This week massive seabed mining was approved off the Taranaki coast. Former environmental lawyer Dale Scott believes the potentially flawed application of the law will have significant consequences for all of New Zealand. At every level, environmental issues raise the most pressing questions of who gets the benefit and who carries the cost. In every … 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 Aminé Ramer, a music supervisor for film and television. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Aminé Ramer, an LA-based New Zealander who chooses music for TV shows and films for companies like … Read more
What’s the best response to the threat to political norms – and, some say, to democracy itself – posed by President Donald Trump? According to the NZ-born, New York-based political philosopher Jeremy Waldron, it’s civility, reason and restraint. Max Rashbrooke talked to him during a recent visit back home. If the world is going to … Read more
Mary Sea has been gorging on pop music and she’s found the Top 40 is a different world at 40 when you have little ears to consider. But never fear, she has a solution to inane patriarchal ditties. Having kids changes you in ways you can never predict. One of the biggest surprises for me … Read more
Host of RNZ’s All Night programme for the last 13 years, Lloyd Scott talks New Zealand through the night for the last time this evening. Simon Day joined him for a shift to discuss his 53-year career at the public broadcaster, his mate Barry Crump and changes at RNZ. Three times a week my wife’s alarm goes … Read more
Welcome to Mātakitaki, a show about Māori people, issues and stuff. Leonie Hayden is joined by comedians Jessica Hansell (aka Coco Solid) and Jamaine Ross (aka the best beard in New Zealand comedy) to discuss monetising racial trauma, the politics of a brown writers’ room and their brand new comedy series, ‘Only In Aotearoa’. We didn’t … Read more
Our regular round-up of new songs and singles, this week featuring Marlon Williams, Neil Young, Marshmello + Khalid, Physical and more… SONG OF THE WEEK Marlon Williams – ‘Vampire Again’ The man with the golden voice gets some teeth I guess Marlon Williams just got bored of being so damn serious all the time. Almost … Read more
Is it possible to sense a rugby player’s future from their name and name alone? Watch these players closely this Mitre 10 Cup season to find out. There are 14 teams in the Mitre 10 Cup. This week, each of these teams released their squad list for the 2017 season. Each list included approximately 32 … Read more
Feast upon this year’s Loading Docs selection featuring ten snack size local documentaries that you can watch in half an hour. If you struggle at times to hold focus during a 10 second Snapchat – let alone a 59 minute Game of Thrones episode – your scatterbrain might be well-suited to the short, sharp wonders of Loading Docs. With … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Louise Wallace. Meryl Streep 1 Meryl Streep went nuts at me in the breakfast room, because I’d taken her table by mistake. Have a lovely day! I wanted to say as we left, but my husband, a calm and sensible man, convinced me to take the moral … Read more
The advent of Jacindamania has prompted hopeful comparisons between Ardern and other photogenic, likeable liberal leaders, including Canada’s Justin Trudeau and France’s Emmanuel Macron. If that turns out to be true, the NZ left is going to be sorely disappointed, argues Branko Marcetic. It’s a good time to be the centre-left. The seemingly dreary Andrew … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Auckland and Wellington. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) “Roy is good at titles”: pretty much the nicest thing our reviewer Marion McLeod had to say about this sprawling mess. 2 Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield’s Wellington 1888-1903 … Read more
The spectre of war with Kim Jong-un is back in headlines after a rhetorical exchange that has included Donald Trump threatening “fire and fury”. How serious are the threats from Pyongyang, and what does it mean for New Zealand, asks Asia-Pacific expert Van Jackson This is how they say people fall asleep, or fall in … Read more
In the wake of Metiria Turei’s resignation as Greens co-leader there has been much discussion about a perceived tension between the emphasis on social justice or environmental issues. Don Rowe tracked down Greens icon Nándor Tánczos to get his thoughts. Nándor Tánczos is undeniably one of the grooviest cats to ever make their way into the … Read more
The All Blacks will be featured in an in-depth eight part documentary series for Amazon Prime. New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew talks to Duncan Greive about what the partnership means for the brand – and for their relationship with Sky. US tech giant Amazon’s Prime video on demand service is well into production on an … Read more
In this rare Spinoff sealed section, Lucy Zee rounds up some of the most memorable sex scenes in local TV history. I hate sex scenes. They’re awkward, unnecessary and – the worst – they’re grossly unrealistic. But New Zealand can’t seem to get enough of a steamy romp and a glimpse of a muscled male arse on their … Read more
Government officials have quietly prepared a plan to fast-track light rail – or a rapid bus service – for Queen Street and Dominion Road to Mt Roskill. Just a few months ago finance minister Steven Joyce dismissed this project as “pork barrel politics”. But it’s stage one of light rail to the airport and it … Read more
What will National do if the wheels start to come off its campaign? How will Jacindamania cope with Labour policies that are not progressive? And what about those head-to-head leader debates? Simon Wilson looks at potential turmoil to come. 1. Jacinda Ardern will have to explain Labour’s immigration policy Did everyone forget Labour’s record on immigration? … Read more
The All Blacks have lost Jordie Barrett to injury, so they have simply called up another kid with a bottomless bag of tricks – the Crusaders’ David Havili. This is how he got there. David Havili has had quite a day, which nicely caps off quite a week in what has been quite a year. … Read more
I am an early-morning commuter trying to get to work on time. I am not interested in looking at your new logo. A-League soccer club Wellington Phoenix released their new logo at a waterfront ceremony this morning, unveiling it in the form of a large metal sculpture which was ignored by everyone who walked past … 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. You could look at the way work is arranged and decide that … Read more
Sam Brooks watches Search Party, the indie-inspired comedy that contains as many mysteries as it does 90s stars. If you were to make a webseries in the 90s, somehow having the same crazy technology as of today, you would probably make Search Party. You’d also immediately burned for being a witch, because that’s what they … Read more
Mother of five Cathy Johnston writes about her hopes that her children will appreciate her – as she appreciates her own mother, and all those who mother us. As the mid morning sunshine filters through the clouds, the last of Jack Frost’s overnight ice crunches beneath my pink gumboots. The baby is finally asleep. I … Read more
Tickets for ‘rockstar’ particle physicist Professor Brian Cox’s Auckland show went on sale this week. With seats priced from $90 to $215, are big popular science shows fostering elitism? Super scientists, assemble! New Zealand has been blessed by visits from four big names in science this year already, and is set to play host to … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: Green Party leader James Shaw is hopping mad about losing co-leader Metiria Turei. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos. This content is entirely funded by Simplicity, New Zealand’s only nonprofit fund … Read more
Following Metiria Turei’s resignation as leader of the Greens, The Spinoff TV writers report back on how our news outlets and commentators reacted to the political bombshell/earthquake/catastrophe. “A catastrophic, disastrous result… an absolute political nightmare,” said a typically chilled-out Paddy Gower last night as he thundered out the news of his Newshub poll, and Metiria … Read more
‘My mind exploded. No joke, the feeling was like I had a crush!’ Three rangatahi talk about discovering their passion for science at MacDiarmid DiscoveryCamp. DiscoveryCamp is a fun, hands-on programme designed for year 12 or 13 Māori and Pasifika secondary pupils with an interest in science. Students are chosen from all around the country … Read more
We conclude our week-long look at A Moral Truth, an important new book about investigative journalism in New Zealand, with the return of the dear old revolutionary live email interview – conducted with Kirsty Johnston, a Herald legend whose work features in the book. Kirsty Johnston is a superstar of New Zealand journalism, one of … Read more
Welcome to Chartlander, where each week we travel back through time to land in a different year on the official New Zealand singles chart in the hopes of (re)discovering forgotten Top 40 gold. Today we go back 26 years to this day in 1991. Welcome to the 10th of August 1991 in Aotearoa. Jim Bolger is … Read more