We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, does the celebrated new bakery from the Orphan’s Kitchen team live up to the Instagram hype? The good burghers of Point Chevalier have been spoiled over the last couple of years. Excellent cafes like Twisted Tomato, the Beach Cafe … Read more
What lies beyond the new Labour government’s ‘first 100 days’ for health policy and outcomes for Māori? In part two of our series on the future of Māori health, former Ministry of Health advisor and policy analyst Gabrielle Baker asks if ‘reducing inequality’ is aiming too low. Click here to read part one. The new … Read more
A protest against the relocation of 15 mature trees from Quay St to nearby parks is continuing to prevent work on the cycleway extension. Jolisa Gracewood and Max Robitzsch of Bike Auckland sigh deeply, and explain how we got here. Having ended 2017 with a story about the opposition to the Grey Lynn cycleway, we … Read more
The newborn baby taken from his parents by Oranga Tamariki at an Auckland hospital last year is coming home, but their daughter remains in state custody. Joris de Bres follows the family’s fight to get their children back. Last September, baby Liam* was taken because Oranga Tamariki (OT) believed he was in danger of harm if … Read more
I would love for Doug Edmeades to be right, as I would sleep better at night, but the arguments he trots out have been debunked over and over again, writes climate scientist James Renwick. Some memes never die. Every time you shoot them down they just get up again like the zombies they are. “Satellite … Read more
The shock resignation of Mike Hosking has led to Three playing some very aggressive media chess. “You’re looking very bronzed,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Duncan Garner on Monday morning. “A bronzed whaler,” he replied, assumedly not a confession of his summer recreational activities. Thereafter, they got into the serious business of Trump and shitholes … Read more
Children are the real winners now that National Standards have gone, according to primary principals and teachers. So what will schools be getting up to in the brave new world of 2018? Kirsten Warner looks for answers. “It’s been six years and we’ve just been so unhappy this whole time,” reads the celebratory email from … Read more
Comedian James Roque responds to the exhortations online that we should just lighten up and learn to take a joke over that Christchurch restaurant menu. Last week I read a tweet about an Asian fusion restaurant in Christchurch named Bamboozle, which had a menu that consisted of offensive made-up food names such as “Ho Lee … Read more
Alex Casey checks in with the gang from The AM Show for their first show of the year. Awful. Hopeless. Horrible. These are just some of the words Duncan Garner used to describe his sleep last night, the eve before the return of The AM Show online, on radio, and on telly for 2018. Falling … Read more
Who would threaten to burn down a restaurant in New Zealand because of the politics of the Middle East? Yael Shochat, owner of the Israeli restaurant Ima in Auckland, responds to the menacing abuse that has followed Lorde’s decision not to play in Tel Aviv. I‘m sure you’ve heard of Lorde’s decision to cancel her … Read more
Murdoch Stephens saw Mount Eerie play in Krakow, visited Auschwitz, and wrote about how to listen to songs of unimaginable tragedy. What are the limits of processing grief through a song? Love is easy. The performer is either in love or out of it, so, for most of us, there’s no problem with identifying with … Read more
An essay by Catherine Robertson, author of the wildly entertaining novel Gabriel’s Bay, on the problems some critics have with ‘women’s fiction’. Two years ago, I reviewed a truly terrible novel. I managed to find one positive thing to say about it, but the bulk of the review was not complimentary. The author wrote to … Read more
In purporting to deliver a disinterested appraisal of the US president’s first year, Heather Du Plessis-Allan creates a perfect storm of misinformation, argues Branko Marcetic. A lot of people will hate the column in yesterday’s Herald on Sunday column, which purported to explain “why Trump’s first year hasn’t been that bad”, for a lot of … Read more
Blockades barring people from using a wharf on Matakana Island in the Western Bay of Plenty have drawn the ire of visitors and tourist operations, with some accusing local hapū of “taking the law into their own hands.” Tauranga Moana local Graham Cameron defends their kaitiakitanga and challenges views on land use and ownership. I … Read more
Peanut butter maker Fix and Fogg has expanded from farmers’ markets to the biggest online marketplace in the world, Amazon. Rebecca Stevenson caught up with founder Roman Jewell, and discovered Kiwi ingenuity at the heart of this small business success story. Google “craft brewery”, Fix and Fogg’s Roman Jewell says, and you’ll find a plethora … Read more
The Kiwi footwear has become a favourite of Silicon Valley elites. But are the shoes now furnishing the feet of top Republican and speaker of the house Paul Ryan? Jihee Junn investigates As the fire and fury raged through Washington DC, Donald Trump took to his Camp David retreat earlier this week to hash out … Read more
Opinion: Enemies of neo-liberalism looking for a socialist saviour will be disappointed – Ardern’s government essentially promises a continuation with existing policy, argues former National cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. Among New Zealand’s left, some complain that Jacinda Ardern is not radical enough. She has a golden opportunity, veteran commentator Chris Trotter has argued, to cement … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Louisa Woods: How to talk to your children about Logan Paul’s suicide video “I’m not going to debate whether or not the video should have been posted. It should not. Apart from the utter disrespect shown to the man and his family, the lack … Read more
Alex Casey reviews The Casketeers, an ingenious documentary set within the four walls of an Onehunga funeral home. It’s only two weeks into 2018 and we might already have stumbled upon a frontrunner for local comedy show of the year. An outrageous and over-eager claim, perhaps, but who cares? If TVNZ1’s hilarious documentary gem The Casketeers … Read more
Longtime friend and fellow Alliance MP Matt Robson says farewell to Jim Anderton, a colossus of New Zealand politics who sought to do what was right, not was expedient. On turning on the radio in 1980, just returned from overseas, I heard an unfamiliar voice. The voice outlined that the Labour Party would campaign vigorously … Read more
Someone had to do it. In 2015, around the time of the World Cup, the New Zealand Cricket Museum started selling this stunningly attractive poster. Designed by Into the White Press, it details the evolution of the New Zealand one day international cricket uniform, from its beige beginnings to years of glorious grey, the teal … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, featuring Troye Sivan, Justin Timberlake, David Byrne, MGMT and more… Troye Sivan – ‘My My My!’ No-one’s 16 forever Troye Sivan’s new single probably won’t meet your unfairly high expectations, but it’ll come close. Sivan’s debut album Blue Neighbourhood was a stab-you-in-the-heart autobiographical account of a time in a young … Read more
Baby names that are also official ranks and titles, like Prince or Lord, are not allowed in New Zealand. In the case of the name Justice, lawyer Dr Bevan Marten thinks the government has it wrong – and he’s offering to represent pro bono any parent who wants to use it. This story was first published … Read more
This week, Creative Assembly announced another spinoff to the Total War series, this time based around the Three Kingdoms War in China. Sam Brooks investigates why this period is a bizarrely popular one for video games. Dynasty Warriors. Dynasty Tactics. Dynasty Wars. Destiny of an Emperor. And now, Total War: Three Kingdoms. Some of these … Read more
Shocking revelations around a clinical trial of a new tuberculosis vaccine are just the tip of the iceberg. Maintaining public trust in science depends on a new approach to transparency, writes Siouxsie Wiles Ten years ago, Dr Ben Goldacre published Bad Science, a book described by The Economist as “a fine lesson in how to skewer the … Read more
A key characteristic of so-called ‘exponential technologies’ is that they change what is possible extremely quickly – and it can be fascinating to observe how fast or slowly governments react. Lawyer Steven Moe looks at the developing world of space law, and questions whether similar moves are needed for other exponential technologies on our immediate … Read more
This week’s best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the world. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Women and Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard (Profile Books, $23) Named one of the 20 best books of non-fiction of 2017 at the Spinoff Review of Books. 2 Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (Little Brown, $38) … Read more
Inspired by Jonah Lomu and the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Churchill High School in Harare, Zimbabwe, has adopted and adapted ‘Ka Mate’, the haka made famous by the New Zealand All Blacks. Photojournalist Cornell Tukiri travelled to Harare see for himself and to ask: is this OK? Words and images by Cornell Tukiri. When a … Read more
Alex Casey breaks down some of the key changes, newbies and returning old faves to local television in 2018. Take one more look at your crappy holiday viewing habits, because the last of the delicious summer TV wine has nearly run dry. Soon we are back to regimented programming, which means no more corny Lord … Read more