This week it was reported that a Wellington youth clinic that offers free doctors’ appointments, mental and sexual health services, and support for homeless teens has closed its books to new patients. The loss will be felt throughout the city, writes Jess McAllen. There’s a scene in the 80s movie Heathers where, following a spate … Read more
In The Night Garden is the creepiest kids show on TV. Every parent knows it. Angela Cuming digs deep to find out who invented this terrible and annoying show that children all over the world adore. “That is the creepiest fucking show. My kids love it but it is creepy as fuck.” That was my … Read more
Sam Brooks heads to the new show by last year’s Billy T Award winner David Correos and a duo lineup featuring Snapchat star Tom Sainsbury and newcomer Bridget Davies. David Correos Is Going Full Correos One of the most memorable moments in comedy in New Zealand over the past five years has been seeing David … 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. In a few years’ time, once enough cars are autonomous and car … Read more
Prime Minister Bill English made his big pre-Budget speech in Wellington yesterday. He mentioned Auckland exactly zero times. Is this a deliberate election-year strategy, asks Simon Wilson. It’s three weeks till Budget Day. Three weeks until the government sets out the financial framework for the programme it will take into the election in September, now … Read more
Before there was Survivor, there was New Zealand’s own reality juggernaut Treasure Island. Calum Henderson revisits the first episode of 2001’s Celebrity Treasure Island and finds out what the contestants are doing with themselves now. There were nine whole seasons of Treasure Island and all anyone remembers is the time Lana Coc-Kroft nearly died from … Read more
As part of Equalise My Vocals, a new Spinoff project focusing on equality in the music community, Coco Solid speaks with musician and multi-disciplinary punk Sarsha-Leigh Douglas. Sarsha-Leigh Douglas (Ngāti Maru, Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a local punk icon with an array of bands, underground projects and achievements under her heavy belt. … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today, local man Kenneth Cooper shares his Survivor NZ application with us. Click here to watch Kiwis of Snapchat #1 featuring Jami-Lee Ross Click here to watch Kiwis of Snapchat #2 featuring Kelvin Cruickshank This … Read more
Comedy co-editor Natasha Hoyland recaps the shows she’s seen and what she’s looking forward to in this festival diary for Week 1 of the NZ International Comedy Festival, proudly sponsored by Flick Electric Co. Hello! It’s me! Natasha Hoyland, one of the editors of The Spinoff’s comedy section. This time each week, I’ll be sharing … Read more
Linda Burgess reviews the latest novel by the prolific Damien Wilkins. Note: the headline was her idea. Any Wellingtonian reading Lifting has to work hard not to see Cutty’s as Kirkcaldie and Stains. Well, it is, isn’t it? A large department store in Wellington, with a piano, and a top-hatted doorman, going through hard … Read more
Someone always leaves their cereal bowl in the sink, the microwave is filthy and there’s never any forks. The case is clear: the modern office kitchen is the closest us cossetted Kiwis get to hell on earth, says Greg Pritchard. In the last 50 or 60 years the New Zealand workforce has changed massively. Back … Read more
From an idea floated in Rolling Stone magazine just five years ago, divestment – the withdrawal of investments in immoral industries – has grown into a global campaign. Now New Zealand businesses, government organisations and community groups are being encouraged to join the movement, writes 350 Aotearoa’s Niamh O’Flynn. A whole town evacuated, powerless in … Read more
Tara Ward breaks down the most memorable disguises from spy drama The Americans. If you like your drama with more layers than a hot lasagne, then serve yourself up a giant slice of The Americans. Set in 1980s Washington DC, Elizabeth and Philip Jennings are your typical American family: two well-mannered children, a beautiful home … Read more
It’s likely earth will never be free of Star Wars, not least thanks to the many communities which have sprung up around the property’s various tentacles. In celebration of May the 4th day, José Barbosa tells the story of one such community and what it did for him. Every so often you’ll find what exactly … Read more
Sabre-rattling between North Korea and the US has prompted a wave of apocalyptic panic. But there are two relationships pivotal to international security, and for the moment they look stable, writes Nicholas Ross Smith Last Saturday, Pope Francis said he feared that the rising tension between North Korea and the United States has the potential to … Read more
The foreshore and seabed debate is back for the umpteenth time with a claim for customary rights lodged in the High Court. And right on cue Māori are cast as seeking to destroy the Kiwi dream holiday. How about starting with some less stupid questions, suggests Morgan Godfery. And here we are, the foreshore and seabed debate, … Read more
Is there a male equivalent of a “vile hag?” What about a “sanctimonious bitch?” How about “patronising c**t”? Megan Whelan of RNZ thinks not. More than race, sexuality, the environment or politics, stories about gender attract abuse, profanity and flat-out nastiness. So, when we posted a video from our series The 9th Floor, featuring former … Read more
What does the evidence really say about breast-feeding and bottle feeding? And how should we apply that evidence to our own parenting? Dr Jess is on the case. It was during a breastfeeding class that the terrible “incident” occurred. As I was attempting to get back into my seat after the 10th wee break, I … Read more
Moon TV’s ‘Non Celebrity Traffic Island’ marooned a group of regular folk on a traffic island in Remuera. Here, we share some useful survival tips from the harrowing social experiment. Being marooned on a reality TV show is hard yakka, just look at Nikki Kaye in Fish Out of Water, or The Bachelorettes fighting over … Read more
Comedian Nick Rado’s life changed drastically when he married a yoga instructor. For one thing, he learnt more than he ever wanted or needed to know about whole foods, super nutrients, and health fads in general. Here he shares his hard-won knowledge. Hello! My name is Nick Rado and I’m the head writer for Three’s … Read more
The Commerce Commission was right to reject a bid by NZME-Fairfax that would have created a dominance unprecedented in a western democracy, and now the paywalls need to go up, writes Peter Griffin The Commerce Commission’s rejection of a plan for our two biggest media companies to merge is one of the most significant determinations from the regulator … Read more
Next week is Techweek’17! So if you’re planning on attending one of the 100+ events across the country, but don’t know your pivots from your MVPs because you’re not in scrum sprints and hackathons in your everyday life, we’ve got you covered. Here are the 13 words and phrases you’re most likely to hear, explained! … Read more
Racist abuse is not welcome in our game. By launching We All Bleed Red, Canterbury has courageously become the first union to tackle discrimination head on in this way, writes the race relations commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy Until you’ve run out onto a sports field and had someone call you a “black c—” or an “ape” then you’ll … Read more
The Commerce Commission decision appears based on a naive assumption that because news is important it will always be made, writes Duncan Greive. The Commerce Commission decision this morning to decline to authorise a merger between NZME and Fairfax’s New Zealand interests is being widely applauded in predictable places, for predictable reasons. Hearing it and reading … Read more
Sam Brooks checks out Comedy Festival shows from Funny Girls star and Snort regular Brynley Stent, and from Australian clowning superstar Tessa Waters. Plus – we bestow our second Spinoff Badge of Honour. Tessa Waters: Over Promises Tessa Waters is a genius. It’s as simple as that. I’ve never seen a New Zealand audience, notoriously … Read more
The good and the great of world literature are about to descend as guest speakers at the 2017 Auckland Writers Festival. Will anyone go off the rails? CK Stead (followed by Steve Braunias, in a postscript) recall writers behaving badly onstage. In my experience problems at readings usually involve booze. I remember Jim Baxter being carried to … Read more
The challenge for anyone, politicians especially, who opposed the idea of a Fairfax-NZME merger on high principle is to find a practical solution as news media go deeper into the storm, writes Toby Manhire The Commerce Commission would make a rubbish journalist. Not only did it fail repeatedly to meet its own deadlines in issuing a … Read more
Those Russians know a thing or two, mainly how to stress the shit out of people. Hence Tetris, the most addictive block game known to man. Here a bevy of Spinoff writers each play a single round (enforced), compare scores and eventually crown a winner. Previously: The first ever Spinoff Internal Office Gaming Tournament – Snake … Read more
Gareth Shute asks for your help in creating a map of all the venues that have existed in Auckland, from the early 20th century through to the present. With less than a month before the Volume exhibition closes, Auckland Museum has posted a series of extended reads on their website on subjects including fashion in … Read more