Steve Braunias asks: is there a book to be written about the 2017 election campaign? As an author, publisher, and relentless self-publicist, I’m always on high-alert for whatever ideas that enter the dark, hollow chamber of my head and might form the basis for my next book. I’m committed to a couple of book projects … 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 Jacinda Ardern ruminate on their campaigns so far.
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 Kate Robertson and Matthew McAuley about some recent pop music highlights. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to contributors Kate Robertson and Matthew McAuley about Taylor Swift’s return, Charli XCX’s triumph, … Read more
The cast of the first season of Married At First Sight NZ has left us with snow blindness, writes Leonie Hayden. Diversity in media is important. It’s so important. The Emmys gave out their first ever gongs for comedy writing and directing to black artists this year. A fair reflection of who we are as a … Read more
It’s a New Zealand stalwart, but does anybody have the guts to power rank the rides at Rainbow’s End? Fully grown man Sam Brooks does. Last Friday I decided to go to Rainbow’s End to belatedly celebrate my birthday with two friends, one of whom had never been to Rainbow’s End before, because his childhood … Read more
Farmers rallied against Labour and the Greens in Jacinda Ardern’s hometown Morrinsville yesterday. Simon Wilson went along to see what they had to say for themselves. The farmers stood around like cows outside the milking shed, pressed together, mostly all facing the same way, and the journalists moved among them like jackals, notebooks open, mics … Read more
Superfan Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from episode two of Outlander season three. Contains spoilers, obviously. If you thought last week’s episode of Outlander was heartbreaking, then you need to prepare yourselves. I have bad, bad news. Something terrible has happened to Jamie Fraser, and it looks like this: Jamie has 99 problems and … 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. What do The Evil Dead, Xena, Spartacus and an immersive 80s extravaganza … Read more
Inside the oncology day ward at Wellington Children’s Hospital, a little girl has her final round of chemotherapy. Her family allowed The Spinoff Parents to come to the session and share some of their story with readers. Photos by Danny Rood. Words by Emily Writes. Elliot Maria Win Beech loves kiwifruit so much she eats … Read more
With the Social Enterprise World Forum in Christchurch from September 27 – 29, The Spinoff is examining the way the sector is changing our economy. Alex Hannant, CEO of the Ākina Foundation, spoke to Simon Day about the development of the socially conscious business in New Zealand. Should business be just about making money, or … Read more
In the 36 Questions Project, Meg Williams takes a politician on a date and asks them the 36 Questions, a series of conversation starters designed to make two people fall in love. In this episode, Williams meets brand new United Future leader, 33-year-old Damian Light, for Japanese food. Previously on the 36 Questions Project: The … Read more
Max Harris reports on the mood of the country during his nationwide book tour of his best-seller The New Zealand Project – and sees the start of ‘a new movement’. In the lead-up to the election, there’s been a lot of talk of a shift in the political mood – and a generational change in … Read more
Five days out from the election, Kiri Allan writes about being both a first-time candidate and first-time mum in the latest instalment of her campaign diary. Read more candidate diaries for the Spinoff here It’s been about 17 days since I’ve had a good night’s sleep. Well, actually, perhaps a little longer than that. But given … Read more
Duncan Greive reflects on the shambolic end to The Block 2017, and what the show has revealed to us about our housing market and crisis over that time. For the last six years – or two parliamentary terms, if you prefer to measure time in that unit – The Block NZ has been both New … Read more
Our friendly TV sponsors at Lightbox have a whole bunch of shows nominated for the Emmy Awards this year, so we got our resident award shows obsessive Sam Brooks to pick which ones might take home the gold. I love me an awards show. A bunch of people in pretty dresses saying long speeches and … Read more
In 2011 and 2014, the National Party leader was pictured considerably more frequently and prominently in newspapers. This year, Claire Robinson, professor of communication design at Massey University, is repeating her study and brings an interim report. At great risk to my own sense of worth I have studied visual image bias in the New … Read more
Why did Bill English raise the prospect of slaughtering the dairy herd yesterday? As farmers prepare to protest in Jacinda Ardern’s hometown Morrinsville, Simon Wilson wants to know why we are suddenly being asked to believe there is a deep urban/rural divide. I’ve driven through quite a bit of the North Island in the last … Read more
The live auction final of The Block NZ tonight delivered more thrills and spills than Peter Wolfkamp on a motorised chilly bin. Devoted blockaholic Jane Yee was in the thick of it, and bring us this harrowing report. What a night to be at the Grand Millennium. I arrived expecting to be part of an … Read more
There’s a new Chief Censor in town. David Shanks, a former director and deputy CEO for the Ministry of Social Development, has barely been in the job three months so we decided to throw Eugenia Woo at him. Pity the job of those they call censors. It used to be so easy when there … Read more
Consider this: while you’re at work, slaving away, putting in hours for The Man, your car is sitting at home doing a whole lot of nothing. Like some apathetic teenager it sulks in the garage, taking up space and contributing basically nothing to the household finances. No more! With Yourdrive, a peer-to-peer car rental service, … Read more
Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website. Chris McDowall: A visual history of the New Zealand parliament “For months I’ve followed news about New Zealand’s upcoming general election. Revelations! Resignations! Leadership changes! Bold policy promises! Shock poll results! In this heightened political moment, I found myself wondering about the past. How does this … Read more
Before the winner is decided at the live auction tonight, Jane Yee looks back at the season that was The Block NZ for 2017. It may seem like an odd – perhaps even narcissistic – thing to do, but every now and then I wonder what might be said about me at my funeral. I’m sure mention … Read more
Social enterprise – entrepreneurship that combines business nous with ethical aims – is on the rise. But is it anything more than a placebo effect that makes consumers momentarily feel good? Victoria Crockford finds if you want to remain relevant in 2017, you need to show your social credentials. “Be Here Now” encourages the worthy … Read more
A range of politicians from across the New Zealand spectrum have valiantly agreed to read out brutal tweets. Here’s the video, and, below, Luke Sweeeney of the University of Auckland Public Policy Club explains why they produced it. How did you hit upon the idea of NZ Politicians Read Mean Tweets? At one of our exec … Read more
Duncan Greive spends an extraordinary two days with Gareth Morgan – and his comms sidekick Sean Plunket – as he tries to will TOP back into relevance amid the chaos of the 2017 election. Gareth Morgan is not happy. He’s in a converted garage deep within the bowels of the Mediaworks organism, sandwiched between two … Read more
Black Sheep is a new Radio NZ series about the shady, controversial and sometimes downright villainous characters of New Zealand history, presented by William Ray. This week, he looks at the bizarre story of the Nazi assassination plot that wasn’t. In 1942 the head of New Zealand’s first spy agency, the Security Intelligence Bureau (SIB), … Read more
There will be motivation aplenty for both teams tomorrow when the All Blacks face the Springboks at Albany, but the most motivated of all might be the only guy in the All Blacks team who remembers what it is like to lose to South Africa in New Zealand. They’ve pretty much all gone now, by … Read more
Dr Barbara Disley tells Jess McAllen we need a call for action, not another review. This story first appeared on The Wireless. Read the rest of the series here. Newspaper headlines from 20 years ago look surprisingly familiar (“Mental Health’s Revolving Door”, “The Depressing State of Mental Health”, “Conveyer Belt to Psychiatric Ruin”). In 1996, after a damning … Read more
Like a rugby dad whose kids have quit the code, Don Rowe’s passion for video games these days is muted, overweight and plain old sad. Why? And what now? The thing about Nioh: Defiant Honour is that…it’s all getting a bit too bloody much eh. I mused when reviewing Dragon of the North that these … Read more