Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website. Nadine Millar: It shouldn’t be a debate: Our schools need to stop prioritising Pākehā values by default “In a Māori context, opening a speech with a mihimihi, or a round of acknowledgements, is fairly typical. Depending on the occasion, these introductions can be long or brief. … Read more
Alex Casey peers into the abyss of New Zealand celebrity YouTube channels, and rounds up five of the best. There’s nothing more I love than cracking open the old jar of chocolate chips in the pantry and zoning out on YouTube to someone talking to a camera in their bedroom about their moderately entertaining lives. … Read more
From optimistic beginnings in 1890, Arbor Day has fallen into semi-obscurity around the country. But there’s a very good reason why New Zealand needs this day, and more native trees, says Trees That Count ambassador Joris De Bres. So, what are you doing for Arbor Day? Yes, Arbor Day. In case the day dedicated to … Read more
When mums get a night off, it’s a big deal. Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes delves deep into the Wine Mum Night phenomenon with an anatomy of a night out without husbands, wives or children. It’s Wine Mum Night! It’s taken eight weeks to organise this night. Husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, grandparents, flat-mates – whoever … Read more
Over the course of her lifetime, an average woman will use more than 11,000 tampons and pads at an estimated cost of almost $16,000. But there’s an alternative: the menstrual cup – an indestructible, environmentally friendly, unlimited use product that fans call ‘life changing’. So why don’t more women use them, wonders MB Acres. I … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we pick shows from their extensive back catalogue that you might like to watch. This week, we get your long weekend sorted with the best shows to binge watch. Queen’s Birthday weekend is so close we can almost smell the corgi shampoo in the air, and the … Read more
The Spinoff Music team weighs in on Lorde’s new single. Henry Oliver ‘Perfect Places’ is the last song of the party which Lorde’s forthcoming Melodrama is loosely knitted around. It’s the fervent heartfelt anthem to be slurred between the outdoor confessors and belted out on the dancefloor by the drunk and the high before the … Read more
That Dragon, Cancer was one of the most critically acclaimed indie games released in 2016. The point and click adventure’s frank depiction of a family’s battle with illness seemed to push video games into new territory. Tof Eklund spoke with one of the game’s creators about how the game was made and how some critics missed … Read more
New verse by Otago writer Liz Breslin. No one in my poem is on p They’re all on p in Timaru except the student buying camel coat fabric and the fag-waving granny saying what a to do and the Community House security dude arms folded, clipboard primed and plastic. They’re all on p … Read more
It’s Queen’s Birthday weekend and what better way to celebrate than by dusting up on your Commonwealth knowledge. All results will be sent to the Queen herself. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
With secretary of state Rex Tillerson in New Zealand on Tuesday, Bill English and Paula Bennett have a chance to strongly condemn the dereliction of international leadership in quitting the Paris deal – and to use the occasion to galvanise action here, writes climate scientist James Renwick This morning we heard President Donald Trump formally state … Read more
The latest best-selling books at the world’s two best bookstores. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Wish Child by Catherine Chidgey (Victoria University Press $30) Winner of the 2017 Victoria University Press and International Institute of Modern Letters book award (in association with Ockham New Zealand). 2 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, … Read more
Money may not be important in the big scheme of things, but where money gets put, and how much, tells us volumes about what the government thinks it is doing right. And our government thinks things are going pretty well, writes the Morgan Foundation’s Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw. As peculiar as it is in the context … Read more
Alaister Moghan reports from The Great Escape festival, where New Zealand artists like Aldous Harding, Kane Strang and Fazerdaze go to get the UK music industry talking. Every May for over a decade, the shores of Brighton are awash with musicians, managers and assorted music industry folk attending The Great Escape – part ‘new music’ festival, … Read more
When a Tokoroa mum queried McDonald’s gendered Happy Meal toys, the Facebook response was huge – and vitriolic. Depressing enough, but do kids really need different toys based on their gender? All signs point to no, says Thalia Kehoe Rowden. When Tokoroa mum Imogene Louise last went to McDonald’s, the server asked if the Happy … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey gather around the oval table to talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. In our first Bachelor-free week in a long time, host Jane Yee is joined by Alex Casey and Duncan Greive to still talk about The Bachelor for an extended … 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. If you’ve enjoyed a scented candle in glass, perhaps one with a … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today, Roger Merkin attempts to navigate NZ’s traffic with some grace.
If our native bird species could text the New Zealand public and let us know how they’re doing, what would they say? Forest & Bird’s Kimberley Collins decodes the stats from a new report. Yesterday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released a new report on the “desperate situation” our native birds face. Because I … Read more
The Handmaid’s Tale is already the most talked-about new shows of 2017, and it’s coming to our shores exclusively on Lightbox from June 8. Alex Casey tells you why you should be psyched. Adapted from Margaret Atwood’s terrifying dystopia first imagined in her 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale is a too-real vision of the future. … Read more
A high school debate tournament highlighted the unconscious Euro-centric bias at the heart of the New Zealand education system, writes Nadine Millar. Here they are. The Hato Pāora College debating team, about to take part in the annual O’Shea Shield a couple of weekends ago. The room is prickly with anticipation. This prestigious speech and … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Don Rowe reviews a subscription toothbrush. I do my best to avoid checking the mailbox and thus my first Freshbrush was partially eaten by snails. In hindsight that’s actually quite an endorsement though because I eat bamboo too and find it … Read more
Louisa Kasza reviews the full-on memoir by former beauty editor and fulltime drug addict Cat Marnell. Charming, strung-out ex-beauty editor Cat Marnell represents many things traditionally despised about that walking thinkpiece, the millennial. Born into privilege, Marnell recognises her own potential as a writer, preferably for Condé Nast magazines, and merrily sets forth into a … Read more
Returning to paid work after any amount of time at home looking after our younguns can be a huge adjustment. Wendy Black outlines her big fears and what she’s excited about on the eve of her return to work. Two days ago I was a stay-at-home-mum spending my days mumming to my two year old … Read more
Eat Me, a new study of the history and science of cannibalism, squanders the opportunity to present new insights, writes Paul Moon. Cannibalism is at once disturbing and banal. It’s disturbing because acts of cannibalism historically have generally been preceded by killings. Cannibalism is also often depicted as occurring in episodes of extreme violence, and … Read more
Shortland’s Street big blowout 25th anniversary might be over, but we’re still in the mood to celebrate. From births to deaths, with hostages, heists and cliffhangers aplenty in between, Tara Ward counts down the most-watched Shorty episodes EVER. There’s one more Shortland Street birthday tribute to make before we blow out the candles and take … Read more
The 36 Questions Project is a new series in which 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 inaugural installment, Young Greens co-convenor Williams dates Act leader David Seymour. Will opposites attract? This is an … Read more
Think you can drive the very building blocks of life? Matthew Codd gives the evolution simulator Birthdays: The Beginning a hoon and he bloody learns stuff! Creationists need not apply. Games make fascinating learning tools. I’m not talking about the “edutainment” that many of us remember, with fondness, disdain, or some strange mixture of both, from our primary … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Calum Henderson reviews an old pack of rugby cards. These days Oamaru is known as the steampunk capital of New Zealand, but back in the late 1980s and early 1990s it had a much better claim to fame. For … Read more