While the March 15 terrorist was not on the intelligence agencies’ radar, Haamid Ben Fayed has been. He hopes the inquiry will be a chance to address the systemic discrimination faced by Muslims in this country – but, as he tells Jo Malcolm, he doesn’t hold out much hope for change. Haamid Ben Fayed thinks … Read more
Experts have made the case for tax and interest rate adjustments to address the housing crisis in recent times. Hayden Donnell makes another, highly technical suggestion. There are as many ideas for fixing New Zealand’s housing crisis as there are houses in New Zealand. Political advisor Clint Smith has proposed limiting the tax benefits extended … Read more
Bronwyn Hayward has her reservations about climate emergency declarations. Can today’s win her over? Today New Zealand became the 33rd country to declare a Climate Emergency. Around the world, more than 1,800 cities and local governments have already declared climate emergencies, including 16 New Zealand city and district councils. “Climate Emergency” was the Oxford Word … Read more
In the mood for some good old fashioned pillaging? Then play Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. But if you want to have a good time while doing so, probably look elsewhere. As a New Zealander who hails from a different colonised nation, it should be some weird kind of reverse revenge fantasy to colonise Britain. To do … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for December 2. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum Parliament formally declared a climate emergency, and the government announced it would be going carbon neutral. The auditor general issued a damning assessment of the University of Auckland purchase of a Parnell home for its vice … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe reads New Zealanders: The Field Guide, by comedian and sometime Paula Bennett impersonator, Tom Sainsbury. We begin as we shall end: with blather. Hi guys! My name is Tom Sainsbury and I am very excited to meet you … through this book. You’re probably thinking, ‘Who the hell is Tom Sainsbury? … Read more
It’s December. You know what that means? Christmas is here. You know what else that means? Christmas movies are here. Sam Brooks has watched all the Christmas movies on Neon, here’s what he learned from them. ‘Tis the jolly season! There’s no better time of year than to turn up the aircon, chuck a beer … Read more
That Star Wars show just had an episode that was a stone cold killer. According to José Barbosa, you can thank director Dave Filoni’s animation background for that. [Spoilers for episode five of The Mandalorian follow, if you care about that sort of thing] The year 2019 brought many TV streaming joys including that second … Read more
Today in parliament, Jacinda Ardern will move a notice of motion declaring a climate emergency and a series of other steps including ‘becoming a carbon-neutral government by 2025’. Here is the full text of the motion. To move that this House: declare a climate emergency, following the finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change … Read more
So is capital gains tax a good idea or…? Depends who you ask, but this Auckland house (Janaye Henry) that just made $140,000 in a year makes a pretty strong case for why it might be good, actually. As your average Auckland house, I’ve got to say 2020 has been pretty great for me. Just … Read more
Today, our parliament will declare a climate emergency. Three young climate leaders say it’s a grim marker of the scale of human-caused planetary collapse, but we need to ensure the government does not sacrifice the important for the urgent. Historically, emergencies have failed to prioritise equity and fairness when the underlying infrastructure to do so … Read more
Stuff’s Pou Tiaki editor Carmen Parahi rallied her troops for what would become the ‘Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono’ project on a Saturday, and pitched the idea to Stuff’s CEO the very next day. She tells Leonie Hayden about what happened next. On Monday the media-consuming public awoke to a surprise from Stuff, whose comments … Read more
The fallout from the Mercy Pictures exhibition People of Colour continues to inflame the Aotearoa art world. Here, art writer and former gallerist Sarah Hopkinson attempts to understand the often contradictory values that produced Mercy Pictures, and what the tumult means for the future of the industry. In October I attended the opening of Mercy … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Council considers rates hit to cover Covid, revenue minister fires warning shot over trusts, and some common sense on drug law reform. Auckland Council is set to lose a billion dollars in revenue, and they’re planning on asking ratepayers to pay a bit more to … Read more
Threads of a political career, woven together: climate change, child poverty and global leadership. Within weeks of a history-making victory, Jacinda Ardern and the Labour party face a growing list of demands. Local government is in disarray, the housing market is out of control and the spotlight is once again on children being removed from … Read more
Pill testing at music festivals is set to become law as legislation begins a rush through parliament in time for the start of festival season. It’s a change welcomed by Courtenay Chenery, who remembers how a rogue pill led to the most miserable New Year’s of her life. “Hey Dad…I’m not feeling very well. I … Read more
Welcome to Papercuts, the podcast all about books! Sit back, relax and let Jenna, Kiran and Louisa tempt you with the best new titles to add to your book stack. The gang are back with their usual witches’ brew of book news, insightful book reviews and discussions, not-book reviews and their dangerously teetering TBR piles. … Read more
Pill testing at New Zealand’s festivals will be legal this summer as the Labour government prepares to rush legislation through parliament. And, as Justin Giovannetti writes, the new law could signal more significant changes next year for the country’s drugs. Most of parliament is supporting Labour’s move to make pill testing legal, taking it out … Read more
What are you going to be watching in December? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. The biggies Industry (season 1 on Neon from December 2) Think of the finance industry on film and you probably think of masters … Read more
The pandemic has given us the chance to build a more secure, sustainable, resilient food system – one that is healthier and supports people more fairly. This is the second essay in a new series examining the effects of Covid-19 on New Zealand, in partnership with Te Pūnaha Matatini. Wednesday is hāngī day at the … Read more
But this must not be about blame, writes Shane Cronin The decision by WorkSafe, a government agency focused on workplace safety, to bring criminal charges against 13 parties in relation to last December’s eruption of Whakaari/White Island heralds a new chapter for volcano scientists in New Zealand. On December 9 2019, 22 people died and … Read more
Last night, The Undoing didn’t just drop its finale, it dropped the ball on pretty much everything it had set up in its six episode run. Here are all the questions that will never be answered by this confounding show. [Huge spoilers for The Undoing follow, obviously] The Undoing has finished, and the biggest twist … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for December 1. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 8.10pm: The day in sum There were three new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation, and the Ministry of Health issued a warning to be vigilant during the Christmas party season Auckland mayor Phil Goff released a proposal for a rates … Read more
Visitors travel from far and wide to Northland’s Waipoua Forest, home of Tāne Mahuta, one of the largest trees in the world. But with the forest under threat from the spread of kauri dieback, are they putting Tāne Mahuta and his brothers and sisters at risk? Into Darkness is part of Frame, a series of short … Read more
In an era of online everything, brick-and-mortar retail faces unique challenges. Now Spark is looking to innovative, immersive experiences to keep people coming back. On the average day, the main commercial artery of Queen Street in Central Auckland sees a fraction of the foot traffic that it did a year ago. The vacant atmosphere is … Read more
Oat milk is so hot right now, so we bought a whole bunch and conducted a good old-fashioned blind taste test. Here are the results. Non-western cultures have always known milk doesn’t have to come from a mammal’s mammary gland, but in New Zealand, dairy-devoted nation that we are, we’ve taken a while to catch … Read more
In today’s edition: The government’s followed through on a major election promise, charges have been laid over the 2019 Whakaari eruption, and a Covid-19 vaccine could be ready by March. There has been a lot of major politics news over the past 24 hours, so bear with me as I run through some of the biggest developments. … Read more
There are many unanswered questions about how technologies are being used, why they are necessary, and whether they risk infringing on human rights or privacy, write Andrew Chen and Kristiann Allen. The idea of “emergence”, in a philosophical sense, is the notion that a system can have properties, behaviours and naturally forming rules or patterns … Read more
In the third part of Coming Home, hosts Duncan Greive and Jane Yee talk to recently returned New Zealanders about the different factors that brought them home this year. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you usually listen to podcasts. We’ve heard a lot so far about the factors that have for decades driven New Zealanders to … Read more