Australian rugby teams have been mostly awful this year, but there’s a plan to turn things around, and it starts with a Super Rugby overhaul. Tim Murphy reports. Don’t feel sorry for Australian rugby. Don’t feel pity for its pitiful season. Don’t give the buggers a break. Because they’re already plotting their comeback. Root, branch and Aussie ruthlessness. Having … Read more
With the new season arriving express from the US to Lightbox next week, Alex Casey tells you why you need to get up to speed with sorority slasher Scream Queens. What’s the story? Welcome to Wallace University campus: where everyone’s getting killed and the cops don’t matter. Exactly 20 years after the death of a … Read more
The best-seller chart at Unity Books for the week just ended: September 16 WELLINGTON STORE 1 Hera Lindsay Bird (Victoria University Press, $25) by Hera Lindsay Bird Verse. 2 Nutshell (Jonathan Cape, $38) by Ian McEwan “Nutshell assumes its readers will be literate, thoughtful and cultured. You have to like that.” David Hill, New Zealand … Read more
All week we’ve revisited the Mervyn Thompson Affair – the strange, powerful 1984 incident when six women abducted an Auckland university lecturer, chained him to a tree in Western Springs, and labelled him a rapist. We conclude the series with a personal essay by Talia Marshall. A while ago Steve Braunias at The Spinoff emailed … Read more
It’s Conservation Week, and we’re celebrating with a green-themed quiz. Dive in and discover how much you know about our wild places and natural resources.
The problem with the living costs loan isn’t just that it’s too low, says university student Jack Close. It’s how it unfairly advantages those who need the help least. It’s been nearly three years since I awkwardly navigated the StudyLink website for the first time. Moving to Dunedin from my middle-class home in Wellington, I … Read more
The Spinoff continues its sprint to become a proper grownup company by hiring Kerryanne Nelson to become its first GM. Duncan Greive explains why this matters – and why she’s the perfect fit. Today, less than a week after our second birthday, I’m psyched to announce that we’ve recruited a GM to help co-parent the … Read more
Recent TV-to-film flubs such as Ab Fab: The Movie and David Brent: Life on the Road have proved that the transition is not always easy. Aaron Yap rounds up the television shows that have managed to make it to the big screen without stuffing it up. Ricky Gervais should have put David Brent to rest … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Sophie Roberts, artistic director of Auckland’s Silo Theatre, about putting on their new all-female play Boys Will be Boys and being a tough bitch in a male-dominated industry. Let’s start with the show Boys Will be Boys – what’s it all about? Boys Will Be Boys is set in the world of … Read more
All week we revisit the Mervyn Thompson Affair – the strange, powerful 1984 incident when six women abducted an Auckland university lecturer, chained him to a tree in Western Springs, and labelled him a rapist. Today: a modern take on the incident, and its wider implications, by former MP Holly Walker. I think the six … Read more
“Chris, all we can hope really is that you die in a car accident or in some other similar way. Regards, Dave Smith.” This is an email that arrived in the inbox of New Zealand Herald sports critic Chris Rattue a few days ago. Dave’s oddly polite “regards” aside, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. … Read more
All week this week we revisit the Mervyn Thompson Affair – the strange, powerful 1984 incident when six women abducted an Auckland university lecturer, chained him to a tree in Western Springs, threatened to castrate him, and labelled him a rapist. Today: a memoir by playwright Renée, whose play Setting The Table inspired the attack – … Read more
In the fifth episode of our Real Housewives of Auckland podcast, Jane, Duncan and Alex throw on their ponchos and pop some bottles to discuss New Zealand’s greatest reality show. We are back again, as sure as Anne’s casual racism, to dissect another week on The Real Housewives of Auckland. This week the women holidayed … Read more
With the Primetime Emmy Awards coming up, here are the many, many Lightbox shows that have earned themselves nominations, along with our winning predictions. Spoiler alert: Maggie Smith always wins. Transparent What’s it about? First of all, the name is a pun. It’s important that you know this. Here’s what we made of Transparent way back … Read more
Right on the heels of the Unitary Plan, the Auckland Transport Alignment Project report is published tomorrow, and it, too, is absolutely critical for the city. Transport Blog guru-in-chief Matt Lowrie explains what ATAP is all about and why it matters. Even before Len Brown was elected mayor in 2010 on the back of promises … Read more
Phil Goff remains well out in front in the contest for the big job in Auckland but young pretender Chloe Swarbrick has built support against the odds. A new poll published today by the Spinoff shows Phil Goff on course to succeed Len Brown as mayor of Auckland, maintaining a comfortable lead over his closest … Read more
This is Auckland, where new money meets old. Alex Casey is going to try and laugh at The Real Housewives of Auckland through her weekly power rankings – because if we can’t laugh then all we have is the void. Click here for previous instalments. 1) This tiny sophisticated gent Just when you thought The Real Housewives couldn’t get … Read more
Rugby is getting a new festival event next year to kick-off the season in style – in the scorching hot league paradise of Brisbane. But what’s it all about, and why do we need it? Tim Murphy spent 48 hours among the tatts, T-shirts and thongs to find out. They don’t do things by halves … Read more
All week this week we revisit the Mervyn Thompson Affair – the strange, powerful 1984 incident when six women abducted an Auckland university lecturer, chained him to a tree in Western Springs, burnt his flesh with lit cigarettes, threatened to castrate him, and labelled him a rapist. Today: an essay by Thompson’s friend, novelist Stephanie Johnson. Trigger warning: … Read more
Mark Watson’s radio segment Controversy Corner aka I’m Not Racist But… has been cancelled, but is he a changed man? Let’s briefly check in to Radio Sport’s most un-PC disc jockey. Last time I checked in on Mark Watson, he was recording a “Worst-Of New Zealand Homophobia, Sexism and Racism” compilation with his friend Kieran Smyth. … Read more
New Zealand 17-year-olds can’t vote, buy alcohol, gamble or marry. So why are they treated as adults once they’re arrested, asks Di White. Like an overachieving youngest sibling, New Zealand seems to be forever jumping up and down on the international stage, eager to be noticed and congratulated for its achievements. Whether it’s Lorde, our … Read more
The most upbeat runner in the Auckland mayoral race has felt obliged to perform a weird half-withdrawal. And not for the first time, writes Toby Manhire Nudges and winks to the electorate have become a familiar part of MMP politics in New Zealand, with messages beamed to loyal supporters about how to vote strategically. This … Read more
Columnist Martin Van Beynen got very angry about The Real Housewives of Auckland last week. Alex Casey tries to figure out why. Martin Van Beynen, the thought leader behind smash hit opinions like “Kiwi women swear too much” and “Dangerous times for older white males with opinions” has done it again. This time he’s steamed about … Read more
The War for Auckland briefly flees the stinking cauldron of hot takes for the cool waters of beautiful music, as Lake South explains his new track Renters. I wrote Renters because that’s Auckland for me in 2016. All my friends talk about is paying too much rent for shitty flats. They say they can’t tell the landlord about the … Read more
Rental prices in NZ’s largest city continue to escalate, with lower income households hit the hardest. Chris McDowall, who built the stunning Spinoff Unitary Plan maps, has visualised the change – accounting for inflation. Last week the Ministry of Social Development released the annual Household Incomes Report. Two sentences in the summary immediately stood out. … Read more
Department of Conservation ranger populations are in decline, says Forest & Bird’s Kimberley Collins – and it’s having knock-on effects throughout our delicate ecosystem. It’s Conservation Week! Over the next five days, New Zealanders will unite in celebration of our nation’s unique and diverse wildlife and wild places. To mark our occasional successes in saving … Read more
Madeleine Chapman tunes into DUKE to watch their new sport chat show Short & Wide, and amazingly doesn’t find a particularly comfortable place for women. When TVNZ announced their new male-skewed channel, DUKE, at the start of this year, it was unsurprisingly met with disdain. But programmers were quick to note that it wasn’t a channel for … Read more
This week we revisit the Mervyn Thompson Affair – the strange, powerful and polarising 1984 incident in which six unknown women abducted an Auckland University lecturer, chained him to a tree in Western Springs, burnt his flesh with cigarettes, threatened to castrate him, and labelled him a rapist. Today, Steve Braunias introduces an extract from Thompson’s memoirs. Trigger … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including Dom’s arson, black mould from hell and a haunted dolly. 1) Blue rocks his way around Ferndale “Change yourself, change the world. Rock on, people.” Holy Moses, this powerful life-affirming message had such insight and clarity that it could have come from Gandhi, Mandela or Angela Stone. … Read more