Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: SIS connection to spy firm Thompson and Clark probed, effect of capital gains tax debated, and yet another small town bank closing down. The SIS is internally investigating concerns around bias towards security firm Thompson and Clark, reports Radio NZ. The concerns relate to emails, uncovered under … 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’ve infiltrated the Radio Live studio to deliver you yet another week of reality TV recappery. Dancing With the Stars NZ is getting down to the wire with group … Read more
The Spinoff TV’s Ra Pomare and Angella Dravid discuss the big First Baby news. Live blog: Rolling updates as New Zealand awaits the arrival of the First Baby The Spinoff TV screens Fridays at 9.45pm from June 22nd on THREE. Thanks to NZ on Air.
Jacinda Ardern has not yet had her baby – though check here for the very latest – but deputy prime minister Winston Peters has nevertheless assumed her set-piece duties. And how Winstonianly has he assumed them? Here are some examples from the almost-prime-minister’s answers to questions across the last 24 hours, drawn from the post-cabinet … Read more
Book of the Week: Matt Vance reviews an investigation into “the freaks, maniacs and the greed-addled madmen” who obsessively collect, plunder and steal bird specimens. What is it about birds and obsessives? Birds, like no other animal, seem to bring out the freaks, maniacs and the greed-addled madmen of infinite detail. In June 2009, Edwin … Read more
From the moment he arrived in Italy to play rugby Sir John Kirwan fell in love with the food and wine. He speaks to Simon Day about bringing a taste of his corner of the country back to New Zealand. In 1985, a 20-year-old (not yet Sir) John Kirwan was living in Mangere earning $150 … Read more
On Lightbox Premium, you can download Lightbox content to your mobile device. We asked our colleagues for their picks to watch on your next commute – no matter the length. Your commute can be the worst part of your day; there’s nothing to do on it except waste time. But what if you could catch … Read more
The typical Kiwi farmer is swapping their roll of Number 8 wire for a smartphone and robotics. At Fieldays 2018 Angela Cuming discovered the technology and science solving many of the challenges facing the industry. It’s 4am on your average Kiwi dairy farm, a time when most farmers are up and out of bed and … Read more
The government’s inquiry into mental health and addiction, announced in January, travels to Whanganui this week, home of the mental health worker who changed Jason Renes’ life. Content warning: suicide, self-harm, depression. After the third time I self-harmed I told my mother I was hurting myself and I needed help to stop. She set up … Read more
Our Climate, Your Say is the government’s invitation for public input on its Zero Carbon Bill. Climate campaigner (and former Green Party co-leader) Jeanette Fizsimons explains what she’ll be telling them. The government is seeking input to its ground-breaking Zero Carbon Bill which will set a target for emissions, appoint a commission to advise it, … Read more
The Peach Teats billboard is a legitimate cult classic. In the first of a new series uncovering the stories behind classic New Zealand illustrations, Toby Morris meets the artist responsible for State Highway 1’s favourite cheeky calf. If you’ve ever driven State Highway 1 through the central North Island, you’ll have seen it. And if … Read more
Week after week on Dancing with the Stars, the ACT leader has cheated eviction at the hands of the judges thanks to massive support from viewers, to the extent that he’s comfortably received more text votes than he did in the election last year. Anecdotally, much of his support is coming from young people. But why? … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Workers prepare to walk off the job, Nicky Hager gives his account of police harassment, and a march in Tauranga against the proposed begging ban. A wave of strikes are set to hit the public sector, while private sector workers are also taking action. The latest on … Read more
David Farrier finds out why some men are paying Auckland musician Princess Chelsea hundreds of dollars for one song. Princess Chelsea is one of my favourite New Zealand musicians. Some of her songs are massive and big, like this one which has 40 million views on YouTube. Others are a bit smaller, like ‘Yulia‘ (only … Read more
It’s a wintry theme this week on a Cato-less Dancing with the Stars. Who adjusts to the winter chill and who is left out in the cold? These puns and more in week eight’s power rankings. Note: Each contestant danced twice this week – once with their partner and once in a team – and I … Read more
Winston Peters has assumed prime ministerial duties from Jacinda Ardern – well, some of them – as she prepares to go on maternity leave. Toby Manhire watches (thanks Newshub) the weekly set-piece post-Cabinet press conference. In late September 2017, Winston Peters stood before the parliamentary press gallery in the Beehive Theatrette and evacuated a bellyful of … Read more
“God damn, that horse is beautiful.” Townie Ra Pomare heads to the country’s biggest expo of rural life. The Spinoff TV screens Fridays at 9.45pm from June 22nd on THREE. Thanks to NZ on Air.
Community activists and charity groups staged a hikoi in Tauranga today, outraged at a bylaw prohibiting beggars and rough sleepers in the CBD. But the hikoi is also about restoring mana and hope, explains Kai Aroha founder Tania Lewis-Rickard Two years ago I started our charity Kai Aroha because of the obvious growth of poverty … Read more
Live updates from Hayden Donnell, Toby Manhire and Madeleine Chapman Sunday, June 24 8.30pm: Earlier today the prime minister and her partner appeared at Auckland Hospital to acknowledge Clarke Gayford’s cardigan. “There’s nothing wrong with that dad cardie,” said Jacinda Ardern, in a Facebook video. It was “a real find”, said the prime minister of … Read more
Since becoming an at-home father, Adam Mamo has been on a desperate search for his masculinity – after all, he keeps being told it’s gone missing. You needn’t look far back in time to when being a stay-at-home dad wasn’t really a thing. Early practitioners of this dark art were seen merely as fathers without … Read more
Climate change is not a partisan issue, and the need to take big steps to reduce emissions is urgent. So the opposition support for a Climate Change Commission is very welcome, writes climate scientist James Renwick. In climate policy-land, things are all go here in New Zealand. The coalition government has got its Zero Carbon … Read more
He viewed Greymouth as “sub-human”, rather wished James K Baxter would STFU, and regarded the poetry of “plump and round” Bill Manhire as “promising”. A new book shares the 1968 diary of Landfall founder Charles Brasch. January 25, 1968 Jim [Baxter] talks so continuously because he is driven all the time by his need to put his … Read more
Last month a former YHA board member argued that closure of the Opoutere hostel showed the organisation had stopped listening to its membership. That’s a misleading characterisation, counters YHA head Mark Wells. In mid-February YHA’s national board confirmed the closure of a hostel at Opoutere in the Coromandel. The hostel was a very special location … Read more
Yesterday, Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s album ‘Everything Is Love’ was released with no warning. Is it any good? If Lemonade was the release and 4:44 was the repentance, then Everything Is Love is, indisputably, the glorious reconciliation. Over the weekend, the Carters released the closing chapter of their conceptual trilogy via the online streaming service Tidal. It’s … Read more
The rape and murder of Melbourne woman Eurydice Dixon has reignited the conversation about women’s role in protecting themselves from stranger danger. Criminologist Bianca Fileborn explains the problem with ‘stay safe’ advice. This week, a man allegedly raped and murdered a young woman – emerging comedian Eurydice Dixon – as she walked home from a … Read more
Facebook knows everything about you, and by extension, so do a million marketers and corporations. And now so do I. Eighteen months ago, in a sudden fit of self-importance, I decided it was time to get myself a Facebook ‘brand’ page. That way I could share some of my blog posts and journalism with whomever … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pike River case could be reopened, public service workers to vote on strike action, and police accused of behaving like a private security force. Police could reopening the Pike River mine case, and criminal charges may follow, reports Newshub. The government’s top investigator has been in Greymouth, … Read more
Spend money to make money? Not really. It turns out there’s very little in the Commonwealth Games for a host other than cost. In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens and shared a similar fate to many of its successors: the initial costs were vastly underestimated, they were plagued with cost … Read more
We’re back again for week nine of Survivor NZ, and with only nine castaways left we’re starting to see old alliances fall apart, as new partnerships form. Luke Harries recaps. The old tribal lines of Chani and Khang Khaw are more blurred than ever, and following Renee’s big move to flip on her old Chani … Read more