The NIMBYs are out in force in Whanganui – though it’s not houses for people the locals are objecting to, but homes for bees. Jess McAllen investigates the apian scandal threatening to engulf the city. It’s been a tough few years for the bees of Whanganui. Last year 375 hives were stolen, in 2015 their … Read more
In her first New Zealand interview since the release of ‘Green Light’, Lorde talks about her return to the stage at Coachella last weekend, Melodrama‘s surprisingly traditional roll-out, and what the deal is with the party tank. On Easter weekend Lorde played her first major show in nearly three years, sub-headlining the main stage at … Read more
Compiling the best reading from your friendly local website. Bree Brown: A teenager on what 13 Reasons Why gets dangerously wrong about teen suicide “The main failing of this show is that it continues to perpetuate the idea that suicide is a direct result of a person or an event. For years, experts have emphasised … Read more
In association with our mates Bigpipe Broadband we’re livestreaming a different video game every Wednesday at 7pm on Facebook Live. Join José Barbosa and a cast of roped in innocents for these highlights from a journey into utter mayhem. One of 2017’s most eagerly anticipated games is the new Zelda, and José Barbosa and Liam … Read more
Here’s a quick and easy and inexpensive way we can all get more excited about Auckland. Change the names of things! No really – Simon Wilson is serious about this. There’s free burgers or something if you can answer all five of these quick questions: What’s the CRL? What’s the LTP? What about the UP? … Read more
Danyl Mclauchlan agrees with most of the ideas in an acclaimed and bestselling new book by Max Harris about New Zealand politics, yet the What Must Be Done tome leaves him feeling even gloomier about the immediate prospects for the progressive left. Max Harris’s book The New Zealand Project is an urgent attempt to confront the … 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 Ben Howe about Record Store Day and selling LPs to teenagers. Spinoff Music editor Henry Oliver talks to Ben Howe, founder of Arch Hill Recordings, managing director at Flying Nun Records and … Read more
The international music community is beginning to take notice of Amelia Murray, who has been releasing music as Fazerdaze since 2014. After seeing her play in April last year, David Farrier followed Amelia Murray over the following year as she completed her album, Morningside, and prepared her band to take on the world. “Who is Fazerdaze?” … Read more
I’m taking part because I am part of a global community and because Trump’s actions affect us all. And I want New Zealand’s politicians to understand this, too, writes Shaun Hendy. At 1.30pm this afternoon, I will be marching from Britomart up Queen Street to the Band Rotunda in Albert Park, along with many other … Read more
Did you know competitive stroller running was a thing? Runner and dad Chris Ingham talks to marathoner Mike Wardian about how to make running with a baby better for both of you. I used to be a bit of a runner back in the day: I even came second in my school’s cross country in … Read more
The best-selling books at the world’s best two bookstores. AUCKLAND UNITY 1 The New Zealand Project by Max Harris (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Woah, number one in Auckland and Wellington! We really must approach the publisher and ask for an excerpt from this geek-lit best-seller. 2 Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (Chatto & Windus, $37) We … Read more
Across New Zealand tomorrow, scientists (and others) will join their peers around the world in a March for Science, calling for ‘science and knowledge to be reaffirmed as fundamental to the democratic decision making that supports society in Aotearoa New Zealand’. Local organisers explain their motivation here; at the Spinoff recently, Nicola Gaston powerfully explained … Read more
Polish up on your knowledge of the New Zealand Armed Forces with our special ANZAC quiz. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
A new initiative to teach yoga and mindfulness to troubled youth is effecting remarkable change. Don Rowe visits with Atawhai, a new initiative from Kristina Cavit and The Kindness Institute, ahead of their inaugural end-of-programme event this Sunday. In a small room off the Point Chevalier Community Centre in Auckland, miracles are taking place. One … Read more
Ghazaleh Golbakhsh can’t stop watching property porn, from Location, Location, Location to The Block NZ. As a lifelong renter, she wonders why she bothers. A few years ago, I remember being at a party and witnessing my friends who had all just bought into the property market (yes there really was a time) moan on … Read more
New verse by Wellington writer Joy Holley. Lana Del Rey It definitely wasn’t love at first sight, for Joy and I. It was something more like “Who the fuck is this middle-aged ginger lady and why do people think she can sing?” Skip ahead: Track 12. Joy can now provide extensive answers … Read more
Tomorrow is Record Store Day. Up and down the country music fans will be swarming their local record stores to buy records and see bands play. Here’s what’s happening when and where. Some people love it. Others hate it. Some people used to love it and now hate it but want to love it again. … Read more
Hoping for more green space in the city centre? Auckland Transport has other plans, and there are just three days left to tell them what you think. Remember the City Centre Masterplan? Possible not, at least not unless you’re a policy wonk working for (or possibly against) the council. But it was a good thing, … Read more
In the third of Guyon Espiner’s extended interviews with former prime ministers for RNZ, Jim Bolger, who led the National Party to power in 1990 pledging to return the ‘decent society’ to New Zealand, criticises the prevailing economic orthodoxy, saying it has led to a dangerous gap between rich and poor. Bolger defends the record of Ruth Richardson, who as finance … Read more
David Farrier was sucked into a tickling vortex back in 2014, and spent the next few years immersed in the world of Competitive Endurance Tickling. Throughout 2016 he took the resulting film, Tickled, to festivals around the world and followed it up with The Tickle King on HBO last month. After three years he was … Read more
Shaun Robinson, the head of the NZ Mental Health Foundation, suggests 13 ways you can start a conversation with young people about the issues raised by the controversial hit show. Content warning: This post contains discussions of mental health and suicide. It seems like everyone is talking about 13 Reasons Why. Some people find it … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we trawl their catalogue for shows you might want to watch. This week, we outline six things you need to know about Six. New to Lightbox this month, History Channel original action series Six follows the daily lives of the members of the Navy SEAL Team 6 … Read more
Queenstown has some special systems and facilities to cope with billionaires, movie stars and VIP’s. But here’s our guide to Queenstown for the VVIPs – like CIA director James Comey, FBI director Mike Pompeo, and other Five Eyes bigwigs expected in Queenstown this weekend. Queenstown is a lovely, unspoilt mountain resort in the South Island … Read more
You might know Guy Montgomery from winning the Billy T Award a few years ago, from his smash-hit podcast The Worst Idea of All Time, or from TV3’s Fail Army. Sam Brooks talks to Guy about his career in comedy and what he plans to do in New York. Sam Brooks: Are you ready to be … Read more
Introducing our new video series Kiwis of Snapchat, wherein comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today, Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross is still steamed about window-washers.
Alex Casey interviews Eleanor Bishop, a theatre-maker whose new work reimagines the rugby classic Foreskin’s Lament in the world of Tony Veitch and the Chiefs stripper scandal. If a phone case is a window to the soul, the pink “well behaved women seldom make history” emblazoned on theatre-maker star Eleanor Bishop’s pretty much nails it. … Read more
TV reporter Kristin Hall spent much of 2016 drawing attention to the high price of sanitary products in New Zealand – a cost barrier that affects most women, but has serious implications for those at the bottom end of the income scale. Here she responds to this week’s decision by Pharmac not to fund sanitary … Read more
Zombie fiction! It’s everywhere, some of it’s really good, and all of it feels strangely, terribly relevant to the times we live in. Stacey Campbell walks with the undead. I’ve been reading about zombies. It just kind of happened. As a genre it’s not exactly literary, and yes, The Luminaries is still sitting on my … Read more
Aaron Yap binges local series This Is Not My Life, a sci-fi mystery that could sit comfortably alongside Black Mirror and Orphan Black, and asks why New Zealand has stopped making genre TV. In this recent Spinoff piece, I wrote about my experience, or more so lack of, with New Zealand television. I pondered … Read more