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Papercuts: Conversations with Friends

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On this episode of Papercuts we delve into all the latest book news, deep dive into the Booker longlisted (update: and scandalously not shortlisted), Normal People and ask who the fuck is Bob Woodward. With a lot more book & non-book related recommendations included! Check out the Booker Shortlist here! (Announced after recording) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/20/man-booker-2018-shortlist-daisy-johnson-anna-burns-rachel-kushner-richard-powers-esi-edugyan-robin-robertson To … Read more

Strapping in for the fourth industrial revolution

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Kerri Jackson reports from a future of work seminar and concludes that the good news is, with revolution comes huge opportunity. The bad news? The starter gun’s gone off and New Zealand business is still milling about. We’ve all had those heated dinner party discussions about whose job will soon be handed over to the robots, … Read more

Unfortunately, Fraser High School’s principal is right in many ways

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The consequences of truancy for Māori students are as shocking that speech, writes Graham Cameron. Virginia Crawford, principal of Fraser High School, is under fire for a speech about truancy the media has characterised as “shocking”. In it she stated: “Every student who walks out of the gate to truant is already a statistic of … Read more

Comments on truancy and rape point to a deeper misreading of teenagers

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A controversial speech by a school principal who said students skipping school are more likely to get raped speaks to a failure to understand the complex issues teenagers face, writes Waikato youth worker Jared Ipsen  I wagged school a lot as a teenager. Dealing with heavy anxiety and depression, trying to juggle the enormous social pressures … Read more

Unity Books best-seller chart for the week ending September 21

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The week’s best-selling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington, and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Stardust and Substance: The New Zealand general election of 2017 edited by Stephen Levine (Victoria University Press, $40) Let’s do this, etc. 2 Transcription by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday, $38) “A spy’s assumed identities come back to haunt her … Read more

Your friendly reminder to watch The Spinoff TV tonight at 10.45 on Three

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Because it’s suffrage week, we’ve got ourselves a right lady-fest on The Spinoff TV tonight.  Tonight on The Spinoff TV, we celebrate suffrage week with an all-women episode featuring Anika Moa: queen of television, burps and oversharing. We talk about her new album, revisit the paranoia of Y2K and get stuck into what ads really … Read more

Why the inclusion of disabled people still has a long way to go

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As we celebrate Suffrage 125, let us not forget that just as disabled people were excluded in 1893, many continue to feel excluded from society today, writes Hannah Gibson.  This week, we celebrated 125 years of women finally getting the vote in Aotearoa. It’s indeed something to celebrate. It took a petition of 32,000 individuals … Read more

On motherhood: Hollie McNish and Emily Writes in conversation

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Listen to British poet Hollie McNish and Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes’ session, chaired by Catherine Robertson and featuring fellow novelist Brannavan Gnanalingam, from WORD Christchurch The sold-out session at WORD Christchurch “Motherhood” featured British poet Hollie McNish, known for her poetry and writings on mothering, sex, pregnancy, and birth. Her book Nobody Told Me chronicles her pregnancy … Read more

I binged The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films in one weekend

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To celebrate Hobbit Day (September 22), Alex Casey binges the entirety of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies on Lightbox. I’ll never forget the sunny afternoon that I spotted Andy Serkis on the imaginatively named “Main” street of “Grey” town during the height of The Lord of the Rings madness. I would’ve … Read more

When one percent is a really big number

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An unexpectedly high growth number might herald the end of a harsh winter for the government, writes Duncan Greive. A toxic combination of the oozing Curran-Handley wound, fear-mongering business confidence surveys and Winston Peters stumbling around like the last guest at a wedding have made this a bad week, worse month and generally infuriating winter … Read more

One year in, how have our Māori MPs and ministers rated?

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A year and two days ago New Zealanders went to the polls, returning a record 29 Māori MPs. But who’s up and who’s down? Who are the top performers and who are the up-and-comers? Māui street editor Morgan Godfery picks his faves and rates them out of 10 for performance. Ministers  Willie Jackson, Labour (Ngāti … Read more

The Bulletin: A rollercoaster day for the government

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Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government gets timely economic figures boost, Whaitiri’s ministerial career is over, and tax working group hedges bets on capital gains. Sometimes the news just comes at you fast, and yesterday was one of those days. For the government, some of it was the best of times, and … Read more

A night out in Auckland, counting the homeless

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Late on Monday night saw an unprecedented, large-scale ‘point in time’ census of Auckland’s homeless population, ‘Ira Mata, Ira Tangata’. Toby Manhire went out counting, together with about 700 others. Think about it like this, said Wilf Holt: “You’re going to be visiting people in their bedrooms.” He said: “If tomorrow night someone flashes a torch … Read more

Bert and Ernie are gay and I will fight you if you say otherwise

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Recently, the creator of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street came out and said what we already all knew: Bert and Ernie are a lovable gay couple. But still some people deny it. Emily Writes – who watches a lot of Sesame Street – says those people are making her lose her mind.   For reasons that will … Read more

The Real Pod: it’s reality TV overload and we’re losing our minds

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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, the podcast studio is extremely hot and we’re extremely distracted by live-streaming to 10+ people on Facebook. There’s so much reality TV news that we don’t know what to … Read more

Telling Pacific stories with Lisa Taouma

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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, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. This week he talks to Lisa Taouma, producer of Fresh.  Auckland is the biggest Pasifika city … Read more

Beer and Wine of the Week: King of the hoppy 8 percenters, and a rosé outlook for summer

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This week, Alice is smitten with a seasonal twist on an old favourite, and Henry happily quaffs a Provençal rosé.  GARAGE PROJECT PERNICIOUS YUZU WEED 8%, 650ml, $16.99 from Fine Wine Delivery Co Pernicious Weed is OG Garage Project, one of the original 24 beers the Wellington brewery boldly released over 24 weeks to announce … Read more

There’s a solution to the great NZ tax rort. But Cullen’s group can’t touch it

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The Tax Working Group’s first report cautiously backs a capital gains tax, but has been stymied from the start in addressing a massive and inequitable loophole, writes Danyl Mclauchlan The government’s Tax Working Group, led by former deputy prime minister and finance minister Michael Cullen, released its interim report today. What does it say? Depends … Read more

Book of the Week: the new JK Rowling is up there with Harry Potter

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Charlotte Graham-McLay is dazzled by the new novel by JK Rowling (writing as Robert Galbraith), which arrived in shops this week and went flying out the door like broomsticks. Crime writers have long specialised in grotesquely, even comically bad men, but if there’s one thing the past year has taught us, it’s that we aren’t always … Read more

Bow down to the retirement village queens of Gogglebox NZ

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Gogglebox NZ takes a bunch of ordinary Kiwis, chucks them onto a sofa and films them as they watch television. Tara Ward watched them watching.  “Don’t laugh too much, your teeth might land on the table.” Last night three new stars flew into our lounge rooms like a pair of falsies hitting the coffee table. Retirement … Read more

Whose law is it anyway? Treaty legislation and the Supreme Court

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This week the Supreme Court dipped its toes into the troubled waters of the Crown’s settlement negotiations with Hauraki iwi in a decision on whether or not Ngāti Whātua can challenge elements of that settlement in court. Lawyer and mediator Baden Vertongen (Ngāti Raukawa) peels back the complex layers of that decision.  In 2006, Ngāti Whātua sought to … Read more

Should you microwave your wine in winter? A Spinoff investigation

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After reading advice urging him to microwave red wine during the winter, Hayden Donnell angrily takes on New Zealand’s entire wine community. I was reading Kia Ora magazine’s wine column recently, as I am wont to do. Its author, the veteran wine writer and Master of Wine Bob Campbell, began his latest entry by rattling … Read more

The Block NZ, week 11: Life on The Point is getting out of control

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It’s the home stretch on The Block NZ and things are getting more fragile than a marshmallow spaghetti sculpture. It’s Week eleven of The Block NZ, and the wheels have officially come off.  Life in Hobsonville Point is careening out of control like a bunch of balls Mark Richardson just threw onto a footpath in the … Read more

What is the PlayStation Classic and will it connect me to my misspent youth?

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Last night, Sony announced the PlayStation Classic – a console that looks like a PlayStation One and plays those games too. Is that all it is, though? So what is the PlayStation Classic, exactly? It’s a console that looks a lot like a PlayStation 1, PSX or PSOne (Jesus, that console had too many monikers ) … Read more

The Bulletin: Does banking need to change?

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Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Banking in spotlight as Australian saga rumbles on, refugee quota rise confirmed, and more tricky questions over Thompson and Clark. Across two major issues right now, banks are under pressure to prove that they’re capable and committed to decency and ethical business practices. Part of the reason … Read more

How Hinewehi Mohi made the Māori national anthem mainstream

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When Hinewehi Mohi was asked to sing the national anthem before New Zealand’s 1999 quarterfinal against England, she made a choice that would change the pregame ritual for good. Don Rowe reports. The Rugby World Cup in 1999 smashed sport, politics and New Zealand’s sense of nationhood together in two pivotal moments which still echo … Read more

The Bachelor AU, week 5: Another shock exit rocks the Badge

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It’s week five on The Bachelor Australia, and shit’s getting real. Miriam Moore recaps the drama.  For the first time in this season of The Bachelor Australia, we are left with enough girls that I finally know each of their names. Last week saw the mass eviction of the mean girls, with the remainder effectively singing an … Read more