The country’s most promising chefs of the future battled it out in the grand final of the National Secondary Schools Culinary Championship this week. Alice Neville went along to watch the action. The teenage years, so they say, are a time for experimentation, exploration and, quite often, failure. If the reminiscing of The Spinoff team … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Parliament hears dire data on ocean plastics, Provincial Growth Fund to spend millions for 3 jobs, and minister Clare Curran on personal leave. The spread of microplastics in New Zealand’s coastal waters is increasing, to the point where 80% of samples taken in a study were … Read more
In a case of terrible timing, one set of The Boys are playing at the same time as the other set of The Boys on Saturday night. Which to watch? Alex Braae assesses the options. 7.30pm. Saturday 8 September. The room looks on as you hold the TV remote in an iron grip, visibly sweating … Read more
Sometimes, the solution to a big problem doesn’t lie in western technology. Sometimes the solution can be simple, writes Amy McDaid More than 2.7 million newborns die each year, and low birth weight and preterm infants in developing countries contribute substantially to this figure. New Zealander Ray Avery, most recently in the news for reportedly … Read more
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’s joined by Murray Bevan of Showroom 22. We’ve just seen the end … Read more
It’s Zep-tember! Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias reviews a new rock biog of Led Zeppelin’s unappealing genius, Jimmy Page. What an egg. Strange, and a little dismal, to plod through a 500-page biography of one of the great conductors of rock – who played the guitar like he was ringing up Hell and getting straight through, who turned … Read more
Occasional No Man’s Sky correspondent Josh Drummond finds the infinite space-based sandbox game just got infinitely more fun. At the beginning of this year, No Man’s Sky – 2016’s soaringly-ambitious, savagely-received space exploration not-sim – was all but done. Apart from a very small (but very enthused) player base, the numbers of which spiked briefly each … Read more
Our privacy law is the operating system for how organisations handle our information, and it affects each of us every day, writes James Ting-Edwards of InternetNZ New Zealand’s privacy law is finally, finally going to get an update. In a year that’s seen a range of big stories on big privacy threats, that’s good news. There … Read more
Victoria University has this week been shown to award significantly more C and D grades to its law students than the Universities of Auckland and Otago. But does it matter? C’s get degrees, never more so than at the law faculty of Victoria University of Wellington. Oscar Battell-Wallace is in his final year of a … Read more
Geraldine Ramirez is coming to terms with finding out her precious baby may not live through labour or beyond. Here she shares her story. On 2 July, my world changed. Fourteen weeks pregnant with our second child, I was waiting on a call from my midwife to tell me if our baby had Down syndrome. … Read more
We’ve hit the arse end of The Block NZ like a human Birdman belly-flopping into the ocean. It’s Kitchen and Dining week! Tara Ward recaps. On the now-seemingly-annual Kitchen and Dining Week, hopes are chopped into tiny pieces and dreams will be burned alive in the Breville slow cooker of our hearts. Never before has a … Read more
New World announced this week they’re giving away plastic containers, and man oh man, the internet went wild. But was the hysteria justified? Oh plastic, plastic, plastic. Who knew this one flimsy material could cause so much of an online furore in 2018? On Monday, New World announced the launch of its new collectables initiative: … Read more
Our wheelchairs are not gimmicks to help you realise ‘how good you’ve got it’, writes Red Nicholson. Yesterday, Labour ministers Carmel Sepuloni and Iain Lees-Galloway were invited by the Spinal Trust to spend the day in wheelchairs, in order to highlight the challenges a wheelchair user might face getting around parliament. A well-intentioned PR stunt … Read more
Russell Brown talks to Moira Lawler of Lifewise Trust about Housing First, a programme designed to get the most vulnerable homeless people into stable accommodation irrespective of mental or physical wellbeing or any history of substance abuse A while ago, Moira Lawler got a concerned call from Wellington. Something bad had happened with a Housing First tenant … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: PM put on the back foot over refugee quota, police reject pay offer, and some juicy local government drama unfolds in Cromwell. Plans to increase the refugee quota appear to be in jeopardy, after a public intervention from deputy PM Winston Peters, reports Newshub. Mr Peters set events … Read more
The long-running, expensive legal spat between the head of the Taxpayers’ Union lobby group and the former leader of the Conservative Party arrived at NZ’s highest court this week. Asher Emanuel went along to watch “This must be an ethically difficult case for you,” Jordan Williams, Taxpayers’ Union boss, taunted when I asked him for … Read more
Fifteen to 13. The Bachelor AU roars into week three, armed with a guitar, a hot air balloon and a Bali-based jewellery business. Miriam Moore recaps. This week jumps straight into the first date. After feeling awkward about the group date, where Sophie was forced to do some foreign yoga moves, the Honey Badger decided … Read more
This week, our intrepid reviewers combine two great passions: beer and chocolate for Alice, wine and pizza for Henry. BEHEMOTH BREWING COMPANY TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MILK STOUT 6.5%, 440ml, $11.99 from Fine Wine Delivery Co If you’re anything like me, you’ll often be faced with the dilemma of whether to have another beer or move on … Read more
Lifestyle blogger Hana Tapiata uses matauranga Māori to help decode some of modern life’s curliest questions. This week – recognising the need to change and grow. “We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” – Sheryl Sandberg I don’t know about you but I … Read more
The dear old Book Council has released its annual survey of New Zealand reading habits, and claims that on average we read 35 books a year. Thirty-five! Danyl Mclauchlan asks what the devil is going on. What do other people read? I wonder about this all the time. If I see someone reading a book on … Read more
Last week, APRA announced the five finalists for the 2017 Silver Scroll Award. Today, exclusively for The Spinoff, the five artists discuss each other’s nominated songs. Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra on ‘Laugh It Off’ by Chelsea Jade My friend put me on to this song when it first came out and I love … Read more
This month on Lightbox you can raid the Met Ball with Sandra Bullock, visit Castle Rock with Melanie Lynskey or share some delicious hot tea with four dames. Ocean’s 8 (drops Sep 5) If there was a film that better summed up the feeling of lounging back with a bottle of prosecco, a large bucket … Read more
New Zealand is in desperate need of skilled tradespeople, which means it’s past time we got women onboard and on the drills. In Mount Albert, on the land where a psychiatric hospital once stood, houses are about to be built. Earlier this year, the government announced it was purchasing 29 hectares of land from Unitec … Read more
‘We call ourselves slow-fast fashion’. Ellen Falconer meets the young label working across hemispheres and subverting the traditional Fashion Week model. On a yacht moored in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour last Wednesday, a crowd of 50 fashionistas sipped gin cocktails and slipped their feet into towelling slides with the words ‘oh hej’ stitched across the top. … Read more
The prime minister faces a cluster of challenges from her coalition partner and from within her own party. As she heads for Nauru, Ardern needs to figure out what’s gone missing, writes Guyon Espiner of RNZ. Momentum, clarity and cohesion are essential check-in items for a happy travelling government but right now they are three items … Read more
Amberleigh Jack is in recovery from a youth spent in the grips of an eating disorder. Here she talks about signs parents can look out for to protect and support their children. I was about nine when I learned if I put my fingers down my throat I could make myself vomit. At 14, I … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Harness racing rocked by police raids, reporter detained in Nauru, and former Māori Party co-leader deep in debt. Multiple properties relating to harness racing have been raided by police, amid a sting action against alleged race fixing, reports Stuff. Police have long been investigation the industry, and following … Read more
Helen Clark is back, with a new book collecting her speeches from four decades in public life. She sat down with Alex Braae to discuss her extraordinary career, and where she’s headed next. In the many years Helen Clark has been involved in politics, firstly in New Zealand, and later at the United Nations, she … Read more
Spider-Man is an unqualified triumph of a game – but the best thing about it is also the most surprising. Sam Brooks reviews. This is a spoiler-free review. It’s hard to participate in video game journalism without being very aware of the hype machine. That is, the machine which creates a deluge of pre-publicity for games … Read more