A video series featuring interviews with young female bloggers, business owners and creatives has been accused of being an elaborate scam by numerous Instagram users, who say its creator used stories of terminal illness and family death to emotionally manipulate interviewees into handing over cash. Scroll down for updates from former NZ Bachelors Art Green … Read more
Whether to report on the false rumours about the prime minister’s partner created a quandary for the media. Could they report on slurs designed to do damage without amplifying the effect of them and playing into the hands of the rumour-mongers? Colin Peacock of RNZ’s Mediawatch programme looks at how they responded. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responding to … Read more
Kristen Joiner reflects on what she wants her teenage sons to know about life in this new world they’re growing up in. It’s 2018. Thank God. From Donald Trump comparing the size of his button with Kim Jong-un’s, to Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo, 2017 was a doozy of a year. Hopefully it will turn out to … Read more
Nine musicians and producers from this year’s SongHubs, a collaborative song-writing retreat presented by APRA AMCOS with support from NZ on Air, share their experiences. Five rooms at Roundhead Studios, each containing three songwriters and a producer, pumping out a brand new song every day for a week – could there ever be a more … Read more
There’s only one problem with our annual feijoa windfall – there’s far too many of the little buggers. Emily Holdaway has some ideas to use them up. The way we go on about feijoas in New Zealand you’d think it was a native. It’s not – the feijoa is actually native to central South America … Read more
British miniseries galore, Joanna Lumley travelogues, plucky teens putting on a musical about 19th Germany – May on Lightbox has got it all. Sam Brooks and Alex Casey run down what’s coming to Lightbox this month. Love, Nina (May 2) Who doesn’t love a delicious Nick Hornby adaptation to soothe the weary soul? Based on the … Read more
Yesterday came the shock news that Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre had closed after 44 years and more than 400 productions. Playwright Roger Hall, who lived in Dunedin for 20 years and had close ties with the Fortune, looks back at the theatre’s decades-long struggle to stay afloat. Ah the Fortune. The tantrums, the dramas, the jealousies, … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s care package for the new royal baby includes 15 kids books chosen by author Kate De Goldi. She writes about her selection. I have a bunch of go-to titles for new babies – black and white board books for first reads, nursery rhyme collections for ever, favourites by New Zealand writers and artists for … Read more
Today’s Māori organisations are the result of decades of Māori being forced into corporate structures that don’t fit. It’s time to rethink them, writes Joshua Hitchcock. The accountability of Māori organisations to their members was back in the news in April, with several stories highlighting unjustified spending and unaccountable governance structures. It is always disheartening … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Madeleine Chapman 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 tackle a Rebel Sport ad with a secret message, delve into the terrifying online world of incels and fill our moon cups … Read more
Don Rowe takes a deep dive into the disgusting to rank the diseases and bugs currently plaguing our shores, threatening our agriculture and tourism industries. Just as our clean green image is threatened by the various turds, both bovine and backpacker, flooding into our waterways, so too is our biosecurity consistently in danger of bugs … Read more
The Herald has reported that untrue things are being said about Jacinda Ardern’s partner. Here’s what we know so far. Everyone in media and political circles, Steve Braunias notwithstanding, has been gasbagging like mad over the last month about rumours related to Clarke Gayford, the partner of the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. Most of these … Read more
The country is changing. And in contrasting herself from her predecessor and advocating for this change, the PM is wielding her awesome and terrible powers of virtue-signalling. It’d be odd if she wasn’t, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. As The Spinoff recently documented, virtue-signalling is the opposition’s favourite attack line against the Labour-led government. Why “virtue-signalling”? It’s … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Prisoners complain guards are assaulting and abusing them, there’s a severe shortage of tradies, and the SkyCity Convention Centre suffers another delay. Allegations of sexual abuse and serious assault by Corrections staff have been made by dozens of prisoners. One News has revealed that between 2012-2016, 16 … Read more
He showed up to a voice over job and was asked to mispronounce a Māori place name. Dave Ward explains why he chose to speak up instead. Taika Waititi was right on the money. We have a race issue in Aotearoa and it’s not going away. Last week I refused to deliberately mispronounce a Māori … 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 are on a high after an extremely strong two episodes of Dancing With the Stars NZ. Which star is basically The Real Pod come to life? Which star … Read more
The Spinoff and Spark proudly present Pod On The Couch, a weekly podcast exploring music and the people that make it. This episode: Henry Oliver talks to Barnie Duncan about his upcoming comedy/DJ show. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to actor, comedian and DJ Barnie Duncan about Juan Vesuvius: I Am Your Deejay, a live … Read more
On the first day of New Zealand Music Month, Max Tetlow introduces a new monthly round-up of some of the best things to happen in New Zealand music in the previous month. Unknown Mortal Orchestra drop Sex & Food ahead of a world tour This album made headlines for two reasons. First, it’s very good. Second, during … Read more
Steph Matuku reviews the new book by Parris Goebel – dancer, superstar, role model for Polynesian youth. Parris Goebel is so driven and motivated I had to read the book lying down just to catch my breath. Short story: realised at a very young age that she loved dance and dropped out of school at … Read more
Juliet Speedy knows the importance of a close group of mama friends. Here she talks about the feeling we’ve surely all had: The Mummy Crush. A whole new world of friendship opens up when you have kids. A pretty bloody amazing one. One fabulous part of becoming a mum is how quickly you can make … Read more
Madeleine Chapman has written a column about Kate Hawkesby’s column about Deborah Hill Cone’s column about Deborah Hill Cone’s column about Clarke Gayford, and this is that column. There’s something about Deborah Hill Cone and Kate Hawkesby that keeps nagging me every time I see their columns. At first I thought it was outrage, then … Read more
The behaviour modifiers are inhumane and should be banned, writes Dr Helen Beattie of the New Zealand Veterinary Association The New Zealand Veterinary Association supports the use of humane training methods, therefore we are against the use of shock collars other than under exceptional circumstances. We believe this strongly, which is why we formalised this view … Read more
Light up your bleak office life with our cut-out-and-circulate Dancing with the Stars NZ Sweepstake kit. Please feel free to repurpose as bingo or a drinking game or whatever. To print, click here for PDF. Brought to you by Toby Morris, Tina Tiller, Mad Chapman & Alex Casey This content, like all television coverage … Read more
What might the 2018 Budget deliver on regional economic development, and how will it intersect with our largest city? In the first piece in a series analysing Budget 2018, Grant Thornton’s Murray Brewer casts his eye over the options and opportunities. The government’s moves on regional economic development are courageous and long-overdue, and will have … Read more
In today’s Cheat Sheet, we take a look at the so-called ‘Amazon tax’ and what it means for local retailers and consumers. So what’s the government taxing now? The government has announced that low-value goods bought online from overseas will now be subject to a goods and services tax (GST) of 15%. Low-value goods include … Read more
From transport, medicine, retail and travel, this year’s crop of nominees for Kiwibank’s Most Innovative Hi-Tech Service Award are being recognised for shaking up some of New Zealand’s most vital industries. With the winner to be announced on May 25 as part of this year’s Hi-Tech Awards, Jihee Junn takes a look at the talented … Read more
The Spinoff recently launched a free daily digest of the most important news from around New Zealand called The Bulletin, and it’s proving to be a big hit. Here’s why you should sign up. Nobody has an abundance of time any more. The idea of sitting down for a leisurely read of the paper every … Read more
Hyper-sensalitionism clouds the true gravity of the moves towards reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, write Korean New Zealanders Angela Suh and Rebekah Jaung. What is the biggest historical event that you can fathom taking place in your lifetime? For most Koreans, unification or the alternative of catastrophic conflict on the Korean peninsula are high on … Read more
Alice Snedden’s Bad News is a new TVNZ OnDemand show in which Alice Snedden investigates the issues she’s interested in – and makes it all about herself. Sam Brooks talks to her. Alice Snedden is a special comedian. I remember the first time I saw her perform, in the 2016 RAW Comedy Quest; she came onto … Read more