Luke Harries dives deep into the drink of Survivor NZ week seven, including a shock exit and a tense mud challenge. Contains spoilers, obviously. Would you believe, we’ve already made it to the halfway point of Survivor NZ’s second season?! The first half has already packed in more drama, sassier villains and fresher pizzas than … Read more
The debate over the danger of methamphetamine contamination was settled once and for all last week when the country’s top scientist revealed it was nothing more than hysteria. RNZ’s Benedict Collins explains how it all unfolded Sir Peter Gluckman’s report found New Zealand that has been in the grips of a moral meth panic – and … Read more
How can we be sure catching the tuna we’re eating hasn’t also harmed humans? At the moment we can’t. But could new technology bring transparency to the fishing industry, and help stamp out unsafe conditions? Sushi. We Kiwis love it. Incredible to think that in the 1980s it was still something many of us baulked … Read more
After talking to author and scholar Damon Salesa, Madeleine Chapman wonders why we don’t see more Pacific players in New Zealand cricket. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. It doesn’t make sense. Rugby, league, netball, basketball. All have a large number of Pacific athletes representing New Zealand at the highest level and all have … Read more
Born after 1980? Going to be renting your entire life with no end in sight? House Flipper is the game to simulate a renovation future you’ll never see. Adam Goodall reviews. When I was a kid and my parents made me go to Mitre 10 Palmerston North with them, I would go straight to the part … Read more
Pallas Hupé Cotter’s new year’s resolution for 2018 was a big one: going alcohol-free for an entire year. As she approaches the halfway point she shares what she’s learned so far. At midnight on December 31st 2017, while watching fireworks from a hilltop on the outskirts of Wellington, I took one last sip of bubbles … Read more
Phil Goff’s 10-year ‘build it’ budget finally got the green light on Thursday, with one of the provisions being that the infamous ‘bed tax’ is now set to be extended to homes listed on sites like Airbnb. What does this mean for hosts? And are other regions set to follow? (PLUS, other things you should … Read more
She’s the founder and CEO of beauty-booking app Flossie, controls the agency for social media influencers and sits on the board of Kiwisaver darling Simplicity. So why did Jenene Crossan hit rock bottom? Content warning: this post contains discussion of suicide and suicidal thoughts. I’d been keeping my powder dry on writing this. But today, having … Read more
You’ve got three days off work – why would you want to spend it outside being cold when you could be cosily binge-watching the best of Lightbox in the comfort of your own home? Some people spend their public holidays in the fresh air, having ‘experiences’ and meeting ‘people’. To them, I say: please stop. … Read more
We sell great mass-produced milk products – the best, even. But it’s sumptuous leathergoods, made from farmed deer nappa specifically, that’s getting a new generation of made in New Zealand brands into the hands of Chinese consumers. When The Spinoff’s Jihee Jun visited Alibaba in Hangzhou, she discovered that our biggest sellers on ‘the Chinese Amazon’ were … Read more
Welcome back to Waterdeep Mountain High, a Dungeons & Dragons podcast set in a below average school in the mystical land of Faerun. “Yesterday we literally found some dead kids, and they didn’t even give us the next day off.” Barely recovered from the traumatic events of their afternoon in detention, our heroes are tasked … Read more
Refugee advocates are celebrating a win with a promised increase of the quota under the new government, but those refugees who get here are still facing years-long waits for family to join them. Tessa Johnstone reports “That’s me!” Mohamed* says, with a grin. He’s pointing to a grainy photo of a clipping from a Maltese … Read more
Men are increasingly the primary caregivers for kids, but public facilities for them to change nappies in remain woefully inadequate. This story was originally published on Newshub. As Clarke Gayford is about to show the world, males are perfectly capable of being primary caregivers. Plenty of them are keen to take some time off work … Read more
The day after the end of New Zealand Music Month, Max Tetlow rounds-up of some of the best things to happen in New Zealand music in May. Villette’s VR video for ‘Money’ Villette’s Drip Crimson project proved she wasn’t here for just a few hits – her stellar lyrics and self-production across the album put … Read more
Birds do it. Bees do it. But do podcasters do it? The On the Rag team join forces with RNZ’s Bang! to talk about sex, baby. In a Very Special Crossover, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court sit down with Bang!‘s Melody Thomas to talk about sexual awakenings, crushing on The Grinch and what NOT … Read more
This week’s best-selling books at the Unity stores in Willis St, Wellington, and High St, Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The New Animals by Pip Adam (Victoria University Press, $30) We actually took out the final, over-egged sentence in Brannavan Gnanalingam’s review on Tuesday but we’ll restore it here: “It’s a masterpiece.” 2 The New Ships … Read more
Tara Ward recaps the seventh episode of this season of The Handmaid’s Tale, which shipped her and her emotional stability off in a crimson coffin. Ship me off to the colonies and throw me your smallest shovel, because I am of no use to anyone after that episode of The Handmaid’s Tale. It had everything: tension, dread, … Read more
The mighty John Madden Football series turns 30 today – a huge achievement for any game series. Haimona Gray looks at how the series has matured and mutated over the past three decades. Picture 22 athletes at the top of their fields competing at a level they had to forgo the majority of childhood to … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: the giant penises painted on potholes in Rodney District by Geoff Upson. Reviewed by Toby Morris The greatest art is anger. At least, that’s what’s Auckland artist Geoff Upson suggests in his bold new work “Giant Penises highlight potholes on … Read more
New love poetry by Wellington writer Hera Lindsay Bird. I want to get high my whole life with you i feel it in my leather hotpant pockets i feel it in my anime wind blowing through an alpine tennis resort overcome with wildflowers i feel it in my ironic valley girl hairflip I feel it … Read more
Labour’s inexplicable timidity risks turning the much-vaunted KiwiBuild policy into a damp squib, argues Guyon Espiner for RNZ. The most ambitious interventionist economic plan pursued by a New Zealand government was named after a race. Think Big won the Melbourne Cup twice in the mid-1970s, making quite an impression on Allan Highet, a long forgotten … Read more
Today, Dunedin-based artist Dudley Benson releases his first single in three years, a cover of Shona Laing’s 1988 song ‘(Glad I’m) Not a Kennedy’. Producer Josh Thomas says: Dudley had wanted to record a version of ‘Kennedy’ for quite a while, but he also had some very particular ideas in mind which meant we needed … Read more
Good morning, welcome to winter, and and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auckland Council passes 10 year budget, National hates Labour’s sentencing proposals, and a concerning glimpse of the culture at Tauranga hospital. Auckland’s ten year budget has made it through Council, meaning spending and rates plans for the next decade can be locked … 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 Simon chats with Vaughan Rowsell about turning big ideas into big realities. … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture, with thanks to our friends at The Women’s Bookshop. This month on On the Rag, we celebrate Ireland’s resounding Yes vote to repeal the amendment outlawing abortion, and look at the current state of things in New … Read more
These are cruel days for white old men who feel silenced. We scour the country to find the last remaining safe spaces for these struggling titans. It’s hard out here for a pimp. But it’s even harder out here for those who don’t know what song or movie that’s referencing. In other words, it’s hard … Read more
Linda Burgess celebrates a collection of reviews and essays by the great New Yorker writer Lorrie Moore. Someone has decided that Lorrie Moore’s writing is so good, and so lasting in its impact, that it’s worth gathering up 30 years’ worth of her pieces in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The … Read more
The Spinoff talks to wāhine Māori about the history, present and future of moko kauae, as well as Inia Taylor, the tā moko artist behind the controversial moko kauae worn by life coach Sally Anderson. “Moko kauae is not for Pākehā!” That outcry by a group of wāhine Māori, prompted by a recent media investigation … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes on her son’s adventures at school and how she’s learning to adjust to having a school kid. About six months ago my son started school. I cried all day. I was surprised by how much it hit me. My little baby boy was now a school kid. I wanted to … Read more