Forget Mummy bloggers, Tara Ward collates all you need to know about pregnancy and childbirth from the 1950’s nuns of Call the Midwife. Call the Midwife follows a group of 1950’s nurse midwives in the East End of London, who spend every episode pretending they’re not shitting themselves at the thought of being responsible for bringing … Read more
This week Ms. X tackles a problem familiar to every coupled-up cat-owner in the country: why does it insist on staring at us while we’re getting down to business? Hi there What do you do with your cat while you’re having sex? If we leave ours in the room it sits beside the bed and … Read more
Mary Macpherson reviews a massive new photography book devoted to the subject of loving, hating, joyous, miserable families. Take a deep breath before diving into this book. The bitter-sweet experience of family life is laid bare in over 300 photographs across nearly 40 portfolios. The trumpeting of quantity is part of the Photography Now series marketing … Read more
An extreme latecomer to the Richard McCaw fan club reviews his heroic new autobiographical documentary. Watching the All Blacks pull apart Wales then the Wallabies in their trademark clinical fashion this year, something hasn’t felt quite right. When the bus stop billboards started going up for the autobiographical Richie McCaw documentary Chasing Great a couple … 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. Today we’re joined by a great chap; he’s one half of Tommy … Read more
Vic Crone’s campaign launch was a wild bacchanal of potentially dodgy drink gifting and sober transport spending promises. Hayden Donnell went along to embrace the chaos. Her campaign launch had barely begun and Vic Crone was already dancing on the edge of the law. The mayoral candidate was giving away free drinks to everyone who … Read more
For today’s short memories, Mike Hosking is but a beloved national icon, speaking truths and setting fashion trends. But not so long ago, he fought a bitter, brutal war to change privacy laws in New Zealand forever. Click here for the rest of our Hosking Week content. Once upon a time there was a man … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored feature where we hand pick shows from the Lightbox catalogue that you might like to watch. Here are the best additions coming in September. Transparent (Season 3 arrives Sep 24) Maura’s back for a third season in perhaps the most talked about show in recent years. As well as riding … Read more
We take a bizarre stroll around the early access survival/action/adventure We Happy Few. It’s a suitably original game, but Matthew Codd finds a glaring contradiction at its beating heat. The Compulsion Games team made their mark a few years ago with the beautiful Contrast, so it makes sense that their latest adventure, We Happy Few, should too … Read more
The Spinoff’s magical interns Katie Parker and River Lin spent an evening gobbling fish and listening to people talk about death. Here they converse via email about what they learned about David Seymour, assisted suicide and their own mortality. Katie: River! So last night you and I were fortunate enough to attend a pretty exciting … Read more
“Machines will eventually take 100% of our jobs, so we can all relax, a little,” wrote Oliver Carlé on The Spinoff last week. James Robins, for one, is not placated. The scene is a humble neighbourhood supermarket at dusk. Between the searing light above and the linoleum sheen below, you stand holding a desultory wine … Read more
Mike Hosking loves to talk all the time, that’s no secret. But Mike Hosking’s favourite time to talk is when Toni Street is talking. Liam Fernandez compiled the best back-and-forths from Seven Sharp. It’s Hosking Week, a full five days of nothing but appreciation for Mike Hosking and all he’s given this great nation. From his origins … Read more
In the third episode of our Real Housewives of Auckland podcast, Jane, Duncan and Alex hold a pussy party of their own to discuss New Zealand’s greatest reality show. Big runts and little runts alike assembled at The Pussy Palace this week, draped in furs and drenched in imported French champagne. The #realpod team are … Read more
The Mars One mission aims to put man on Mars by 2027. They envision a thriving colony of hydroponic agriculture and low-g hi jinks. But if space colonies are anything like RimWorld suggests, we’re much, much better off on Earth. Kelsey LeBlanc is a 20-year-old novelist. He’s a blood-lusting pessimist who doesn’t drink. His sister, Speedy McCroddon, is … Read more
Alex Casey, Michele A’Court and Leonie Hayden assemble in their she-shed to discuss a golden turd of a month for women in New Zealand. We survived the gold medal sexism of the Olympics, the Chiefs scandal, Kevin Roberts and much more to bring you this month’s bumper 80 minute episode of despair. As always, host … Read more
‘Twas always thus, says the prime minister of young people’s struggle to get into the housing market. Economist Shamubeel Eaqub has some thoughts about that. In an interview on Newstalk ZB this week, broadcaster and clothes horse Mike Hosking asked the prime minister about “people locked out of the market” for housing in Auckland, “like … Read more
After accusing Kiwi Living of ‘lifestyle shaming‘, Duncan Greive returns to TV One’s magazine show and finds a vision of New Zealand much closer to reality. Last year’s debut of Kiwi Living felt like a kind of television dystopia: the kind of witlessly aspirational brand-soaked programming Leigh Hart had been parodying on The Late Night Big … Read more
A tribute to writer Russell Haley by Ian Wedde. For Jean and Ian Haley Russell Haley died in the morning on July 4. It may seem inappropriate to follow this by saying that he was the funniest man I’ve ever met, but it feels right. You can’t be as funny as Russell was without being … Read more
Each year hundreds of young creatives spend a weekend creating mini movies in the 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking Challenge. 48 Hours vet Joseph Harper looks at what’s new this year and what to expect. There was probably a small sigh around the country when the Autumn months passed and the 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking Challenge didn’t show its … Read more
The law needs to be changed to allow Lecretia Seales’ wish to determine when she died. But we must take care that such a measure would not be a slippery slope toward some ambiguous twilight zone, says Sir Geoffrey Palmer Lecretia Seales died of a cancerous brain tumour in Wellington on 3 June 2015. She … 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 the first and second instalments. 1) Anne Batley-Burton, Queen of Everything This week we felt Anne’s … Read more
Bridging the vast gap between Fashion Week and Hosking Week, we asked the icon Colin Mathura-Jeffree to critique some of Mike Hosking’s boldest looks* from Mike’s Minute. This isn’t bad. The lapels are a bit ’70s, you know, and then we’ve got the, the pocket flower which is internally in the pocket square. I can … Read more
Last Monday we ran a piece by Joan Druett on her new biography of 19th century sea captain William ‘Bully’ Hayes, who roamed the Pacific and New Zealand. Michael Field was among those who were concerned that it failed to properly address Hayes’s involvement in ‘blackbirding’; we asked him to write an essay in response … Read more
No Man’s Sky is a bust and we don’t have enough money to buy the new Deus Ex game. Where now will The Spinoff’s gaming editor deal out his sweet gifts of pixelated murder? As a last resort José Barbosa examines a new gamey-ish project from MIT. There’s almost no doubt the near future will … Read more
Aaron Yap reviews The Kettering Incident, the Tasmanian Gothic drama that has just as much mystery as it does moths. I blame Under the Dome. Ever since committing to three seasons of masochistically hate-watching that hokey, needlessly protracted mess of a Stephen King adaptation, I’ve never been able to look at butterflies – and by extension, … Read more
Just before Christmas, 2012, hiker Alistair Levy disappeared forever in the Kahurangi National Park. In the latest issue of New Zealand Geographic, Naomi Arnold retraces his steps, and speaks with the last people to have seen Levy alive. Here she talks about writing, getting lost, and how to justify a story that is guaranteed to … Read more
Introducing a new Spinoff feature highlighting the week’s best reader comment. The Spinoff has turned off comments. If you want to have your say on a story, please head to our Facebook or Twitter – or send a letter to the editor to info@thespinoff.co.nz. ‘This is really not a major change. People get sick, people … Read more
In an interview on The Nation, Nick Smith said he wants to make houses more affordable without actually making them cheaper. Hayden Donnell weighs in, with the help of Ben Thomas, on the two contradictory versions of the Housing Minister. Here’s a list of things worth $1 million: 1. Three black market kidneys 2. Two private islands in … Read more
Tara Ward brings you her rankings for Shortland Street last week, including handbags at dawn, Ferndale’s Taxi Fight Club and our weekly dose of Damo. 1) Lucy puts herself in the corner TFW you realise your father only loves you for your liver. With Glen diagnosed with liver failure, Lucy faced a tough decision: should she give Glen … Read more