Almost every sleep-deprived parent is used to the ‘smile and nod’ when they’re given unsolicited advice. Linda Jane Keegan is over it. Here she tells us why. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m just being overly sensitive to idle parenting-related chitchat or if people really are subtly pushing unsolicited advice. It feels like as parents … Read more
With Australia finally opening its doors to equity crowdfunding, Kiwi startup PledgeMe has announced it’s expanding across the ditch. Jihee Junn talks to founder Anna Guenther about the long road to expansion and what to expect. There’s no better way to vouch for your product than to take said product to task yourself. It’s exactly … Read more
The 20-year-old Saturn exploring Cassini spacecraft meets its fiery demise this week. Beyond revealing the universe to us, space exploration exposes our own small place in the big picture, writes cosmologist Richard Easther It has been a bitter-sweet month for solar system explorers. As a teenager and a space-geek, I had a poster of this … Read more
The Spinoff presents its exclusive poll of the opinions of Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire as New Zealanders flock to vote in chilled out Election 2017. Toby Manhire welcomes Annabelle Lee of The Hui, Ben Thomas of Exceltium, and the spirit of Newstalk ZB legend Leighton Smith into the penultimate Gone By Lunchtime pod … Read more
The 36 Questions Project is a series in which Meg Williams takes a politician on a date and asks them 36 Questions, a series of conversation starters designed to make two people fall in love. In this episode, Williams dates The Opportunities Party leader Gareth Morgan. Previously on the 36 Questions Project: Māori Party co-leader … Read more
Jazz Kane attends an intimate invite-only Black Seeds show to celebrate the release of their new album Fabric and interviews band leader Barnaby Weir about how things have changed over the band’s long career. Arriving at Caroline Bar in Wellington for the release show for The Black Seeds’ new album Fabric, a couple of drinks … Read more
This Te Wiki o Te Reo we’re sharing the stories of New Zealanders who have challenged themselves to learn te reo Māori. Today: RNZ Morning Report host Guyon Espiner writes about fighting the ‘whitelash’. When I started learning te reo Māori in earnest this year I had one main fear: humiliation. I expected that Pākeha … Read more
Former radio host, current Jono and Ben man and Billy T winning comic Guy Williams has just released a half-hour stand-up special for free on the internet. He spoke with Duncan Greive about a variety of things. The first time I saw Guy Williams live was a co-headliner with Rose Matafeo at the Grey Lynn community … Read more
Mental health workers and suicide prevention strategists tell Jess McAllen that while the public system has its flaws, the unrelenting attention on a ‘broken’ system is dangerous too. This story first appeared on The Wireless. Read the rest of the series here. Six hundred and six pairs of shoes are currently making their way around New Zealand. They … Read more
If bullshit and bluster could make the trains run, Northland would be full of railroads. Still, when politicians gathered in Whangārei on Monday night, they did have some good things to say, writes Simon Wilson, who was up on the stage alongside them. “We need to be doing a lot more large joints in Northland,” … Read more
With the sixth and final season arriving exclusively to Lightbox today, we bask in the top celebrity cameos to ever feature on The Mindy Project. For a woman who wears her shambolic heart on her bound-to-be-extremely-colourful sleeve, there’s really not a lot of intel out there about what we can expect from the sixth season … 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: Paula Bennett responds to the fresh Newshub poll that has National out in front by 10 percent. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
In a strange collision of wrestling and electioneering, Joel MacManus talks to ‘Mr. Burns’, the pro wrestler behind the parody billboards taking the internet by storm. Billboards bearing the name ‘Young Nats’ started popping up around Auckland and Hamilton this weekend and immediately began stirring up controversy online. Slogans like “It’s Probably Your Fault” … Read more
Bryan Bruce’s documentary Who owns New Zealand now? – which screened on Three last night in primetime – is a deeply problematic sequel to Labour’s ‘Chinese-sounding names’ fiasco of 2015, writes Duncan Greive. “There’s been about a trillion dollars that has left China in the last year or so,” intones the voice-over ominously, over flowing strings … Read more
Pollwatch: National open up lead of almost 10 points in a poll that lives up to the hype. And the Greens, on these numbers, are finished. Incredibly explosive, Volatile and telling, and now from the Patrick Gower poll hype machine we have Dramatic and devastating. Hard to argue he’s exaggerating, however, given the numbers from … Read more
Donna Eden is a teacher with 20 years’ experience and a mother of two, currently working at a kindergarten in Wellington. Here she shares with parents her personal guide to voting for education, a topic close to our hearts at The Spinoff Parents. We’re running three pieces on The Spinoff Parents this week about education. … Read more
The Real Pod team assemble in the board room of dreams to talk reality TV and real life in New Zealand, including a great week for lookalikes and a scary new addition to the KFC menu. This week Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey delve deep into almost every element of Toni Street’s surprise … Read more
More needs to be done to help those at risk, so let’s get the facts straight, says Jess McAllen. This story first appeared on The Wireless. Read the rest of the series here. Suicide is a tough issue to talk about. With 606 suicides last year, there’s no doubt more needs to be done to support those most … Read more
Labour’s non-commercial RNZ+ multi-media network is a brilliant idea – but it makes no sense to keep it and retain public ownership of TVNZ, argues Duncan Greive. Labour: [We will] develop a new public digital media service… [including] a free-to-air noncommercial television service. The working title is ‘RNZ+’ Also Labour: TVNZ will remain in public … Read more
With It smashing box office records and filling pants everywhere, a bunch of Spinoff clowns went to the flicks to put the horror film to the test. This is their story. Huge horror fan Madeleine Chapman was not scared at all even in the slightest I don’t watch horror movies because I’m scared of them … Read more
Frustration within the Greens over perceived disregard for their Memorandum of Understanding partner is increasingly coming to the surface. Will it aid or enfeeble the smaller party, wonders Toby Manhire. At the Back Benches debate in Auckland last month, a Green Party supporter held aloft a sign that declared, on a green background “Campaigning against … Read more
An eye-catching performance against Argentina on Saturday night has made All Blacks loose forward Vaea Fifita the talk of the rugby world. Jamie Wall was there for an equally spectacular moment in the Mitre 10 Cup last year. If you’ve ever come to Auckland, you’ll know about the traffic. It’s so bad it often dictates … Read more
Jane Yee tackles the eleventh week on The Block NZ, including giant eclairs, pergolas and a Jason Gunn cameo for the ages. A pergola. Four and a half hours of my life this week revolved around an effing pergola. “The fact that you’ve moved it puts it under the recession plane, and I can’t see … Read more
This Te Wiki o Te Reo we’re sharing the stories of New Zealanders who have challenged themselves to learn te reo Māori. Today: musician Anna Coddington (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa) writes about doing it for your tamariki. My journey into learning te reo Māori begins like many of my generation: a grandparent punished for speaking … Read more
Let’s address that ‘Chinese-sounding’ panda in the room, writes Ally McCrow-Young. I woke up today to eagerly download my voting papers; it’s finally time to cast my overseas vote, which, as a nerd who teaches political engagement, I always find to be both fun and a real privilege. But this year I have to say … Read more
The Spinoff Review of Books salutes the unbylined New Zealand Herald correspondent who filed this fantastically arse-licking report from the election campaign trail on November 7, 1935. During the present election campaign probably no man connected with politics has been busier than the Minister of Finance, Mr Coates, who, after a week of campaigning, is now in … Read more
In an interview on RNZ, foreign policy expert Van Jackson used a coarse term to describe US president. But it was neither a gaffe, nor emotionally motivated, he explains If you do enough media interviews, you’re bound to gaffe. We sometimes say things when we’re on the spot that we later regret, or that we … Read more
Superfan Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from the triumphant return of Outlander season three. Contains spoilers, obviously. Outlander is back! #Droughtlander is over, the never-ending tartan thirst is gone and we can once again drown in a hot ginger monsoon of time-travelling drama and adventure. I want ginger kisses! I want mashed potatoes! … Read more
Last week a kindergarten in Wellington wrote an open letter to the Minister for Education, pleading for their children with special needs to get the support they need. As part of a Spinoff Parents series on early childhood education in New Zealand, Michaela Harris went to the kindergarten to talk to teachers and parents. Newtown … Read more