Internationally renowned UK economist Ann Pettifor talks global finance, property speculation and debt forgiveness ahead of her upcoming public lecture series in New Zealand. Ann Pettifor is an international expert on sovereign debt. She is well known for correctly predicting the Global Financial Crisis and was a leader in the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign which … Read more
Is New Zealand a petrolhead nation? A glance at vehicle ownership, and how it’s changing. Inspired by the incredibly weird tale behind the Bashford Antiques clamping story, our friends at Figure.NZ have provided three graphic snapshots of motor vehicle ownership in New Zealand. Starting with the frankly absurd reality that most Auckland households own two … Read more
Joseph Harper shirks his duty and lets his cat Zelda review a game instead. The cat was not impressed. My cats were going crazy last night. One of them sometimes gets all hopped up after eating kibbles and just wants to play and play. She enjoys the feather-wand and is especially enamoured with this officially … Read more
Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website. Alex Casey: Good news: The Chiefs scandal didn’t really even happen!!! “As has been observed on Twitter, The Chiefs are hugely embarrassed and disappointed about all the nothing that happened. They hope to rebuild from all the nothing to make a… something… but … Read more
Under pressure over its Auckland fixation, the Spinoff tasked Wellington man of letters Danyl Mclauchlan with investigating the mayoral race in the capital. He headed immediately for the key battleground: the La Scala lounge at the Malvina Major Retirement Home. It is the first of September, the first day of spring after an ominously warm, … Read more
On the occasion of its second birthday The Spinoff editor Duncan Greive brings you this update on what we’ve done, and more importantly what we’re about to do. (Please read to the end.) Two years ago today, The Spinoff first appeared on the chilled out global chat room we now call “the internet”. Back then, we were … Read more
Alex Casey interviews local legend Anika Moa about getting her own talk show (feat: us!), Nigella Lawson’s butt and why you should never hold in a burp. This is the first of a brand new interview series called On the Lash, brought to you by Australian wine geniuses Vinomofo. Photography by José Barbosa. Anika Moa bowled … Read more
In October we launch The Spinoff Parents, edited by the incomparable Emily Writes and made possible by Flick Electric Co. Here Emily explains her vision for the section as a place for parents on the internet that won’t make you feel like a miserable failure. Parenting. It’s beautiful and incredible and joyous, glorious and so rewarding. It’s such … 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. Women make 80 per cent of household purchasing decisions, yet the advertising … Read more
As reality television evolves and expands like a wine-throwing version of The Blob, so have the number of cutting parodies of the genre. River Lin looks at some of the best. With Bravo roaring onto New Zealand screens with Dance Moms, Real Housewives and magnums of champagne in tow, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to hold … Read more
For this week’s quickfire examination: how much do you know about New Zealand and migration? Immigration and, to a lesser extent, emigration are hot political potatoes. Can New Zealand perform a near miracle and have a grown-up debate about it? You never know. In the meantime, facts are good. Test your own familiarity with the … Read more
The best-seller chart at Unity Books for the week just ended: September 9 AUCKLAND STORE 1 Three Cities: Seeking Hope in the Anthropocene (Bridget Williams Books, $15) by Rod Oram “With economies stagnating, politics polarising, societies shattering and ecosystems suffering, I felt an urgent need to go walkabout last September….” Ace business journo Rod Oram … Read more
In July The Spinoff published a story about a segment on RadioSport which we thought was homophobic. Miles Davis was cited within the story as an example of the broader homophobia within sport. Mr Davis complained to the Press Council about the matter, and the complaint was upheld. Today we publish in full the Press Council’s decision. … Read more
Late last year the Spinoff Review of Books invited Colin Craig to submit some of his poetry. He sent three works; we posted One World in November, and today publish his poem titled TV. TV Square box, square message, square minds, main stream conformity, Buy me, have me, consume me, spend with great enormity. … Read more
There’s no reason to feel guilty about pulling the plug on a toxic friendship, says in-house psychotherapist Ms X. Dear Ms X, I’m writing to ask about maybe letting go of a long friendship. I’ve been friends with “Kate” for about a decade, since we were angsty teens in desperate need of some solid emotional … Read more
In association with our mates Bigpipe we’re livestreaming a different video game every Wednesday at 7pm. Join José Barbosa and a cast of roped in innocents for a journey into utter mayhem. For the inaugural stream colleagues Don Rowe and José Barbosa give the blimmin’ Battlefield 1 open beta a crack. Involves death, horses, gas, … Read more
With HP48Hours registrations about to close, Joseph Harper presents the greatest entries that ever were. It’s very cool news that local television masterminds The Downlow Concept have scored themselves a TV development deal. Especially since our big tv overlords saw fit to squander their excellent show, Hounds. Indeed it’s seemingly a pretty great time to … Read more
Yesterday, NZ Rugby held a press conference in relation to the Chiefs scandal, wherein they barely said anything at all. Today, the Human Rights Commission invites you to add your name to a letter calling for a change New Zealand rugby culture. The NZ Human Rights Commission has this afternoon published an open letter to … Read more
Every immigration debate in history* has been riddled with racism. Duncan Greive looked at current coverage of the issue – and its impact on housing – and came away pleasantly surprised. September’s North & South came out a couple of Mondays ago and devoted a large chunk of its feature well to a single issue: immigration. It’s … Read more
With the reboot just around the corner, Pete Douglas revisits the surreal early 90s classic Twin Peaks and the role that made Kyle McLachlan a TV star. When I first came across Twin Peaks, I was drawn in by its creepy weirdness and bizarre vision of small town American life. What the … Read more
The immigration debate is back and Karen Tay just has one plea: Can we not be hugely xenophobic? The immigration debate in New Zealand is like the mythical sea monster Hydra. Even if chopped off at the neck, it’ll grow back, and bring extra heads to the party. It rose up in 1881, when a “poll tax” was introduced … Read more
The opening ceremony for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games is today. Kirsten McKenzie was there for the Olympic Games and argues that Rio was not only safer than expected, it was far more inclusive than most major cities. The countdown is on for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. There’s little fanfare in the traditional media. There’s … Read more
Sarah Laing reviews The Tidal Zone by Granta Books novelist Sarah Moss. I left this book lying around decoratively before I read it. I snapped a picture and posted it on Instagram. It had such a beautiful cover – an adolescent girl who might have escaped from a Vermeer painting, and lost her pearl earring on … Read more
Activist, iconoclast and serial mayoral candidate Penny Bright is an indefatigable, unmistakable fixture in Auckland politics. River Lin joins her for a day on the campaign trail The “heartbeat of the revolution”, says Penny Bright, begins in a ramshackle home in Kingsland. My body sinks into a worn-out couch in a corner of Bright’s house, accompanied … Read more
Did the Canadian experiment work? It is far too early to tell, and anybody claiming otherwise may be trying to sell you something, writes Eric Crampton There’s a reasonable consensus that not building enough houses, apartments, or terraced housing is at the root of Auckland’s lack-of-homes problem. And there’s further reasonable consensus that that’s primarily … Read more
There were a lot of nice words thrown around today at the New Zealand Rugby press conference detailing their inquiry into The Chiefs’ scandal. But what did they really say? Alex Casey translates. Today we got New Zealand Rugby’s definitive ruling on The Chiefs scandal. Last month a stripper named Scarlette alleged that while hired to … Read more
Four of the would-be mayors gathered with RNZ’s Guyon Espiner for a breakfast barney at AUT this morning. The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire was there, too. Assembled in the television studio at AUT for an 8am start were mayoral hopefuls Mark Thomas, John Palino, Vic Crone and Phil Goff, with Guyon Espiner chairing and Todd Niall … Read more
Wyoming Paul reviews Dear Mr M, the latest novel by Herman Koch, who once again dissects middle-class urban professional fuck-ups. Mr M’s downstairs neighbour is listening when he takes a shower. He’s imagining the scene at his dinner table and the look on M’s wrinkled face when he makes love to his much younger wife. … Read more
A Rihanna logo inspired by death metal bands featured prominently at the VMAs this year. David Farrier followed some rabbit holes to locate the designer behind the whole thing. One of the best things that happened at this year’s VMAs was this: Rihanna has always been pretty amazing, but seeing her name in the style of … Read more