Rent Week 2018: His friend did it, so he thought he would try it too and save some money. In his last year at university he started living in a van. Now, two years later, he’s moving on. As told to Jamie Small. Recently I sold the van I lived in for two years. And … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today, new National Party leader Simon Bridges takes a victory lap. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos This section is made possible by Simplicity, the online nonprofit KiwiSaver plan that only … Read more
If the Kings Arms, which closes today, was the physical epicentre of Auckland’s ’90s/2000s alternative music scene, The Fix was its pre-Facebook-invite guide. Steve Newall recounts the venue’s history through The Fix’s gig guides and talks to its editor Richard Cooke. Auckland in the ’90s was a very different place: light on venues and outside … Read more
The New Zealand Breakers have announced a new ownership group including two former NBA players. It’s a well-orchestrated transition which only serves to show how special former owners the Blackwells were, writes Andrew Mulligan. The Breakers just beat the Warriors to it, again. They were the first to bring a non-rugby title to the fully professional … Read more
Today is International Rare Disease Day. Dorothy McLean talks to two women about the heartbreaking decision to take the test for Huntington’s Chorea, a deadly and debilitating hereditary disease with no known cure. Leanne* never knew her biological father. The man simply never wanted a part in her life. Then, age 44, he killed himself. Leanne was … Read more
Ahead of her debut at the Auckland Fringe on Thursday night, former Green MP Catherine Delahunty writes on the good, the bad and the toxic of nine years in parliament – and what needs fixing. Warning – the show I am describing contains swearing and explicit feminist content. I did nearly nine years of Question Time … Read more
On Monday night, Seven Sharp aired a segment warning against the left-leaning political extremist groups, aka meme pages, on Facebook. Madeleine Chapman expands on the report. It’s a dangerous world out there for young people. No one drives safely, everyone drinks too much, and there’s MDMA laced with something more dangerous than MDMA. But there’s a new … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Last month The Spinoff reported landlords in Wellington were actively encouraging bidding wars in an attempt to hike rents. Here NZ-born, Melbourne-based tenancy lawyer Joseph Nunweek outlines a simple legislative change that would make the concept obsolete. Since I last wrote for The Spinoff about newly-unveiled changes to tenancy law in Victoria … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Pushed to desperate measures by the high costs of renting with a small child, single parent Nichole Brown made a dramatic decision to reduce her housing costs. The hidden cost of single parenting goes beyond simply clothing and feeding children. Becoming a single parent had a huge impact on the cost of … Read more
LA bass-guitar extraordinaire Thundercat is playing Auckland City Limits this weekend. To help prepare you, The Spinoff retraces his career in 112 seconds. Thundercat, known to his mother as Stephen Bruner, is a bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer from Los Angeles. If you don’t think you know his songs, you probably do. And if you … Read more
Mary Macpherson talks to a brilliant Texan photographer who makes portraits of men and the land in the disappearing American West. In the bulging shelves of our photobook collection, there’s a select area reserved for the most significant and deeply loved works. One of these books is a tall slim volume with a metal spine … Read more
Romance of the Three Kingdoms addict Sam Brooks has spent a lot of hours on Dynasty Warriors 9 and it’s… not good. So why can’t he put it down? Dynasty Warriors 9 is not a good game. I know that. The critical drubbing it has received, even from fans, has been huge. A lot of these are … 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, Jane, Alex and Duncan froth over an explosive few days on Married at First Sight NZ – possibly the greatest episodes in reality TV history. How are Dean and Davina … Read more
Aerial artist Empress Stah performs the world’s only laser butt plug show, and she brought it to Splore 2018 last weekend. Simon Day spoke to her about how her art challenges audiences to look at the world in a different way. Empress Stah hung from her trapeze above the stage as hundreds of Splorers waited … Read more
Kiwis use about 2 billion bottles and cans each year, but Marty Hoffart says we are recycling less than half of them – and worse, we’re not doing the one thing that could make the most difference. For the extended original version of this article go to PureAdvantage.org Well, it’s official. The United Kingdom, Ireland, … Read more
Bridie Chetwin-Kelly talks to producer and singer Jon Lemmon about his relentless positivity and how to bring gender inclusiveness to dance music. Dressed in blue pants covered in birds, a white button up, long hair and a huge glistening smile – it was hard not to be caught up in Jon Lemmon’s positive energy. Which … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, the new leader of the National party, Simon Bridges. Who? Simon Joseph Bridges, former lawyer, came into parliament at the same time as former lawyer Amy Adams, whom he beat to the leadership. The former West Aucklander took … Read more
Has the government been too keen to go for working groups, panels and inquiries, over actual action? Alex Braae counts the announcements. As new ministers get their feet under their desks, they start to cast around for things to do. All of a sudden they have access to the comparatively vast resources of the public … Read more
Rent Week 2018: Like all media companies, we spend our days looking at Reddit for things to repost. The difference is that we ask. And so, with the permission of Chelsea S aka /u/PavementFuck, we present Renting 101 – everything you need to know about being a tenant in New Zealand. Since it’s renting season, … Read more
Keagan Carr Fransch is a New Zealand-Zimbabwean actress studying in London. She writes about the breathtaking moments representation on screen can create for African diaspora. *Contains spoilers for the film Black Panther. Since whisperings began of Black Panther joining the Marvel cinematic universe in late 2015, the African diaspora was abuzz with excitement. As promo … Read more
The Filthy Rich Trade Me account reveals an embarrassment of riches, discovers Alex Casey. In a discovery more intriguing than when Gloriavale was flogging bulk Geisha wigs and a haunted goat named Hector, the people behind Filthy Rich have started a Trade Me account to sell off their opulent wares. The account filthy-rich, registered under the … Read more
Redactions which disappeared due to a technical glitch point to a standoff which pits NZ on Air and the big private media companies against RNZ. The stakes? A huge funding boost which could shape the future of our media. A standoff is brewing between RNZ and NZ on Air over who will control the annual … Read more
It’s the biggest scandal to rock the legal profession in years. Yet the official response to the Russell McVeagh revelations has been woefully inadequate, says special counsel Linda Clark. I work with a group of simply terrific young women. They are bright, engaging, hard working and professional. These women – and so many others like … Read more
With the crucial caucus meeting only hours away, Judith Collins and Steven Joyce top preferred leader numbers – but it’s a different story in assessing leadership chop. As National MPs descend on Wellington to cast their votes in the contest to succeed Bill English as party leader, most observers are calling it a two-horse race. … Read more
For 20 years, the second Māori King, Tāwhiao, governed Rohe Pōtae (the King Country) as an independent state. Tāwhiao also sailed to London in an attempt to see the Queen; the mission is described in this extract from a new study of that 20-year reign. Going to London to see the Queen was a rare … Read more
In this very special bonus episode of The Real Pod, Jane Yee and Alex Casey sit down with Olivia Caridi from season 20 of The Bachelor US. It’s no secret that Olivia Caridi is one of the greatest Bachelor contestants in the rich history of the franchise. Vying for the affection of Ben Higgins in the 20th … Read more
Simon Day looks back on what might just have been the best Splore ever. Once a year a utopian paradise appears at Tapapakanga Regional Park. For three days Splore is a vision into a world where everyone embraces each other’s difference, where people are encouraged to express themselves, where everyone looks after each other, and … Read more
Wellington synthpop genius Disasteradio is playing Auckland City Limits this weekend! To help prepare you, The Spinoff retraces his career in 121 seconds. Wellington synthpop maestro Luke Rowell has been making hi-fi and high energy music under the pseudonym Disasteradio since 2000. He’s been on a prolific run ever since, playing over 400 shows in 22 countries … Read more
Ahead of UnREAL season three arriving exclusively to Lightbox tomorrow, Olivia Caridi from The Bachelor US takes us behind the curtain of reality romance. To use the quote the astute words of Rachel from UnREAL, her job as a reality TV producer is basically “Satan’s asshole.” Working as a puppeteer behind the scenes of a … Read more