After hearing how much Jetstar charges if you try to travel with a heavy carry-on bag, Stewart Sowman-Lund gets good and mad on behalf of those who have been forced to fork out. There’s nothing more satisfying than beating the system at its own game. Not paying for parking and not getting a ticket, not … Read more
New Zealand will see some last-minute governing as Labour plans to rush through a legislative agenda before the summer break. Jacinda Ardern’s government is about to undertake a parliamentary sprint before Christmas, with plans to legislate a number of campaign promises and declare a climate emergency in only a few sitting days. The list of … 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. This week he’s joined by William Chomley, founder and CEO of IMAGR. You’ve probably stood in a supermarket queue at some point and … Read more
New Zealand’s wine industry built its name on sav, but we’ve been putting all our eggs in one basket for too long, writes Jules van Costello. I like to think of sauvignon blanc as the IPA of wine. It’s brash, bombastic and a little bit basic (in a good way). Like IPA, its tropical aromas … Read more
The harassment of teaching assistants by students in tertiary institutions is a widespread but under-reported problem, write Sarah Ives and Ann E. Bartos When the #MeToo movement gained momentum in 2017, it exposed widespread sexual harassment in the workplace, and academia was no exception. Yet the Covid-19 pandemic has dimmed the spotlight on this issue … Read more
Can we ever get enough of Dolly Parton? The answer is no. Dolly Parton is everywhere right now. Put the TV on and you’ll see the award-winning actor, writer and singer shimmering back at you, radiant with yuletide joy as the star of a new Netflix movie. Turn on the wireless and you’ll hear her … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 26. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: The day in sum The Air NZ worker who tested positive on arrival in China most likely caught Covid-19 overseas, said the Ministry of Health in a statement that also announced one new imported case. Six members of the Pakistan men’s … Read more
The no-nonsense comfort food is enjoying something of a renaissance, and Anna King Shahab has come up with some simple meal starter ideas to spark your mince-spiration. T-paper, flour, mince. The grocery shopping priorities of our nation were revealed unceremoniously when Covid-19 made “panic buying” a household phrase earlier this year. It wasn’t all doom … Read more
Michelle Kidd defines her role at Auckland’s specialist family violence court as te kaiwhakatere – the navigator. It’s a one-of-a-kind job, helping guide defendants through the court system. And there’s no one better suited to it than Whaea Michelle. Whaea Michelle is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff. “If … Read more
Six60: Till the Lights Go Out tracks the wildly successful Dunedin band’s evolution from three guitars at UniCol to selling out Western Springs. I was at 660 Castle St some time around the turn of the last decade when I first saw Matiu Walters. Someone pointed him out to me: solemn-looking, standing on a box … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Soldier with far-right ties on spying charges, bright line test could be extended, and Oranga Tamariki boss Grainne Moss will not be resigning. A soldier with strong ties to the far right fringe has been charged with multiple counts of espionage. As Florence Kerr and Thomas … Read more
This year, a whole lot of the traditional summer of cricket will be very different. What’s changing, and what’s staying the same? Alex Braae explains. It’s that time of year again, when we all mercifully forget the All Blacks and spend long, hazy days watching grown adults gently strolling around a park. A time of … Read more
Shipping delays mean bookstores are placing massive one-off orders rather than sitting back to see what sells. They’ve gone huge on Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land – there are probably enough copies in the country to dam Cook Strait. Luckily, Danyl Mclauchlan writes, it is in fact good. I somehow forgot that Obama could … Read more
What happens if you take a personal memoir and strip it of everything that made it unique? You get Hillbilly Elegy. The opening line of J.D Vance’s 2016 sleeper hit memoir Hillbilly Elegy is “I find the existence of the book you hold in your hands somewhat absurd.” While that’s a little hyperbolic – its … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 25. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 6.00pm: The day in sum A New Zealand soldier was charged with four counts of espionage, after being arrested at Linton Military camp late last year. The Bloomberg review ranked New Zealand top in the best places to be in the era … Read more
The Covid border restrictions might be saving lives but they’re also threatening the livelihoods of New Zealand farmers, unless a way can be found to allow Pacific Island seasonal workers to return and pick the crops, writes AUT business lecturer Swati Nagar Since its inception in 2007, the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme has enabled … Read more
The fallout continues from the post-election leadership change in the New Conservatives, with deputy leader and firearms spokesperson Victoria O’Brien quitting after less than a week in the job. Alex Braae reports. On Thursday last week, new New Conservative leader Elliot Ikilei was hailing the rise of his deputy Victoria O’Brien. But as of this … Read more
Why does the idea of a brown Santa get people so riled up? Comedian Janaye Henry gets in the Christmas spirit. There are cultural traditions that are passed down lovingly from generation to generation, that teach us about who we are and celebrate our unique way of life, and then there are… the watered down … Read more
Every year high school biology teachers gather to learn the latest in science. This year there’s a lot to catch up on, Maurice Wilkins Centre organisers Rachel Heeney and Dave Grattan tell The Spinoff. Last year, terms like “elimination strategy”, “flatten the curve” and “sustained transmission” were foreign to the majority of New Zealanders. Next … Read more
Donald Trump has grudgingly accepted that preparations for a White House transition should commence, after weeks of crying fraud, mounting spurious legal challenges and attempting, in effect, a coup d’état. However hapless and distant it might seem, is there the potential for a similar breakdown in New Zealand? Duncan Greive examines our defences and our … Read more
Raiha Cook grew up attending kura Māori, but when she decided to study at the University of Otago she found the move from te ao Māori to European-style learning difficult. Now she’s researching that transition to help make it easier for students to feel safe at mainstream universities. Set in the spray of Raukawa Moana, … Read more
A new study of NZ children has found no link between birth type and test scores. That’s no surprise, says Emily Writes, so why do many new mums still have to put up with being judged? While pregnant with my first baby and attending antenatal classes, I was introduced to a new fear – the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shocking incidents show prison culture, exchange of letters over monetary policy more exciting than it sounds, and Auckland locations close over Covid warning. A shocking story from Auckland Women’s Prison that raises questions about whether prisoners are being treated humanely. Radio NZ’s Guyon Espiner reports that … Read more
In the final episode of the first season of Conversations That Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, we discuss and dissect the way that Aotearoa talks about mental wellbeing. Content warning: this episode contains extensive discussions of mental health, including brief mentions of suicide and abuse. It goes without saying that New Zealand’s approach to … Read more
The New Zealand housing crisis, and how to tackle it, took epistolary form yesterday in letters from the finance minister and the Reserve Bank governor. We read between the lines. Yesterday the finance minister, Grant Robertson, penned a letter to the governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, on the subject of the housing market, … Read more
Leonie Hayden gets in her feelings about a shitty day for Māori women. There are days in my job where I feel nothing but hopeful. Like when I think about the work being done by Nuku100, telling the stories of 100 indigenous women. Or I get to wānanga with Donna Kerridge and Ayla Hoeta, or … Read more
The government has conceded that soaring house prices are increasing inequality and poverty, and the finance minister wants the Reserve Bank to do something about it. Justin Giovannetti writes from parliament. There’s been an invisible wall down the centre of Bowen Street in Wellington for a generation. On one side is parliament and elected officials, … Read more
This month Chorus launched its new Hyperfibre service across most of the country. How fast does it go? And what does it mean for New Zealand’s digital future? The Spinoff spoke to Kurt Rodgers, Chorus network strategist, to find out. OK, ‘Hyperfibre’. What is it? Simply put, Hyperfibre is ultra-fast – like, staggeringly fast – … Read more
Māori journalists are used to receiving racist messages. Sometimes you get one that just hits different, writes Te Aniwa Hurihanganui for RNZ. Content warning: contains violent racist language. I shouldn’t have been checking my work emails. It was a Saturday night and I was in my favourite place, my grandparents’ house, where the rooms carry … Read more