was expecting. Rather than … Read more
Stuart Nash may be the minister on paper, but, argues Greenpeace’s Russel Norman, NZ First’s Shane Jones increasingly appears to be the tail wagging the fish. What’s that thing people say? You don’t know what you’ve got until they’re gone. Strangely I’m starting to feel that way about National’s former minister for primary industries. Bring back … Read more
The only published and available best-selling book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 best-seller list recorded every week at at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Samoan Queer Lives by Dan Tualapapa McMullin and Yuki Kihara (Little Island Press, $35) Edited and written by fa`afafine, who share … 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 Simon talks to Manu Caddie, founder and CEO of Hikurangi … Read more