Together Journal is a celebration of love and modern wedding culture

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 speaks to Greta Kenyon about starting a magazine and how Together Journal … Read more

Fonterra’s $200m loss explained: Why our biggest company is in the red

Milk is practically white gold, right? Turns out not so much, with Fonterra announcing a huge loss for the year. Business editor Maria Slade explains why our biggest dairy company has lost so much money. Has our largest company really made its first ever loss? Yes. Fonterra Co-operative Group has announced a $196 million loss … Read more

The Block NZ, week 10: Welcome to Sheep World, humans

Just when you thought The Block NZ had thrown everything at us, Mark Richardson uttered the immortal words: “Welcome to Sheep World”. Tara Ward recaps another bewildering week on The Block NZ. It wasn’t Country Calendar, it wasn’t The Dog Show, it wasn’t even NZ Farmer of the Flipping Year. It was week ten of The Block … Read more

Jacinda and the Winston dilemma: do nothing or take the nuclear option

Not for the first time, NZ First has scuppered government plans – and the party’s leader keeps proving he has all the leverage, writes Danyl Mclauchlan Well, it happened again. Back in June the justice minister, Andrew Little, announced plans to repeal the Three Strikes legislation, only to have Winston Peters publically humiliate him by … Read more

A bump in the night: Stephen King hits TV with Castle Rock

The Stephen King super-series hits Lightbox in its entirety tonight, and thankfully, it’s come with A Plan and An Answer to all its mysteries. Uther Dean reviews. In the small town of Castle Rock, shit is going down. The head warden of the local prison kills himself. The new warden discovers a haunted, silent man … Read more

Five times NZ First muscled up on Labour and got away with it

It’s being called the most pure MMP government in history. Does that just mean Winston Peters’ party gets to pull swifties on Jacinda Ardern whenever they feel like it?  Coalition governments, by their very nature, require compromises and negotiations. But over 2018, it has seemed like NZ First have been doing a lot more negotiation, … Read more

The Bulletin: 1080 direct action comes to Parliament

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: 1080 activism hits Parliamentary forecourt, concerns about NZ First’s influence over the government aired, and a long day looms at Fonterra. All of a sudden, 1080 activism has become far more visible and prominent, using both legal challenges and direct action. Yesterday, protesters scattered fake pallets and … Read more

‘We chose the harder path’: Winston Peters on election 2017

The NZ First leader defends his party’s approach to coalition negotiations, explains why they went with Labour and, of course, upbraids the media. This is the second in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance, which is published today. Read Jacinda Ardern’s review of ‘the most extraordinary year of my … Read more

The Bachelor AU, week 4: The Queen Bees lose their Honey

Week four arrives full throttle with our most intense the Bachelor Australia episodes yet, giving the producers almost more airtime than the Honey Badger himself.   In a twist about as surprising as Don Brash writing an opinion piece on te reo Māori being useless, three “intruders” find themselves arriving at the Bachelor mansion. We’re … Read more

Beer and Wine of the Week: A milkshake of a beer and a wine variety you’ve never tried

This week, Poland comes to Warkworth, Portugal to Hawke’s Bay, and Henry Oliver drinks it up. 8 WIRED BALTYK-TASMAN 9%, 330ml, $7.99 from Fine Wine Delivery Co Ahhhhhhh, isn’t it heartwarming when the disparate nations of the world can come together and make something beautiful? It seems to be happening a lot less recently. Every … Read more

Win 22 books in a massive giveaway via Going West literary festival!

Yes, exactly like the headline says, we’re giving away a massive 22 books via this weekend’s awesome Going West literary festival!!! The 2018 Going West literary festival takes place this weekend in Titirangi, that pleasant, rat-infested woodland suburb in Auckland. There will be a great deal of talk about literature and ideas and society, and … Read more

Pacific Heights’ Devin Abrams on living (and recording) the dream

Henry Oliver talks to Devin Abrams, who makes music as Pacific Heights, about his dreamy new album and making a huge pop hit with Drax Project. Devin Abrams knew he had to finish his new album as Pacific Heights, A Lost Light, quickly. With a baby on the way, he knew his life was about … Read more

Citizen Pink: please back our campaign to get this hero a passport immediately

The case to make the singer a citizen of Aotearoa is now irrefutable. Please jump on board and get this passport party started. The American singer-songwriter with a passion for good tunes, good values and upside down exclamation marks has just completed a triumphant tour of New Zealand, playing to sell-out crowds in Dunedin and across … Read more

What parents really need to know about the ERO sex education report

The Education Review Office has released a new report on sexuality education in New Zealand schools. It’s important that parents read beyond the more sensational media headlines, writes Family Planning national health promotion advisor Amanda Hargreaves. The first review of sexuality education in New Zealand schools since 2007 is out. For experts in this field, … Read more

Are landlords being priced out of the property market?

Financial adviser Mike Warrington is warning his clients that investment properties are no longer the great little earners they once were. What does this mean for renters? Rental property investment is progressively being defined by our regulators as a commercial activity and as a result, will be impacted more heavily by future costs. In due … Read more

Into the Breach balances small and casual with epic and emotional

Among the slew of indie games dropping on the Nintendo Switch, Into the Breach rises to the top. Adam Goodall reviews. When you fire up Into The Breach, a pint-sized turn-based strategy game developed by Subset Games, the team behind FTL: Faster Than Light, you might be surprised at how cute it is. The good guys are … Read more

‘I remember the crunch point’: Jacinda Ardern looks back on the 2017 election

In this first of a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance, which is published tomorrow, the now prime minister recounts her unexpected elevation to the leadership and the remarkable events that followed. There is no doubt that 2017 will remain the most extraordinary year of my life. But a statement … Read more

The Bulletin: Will primary teachers strike again?

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Teachers not impressed by new pay offer, attempt to use the Harmful Digital Communications Act to fight bad press, and swamp house family evicted. A new pay offer has been made to primary teachers, and will be considered by union members in an online ballot. Radio NZ reports … Read more

The Secret Life of Girls is the perfect wholesome reality show

Combining the social dynamics of Survivor, the hidden cameras of Big Brother and a cast of Kiwi five-year-olds, Alex Casey finds the perfect reality show.  While it’s unbelievable that it’s been 125 years since women got the vote in New Zealand, it’s absolutely mad that it’s also taken this long for The Secret Life format to … Read more

Race-baiting in the mainstream media and being ‘acceptably’ Māori

Ātea editor Leonie Hayden and Newsroom’s Emma Espiner sat down to talk race-baiting in mainstream media and why they’re not doing the heavy lifting anymore. If there’s a scenario I’m familiar with, it’s being asked to be the voice of te ao Māori/rangatahi Māori/Māori media on panels for mainstream radio, TV and live events. It’s … Read more

The new 9/11: Charlotte Grimshaw in Trump’s Crazytown

Charlotte Grimshaw reports on the latest weird and turbulent week in Donald Trump’s presidency: “The most powerful country in the world is at the mercy of someone so unfit for office that he shouldn’t be running a gas station.” It was the end of summer on the east coast of America, and it was only getting … Read more

Turning Māori Language Week into a life-long celebration of te reo and whānau

Nichole Brown shares her love of te reo Māori and her hope that together, we can turn Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori into a lifelong celebration for our tamariki. This week marks another Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori – Māori Language Week – and as much as we would love a nation united in … Read more

Why is Sir Ray Avery trying to take down the news?

Unhappy with Newsroom’s coverage of him in recent weeks, scientist and philanthropist Sir Ray Avery has filed a complaint with NetSafe alleging that its stories contain false allegations that have caused him emotional harm. Andrew Geddis explains why Netsafe’s decision will be a landmark one. Since launching last year, Newsroom has shown a willingness to stay on a … Read more

Revenge of the NIMBYs: Is council too weak to enact its own Unitary Plan?

Auckland Council has nitpicked its way into rejecting two high-density apartment developments on public transport routes near the CBD. Hayden Donnell asks whether council’s consents department really believes in the vision of the Unitary Plan. The Unitary Plan was supposed to fix things. When it passed in 2016, huge swathes of Auckland were rezoned for … Read more

Sharks have a PR problem. The solution? Tourism

Jaws has a lot to answer for. Rather than being terrified of sharks, we should embrace shark tourism to make people realise that they need to be protected, writes Michelle Barnes and Sarah Ruth Sutcliffe.  Shark ecotourism can change people’s attitudes about sharks and make them more likely to support conservation projects – even after … Read more