Many of Waitara’s residents want to escape their small New Zealand town, but exceptional new documentary Taranaki Hard proves they might not have to. When Fati finishes a set of squats, bench presses or an early morning swim, his mum is right there to cheer him on. “Shake it out,” she’ll direct, while ticking his … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 30. Reach us on info@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum Worksafe has laid charges against 13 organisations and individuals in relation to last year’s Whakaari/White Island eruption. Two of those charged have been confirmed as government agencies. The government revealed its plan to double sick leave from … Read more
It was inevitable that TV would have to deal with Covid-19 in some way. Grey’s Anatomy isn’t the first, but it’s the most significant. So how has the long-running medical drama done it? Grey’s Anatomy is meant to be the television equivalent of a weighted blanket. Something you pull on top of you to gently … Read more
Renting in Wellington can seem like a nightmare, but you just need to look a little harder. We’ve found some of the best-value flats in town. It’s been a long week for Wellingtonians, who’ve had their city shat on multiple times, a burden they didn’t need on top of the literal shit flowing through the … Read more
Three’s new docu-series Taranaki Hard follows a diverse group of young people in Waitara, ranging from factory workers to pole dancers, students to sheep shearers. Series co-director Ian Hart hopes it changes the way city folk view small-town New Zealand. As a young boy my parents, looking for a new start, moved my family from … Read more
It’s a New Zealand institution – one that Emily Writes wanted no part of. So no one was more surprised than her when a family getaway to the local Top 10 turned out to be kinda blissful. About 15 years or so ago, my husband and I were planning a holiday. I am of the … Read more
With a $1.3 million seed round now under its belt, New Zealand startup Yabble is looking to help everyday consumers get fairly rewarded for their data by shaking up the way information gets bought and sold. Data is a powerful resource in today’s economy. Managed well, it can help businesses get ahead by giving consumers … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday November 30. In today’s edition: An admin failure is to blame for the Christchurch gunman getting a firearms licence, Santa parade organisers say sorry over an anti-abortion float, and a news organisation has been forced to remove a documentary about child uplifts. An exclusive report from Newshub’s Patrick Gower … Read more
Currently, investors are essentially subsidised to outbid homebuyers. Instead, why not give homebuyers a tax cut and make the speculators pay? Have you ever wanted to throw a party but worried no one would come? My wife and I thought of having a party this year to celebrate paying off our mortgage but quickly realised … Read more
A tiny minority of local residents – led by a former PM – are holding back the joy of hundreds of thousands, and millions in economic benefits. On Friday night Eden Park hosted a thrilling seesaw of a T20 between New Zealand and the West Indies. On Saturday the Tasman Mako secured back-to-back Mitre 10 … Read more
Linda Burgess on the soundtrack to her life. We drove up to Auckland last month. Our darling Edward, who, if suddenly out of sight, could well be found waving from the roof, was turning four. Unlike the time before, we weren’t turned back at Havelock North, when our phones, and the phones of the friends … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 28-29. Reach me on aliceneville@thespinoff.co.nz Sunday, November 29 1.40pm: One new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation The Ministry of Health is reporting one new case of Covid-19 in managed isolation today, and no new community cases. The new case is a person who arrived from Jordan … Read more
We’re the generation who’ve been there and done that and earned the right to what we’ve got, but the flip side to the freedom that comes with being the boss of me is selfishness, writes NZ Herald’s Simon Wilson in this Herald Premium article. At a business conference in the Aotea Centre earlier this month, … Read more
Perimenopause and its big sister, menopause, can seem like the cruellest of jokes after a lifetime of hormone-related struggles. Ensemble‘s Rebecca Wadey felt overwhelmed and panicked, until she started talking, and listening, and realised she wasn’t the only one. 2020 has been a confusing mess. I pride myself on my ability to cope with stress, … Read more
Photographs of tūpuna Māori are fetching top prices at auction houses, with their descendants often forking out to ‘bring them home’. On September 20, 2001, an auction of 300 rare photographic prints and plates was blocked due to protests by Māori activists. The collection, potentially worth at least $150,000, included photographic prints and plates of … Read more
In just a matter of months, e-commerce systems have become a crucial piece in the puzzle that will ensure the hospitality sector has a fighting chance. Anyone in hospitality knows there wasn’t any fat in their business margins before Covid, so when the pandemic hit, many questioned how they could possibly survive months of lockdown. … Read more
In the first in a series of Wellington-focused food comics, Liliana Mañetto Quick illustrates why she loves Cha, a haven of calm on Courtenay Place.
Jordan Margetts, who is working on a masters comparing CK Stead and Philip Roth, reviews the second volume of Stead’s memoir. Not least among the neuroses and quiddities of novelists and poets is the lingering idea that they might actually get to cheat death. Not the death of the body, of course, but there’s a … Read more
Transgender pioneer, the last surviving member of Hillary’s Everest team, and one of the world’s greatest travel writers – Jan Morris, who died this week aged 94, was one of a kind. Just as international travel has become a vicarious pursuit, one of the great travel writers has passed away. Jan Morris wrote about the … Read more
City Kickboxing’s Eugene Bareman talks to Michelle Langstone about what drew him to the sport, training his fighters during the Covid-19 lockdown, and helping build his beloved gym from the ground up. Portraits by Edith Amituanai. The air inside Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym is heavy with a fug of sweat so thick it feels as … Read more
What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. AUCKLAND 1 Skunk & Badger by Amy Timberlake & Jon Klassen (Allen & Unwin, $26, 4+) “One of the best books I’ve read all year … absolutely … Read more
The finance minister went to Martinborough today to open a new regional banking hub. But as Alex Braae reports, many see it as too small a measure to address a serious issue for regional New Zealand. There hasn’t been a bank branch in the south Wairarapa centre of Martinborough for a long time, and there … Read more
A new poem by Oscar Upperton from a sequence about Dr James Barry, a 19th century surgeon whose gender has been the subject of much debate. Code name Young Barry begins the study of medicine, under a new name and in a new town. A name needs rinsing out, once in a while. I live … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 27. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 1.35pm: Seven new cases of Covid-19; six from Pakistan cricket team Updated There are seven cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation today, the Ministry of Health has announced. There are no new cases in the community. Six of the cases are members … Read more
With retailers being urged to advertise honest and genuine savings this Black Friday, here’s what consumers should be looking out for. It’s been tough for a lot of businesses this year, but there was some good news for retailers earlier this week when Stats NZ revealed sales had jumped 7.4% year-on-year in the September quarter … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie 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 A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Penguin Random House, $70) The first volume of Obama’s presidential memoirs, released four years after … Read more
Claims that cherry pickers can pull in $400 a day should have all of us packing our bags and heading south. But is orchard work really that lucrative? Every year, as a crisp and blissful summer thaws the South Island out of its languor, students at the University of Otago toss up their end-of-year options: … Read more
Helping to get more rangatahi Māori interested in animation and design industries, the first class from the Māoriland MATCH programme are set to graduate today. The Māoriland film festival is run every year out of Ōtaki, a small town on the Kāpiti Coast. The five-day event hosts a number of Indigenous storytellers every year, with … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Massive workforce boost for horticulture sector, wild opening day at parliament, and dwindling specialist doctor workforce raises burnout fears. Two announcements from the government this morning will give the horticulture sector a major workforce boost. As the NZ Herald’s Derek Cheng reports, 2000 places in managed isolation will … Read more