It’s New Zealand’s most successful city slogan by far, and the council had nothing to do with it. Angela Cuming finds out how a grassroots social media movement created an explosion of civic pride. A hot November afternoon, 2012, and a lime green picnic bench flashed up on my computer screen. It was from a … Read more
The robots are coming to take our jobs – so what should we be doing for work (and our workers) when they arrive? Rod Snodgrass, director of The Exponential Agency, says it’s time for New Zealand business to start preparing for the digital future. I read a brilliant Guardian article recently that pondered life after … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’ biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss their favourite conspiracy theories. “It sounds a bit hippy and I don’t like hippies. They annoy me.” Click here … Read more
We read the entire Simon Sweetman/Aldous Harding Facebook thread so you don’t have to. Last week music blogger Simon Sweetman reviewed Aldous Harding’s album Party with a video of goats screaming. Then, a couple of days ago, he added to that critique with a Facebook post of Harding’s Jools Holland performance with the comment “I … Read more
Shortland Street’s explosive episode last night featured mass death and destruction, but what does it really feel like when your character is killed off? Gerald Urquhart, aka Luke Durville, comes back from the grave to tell his story. ‘Sir, sir you were on Shortland St last night.’ Initially, I was confused when my students would … Read more
The NZ International Comedy Festival is over for another year, and so our two Comedy co-editors Sam Brooks and Natasha Hoyland take their final bows. Read on for their farewell messages. Natasha Hoyland What a crazy, incredible, exhausting time the festival always is! I always end up so completely knackered that I almost fall asleep … Read more
New verse by Kaipara poet Sam Hunt. Pissed by 11 Neither pop-inner or house-guest, I prefer an early-opener, patrons pissed by 11: the rest of the day the blur it always is. . . Some people say “Come and stay” or others, “I thought I’d just pop in” . … Read more
The best-selling books at the two best bookstores in Christendom. WELLINGTON UNITY 1 Balancing Acts: Reflections of a NZ Diplomat by Gerald McGhie (Dunmore Press, $35) Forty years a diplomat! He was New Zealand’s last ambassador to the Soviet Union, and he was also posted to Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and most dangerously of all, Wellington. … Read more
Thousands of Filipinos have been killed in Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘bloody war’ on drugs. As he approaches a year in office, extrajudicial and vigilante killings remain a daily reality, and countries such as NZ need to speak up, says Amnesty International’s Wilnor Papa in an interview with the Spinoff. Since he came to power in June last year … Read more
Ethan Sills talks to Matt Letscher, star of The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, about playing the villain and what it’s really like to wear a superhero costume all day. Superhero shows are unavoidable these days. With basically every American network and streaming service trying to launch their own brand, and comic book adaptations continuing … Read more
With the release of #Budget2017 this week, it’s the perfect time to test your knowledge of government spending. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
Births, deaths, fake deaths, reunions, vomit, sperm and a massive bloody volcano – there was a lot going on in Shortland Street’s 25th anniversary episode. Chris Warner found out he had leukaemia the day before his 50th birthday. Then, the day of his party, ever worse news: a volcano erupted, spewing rocks and ash and … Read more
This week Dr Lance O’Sullivan publicly criticised the film Vaxxed, expressing his despair that screenings are being held in some of New Zealand’s most deprived areas, where immunisation rates are already lower than average. Here The Spinoff Parents’ Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw looks at the current state of immunisation in our country – and explains why … Read more
Now more than ever, says Simon Wilson, critics are good for restaurants and good for their customers too. The real problem in media coverage is the exact opposite: it’s uncritical feel-goodism and the lack of critics. Everyone’s a critic. It’s always been true about restaurants, because we all eat so we all know what we … Read more
BREAKING: Mount Ferndale has erupted, engulfing the town in a deadly cloud of ash and totally ruining Chris Warner’s 50th birthday party. We bring you a chronological selection of the best lines of dialogue from tonight’s one-liner-filled special episode. Read all our Shortland Street 25th anniversary coverage here. “This hospital’s gone to rack and ruin … Read more
For the Shortland Street 25th anniversary week, we’re reissuing David Farrier’s phenomenal 2014 ‘Real Talk’ interview series with two of the soaps’s biggest stars and thinkers – Ben Mitchell and Cam Jones. Today, the trio discuss the culture of outrage. “I’m showing them a dichotomy. Keep it real man, we’re all fallible humans” Click here … Read more
Lumsden Maternity Centre in rural Southland, where Bill English was born, is in imminent danger of closure. Southerner Victoria Crockford explains why it would be a devastating loss for the community. I must admit, I really questioned myself the day that the pigs broke into a multi-million dollar building site down the road. Pinky and … Read more
Budget 2017: After a year of taking heavy shots from the opposition, National responded with a 1-2 of their own with today’s budget announcements, writes Ben Thomas. Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. Steven Joyce, bomaye. Translated from Lingala to internet English, that basically means “Steve Joyce, slay!”. The catchcry was popularised by fans … Read more
Tax cuts, more money for infrastructure, and catch-up spending on a raft of areas where it had previously been frozen. All well and good, says economist Shamubeel Eaqub, but what about housing? Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. Steven Joyce delivered his first Budget and it was carefully calculated to maximise impact in an … Read more
We asked Spinoff writers, contributors and pals to share their very favourite Shortland Street moments from 25 rich years of soapy drama. Tara Ward on Lionel and Kirsty’s wedding Every moment of Lionel and Kirsty’s 1994 Christmas cliffhanger wedding gleams with the magnificent glory of early Shortland Street: Lionel angsting aboard the Toroa, Carmen wearing a designer … Read more
Millie Lovelock, who wrote her MA thesis on One Direction, answers Harry Styles’ critics. When Steve Braunias wrote that ‘Sign of the Times’ would be the end of Harry Styles’ career he had no idea what he was talking about. When he wrote that Styles had fallen into the trap of wanting to be taken … Read more
Spinoff Comedy co-editor Sam Brooks takes a look at the recent history of the Billy T Award, what felt different about this year’s nominees, and what that means for New Zealand’s comedy industry as a whole. There was a Moonlight/La La Land joke when it came time to announce the Billy T. It wasn’t funny. … Read more
Getting Your Shit Together is a new monthly column on everyday mental health from Auckland mindfulness educator Kristina Cavit. Ahead of Pink Shirt Day tomorrow, Cavit talks to two teenage friends about their experience of bullying – and the techniques they’ve developed to fight back. I was lucky enough to work with 15 year old … Read more
Calum Henderson pays tribute to the most beautiful romance storyline of Shortland Street’s first 25 years. Two weeks after their daughter’s civil union, Yvonne Jeffries’ husband fell down a cliff and died. She must have thought that was it, she would never love again, there would never be another man like Ian, not at her … Read more
Angela Cuming remembers watching Twin Peaks as a child, and the power cut that kept Laura Palmer’s killer a mystery. I was only 10 years old when Twin Peaks – and the real world – found me. Once a week, in the dark, I would sit on the sofa bed in Dad’s home office and, … Read more
Urzila Carlson is straight up the biggest comedian in the country today. Spinoff Comedy co-editor Sam Brooks talks to her about how she got so good at being funny. Sam Brooks: So you’re fucking excellent. Urzila Carlson: Thank you! How are you as good as you are? It’s like… you’re so good. Thank you. I dunno, … Read more
“Horrifying and hopeful at the same time”: Kim Hill reviews Idaho, one of the most acclaimed novels of 2017. A couple of years ago, I was visiting my father’s side of the family in Northern Ireland. As a shy, unhappy English child, I would spend holidays with them. I found them exotic, intimidating, irresistibly attractive. … Read more
Following Gemma Gracewood’s call to arms yesterday, Shortland Street have decided to un-geoblock their monster 25th anniversary episode for superfans abroad. “Five years ago when Shortland Street turned 20, the special 90 minute feature-length episode was due to air on my birthday. Alas, I was overseas, with no way of watching the events of that … Read more
Does the minister of finance understand the needs of Auckland? He lives here, so of course he does, right? Here are five things, and the speech to accompany them, that Simon Wilson would love to hear Steven Joyce deliver in his first budget speech today. Read all our Budget 2017 coverage here. 1. “Every child … Read more