Families who can’t afford children shouldn’t have them, according to ACT Party deputy leader Beth Houlbrooke. Here’s a list of 25 New Zealanders whose parents probably weren’t in a position to fully fund their child’s life at birth. Imagine New Zealand without… Stan Walker, recording artist, actor and TV personality Dr Michelle Dickinson, nanoscientist and … Read more
With the new season of Suits coming express to Lightbox, we found an unlikely fan in the Right Honourable Bill English, Prime Minister of New Zealand. Earlier this year when Spinoff editor Duncan Greive interviewed Prime Minister Bill English, there was one question that didn’t make the final cut. Today, The Spinoff can finally reveal … Read more
David Seymour and the ACT Party believe that only parents who are wealthy should be able to have children. Many, many parents, including Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw, disagree. I want to thank David Seymour and ACT for revealing a truth about parents with his recent statements about giving money to low income families. It is perhaps … Read more
New verse by Christchurch poet Jeffrey Paparoa Holman. Highway 61 (Old) So by accident I found the road that gave you song, by need alone I drove the miles where Abraham, the way you tell it, heard God say, “Go kill your son.” I slid a CD in the player. I turned the … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in the galaxy. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton, $38) “A hotchpotch rather than a patchwork, a jigsaw with many missing pieces…It teems with anecdote but there is very little dialogue. Instead, Roy builds this story of contemporary India with … Read more
We’ve just experienced some of the coldest days of the year. So warm up your brain with a temperature quiz. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here. The Society section is sponsored by AUT. As a contemporary university we’re focused on providing exceptional learning experiences, developing impactful research and forging strong industry partnerships. Start your … Read more
Fear not, Labour and the Greens: everything is possible. And here in one simple post, Simon Wilson sets it out: why life’s got so hard for them, who their enemies really are and what they can do to win. The first thing to say about elections is that sudden changes of mood are possible. Single events … Read more
If they want to move the dial and mobilise young people, Labour and the Greens could jettison the budget rules they signed up to, writes former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp, in the first of his new series of columns for The Spinoff. The election is now just over two months way. It comes … 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. One of the common kind of bleats from this podcast is that … Read more
For years Lucy Zee thought maybe she had dreamed a hot and steamy TV series set in Auckland’s boy-racer underworld. But it was very real, and there hasn’t been anything quite like it since. In the middle of the 00s, New Zealand was struck with boy-racer fever. You couldn’t step outside your house without hearing … Read more
You need this book in your life, right now, this instant. Steve Braunias recommends a New Zealand classic. Finally a guidebook that takes you somewhere you want to go, like right now, as the country trembles under a cold snap and is dying for some warmth. Sally Jackson is the author of a new edition … Read more
Stef Rozitis had a long journey to understanding and accepting her sexuality after marrying a man and having children. Here she shares her story. When my eldest son was about one, someone mentioned to me that I would love him “no matter what, even if he was gay”. Of course, I agreed. But in my … Read more
In an attempt to reclaim their position atop the music industry, MTV are going back to basics and reincarnating their most iconic series. Don Rowe attends the first ever MTV Unplugged in New Zealand. Back in a time when the M in MTV stood for music and not ‘mediocre reality shows for munters’, the channel was … Read more
After the best thing about Gone By Lunchtime gets tied up with actual work, three white men finally sit down to talk politics and when and how some of them should be allowed to talk politics. Toby Manhire is joined by Ben Thomas of Exceltium and Guy Williams of televised comedy to discuss the Greens’ attack on … Read more
Messages exhorting the importance of mastering self-control come loaded with cultural assumptions and overlook the hidden costs, writes anthropologist Catherine Trundle. We have finally unlocked the secrets of self-control. According to one recent article, it takes only 14 simple steps to master your willpower and reach your goals. Visualise. Prepare a plan. Hide temptations. Surround yourself with disciplined people. … Read more
Former Canadian deputy prime minister Anne McLellan was in New Zealand last week to present at the NZ Drug Foundation symposium about her role in guiding Canada’s drug reform. She spoke to Simon Day about the road to legalisation, growing Canada’s ‘worst pot ever’, and the potential Baby Boomer weed market. In July 2018 Canada … Read more
Backbencher Barry Coates’ indiscreet words are just what National wanted, writes Toby Manhire. Gaffes come in a range of sizes and colours. One garden variety is the Kinsley Gaffe, named after the veteran American journalist who first identified the species, Slate founder Michael Kinsley. He describes it as the kind of gaffe “when a politician … Read more
As music director for this year’s Silver Scroll Awards, Shayne Carter’s job is to design song reinterpretations of the five finalists for the best New Zealand songwriting. He spoke to Calum Henderson about the skill of covering a song, writing his book, and not really liking awards shows. The midday temperature in Dunedin is 3 … Read more
She’s an anti-vaccination, anti-fluoride campaigner who believes measles is a hoax and polio can be cured with vitamin C. Meet Siggi Henry, one of the most powerful people in our fourth largest city. Angela Cuming reports. First published 13 July 2017. When Hamilton councillor Siggi Henry wore a tinfoil hat to meet associate health minister … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and special guest Mad Chapman gather around Jane’s table to talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand feat. Survivor correspondent Joseph Harper. With Alex Casey waltzing through Paris eating baguettes in a beret, Duncan and Jane ushered Mad the producer into the limelight. It was a night of … Read more
In Tibet babies are named by a respected elder. In Borneo, turtles are kept out of the birthing room, and the Gusii women of East Africa paint their breasts with bitter herbs when they’re ready to wean. Thalia Kehoe Rowden learned all of this and more from a beautiful new book, Little Gems, produced by … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, in this men-only post, we salute a man ad for a man house. This post is for men only. Ladies, please close the window. Move over, man cave. Get ready to swipe your man card for the mansion. The … Read more
Rising Hollywood star Ansel Elgort has a reputation for being kind of bad. Madeleine Chapman met him to find out the truth. Ansel Elgort sounds like a douchebag. He’s 23 and famous, with a Vogue photographer for a dad and an opera director for a mum. He grew up rich in New York and skipped all … Read more
Marion McLeod is baffled and somewhat bored to sobs by the eagerly awaited second novel by Indian superstar novelist Arundhati Roy. It’s 20 years since Arundhati Roy published her first novel, The God of Small Things, and won the Booker. She was the first Indian actually resident in India to do so. A few months … Read more
A year on from a critically-mauled first season, big-budget local drama Filthy Rich returns. Duncan Greive watches to see if they’ve fixed what was broken. A persistent criticism of the dialogue in Rachel Lang and Gavin Strawhan’s shows is that it sounds stiff and dated. It seems to come from an imagined New Zealand past which might never have … Read more
There’s been a lot of talk about the environment for women in tech, but most of the conversations centre on Silicon Valley. BizDojo’s Tracy Moyes takes a look at the situation for New Zealand women in the tech and start-up sectors – and delivers a call to arms for her colleagues in the industry. It’s … Read more
Ahead of his four New Zealand solo shows starting this week in Auckland, singer/guitarist Steve Gunn discusses the decline of the mom and pop guitar store, childhood buddy Kurt Vile, and the colourful characters and misadventures of his youth. While laconic musicians playing lo-fi rock will never totally go out of style, popular culture has … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today Simon Day asks: is Duck Island Ice Cream the greatest thing the Tron has ever produced? Hamilton has suffered from an image problem for decades. Suffocated beneath the weight of its own branding, the legendary city slogan “More than … Read more
It should be one of inner-city Auckland’s most-used stations, but the newly opened Parnell Station is already looking like a lame duck. So what went wrong? One word: Disneyland. Harriet Gale explains. This post was first published on Greater Auckland. A friend inspired this post with her attempt to use Parnell Station recently. She phoned … Read more