Why are people ignoring the rāhui on the Waitakere Ranges? Māori researchers Melanie Mark-Shadbolt and Dr James Ataria spoke to a number of kaumatua and kaitiaki around the North Island to discuss what can be done to protect our taonga. In a desperate effort to stop the spread of kauri dieback in their forests, local … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw reviews a new collection of letters by Sylvia Plath – most written to her mother, whom she both loved and loathed. So much has been written about Sylvia Plath that reading her letters involves a continual reference beyond them, to all that’s known about her life. As I grappled with this enormous, hardcover book, … Read more
Commentary: The two women who wrote an open letter on the Spinoff are being pursued under an Israeli law designed to prevent ‘damage to the state of Israel through boycott’. But is it a serious threat, and could it really impact people living in another country? Law professor Andrew Geddis writes. For “a small, publicly-funded, … 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, Bill English and Paula Bennett are getting just a little nervous…. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos This section is made possible by Simplicity, the online nonprofit Kiwisaver plan that … Read more
How the Hec Busby did we get here? Leonie Hayden looks at ocean voyaging and the badass ancestors that brought us across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa to Aotearoa. What do we mean when we give our pepha and talk about “our” waka? I’ve seen a waka, you can’t sail overseas in that! Check out the awesome Waka Odyssey, … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, Don Rowe on claims that ratepayers are funding a sex party at the Pride Festival. What’s all this then? The Auckland Ratepayers Alliance is well and truly pissed off because, it says, ratepayer money will fund next week’s … 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 we arrive on a cloud fluffier than Mike Hosking and Kate Hawkesby’s dog to talk about our favourite local news and celebs of the week. Mostly, the fact that Mike McRoberts took a … Read more
The Spinoff introduces a rightly fearful nation to the Mike Hosking impersonator replacing Mike Hosking as the host of Seven Sharp. Jeremy Wells was yesterday afternoon confirmed as co-host of the revamped Seven Sharp, as (incredibly humblebrag) first reported by The Spinoff last Friday. It’s an extremely bold hire, perhaps the boldest in TVNZ history. … Read more
Motion sickness can seriously mess up your ability to play video games, and first person shooters are especially bad for this. James Roque shares his advice on how to play them – minus the nausea. Motion sickness sucks. A lot. As someone who’s had an extreme case of it his whole life, it’s caused me … Read more
Desperate to escape the high-summer hell of the Spinoff’s non-air conditioned office, Toby Morris spends four hours trying to get some work done onboard the blissfully chilly Outer Link bus. I’m sick of fans. I’m sick of sweaty armpits. I’m sick of worrying whether other people are sick of my sweaty armpits. To be blunt: … Read more
Good news – troops on deployment all around the world are keeping up their physical fitness and now we have proof! Bad news – troops on deployment all around the world are jogging with their fitness trackers turned on, drawing a helpful map of where they are. But former TUANZ boss Paul Brislen says we … Read more
Kate Robertson has, on occasion, soundtracked her life entirely with Shania Twain. Here’s how you can too. GIVEAWAY ALERT: Looks like we made it… closer to Shania’s New Zealand tour! And Spark is giving away 20 double-passes to her Auckland and Dunedin shows. Entries close 27 July 2018. Stop everything you’re doing – the OG … Read more
As she marks six months as Labour leader and embarks on a critical year for her newly formed government, Jacinda Ardern hosts Spinoff editor Toby Manhire at her Auckland home. Mid-morning, Anniversary Monday, and Auckland is melting. “Yesterday, I was trying to write a speech, and it was 31 degrees in the house, and in … Read more
The Spinoff continues its deep dive into the world of weird and wonderful fashion and asks: is luxury French fashion house Maison Margiela taking inspiration from a 90s Kiwi television icon? Since its start in 1981, What Now? has managed to accomplish a lot of things in its 37-year history. It’s become New Zealand’s longest-running … 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 Russell Brown about Grant Fell. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Russell Brown about his late friend Grant Fell: artist, filmmaker, magazine publisher, promoter and member of Headless … Read more
Philip Matthews on the Alanis Morrissette of literature – yelping, abrasive 90s has-been Martin Amis. The 1990s come flooding back as you read The Rub of Time, a collection of essays, features and reviews by Martin Amis. It’s so 90s it should require a soundtrack by Alanis Morissette or the Cranberries. Was there ever a more 90s … Read more
Listen to Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michele A’Court tackle the past month in women, news and popular culture. It’s a whole new year and the On the Rag team are back in the sweaty boardroom of dreams to blast the fans at full noise and dissect the first month of 2018. How incredible was … Read more
The jungle drums are beating for a change at the top of the National Party. But, predicts Ben Thomas, a former advisor to a National minister, it’s not Bill English who should be worried. It’s probably fair to say most readers of plucky Auckland-based internet start-up The Spinoff have no idea how conservative the National … Read more
Music editor and former member of Die! Die! Die! Henry Oliver talks to his ex-bandmates about making music together for nearly 20 years. I met Andrew Wilson and Michael (we called him Mikey) Prain in the summer of 2003-04. I’d seen their old band Rawer open for Trans Am, if my memory serves, and they … Read more
To prepare for The Good Doctor arriving to Lightbox next week, Alex Casey breaks down five more of the best medical shows you can binge. Just as sure as Chris Warner will reveal an illegitimate child at the dawn of every day, medical shows will forever stroll the corridors of primetime television soaked in blood … Read more
An Australian network is showing the NZ comedy show Screaming Reels in a time slot usually reserved actual fishing shows, suggesting the broadcaster was not aware it is a parody. The Spinoff asked co-host Leigh Hart to apologise to his confused Australian viewers. Instead, his ‘producers’ came back with this. It has come to our … Read more
Every year Charles Anderson takes his daughter on a road trip around his home region, seeing it as a chance to share something special and fleeting with a daughter who is getting bigger in the blink of an eye. For the third such trip of her young life, he tries, and fails, to go camping … Read more
When backbench murmurings about leadership change seep through the media, the flow becomes hellishly difficult to staunch, writes Toby Manhire. To get a sense of the steel behind the caucus murmurings about a change in the leadership of the National Party, consider that they were communicated to Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper just in … Read more
Alex Casey watches Sunday night drama Liar, a British thriller that calls one woman’s account of sexual assault into serious question. Without sounding too morbid, TVNZ couldn’t have planned the timing of sexual assault drama Liar any better. In a post-Weinstein world where stories of sexual assault and harassment have been dragged under the bright … Read more
From November through to January, a multi-disciplinary team of experts from New Zealand melted a hole through the Ross Ice Shelf to explore the hidden ocean below. Team members Christina Hulbe and Craig Stevens take us through the findings. Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf is the world’s largest floating slab of ice: it’s about the size … Read more
An interview with Dave Gibson, the outgoing head of the Film Commission, looking back on four years of rapid change. Public sector arts jobs look horrible from the outside. You have an inevitably too-small pot of money, distributed to a group of people who are either deliriously happy or incandescent with rage according to whether … Read more
From fan shortages to sweaty insomnia, New Zealand can’t get enough of heatwave talk. But there’s one subject that few media stories about high summer temperatures seem eager to discuss. Over the past two weeks, virtual gallons of digital ink have been spilled over the current record-breaking temperatures Kiwis are enduring all over the country. … Read more
Thousands came to celebrate Auckland’s anniversary at Laneway Festival in a sun soaked Albert Park. Simon Day shares his favourite memories of a very good (and very hot) day. There are times when Auckland feels quaint, backwards even, far from its “world class” aspirations. It’s usually when you’re sitting in traffic, in the rain. Then … Read more
When James Shaw thanked ‘Pirimia Jacinda Ardern, or baby mama’ many of us swooned at its cuteness, while others silently cringed. Asks Lana Lopesi, how much do we really know about the term ‘baby mama’? “Yeah this one right here goes out to all the baby’s mamas, mama’s mamas, mamas, baby mama’s mamas.” – Outkast … Read more