Treating the types of conditions and injuries which present in this era requires doctors to become advocates as well as healers, writes Dr Jin Russell. Last Thursday, the National Rifle Association (NRA) posted a deeply provocative and surprisingly idiotic tweet about doctors in the United States. This move was a retaliation against an email from … Read more
It’s week 5 of GKBO, which means we’re halfway through our delectable voyage into baking nirvana. Tara Ward power-ranks the performances. I don’t even want to contemplate what I’ll do with my empty husk of a life when this is all over. GKBO is my TV biscuit lighthouse. Without it, the lolly stained-glass windows of my … Read more
Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias does his best to remember a drunken weekend in Wellington at 2018 LitCrawl. Crazy to feel the need to rush to a literary event – there’s always plenty of room, it doesn’t matter if you’re a tad late – so I leisurely ironed my shirt in my … Read more
Half of all children in New Zealand say they’ve experienced bullying, an ominous number in light of our dire mental health statistics. For Newshub, Patrick Gower reveals his own struggles in an emotional appeal to stand strong. It all started with “Paddy Carrots” and “Bugsy”. As a schoolboy, I had seriously protruding buck teeth, and … Read more
Every year an 18 metre tall Santa is pieced together and bolted to the front of the Farmers Building on Queen Street. Aucklanders seem to love him, outsiders not so much. José Barbosa argues from his heart why this Santa belongs in everyone else’s. I’m not an Auckland native. I grew up in the Bay … Read more
Huge spikes in power prices do happen, and consumers signing up to deals straight off the wholesale electricity market need to know what they’re in for, writes Bob Weir. I left the electricity industry six years ago, rather disillusioned and mentally broken by it. I have little time for or allegiance to the large players. … Read more
A decision to ban uniformed police officers from marching in the Auckland Pride Parade has proven controversial. In a column first published on RNZ, activist Laura O’Connell Rapira explains why the thinking behind the decision matters so much. The Auckland Pride Board have banned police from marching in uniform next year because police uniforms represent oppression and … Read more
Riot Foods co-founders Art Green and Ryan Kamins recently revealed to The Spinoff the gruelling challenges the company had faced over the last six months. Today, with the future of company’s equity crowd raise remaining uncertain, Kamins announced his resignation as CEO citing months of severe alcohol addiction. More than a month since it was reported that Riot … Read more
This Thursday is Beaujolais Nouveau Day, and you don’t have to buy into a quaint-French-custom-turned-grotesque-celebration-of-capitalism — or drink something that tastes like raspberry vinegar — to get involved. A dilemma presents itself to me every year as the third Thursday of November approaches. I’m not one to deliberately forego an excuse to drink wine, but … Read more
The earthquakes have changed the culture in genteel Christchurch. Now it’s more about how you can contribute than who you went to school with, writes Steven Moe. I grew up in Christchurch, but not the one that exists today. I lived in the non-Ōtautahi version – the pre-earthquakes mini-England you wouldn’t recognise if you came … Read more
The new chief science adviser to the prime minister, Professor Juliet Gerrard, talks about diversity in science, the political hot potatoes, and what constitutes science. The biggest splash out of the office of chief science advisor to the NZ prime minister came in the final days of its first occupant’s tenure. A report overseen by … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wally Haumaha appointment inquiry report comes back clean, primary and secondary teachers to mull united front, and how will Rocket Lab make money? The long awaited report from the inquiry into the appointment of Wally Haumaha as deputy police commissioner has come back. It clears police and … Read more
There are so many issues facing the nation but one rises above them all. Madeleine Chapman goes on a quest to find the worst seat in the House. Members of parliament spend a lot of time sitting in their assigned seat in the debating chamber of New Zealand’s House of Representatives. In 2018, there are 93 scheduled sitting … Read more
With social media having sprouted misinformation machines, we need to think harder about the right tools to use to fight back, writes InternetNZ’s Nicola Brown. Scroll down for a comic strip for InternetNZ by Judith Carnaby The internet was meant to be so great for democracy. All human knowledge a couple of clicks away. Tools for people … Read more
Claire and Jamie aren’t in Lallybroch anymore. They’re in Kansas (or somewhere south of there). Tara Ward recaps the second episode of season four of Outlander. When we last left Outlander, things were more desperate than the time Jamie had to eat Mrs Crook’s lumpy bannocks. The Fraser’s journey to Aunt Jocasta’s plantation River Run … Read more
In the seventh episode of Project Runway New Zealand, the designers had to make an athleisure look for Georgia. Henry Oliver ranks the results. Well, this is good timing! Just this week I was reading about the history of the athleisure/activewear trend and GUESS WHAT, it is, in fact, not a trend at all, but the … Read more
A long time before being green was cool, and sustainability was a buzzword, ecostore was committed to looking after the planet. Henry Oliver talks to the founder, and the new CEO, about how to run a successful business at the same time as protecting the planet. A lot has changed in the 25 years since Malcolm … Read more
The Monday Extract: Christchurch coroner Marcus Elliott writes a personal essay about death, grief, and mercy in a new book about dying in New Zealand. Across New Zealand on a Saturday morning, people are playing netball or cricket, mowing the lawn, buying fruit, reading the paper, checking Facebook, living life. I am at my desk at … Read more
The Spinoff is proud to present the latest in our Frame documentary series produced by Wrestler and funded by NZ on Air. Under The Korowai looks at Te Whare Marie, a kaupapa Māori mental service provider that is combining tohunga-led cultural therapy and clinical methods to help young Māori understand, rather than fear, their gifts. … Read more
It’s twenty of the games of your youth in one package – but is the Playstation Classic worth the price tag? Sam Brooks had a swing at the new-old console. Nostalgia is a potent poison – and one that big companies have learned how to effectively weaponise. There’s a reason why one of the biggest … Read more
It’s time to reveal the truth about co-sleepers. Emily Writes exposes the secret lives of families who bed share. I meet her in a dark alley. I hear her before I see her. She’s holding a shusher in her hand and it’s rhythmically shushing into the deep impenetrable blackness of the night. I assume she … Read more
A message to parents from Feilding Intermediate School principal Diane Crate, first published on the school’s Facebook page and republished with permission. It is with some sadness that I read and listened to media reports about the latest offer presented to teachers. Much of the reporting is, in my view, skewed to sound much better … Read more
Last Tuesday, High Court judge Justice Timothy Brewer asked a lawyer if she was making a political point by introducing herself and her client in te reo Māori. Sociolinguist Vini Olsen-Reeder unpacks the bias underpinning those comments. Headlines about things Māori often seem to miss the point. “High Court judge asks if interpreter needed following lawyer’s … Read more
Six flavours, six packets of biscuit, one power ranking. Sam Brooks risks his waistline for the decadent trans-Tasman cake-biscuit known as the Tim Tam. Is a Tim Tam a biscuit that dreamed it was a cake, or a cake that dreamed it was a biscuit? Not even Zhuangzi was able to answer this, because he … Read more
The ad might not be shown on television, but the company behind it has got the publicity it was looking for, writes Cathrine Janssson-Boyd. A Christmas advertisement for the UK supermarket chain Iceland, which tells the story of a young girl who tries to help a baby orangutan whose home has been destroyed to create … Read more
School’s out in Auckland today as primary school teachers take to the streets and march in an effort to secure pay rises, smaller class sizes and more resources. Via RNZ, the essential FAQ It’s the first day of a rolling nationwide strike set for this week, and it’s estimated around 320 schools will be closed in … Read more
What do you get when you mix a South Korean auteur, a French-sounding British spy author and a ridiculous attractive cast? A genuine must-see. Sam Brooks reviews The Little Drummer Girl. When I think of John le Carre, I don’t think sexy spy drama. If anything, the man has done whatever he can to dispel … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: ERA hits out at teacher demands ahead of strike, police want new terrorism powers, and Supreme Court makes big call on prisoner voting. The week of rolling primary teachers strikes begins today, with teachers under pressure after a rebuke from the Employment Relations Authority. Radio NZ reports the … Read more
When doctors, teachers, police and care workers take advantage of society’s most vulnerable, the results can be devastating. But how are public employers responding to reports of sexual assault and harassment? Not well enough, writes researcher Carrie Buckmaster, who offers some recommendations for change. November 7 2018 was New Zealand’s first ‘Public Service Day’: a … Read more