Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: 12 priority points outlined by the government, new airport proposed for Central Otago, and a brilliant feature on the myth of meritocracy through education. The coalition government has moved to address a raft of negative stories about their cohesion with an event in Auckland. Leaders and MPs … Read more
There has been a growing effort in NZ to silence those who feed racial division. So where’s the clamour from the Greens and the rest on the deputy prime minister, asks Liam Hehir Under the show, the struggle. Deep down, deeper than honour, deeper than pride, deeper than lust, and deeper than love, lies the … Read more
Anti-1080 activism has exploded in popularity and intensity in the last few months. Hayden Donnell goes down the rabbit hole to find out what’s behind the movement’s rise. Nicola Toki remembers when the abuse picked up. It was a couple of months ago. Messages started appearing regularly on her Facebook wall. “What a disrespectful bitch,” … Read more
The prime minister sought to rally the troops and assert unity among the three parties of government today, but there wasn’t much substance to get your teeth into, writes Toby Manhire The question hanging in the air after Jacinda Ardern’s big speech this afternoon: what even was that? It had been trailed as “Next steps … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Madeleine Chapman: How did a 77-year-old white guy become the go-to media voice on Māori issues? “There are plenty of uninformed takes to be heard on the radio. People call into talkback and air an opinion that isn’t shared by a single listener, but those … Read more
Welcome back to Waterdeep Mountain High, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast set in a below average school in the mystical land of Faerun. “I’m a rock gnome, I’m a fighter, and my god I’m chaotic.” The gang splits up for a couple episodes for narrative (and location) purposes. Forrest and Kate head out on a … Read more
The debate continues on whether compulsory schooling could be effective as a te reo Māori revitalisation tool. Kristin Hall reports on the view from Ireland. ‘Mattresses have three suites. Macdara has four more flavours. How many mills are Macdara?’ This is a question I found myself pondering for far too long while sitting in a … Read more
ACT struggled thanks to the two-horse race, the approach taken by some media, and the behaviour of our coalition partner. But we are ultimately the author of our own result, writes the Epsom MP and ACT leader This is the second in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance. Read Jacinda … Read more
The Single Object is a series exploring our material culture, examining the meaning and influence of objects that surround us in everyday life. In the third piece in the series Emma Ng examines the once lost Chinese typeface used to print the New Zealand Chinese Growers’ Monthly Journal. Consider the kiwifruit. The sweet and fuzzy berry has … Read more
Jane Yee and Alex Casey from The Real Pod spent an afternoon at Hobsonville Point to bring you this harrowing report. The Spinoff TV airs 10.45pm on Three, click here to catch up on ThreeNow
The fourth instalment of the globetrotting Horizon Festival is the series’ most ambitious effort yet. Lee Henaghan took the open world racer for a test drive ahead of its October 2 release. When the first Forza Horizon was released in 2012, it was seen as a light-hearted spinoff looking to capitalise on the popularity of … Read more
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr witnessed the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) first-hand in the trading rooms of investment banks in Sydney and Singapore. Ten years on from the Lehman Brothers collapse, he recalls the mayhem of 2008 and ponders what we’ve learned. I’d never seen anything like it, and I hope I never see anything … Read more
At the beginning of Te Wiki o Te Reo 2018, a new app was launched that translated images into Māori. Karyn Tattersfield looks at the legacy of John Moorfield ‘s famous dictionary, and the revolutionary new technology of Kupu. The extent of the late Professor John Moorfield’s impact on te reo Māori is hard to quantify. … Read more
The Green co-leader on fearing he might be the party’s last leader, why Jacinda Ardern was a boost to their electability, and the nine-dimensional chess of coalition negotiations This is the fourth in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance. Read Jacinda Ardern’s review of ‘the most extraordinary year of my … Read more
New verse by Dunedin writer Emma Neale. Mère-mare Last night in my sleep my baby’s father came to take him away from me. I had borne a boy I was forbidden to hold though his mouth was sere and sore and golden colostrum welled in me like the cells’ own cry for … Read more
The week’s biggest-selling books at the Unity stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster, $50) As soon as it arrived, it flew off the shelves; we look forward to the forthcoming review by Dita De Boni, and in the … Read more
Because what your Friday needs is a loneliness lesson in te reo and a touch more Mark Richardson. Tonight on The Spinoff TV, we celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori with a very special three-part lesson in expressing your loneliness. Hayden heads to Nelson to gets to the guts of the 1080 debate, The Real … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Don Rowe gets out the duct tape and cracks into a bottle of Scrumpy. For almost thirty years, only one word has been synonymous with both duct tape and drinking. That word is Scrumpy, the people’s cider. With 8% … Read more
Broadcaster John Campbell will tonight present his final show as the host of Checkpoint on RNZ. Emily Writes explains why he is a basket of kittens and how she loves everything about him. Last week I had to admit to my husband that I’m desperately in love with John Campbell. I had just returned from the Word … Read more
He wiki kino, mo Winston Peters, because he really really hates it when people suggest he holds too much power, reports Spinoff editor Tom Manfriend/Toby Manhire. The Spinoff TV airs 10.45pm on Three, click here to catch up on ThreeNow
Inexplicable blockbuster sitcom Mrs. Brown’s Boys returns to TVNZ tonight. Jean Sergent writes about the show’s transphobia and how we as a culture need to do better. A show that hinges on a man in a dress making broadly sexual jokes shouldn’t be a multi-award winner with sell-out live shows, but it is. The Radio … Read more
Week three introduces a new character, the gregarious Rory, who’s brimming with Irish banter and clever kitchen tips. Just when I thought we couldn’t be any more thrilled with our teachers, Rory O’Connell returned from holiday and “took me to church”! Rory is Darina’s younger brother and co-founder of the cookery school. He’s a chef … Read more
The entrepreneur has written that he accepted an offer of the new position a month ago, but it has been rescinded following the controversy around a secret meeting with Clare Curran and criticisms of his suitability The controversy around Clare Curran’s use of a private email account and secret meetings, which resulted in her resignation … Read more
Child shaming and rejoicing in the punishment of children is horrible, and it’s part of a wider trend of the hatred of children becoming acceptable. Emily Writes asks what we can do to turn this shit around. A parent, in a fit of anger, smashed their child’s iPad the other day. It’s not the first … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Milk and money spills at Fonterra, Coasters told they’ll have to leave after threats from rising seas, and deputy PM Peters addresses coalition rift rumours. In the end, Fonterra’s year turned out to be worse than a lot of people were predicting. The dairy cooperative has announced … Read more
Here come the brides! Together Journal’s latest cover features a same-sex couple in what might just be a mainstream wedding world first, reports Maria Slade. A New Zealand-based magazine believes it’s the first mainstream wedding publication to feature a same-sex couple on the cover. Together Journal is a quarterly magazine founded by Kiwi businesswoman Greta Kenyon … Read more
The former prime minister looks back on an enjoyable election that prompted massive public interest – an election which produced a unique result, and unique challenges for both the government and the new opposition This is the second in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance. Read Jacinda Ardern’s review … Read more
Claire Mabey praises a breathtaking new novel by Tina Makereti (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Rangatahi). It’s hard to conjure a concept more offensive than the ethnological expositions, or human zoos, of the 19th and 20th centuries. A few years ago in Edinburgh, I saw the controversial installation Exhibit B by artist Brett Bailey. … 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 rip into the week in reality television as powerfully as we rip into a delicious tub of peanut butter Häagen-Dazs. The women of The Block NZ have shattered the … Read more