Meer has been known for her punchy, slick rapping since her duo Cool Tan (then called Heavy) dropped their first EP in 2014. Last year, she kicked off her own solo career and here she talks to Gareth Shute about her new single ‘1953’. There are many reasons why Meer (real name Reem) holds a … Read more
Meghan Markle and her ranked but unimportant husband came to New Zealand this week, and a huge amount of people lost their collective and metaphorical shit. Self-appointed royal commentator Sam Brooks explains the obsession. Who doesn’t remember where they were when Meghan Markle and her plus-one landed in Wellington airport one windy afternoon? I do, … Read more
Time travel, a bleak dalliance with the French King, and some dubious flatmates – is Jamie and Claire’s relationship actually worth it? Fictional relationship expert Madeleine Chapman passes judgement. Season Four of Outlander drops weekly on Lightbox from Monday November 5, and you can binge the three previous seasons there as well!
On Monday, a UK journalist published a piece in a national newspaper about her experience of ‘free bleeding’ – and a whole pile of men told her exactly what they thought about it. Free bleeding, if you don’t know (and I didn’t until this week), is the practice of not using any devices like tampons … Read more
Emily Writes is mad as hell and not going to take it (fireworks) any more. Guy Fawkes Night sucks. This is a fact. As the giant hypocrite that I am, despite last week encouraging people to just not take part in Halloween if they don’t like it, I’m going to go full hog today and … Read more
It’s time for the midterm elections in the US, which means President Donald Trump faces his first nationwide electoral test since his surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election, writes RNZ’s Tim Watkin. No, Trump isn’t on the ballot, but more than ever when Americans go to the poll next week, they will essentially be … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Ian Wedde. from Ode to Auckland When the weather warms up I swim in the murky Waitemata in the upper basin at the bottom of Hamilton Road. Sometimes my friend Jonathan is there, he’s a composer and swims about in a leisurely fashion shifting his rhythm from time … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Madeleine Chapman tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. This month Madeleine Chapman steps in for Michele A’Court as we dissect the October in womanhood. The fancy royal couple were here for a bit, the government is … Read more
As we enter the third phase of summer, the pōhutukawa are flowering and mullet are leaping. Want to know more? Check out the maramataka for November. Hopefully you picked fun activities from last month’s column and maybe even started your veggie garden. For those who did and planted on the maramataka dates your garden should be … Read more
One hundred and fifty years ago today New Zealand became the first country to introduce standard time. Kerri Jackson looks back at time. Time, it turns out, is a construct. That might be useful information for those of us trying to wriggle out of a story deadline, but does it otherwise matter? For most of … Read more
Tune in to a carnival of royal waves and welly wanging. Over the course of four days, the country was host to a group of foreign bludgers. They were swanning around like they owned the place. Sucking up resources like they were brundlefly. And we were the ones funding them.
Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s new monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms and Fine Wine Delivery Co. This month on Dietary Requirements, we throw caution to the wind and cook up an Aperol Spritz-fuelled pasta storm as we discuss the joys of Italian food and drink. … Read more
Only 53 shopping days till Xmas! Get in early and peruse the week’s bestselling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington, and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Milkman by Anna Burns (Faber, $33) Winner of the 2018 Man Booker prize for fiction. “A young woman is forced into a relationship with an … Read more
Your Northern hemisphere favourites are back this month (Outlander and Vikings) but there be gold on these here Lightbox shores too, yarr. The Spinoff staff run through what’s new to Lightbox in the month of November. Outlander (Season 4, weekly every Monday from November 5) Guy Fawkes Night will go off with a bang when the much-loved … Read more
The City Rail Link could have been an opportunity to rejuvenate one of Auckland’s most unlovely thoroughfares. Instead, Albert St seems likely to end up looking worse than before, writes Matt Lowrie of the urban design blog Greater Auckland. Last week in the Herald Simon Wilson lamented the mess that has been made of Albert … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Karel Sroubek case gets even stranger, industrial action rumbles away among court staff, and letting fees to be gone by Christmas. The residency decision on Czech drug dealer Karel Sroubek is starting to look stranger and stranger by the day. The NZ Herald’s Jared Savage has broken the latest: … Read more
For 15 years justice advocate Roger Brooking has been campaigning for prison reform with an increasing sense of despair. Now, for the first time, he sees reasons to be hopeful. The Labour government is in a tricky situation with regard to justice reform. Justice Minister Andrew Little and Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis want to reduce … Read more
In which the immigration minister is owned by his own Twitter account. Iain-Lees Galloway has faced mounting pressure this week over his decision to grant permanent residency to a convicted drug smuggler and repeat offender from the Czech Republic Karel Sroubek. The immigration minister refused to give media interviews and offered only opaque justifications for … Read more
Simon Bridges has ordered a review of the National Party’s culture following the Jami-Lee Ross saga. Such exercises tend to set up by those who have a pretty clear idea of the outcomes they want to see and who are likely to be dismissive if they’re not duly delivered, writes Bryan Gould, the former UK Labour … Read more
Jesse Mulligan reviews the new cookbook by Jamie Oliver. His calm and measured verdict: It stinks. I made three dishes from this cookbook and they all stank. One of them was the pot-roasted cauliflower, a recipe pushed hard in the Jamie Cooks Italy publicity materials, and one I was deliciously excited about. I love cauliflower, … Read more
If you’re into the latest royal tour, that’s terrific. But what about the small matters of the thousands we’re paying to make it happen, and the constitutional anachronism, writes Sarah Paterson-Hamlin Yes, I’m going to be that person. The one who can’t just sit back and enjoy the pretty pageantry of this royal tour and … Read more
Yesterday, NZ Post broke hearts by ending the Twitter Secret Santa game. Emily Writes asked Libby Greatnews – social media specialist for NZ Post / social elf for NZ Secret Santa – what happened. Chances are if you’ve sent a message to the NZ Secret Santa Twitter account, the blue-haired delight Libby Greatnews has answered your … Read more
Welcome back to Waterdeep Mountain High, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast set in a below average school in the mystical land of Faerun. Our heroes confront a school bully and a trans dimensional toilet. Hillardo tells his best joke yet, and everyone comes extremely close to learning a lesson. Starring Nic Sampson, Brynley Stent, Ray … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. This week on The Real Pod, we assemble with armfuls of Halloween candy to talk about the past week in reality TV and real life in New Zealand. MAFSNZ is over, so what did we … Read more
A new programme being rolled out in 111 schools teaches students how to manage money – and the difference between good and bad debt. In Porirua East the houses look like Monopoly hotels. Two-storied, sturdy state houses that are more giant blocks than anything else. They’re good homes, with beautiful wooden floors (if you happened … Read more
From Monday almost 100 NZ exporters are taking part in the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. The forum heralds a more prosperous and integrated China, but it takes place against the background of a debilitating trade war, writes Stephen Jacobi of the NZ International Business Forum Competing economic visions will need to find a … Read more
In the second instalment of our Money Talks series, Alice Webb-Liddall and Henry Oliver face up to their finances. Dealing with money is complicated enough when you are a single person with a single income. But it can be more than twice as complicated if there are two (or more) of you in a committed … Read more
Human excrement is not just a bunch of dead cells. Most of it is alive, teeming with billions of microbes, explains Vincent Ho of Western Sydney University. What makes up poo? Here’s what studies in healthy adults tell us. Water Our faeces is largely (75%) made up of water, although this differs from person … Read more
In episode six of Get It to Te Papa, a Lightbox Original made by The Spinoff, Hayden Donnell’s journey finally takes him to the national museum. Watch Get It to Te Papa on Lightbox here. If I had to pick one artefact from Get It to Te Papa to be enshrined in our national museum, it … Read more