Alex Casey celebrates New Zealand’s king of the costume box, Rawdon Christie. Here at The Spinoff, we’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the mystery man they call Rawdy. Gracing the couch on TVNZ’s Breakfast for four years, he was a beloved early morning oddity who interrogated politicians as sternly as he … Read more
If the future is going to be powered by renewable energy, the world needs to get a lot better at dealing with one very precious element, the Materialise conference on sustainability in Wellington has heard. The argument goes something like this: To fight climate change, the world needs to convert to technology that runs on … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Protest on at parliament today over opening prayer, major changes recommended for biodiversity, and the strange tale of a drug dealer not being deported. To lead off today, we’re going to start with a story that isn’t necessarily the biggest of the day, but is … Read more
Last week, Auckland Theatre Company announced their 2018/19 programme – one with a glaring lack of representation for women and new New Zealand work. James Wenley takes the company to task. Auckland Theatre Company’s response can be found at the bottom of this piece. During the uproar over the Pop-up Globe’s decision to use an all-male cast … Read more
A Wellington sexual abuse support group invited a survivor and scientist, who is transgender, to speak at their AGM this week. Almost immediately came a barrage of attacks from all around the world. Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP does exactly what our name suggests. We exist to support survivors of sexual abuse, their families and whānau, … Read more
Last week in the Spinoff, Green MP sketched a history of NZ drug laws and issued a repudiation of National MP Simeon Brown’s Psychoactive Substances Amendment Bill. Here he argues that her position fails to face the real challenges that come with the scourge of drugs. In her article How New Zealand got hooked on moral panic … Read more
In the fifth episode of Project Runway New Zealand, the designers had to make an avant-garde look inspired by a family-friendly car. Henry Oliver ranks the results. So how do you follow-up the sustainability challenge? With the Holden challenge of course! Last week, my five-year-old daughter asked: “Why do they all have the same car?” This … Read more
With government officials, community leaders and the Crown coming together on the day of commemoration for the New Zealand Wars, it could have been a time to examine the wounds of colonisation. Instead, everyone patted themselves on the back, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. One hundred and eighty-three years ago, on October 28, northern rangatira signed He … Read more
A personal essay by Paula Harris: “I was admitted, under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992, to the secure unit of the psychiatric ward just after noon on Friday…” Content warning: This essay contains references to suicidal ideation which may be confronting for some readers. It was Friday the 13th. That isn’t … Read more
Horatio Robley witnessed the most famous battle of the New Zealand Wars, he fathered a child with the daughter of a sworn enemy, his sketching helped end a war and his book helped save the art of Māori tattooing. But mostly he’s famous for his grotesque collection of nearly 40 human heads, writes William Ray for RNZ. If … Read more
Last Friday the Commerce Commission announced that the WORLD fashion label had accepted it had likely breached the law over false garment labels and that it had made enforceable undertakings to the regulator as a result. This morning, in an interview on The AM Show, the company’s founder and frontperson professed not to know anything about … Read more
No-nonsense 31-year-old Māori/Samoan woman Monique Fiso is behind one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in years. Get ready, Wellington. Wood-fired kareao and asparagus with salted buffalo curd, pine dust and a pine needle vinaigrette. Kina panna cotta with smoked kahawai, green-lipped mussels, caviar and kawakawa oil. Kaipara oysters with horopito mignonette granita and koromiko … Read more
The waterfront stadium debate bubbles up once every couple of months in Auckland. But why has the debate over a waterfront university never resurfaced, asks editor of Interest.co.nz Gareth Vaughan? A group of Auckland business interests has come up with the latest proposal for an Auckland Waterfront Stadium. Ever since the concept was seriously looked … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Report puts abortion law reform back on the agenda, housing shortage likely to worsen despite Kiwibuild, and are the Taxcinda attacks on Labour fair? A Law Commission report has put abortion law reform firmly back on the agenda. The report outlines three potential approaches to reform, based on the … Read more
Fossil fuels are on the way out and New Zealand is leading the way, writes Claudia Palmer, the Campaigns and Mobilisation Manager for 350 Aotearoa. The New Zealand government’s ban on offshore oil and gas exploration is leadership on climate change, plain and simple. For an issue so vast and fraught with difficulty and vested interests, the … Read more
Submissions on the proposed law to end new offshore oil and gas exploration have revealed a host of problems, says Cameron Madgwick, CEO of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of NZ. The phrase “a week is a long time in politics” seems very timely after a week of hearings on the proposed law to end … Read more
Some time in the next two years the public will be asked to vote on whether or not New Zealand should legalise the personal use of cannabis. But how exactly should that question be phrased? We went to the experts to find out. Manu Caddie, Hikurangi Cannabis My suggested referendum questions are: Should adults be … Read more
Alex Casey delivers her final sermon on season two of Married at First Sight NZ. As the experiment draws to a close, I have one thing to say to Married at First Sight NZ. To borrow an ancient proverb from Ottie, I feel like we’ve all suffered through this experiment together, day by day, for what … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, José Barbosa speaks the gospel of fanny packs. Personally speaking 2018 has been a huge year for me. This year, at both work and home, there’s been new challenges to overcome and big projects to drive to completion. I’ve … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Nicky Hager: Dirty Politics, 2018: Nicky Hager assesses the Jami-Lee Ross saga “The book Dirty Politics is not about awful people; it is about a negative and destructive style of attack politics that has infected New Zealand from US politics. This is the idea that success in … Read more
Today’s housing crisis is the fruit of successive governments failing to put the time, effort and funding into sustainable housing solutions, says Bernie Smith, a frontline social housing worker from the Māngere-based Monte Cecilia Housing Trust. This is an abridged and edited version of the Bruce Jesson lecture, delivered last week This government has spent 11 … Read more
The expectant royals are here for five days – plenty of time to sample some of Aotearoa’s finest cuisine. As we excitement-starved colony-dwellers eagerly anticipated the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, attention naturally turned to the New Zealand delicacies their Royal Highnesses might be treated to during their five-day visit. Some details … Read more
Savers around the country let out a collective ‘shit!’ this week as KiwiSaver balances took a plunge across the board. What happened, and is this the end of your retirement dream? Reddit user /u/Muter explains. My money is disappearing? What happened to it! Before getting into this, it’s important to understand KiwiSaver and the investment … Read more
The little-known New Zealand-born novelist Redmond Frankton “Bim” Wallis was on the Greek island of Hydra with the young Canadian. A thinly veiled autobiographical fiction offers an intriguing first-hand account of Cohen on the brink of the international renown that would make him one of the most significant literary and musical figures of the coming decades, write … Read more
As NZ marks a major anniversary for what is now called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Michael Appleton explains what it is that he and his fellow diplomats actually do New Zealand’s first professional diplomat, Carl Berendsen, was positioned in the Prime Minister’s Department; from 1926 till 1943, he was essentially our one-person … Read more
Our new series produced by the New Zealand Red Cross profiles people from refugee backgrounds who now call New Zealand home. Our second Kiwi Legend: Niborom Young, who found herself locked out of Cambodia and stranded here in 1975. In March 1975 Niborom Young was in New Zealand on a student exchange. She had just … Read more
In 1999, Elle Hunt’s dad convinced her that New Radical’s ‘You Get What You Give’ was actually by U2. Today, she revisits the life-changing moment she realised he was wrong. The loss of innocence is a hallmark of growing up. In my personal bildungsroman, mine was precipitated by my dad telling me that ‘You Get … Read more
In the aftermath of the Jami-Lee Ross saga many have called for increased transparency around political donations, saying it’s better for a healthy democracy. But what if that’s completely backwards? Liam Hehir makes a case for mandatory anonymity. One thing the Jami-Lee Ross saga has stirred up is the issue of political finance in this country. … Read more
Everyone’s a loser in Colin Craig’s defamation case against blogger Cameron Slater – but the only victim is Rachel MacGregor, the woman for whom this saga has become a living nightmare, writes law professor Andrew Geddis. The finally decided defamation proceedings in Craig v Slater must be the stuff of judicial nightmares. A complicated fact … Read more