Alex Casey power ranks the third week of Married at First Sight NZ, full of cocktails, baths and deep regret. I think I was more excited for this cocktail party than any Bachelor cocktail party, real-life cocktail party, or shrimp cocktail. After being kept in The Shining-style isolation in their respective lodges, estates and glamping … Read more
Jessie Moss crunches the numbers on the VNZMAs and discovers some surprising – and unfortunately not so surprising – facts about gender representation in our biggest music awards. 2017 has been a big year for women in the New Zealand music industry. There has been constant agitation at the roots, propelled by the likes of … Read more
Don Rowe dips his toes back in the murky waters of the Upside Down with the Stranger Things mobile game. It’s almost inevitable these days that any somewhat successful media product will be iterated across every platform and medium like some entertainment rat king – “Popular Thing: The Movie, The Boardgame, Now a Book, graphic … Read more
A baby girl with broken ribs is taken into government care; 14 months later her newborn brother is also taken into custody at an Auckland hospital. But the case is not as simple as it seems, writes Joris de Bres. Two weeks ago, newborn baby Liam* was taken from his parents at an Auckland hospital. … Read more
Wellington activist Valerie Morse was among the Urewera 16 arrested and jailed 10 years ago. We present an excerpt from her prison diary, Can’t Hear Me Scream. As follows, four pages reproduced from a kind of journal written inside Arohata Womens Prison by Valerie Morse — one of the Urewera 16 – “of life in prison, the bureacracy and arbitrary … Read more
Book an Uber, an Airbnb and a stranger to look after your child? Maria Slade looks into the potentially risky business of online parenting services. Coverage of Balmoral mum Jane Haagh’s new childcare venture, Sitterzen, sent Facebook into a frenzy this week. Dubbed the ‘Uber of babysitting’, the aspect of her web-based service which most … Read more
Is Auckland in crisis over transport, housing, schools, you name it, or are we heading in the right direction? The answer, says Simon Wilson, is yes. The city voted both ways. Here’s what it really needs from the new government. We are two cities living as one, and each of those cities sees the place … Read more
On the 10th anniversary of the Tūhoe raids, we look back at a book published by Rebel Press in 2010 recounting the experiences of 16 people effected by Operation 8. On October 15 2007 the ‘war on terrorism’ arrived in New Zealand when more than 300 police carried out dawn raids on approximately 60 houses all … Read more
“These photos say, ‘I am who I am. I’m here. I’m part of your world and I’m going to stay.’” Photographer Fiona Clark looks back at her time documenting trans and queer people on Auckland’s K Road. When I was 14, I knew I was different. I didn’t fit the norm at Inglewood High School. … Read more
To the sound of country music, long suffering Northland rugby fan Scotty Stevenson fears a winning season could be inevitably lost. The night was decent enough for rugby. Northland was slowly emerging from its traditional wet winter and the evening promised to remain clear. A southerly wind chilled the dusk but it wasn’t enough to … 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 Billie Rogers and Jana Whitta about Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Street Chant’s Billie Rogers and musician/engineer/DJ Jana Whitter about Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa, a week-long holiday … Read more
As New Zealanders rally our collective efforts in the pursuit of the ‘crazy and ambitious’ goal of a Predator Free New Zealand by 2050, we mustn’t lose our hearts, writes Nicola Toki. In 2003, freshly minted with a Zoology degree, I began my first job with the Department of Conservation. It only took a couple … Read more
He started life as a left-wing advocate for downtrodden workers; he ended it as a hero to proto-Nazis. William Ray looks at the life of Arthur Desmond, the New Zealand author of the book Might is Right. This is the latest episode of Black Sheep, a Radio NZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes … Read more
Winston Peters has ideas about what should happen to the Auckland port, but this week the Auckland Council took matters into its own hands. Simon Wilson was there and reports on the latest round in the battle of the Auckland port. Fifteen months ago the council received a report from a Consensus Working Group that … Read more
New verse by Dunedin writer Emer Lyons. Winter wood. Someone is chopping wood outside my window, or is it loudly inside my head? The slow swish of the axe the sharp splinter scattering little shards – impossible to clean up. I want to burrow beneath the soil, lie under the heavy comfort … Read more
The year’s biggest literary prize – the Man Booker award – is announced on Wednesday morning, October 18 (NZ time). All week this week we review the six shortlisted titles. Today: Louise O’Brien on Ali Smith’s Autumn, and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. Unsurprisingly, at least two of the books which made it to the Booker … Read more
It might seem like there is a breathtakingly obscene amount of incomprehensible unspoken, unwritten rules around children’s birthday parties but really it’s all quite simple. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has crafted the definitive set of guidelines. A few weeks back I hosted my son’s fifth birthday party. In my life I’ve hosted six birthday … Read more
Playwright Miria George talks to Leonie Hayden about her new satire of Māori ‘one-percenters’, and challenging assumptions about what Māori art should be. The Vultures is a curious departure from most Māori theatre I’ve seen. It’s not explicitly about post-colonial disenfranchisement or violence, although it can be argued these underpin all Māori existence. It’s about … Read more
Would you watch a stranger open PR packages in a YouTube video longer than the average sitcom episode? Millions of people do. Morgan Ashworth explains why. Shannon Harris is sitting on the floor in her filming room, wearing a Gucci-esque t-shirt and Homer Simpson pyjama bottoms. She’s surrounded by packages. It’s like 15 Christmases at … Read more
The 2018 Billy T Award Nominees were announced today. Sam Brooks goes deep on who they are, and why this slate is so great. Remember comedy? It exists! And outside of the Comedy Festival. What a concept! Last night, applicants for the Billy T Award, the most famous award in New Zealand comedy, did their … Read more
Practitioner Donna Kerridge introduces the core philosophy behind Aotearoa’s oldest medical practice. “If modern society is to have a future, what we need above all is a renewed respect for nature and reverences for the life of all created things” – Jurger Moltmann The essence of rongoā Māori and many other indigenous health practices is … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Aotearoa. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father by Diana Wichtel (Awa Press, $45) Number one for the second consecutive week; this family memoir is the book to get right now. “Those familiar with Wichtel’s television reviews and features at … Read more
New Zealand’s Super Fund is one of the best performing sovereign wealth funds in the world – and yet isn’t quite what it could have been. Rebecca Stevenson explains what it is and why it matters. An investment vehicle to pay for our future pension payments has something to do with the All Blacks? Well, … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. 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. Today Simon talks to Mike Jenkins about bringing cloud technology to businesses … Read more
Back by lukewarm demand On The ‘Reg is The Spinoff’s regular gaming session streamed live every Wednesday at 7pm on Facebook and Twitch. The first episode of this season sees José Barbosa and Joseph Harper playing brand spanking new Lord of the Rings cash in sequel Middle Earth: Shadow of War. Prepare for a lengthy discussion … Read more
The tohutō (macron) is an important and powerful part of te reo Māori. Simon Day explains how to use it. The macron matters. The use of the tohutō is essential for the pronunciation, meaning, and status of te reo Māori. When you see a vowel with its hat on it means the sound is held … Read more
$760 for half an hour of illicit car parking? Seems steep. Rebecca Stevenson investigates how the clamping industry operates. They are back at it again. Bashford Antiques, the clamping company hiding in plain sight as a second hand shop, audaciously claimed $760 from a punter who parked in its Ponsonby car park. It seems like a lot … Read more
2017 produced the fewest parties in Parliament since the start of MMP. So what does history say it takes to get in? Stephen Beban crunches the numbers. Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) has been used in New Zealand since 1996. This electoral system was adopted by voters in a 1993 referendum in order to create more representative … Read more
Mental Health Week tells us is ‘it’s OK to be not OK’. A noble idea, but there’s a catch, writes Graham Panther. So we’re coming to the end of Mental Health Week , our yearly reminder that some of us are doing it tough. The thing is, as a sensitive soul, I often end up feeling … Read more