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. Here’s a cool idea. How about taking a service every company needs, … Read more
Henry Oliver talks to Emily Edrosa, the creative force behind Street Chant, whose second album Hauora won the Taite Music Prize this week. On Tuesday night, Street Chant won the 2017 Taite Music Prize for their second album Hauora. The band’s singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer/etc, Emily Edrosa, was in Los Angeles where she has lived since shortly after the … Read more
Laura Vincent farewells Wellington’s famous furry friend, Bernie the beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog. It’s true of Wellington that we have to talk ourselves up desperately to stay here. Yes the weather is garbage and there’s the constant threat of earthquakes and no sodding international musicians will perform here, but we’re still the coolest little capital … Read more
When the council took a much-loved piece of playground equipment out of Grey Lynn Park, the kids fought back. Monkey bars – remember them? That moment you found the courage to walk upright on the top! And when you discovered you were strong enough to hold your own weight, swinging from one rung to the … Read more
What can we learn from the spate of reports about young people bucking the odds and purchasing property? Chris McDowall reads them all and crunches the numbers. Over the last few months I’ve taken to hate-reading the NZ Herald and Stuff articles about plucky young Kiwis buying their first home. Last week, while reading Russell Brown’s excellent … Read more
Spinoff Parents editor Emily Writes has a message for parents whose kids don’t sleep: don’t fall into the same traps she did. There’s heaps of advice out there, and she took all of it. But did any of it work? Let me start by saying I’ve tried every single thing possible to get my children … Read more
By the logic of politics the real surprise was that the UK prime minister hadn’t called a snap election earlier, writes the Guardian’s Richard Adams. In the end Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election was a surprise but not a shock. A surprise because May herself had repeatedly and unambiguously ruled out calling … Read more
Fresh from rocking Coachella, movie score titan Hans Zimmer is coming to Auckland to perform one show only, Hans Zimmer Revealed. He spoke to Madeleine Chapman about some of his most recognisable scores and how he avoids repeating himself. Whether he realises it or not (he definitely doesn’t), Hans Zimmer has scored the past five years … Read more
An exhibition and auction about to hit the streets of downtown Auckland aims to raise awareness – and funds – for asylum seekers in desperate need, writes Keith Locke. Close to 90 artists, each with a wooden picture frame. A theme: compassion for asylum seekers. And a venue: the shop windows of downtown Auckland, on … Read more
Calum Henderson watches TVNZ DUKE’s new fishing show Screaming Reels, Leigh Hart’s latest comedy venture to rival Outdoors With Geoff. Editor’s update: Screaming Reels premiered on Australia’s Channel 7 at 10.30am on Saturday 27 categorised under “sport” and “reality”, raising some questions as to whether or not our Trans-Tasman neighbours realised it was a parody. The network denies … Read more
Every comedian has at least one horror story. We asked some our favourite funny people for their festival nightmares, and we got back stories ranging from lost luggage to accidental hypnotisation. I just arrived in Melbourne to find out my venue is double booked and now I have to do my show at another time … Read more
Yesterday’s news of a major settlement for aged care workers is a big win in the fight for pay equity in New Zealand. Now it’s time to close the loopholes that could prevent women with children benefitting from the deal, says Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw. In announcing that the female-dominated aged care and caring work force … Read more
The debate around concessions negotiated by the Māori Party in the resource management bill has seen the ‘Māori tribal elite’ slur rears its head again. It is all part of a long history, writes Carrie Stoddart-Smith, of attempts to colonise tangata whenua. Kōtahi te kākaho ka whati, ina kapuia, e kore e whati. A lone reed will … Read more
An essay by Dr Philip Steer on Lake Tutira in Hawke’s Bay, now an unswimmable toxic dump, but once the idyllic setting for one of the greatest books ever published in New Zealand. Pinea rawatia ki Tutira ra; Ki te ue pata, ki te kai rakau. A ehara e hine i te roto hou; He … Read more
Theresa ‘I’m not going to be calling a snap election’ May has called a snap election. And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn must be crapping himself, writes Jonathan Hutchison from London. If there’s one thing journalists and commentators ought to have learnt from the past year in politics, it is this: never ever ever predict anything … Read more
A range of viewpoints is a good thing. But giving a platform to noxious, hateful, racially inflammatory propaganda is quite another. So why is Newstalk ZB so keen on Katie Hopkins, asks Branko Marcetic. Few would accuse Newstalk ZB of being a fountainhead for enlightened ideas. This is, after all, the radio station that lets Mike Hosking … Read more
Tara Ward drops her shortbread in fright as a brand new trailer for Outlander season three arrives out of nowhere. Praise be to all things mythical and bagpipey, for the latest Outlander preview dropped yesterday like a hot bannock onto a dusty floor. The fevered sighs of malnourished Outlander fans reverberated around the world, much … Read more
Jane Yee, Alex Casey and FAMOUS BACHELORETTE SHARI FLAVALL gather around the oval table and talk about the latest happenings in New Zealand television and real life in New Zealand. With Duncan rocking a flower crown with the best of them at Coachella, Alex and Jane are joined by Shari Flavall of The Bachelor NZ … Read more
Tonight the Taite Music Prize will present The Clean with the Independent Music Classic NZ Record award for their 1981 EP Boodle Boodle Boodle. Hussein Moses talked to the band and those involved to dig up the inside story of a record that became a New Zealand indie music legend. It was a defining moment … Read more
Aaron Yap reviews Pamela Adlon’s Better Things, the semi-autobiographical exploration of Hollywood and parenthood co-written by Louis C.K. There’s a terrific bit in the new Louis C.K. special where he admonishes “the way people talk about their mothers”. He recalls an after-match interview with a football player who scored a bunch of goals. “My mum … Read more
Sam Brooks reunited with his eight-, fifteen- and twenty-year-old self at the Cyndi Lauper/Blondie show in Auckland last night. Disclaimer: I will follow a female singer who was huge before I was born into the ocean and keep walking. I was raised on a diet of Tori Amos, Kate Bush, Gloria Estefan and yes, Cyndi … Read more
When Morgan Godfery saw the advertisement for a communications and engagement assistant vacancy at the Taxpayers’ Union he immediately started scrawling an application in his own union-clotted blood. Here we exclusively publish Godfery’s emotional plea. To whom it may concern, As an aspiring middle-aged white man, I’m the perfect candidate for the job. As communications and engagement assistant, I’ll “fight the good fight”. … Read more
Melbourne Comedy Festival: lots of shows, lots of cool people, fewer audiences. Auckland comedian Donna Brookbanks shares the second installment of her Melbourne festival diary. Read Donna’s first diary entry here. Dear Diary, Today I woke up. Last night, Alice [Snedden] and I did our show to eight people! That’s 58 spare seats! I had … Read more
Alex Casey tackles the fifth week of The Bachelor NZ, including unauthorised Jenga, bad poetry and an incredible bombshell. Ahh, nothing better after a long Easter weekend than to rest your rotten chocolate-coated dentures in a vat of Colgate Optic White and kick back in front of a relaxing episode of The Bachelor NZ. That … Read more
Two women teachers who were sexually harassed by male students have resigned following ‘considerable distress’. Here a parent writes of her dismay at the way the college has dealt with the incident and the message it sends to young men. Two women teachers at St Patrick’s Silverstream who were sexually harassed by male students who … 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. True blue real life hunter Don Rowe takes fretful townie José Barbosa on a crash course on … Read more
It’s the TV show that every teenager is watching – and it features graphic scenes of rape and suicide. We asked an Auckland teenager to share her views on controversial new series 13 Reasons Why and what she wants parents to know about its content. Content warning: This post contains discussions of mental health and … Read more
Plans for post-quake Christchurch promised a focus on transport alternatives and a compact, pedestrian-friendly core. But media generated hysteria over car parking – and the meddling of Gerry Brownlee – is threatening to send the city back to the 60s, writes James Dann. Since his appointment as the head of CERA, Gerry Brownlee has often been called the … Read more
In her first candidate diary for the Spinoff, Chlöe Swarbrick recounts a mad few weeks, getting 13th on the Greens’ initial list, and the thorny question of what our country stands for. Read candidate diaries for the Spinoff by Erica Stanford (National, East Coast Bays) and Kiri Allan (East Coast) here. In 2017, what does Aotearoa New … Read more