This morning Jacinda Ardern, who is visiting Waitangi over five days during commemorations of the signing of the Treaty, spoke from the veranda of Te Whare Rūnanga during the formal welcome at the Treaty grounds. Here is her speech. Kei āku nui, kei āku rahi, tēnā koutou katoa. Haere mai tātou ki tēnei rā nui, … Read more
Ahead of Jeremy Wells’ return to television tonight, David Farrier looks back at some of his favourite moments from the deadpan broadcaster. I feel passionately about Jeremy Wells. When I heard the official announcement from TVNZ that he would be joining Hilary Barry (another excellent broadcaster) on Seven Sharp, I felt a pang of joy I … Read more
The idea that New Zealand’s threatened species can somehow safely ‘co-exist’ with the onslaught of introduced predators is irresponsible and untrue, writes the Department of Conservation’s Nicola Toki. New Zealand is facing a biodiversity crisis. With more than 4000 species in trouble, some scientists have given us the dubious honour of the country with the … Read more
An excerpt from Tinderbox, the new memoir by Wellington writer Megan Dunn. One night shift at Borders Islington the alarm on the ground floor went off just after 8pm and a bum stumbled out of the fire doors in a brown corduroy suit. “What were you doing?” I asked. “That area is for staff only.” … Read more
Comedian and Justin Timberlake fan Eli Matthewson reviews JT’s new country-tinged album, Man of the Woods. I have to start this with a disclaimer: despite being tasked with reviewing this album, I have not yet been able to listen to all sixteen tracks over 66 minutes of Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods in one … Read more
Shout Out, presented by RainbowYOUTH and part of Auckland Pride Festival, is an open-mic dedicated to the talents of young queer individuals. This piece on privilege, written by The Spinoff’s Sam Brooks, will be performed at the event. Privilege, at its core, is power. Privilege is something that’s on everybody’s mind as we move into … Read more
Driverless cars are all the rage right now, but you don’t have to be a Google or Tesla to have your head in the game. Jihee Junn talks to Auckland-based company HMI Technologies about Ohmio, its self-driving subsidiary set to deploy its first shuttles at Christchurch Airport later this year. On most days along the … Read more
Opinion: Early moves by members of the new cabinet risk doing real damage to New Zealand’s constitutional framework, argues National MP Chris Penk. In the opening months of the Labour-NZ First-Greens triumvirate, a very real narrative is emerging: ministers are bending the branches of government to breaking point. By constitutional convention, respective roles played by … Read more
Our two supermarket chains have agreed to get rid of plastic bags by the end of this year. Does this mean the end of the seemingly humble plastic bag? Rebecca Stevenson caught up with Wellington City Council’s Roderick Boys to find out why we need to say goodbye to them, for good. Plastic bags were … Read more
If the Green Party leadership continues to undermine its hard-won integrity in supporting the Winston Peters driven law around disillusioned MPs, they could lose a number of their more thoughtful members and supporters, argues former Green MP Sue Bradford Last week the Electoral (Integrity) Bill passed its first reading in parliament with the support of … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Leigh Hart: An open letter from Screaming Reels to our confused Australian neighbours “Many Australian viewers are suggesting that the broadcaster 7 Mate has mistakenly scheduled the programme at the wrong time, a time normally reserved for serious educational documentary programming. As far as … Read more
In part four of our series on the future of Māori health, former Ministry of Health advisor and policy analyst Gabrielle Baker looks at where social investment and health intersect and asks if we’re spending money on the right services. In previous weeks I’ve talked about equity, inequality and Māori involvement in decision making. These … Read more
Calum Henderson looks back at the best of Jeremy Wells and makes some predictions for what he will bring to the Seven Sharp desk. When Jeremy Wells takes his seat next to Hilary Barry at the Seven Sharp desk tomorrow, it will mean different things to different people. Many of Seven Sharp’s regular audience, for … Read more
Boxers, a hairdresser, a stuffed kiwi, an accordion player, a gun, a newspaper, a lute, and a stack of whiskey bottles. Charles Anderson discovers the story behind this portrait of a unique part of New Zealand history. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. In the entrance of a thin, dark corridor filled with … Read more
Earlier this week the Spinoff visited the prime minister at her Auckland home for a wide-ranging interview. So wide-ranging, not all of it made the cut. Below, Jacinda Ardern on Winston Peters, the arts, sexism in politics, Auckland, and Donald Trump Jacinda Ardern on working with Winston Peters “It had always been said to me, … Read more
The hype around bitcoin as an investment is hard to miss. But could new infrastructure being built off the back of the digital currency allow us to have an internet where we keep our privacy? Technology blogger Richard MacManus says blockchain is a new and significant platform. Right now we’re experiencing a bubble in cryptocurrencies, … Read more
There are more problems than solutions when it comes to the integration of Sevens World Series events, but, as Scotty Stevenson discovered in Sydney, it is clearly the way forward for the sport. They crushed it in front of their home fans. The Australian women’s sevens side, in a prime afternoon spot, hammered New Zealand 31-0 to … Read more
In the second story in a series celebrating the amazing things young New Zealanders do every day, meet Jack Lanting, a Kiwi teen whose heart is as big as the Thai elephants he has dedicated his life to protecting. Lily the Thai elephant had been force fed methamphetamine for years by her handler. When Jack … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, Don Rowe uncovers an icy scandal that reaches the heights of our primary industries. It should have been obvious. We should have seen the trends. All across the country, in the freezers of our dairies and stores, something … Read more
The World Health Organisation added gaming disorder to their classification guide last year, bringing the psychological issues around gaming back into the limelight. Baz Macdonald explains what the disorder is, and how to recognise if you have it. When the World Health Organisation announced the addition of gaming disorder to its classification guide last year … Read more
The Spinoff presents the live video premiere of Broods’ Georgia Nott’s all-female produced solo project The Venus Project. Georgia Nott says: Initially written around two years ago, but still just as relevant to me today, ‘Won’t Hurt’ is about the duality of being both strong and vulnerable at the same time. Women are so often described as … Read more
The best-selling books of the week at Unity Books in Wellington and Auckland. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Fire & Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) All-gorilla TV, all the time, and other revelations. 2 The Cage by Lloyd Jones (Penguin, $38) We look forward to Stephanie Johnson’s forthcoming review. 3 … Read more
Martyn Pepperell talks to American folk-singer and park ranger Julie Byrne before her two shows with Nadia Reid in Christchurch this weekend. In August last year, I was lucky enough to watch folk singer, songwriter and guitarist Julie Byrne perform a blissed-out daytime set at Finland’s Flow Festival in Helsinki. While traces of folk titans … Read more
New verse by Auckland writer Courtney Sina Meredith. Y S scrubs the pots so give him Y P was there so give him Y X cleared her weekend so give her Y S wants kids so give him Y S stops calling unlikeable women ‘bitches’ so give him Y P sends a text … Read more
For too long mental health has had awareness campaigns sprinkled out while government action remained pretty much non-existent. Will the mental health and addictions inquiry be another plaster? We need to talk about suicide: this is the phrase you’ll routinely hear in discussions about New Zealand’s mental health crisis. Often it comes alongside well-meaning campaigns … Read more
Tara Ward stargazes beneath the celeb-studded galaxy of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams. The trippy anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams boasts one of the most formidable collections of actors in a single television series. Not even Sharknado could gather together the creative talents of award-winning stars like Bryan Cranston, Anna Paquin, Vera Farmiga, … Read more
Slowly Australians are coming to realise that truth and non-violence are virtues that have eluded them for over two centuries, writes the Archdeacon of Australia’s Central Coast ahead of a New Zealand visit. As I prepare to travel to Aotearoa to speak at various events I am deeply aware that this preparation takes place in … Read more
Jessie Moss talks to Coco Solid about her upcoming mixtape, what Waitangi Day means to her, and how she stays cool on these increasingly muggy days. In the middle of the hottest week Aotearoa has seen in years, somewhere in Auckland Coco Solid is getting a lot of things done. I first met Coco in … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Vodafone Xone. 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 talks to Genevieve O’Halloran, a lawyer and mother who knows … Read more