Amazon is coming for our wallets. How one little Mt Albert supermarket is fighting back

On a side street in Mt Albert, New World has opened store which attempts to deal with the arrival of both Farro and My Food Bag. But its real opponent is Amazon, which opens its first Australian distribution centre next year, writes Duncan Greive. Last week a new shop opened in Mt Albert. Huge news, … Read more

How to run a tech business from a lifestyle block in Kawakawa

She’s done customer support from the school pool, a kayak, the beach and the Twizel RSA. Rebecca Stevenson finds out how Helen Beech went from holding a tech golden ticket to hocking original art from the Bay of Islands. Helen Beech is the unlikely face of a tech company. Ducks, goats and the blue-hued paintings … Read more

Announcing the debut of The Spinoff Business

Following on from our hit Business is Boring podcast, The Spinoff is pumped to bring you its newest product, The Spinoff Business. Its editor, Rebecca Stevenson, explains what to expect. Did you know 362,856 New Zealand businesses have zero employees? There’s an interesting wee one-page fact sheet available from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and … Read more

Give me just one name: How Guyon Espiner tried to get to the bottom of that ‘$11.7 billion hole’

Yesterday on RNZ’s Morning Report journalist Guyon Espiner brought finance minister Steven Joyce together with Labour’s finance spokesperson Grant Robertson, and asked them both about Joyce’s accusation that Labour has a $11.7 billion hole in its spending plans. Here’s the transcript. In the interview, Guyon Espiner is sitting between the two politicians, with a laptop … Read more

Epidemic: the story of Robert Logan

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. Here he introduces the story of Robert Logan, the NZ administrator of Samoa in the early 20th century, whose incompetent response to the influenza pandemic has coloured NZ-Samoa relations ever … Read more

No fuss, no drama: Luke Romano is the All Blacks’ quiet achiever in a noisy age

The All Blacks have chosen to share the love in the selection this weekend – that’s good news for one man who continues to graft away in the background, and would be just as happy hunting pigs in the Canterbury high country, writes Scotty Stevenson. Luke Romano no doubt feels he deserves a test start … Read more

Counterpunch: why Bill English won the Stuff Leaders’ Debate

Ben Thomas watched the Stuff Leader Debate and, unlike The Spinoff’s editor, calls an emphatic win for English. If the ghost of any of Canterbury’s rugby greats had appeared to Jacinda Ardern as she prepared for tonight’s debate it would have reminded her, “You can’t win without the ball”. Yet the Labour leader found herself … Read more

The money fight: Ardern lights up English in Christchurch

In the most obscure yet symbolically important debate of recent elections, Ardern attacked English with a pitiless fury. Duncan Greive recaps the massacre. Christchurch has lately been where Labour’s dreams go to die. Phil Goff and David Cunliffe both walked into The Press (now Stuff) debates with faint hopes and left with them in tatters, … Read more

Fiscal hole, meet shitsville poll

Pollwatch: National drops into the 30s as Labour charges on after Joyce attack on their numbers. It seems longer, but it was this time last week that Bill English and Jacinda Ardern were debating for the first time in the campaign, immediately following the release of the astonishing Colmar Brunton poll for 1News. Astonishing because … Read more

The crucible of life: A mother returns to writing

Poet and mother Anna Livesey is interviewed by novelist and mother Kirsten McDougall on being creative, the mummy/woman divide, and her new book of poetry. Ordinary Time is Anna Livesey’s third book of poetry. In her book she delves deep into parenting, the personal and the political, and reflects on life as a mother. Let’s … Read more

Abortion is not a crime: 16 reasons to change the law

The landslide victory for abortion legalisation in Ireland has reignited calls for abortion to be removed from the Crimes Act here. In this post first published in September 2017, long-time reproductive health campaigner Dame Margaret Sparrow gives 16 reasons the laws need to change. 16 REASONS TO CHANGE THE ABORTION LAWS 1. They are expensive. … Read more

Book of the Week: Holly Walker reviews a compelling gothic Kiwi novel

Holly Walker reviews a moody, gothic novel set in the brooding countryside of the Wairarapa. There’s something about the Wairarapa. Big skies. Beautiful old villas. Close-knit communities, with a pointy edge of small town meanness. There’s also something about the dying days of 1999, that strange, tense moment before we ticked over into the 21st … Read more

Chartlander: Hip Hop-R&B holds a majority as New Zealand votes in its first MMP election

Every week Chartlander travels back through time, landing in a different year on the official New Zealand singles chart in the hopes of (re)discovering forgotten Top 40 gold. Today we continue our tour of classic general elections at the dawn of MMP. The date is the 12th of October, 1996, and today New Zealanders will … Read more

If you think your organisation doesn’t have a gender pay gap, you’re probably wrong

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. This week, Simon talks to Miranda Burdon of the 1 Day for … Read more

The questions that need to be answered at tonight’s leaders’ debate in Christchurch

When Jacinda Ardern and Bill English meet again at the Stuff Leaders Debate tonight at La Vida Conference Centre, it will represent an increasingly rare opportunity for Christchurch issues to be aired on a national stage. Barnaby Bennett explains what’s at stake. Tonight the leaders meet in Christchurch for their third big debate of this … Read more

The very best of The Spinoff Great Debate

Last night The Spinoff hosted ‘The Great Debate’ on Facebook Live. We wanted the most entertaining politicians on one stage to cause chaos, and that’s exactly what we got. Duncan Greive recounts the highlights. It was a trip. When we first started planning our debate, we envisaged something on an earth-floored barn, filmed on a … Read more

Someone finally made a cultural masterpiece about our national obsession

When future-historians look back at life in New Zealand in the early part of this century, there’s one pop cultural artifact that, in three-and-a-half minutes summed up the aspirations of a changing nation: Gold Medal Famous’ masterpiece ‘We Bought A House’. We’ve been waiting for it for years – a cultural work which encapsulates our … Read more

The Transforma Ladder was the pinnacle of infomercial innovation

Lucy Zee counts the many ways the Transforma Ladder infomercial impressed audiences everywhere, from its multitude of uses to its dapper salesman.  Imagine you’re a kid, home alone, feeling smug because you managed to convince your parents that you were too sick to go to school today. Jokes on you, because your brother locked the … Read more

Foreign policy: the elephant in the room in this year’s election

Faced with an increasingly hostile regional environment, the leaders of New Zealand’s two largest political parties seem complacent about the security issues plaguing the Asia-Pacific, writes Matthew Nicoll. With just over two and a half weeks left in the election campaign period, New Zealanders have been subject to a near-constant flow of policy announcements and … Read more

Make Me Tick: Show us your ballot box, baby!

In the lead up to the election, comedians Melanie Bracewell and Angella Dravid take a journey through the voting process in Make Me Tick, The Spinoff’s four part video series with the Electoral Commission. Today, Angella visits the voting booth. Last night, I forced myself to walk to the post box to submit my enrolment … Read more

A collector confronts her demons by watching Collection Intervention

Alex Casey watches Collection Intervention and comes away with some key learnings for fellow hoarders collectable enthusiasts. When I die, my body will be buried with hundreds of plastic E.T. figurines. Not because I love them and want them to stay with me forever, just because I’m certain I won’t be able to fucking get … Read more

Emily Writes: So, I joined a gym…

In the spring, a young mother’s fancy turns to thoughts of getting her body back. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes explains why she’s joined a gym – and it’s not about getting in shape. I decided to join a gym for a few reasons. I have developed “Co-sleepers shoulder” which is essentially a messed up … Read more

The Spinoff Great Debate – 7pm Tonight on Facebook Live

All the information you’ll need about The Spinoff’s incredible election debate, screening LIVE at 7pm tonight on Facebook. Tonight The Spinoff hosts seven of election 2017’s most exciting candidates in a royal political rumble at the Generator’s 150 seat stadium in downtown Auckland. Hosted by our senior editor Toby Manhire, along with Simon Wilson and … Read more

‘Why do I have to put up with this shit?’ Women journalists in NZ share their stories of online abuse

As newsrooms push for their reporters and audiences to engage with each other on digital platforms, some women journalists say gendered harassment and abuse from media consumers has become an exhausting, and accepted, part of the job. Charlotte Graham investigates. I have worked in broadcast journalism for more than a decade, including in on-air roles, … Read more

Has Jacindamania crossed the ditch? A purely unscientific poll of Kiwi voters in Melbourne

Early voting for New Zealanders living overseas opens today. Rebekah Holt talks to some expat voters to discover whether the Jacinda effect has taken hold in Australia. In early July this year the then co-leader of the New Zealand Green Party James Shaw visited Melbourne to recruit NZ voters living here, and visit his dad. … Read more

Voting from overseas: a dummies’ guide for New Zealanders

Overseas voting for New Zealanders abroad opens today. London-based Kiwi Talia Shadwell explains how to do it – and why you should. Here are some things you can’t do in Antarctica: read Buzzfeed listicles, browse cat videos on YouTube, watch Paddy Gower on TV3. Here is something you can do: vote. This election, the 13 … Read more