Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reckoning comes for wage subsidy, house prices no longer tipped to fall, and second death in the same family from Covid-19. It was a policy conceived in an emergency, was deployed rapidly, and prevented a total economic disaster from crashing over the country. But now serious … Read more
There is little to separate the methods of Zhenhua Data from those of the Peter Thiel founded Palantir, which has an office in Wellington alongside our spy agencies. It comes down to whether data-collection activities are seen as good or bad depending on who does it and under what circumstances, writes Paul Buchanan. News that … Read more
Hundreds of millions of dollars in wage subsidies have been paid out to profitable companies and their shareholders. Nick Mowbray, Zuru co-founder and one of NZ’s most successful entrepreneurs, urges them to do the right thing and pay the money back. Last month, Summerset Group Holdings, an NZX50-listed company and one of the country’s largest … Read more
If the government thought warding off a risk of economic catastrophe and unnecessary death was more important than securing the right to host the Rugby Championship, it has another thing coming, writes Hayden Donnell. Like many Kiwis, my biggest fear when Labour won the election in 2017 was that Jacinda Ardern would curse the All … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 16, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: Update on … Read more
The director general of health is ‘increasingly confident’ the Auckland outbreak is contained – but his virtual dashboard isn’t quite at green. Last week, prompted by a question from The Spinoff, the director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said his Covid-19 dashboard was flashing “orange”, as a result of growing cases in the Auckland community … Read more
Māori language revitalisation researcher Dr Rachael Ka’ai-Mahuta explores what lessons can be learned here in Aotearoa from the current explosion in popularity of Korean culture. Earlier this year, I met an Aucklander whose teenage passion for K-pop sparked an interest in the Korean language and culture in general, and led to them learning Korean as … Read more
A New Zealand Instagram account has gone global with its simple, attention-grabbing coverage of international politics and social issues. Sherry Zhang talks to the founders of Shit You Should Care About about social media’s evolving role as a news source. No longer solely the realm of brunch pics, filtered selfies and cute pet photos, Instagram … Read more
Rose Matafeo calls Horndog a ‘silly show about love’, but what follows is a persuasive case for loving with obsessive devotion. Rose Matafeo assures us in the first few minutes of Horndog (now streaming on Neon) that it’s not a TED talk, that it won’t be one of those shows where there’s a “lesson to … Read more
The tweak to the top tax rate was hardly a surprise given NZ voters’ continuing acceptance of a distortionary system that leaves capital gains largely exempt, writes Geof Nightingale. Labour tax policy, announced last week, was pretty brief: a new 39% marginal tax rate on income over $180,000 to raise $550m of new tax revenue. … Read more
For 71 days, protesters have been locked in a battle with contractors to save 26 native trees in the Auckland suburb of Avondale. The fight to save 26 100-year-old native trees – what remains of an original 46 – came to a head this morning when more than 200 people showed up to prevent diggers … Read more
Tax can be confusing – it seems to have its own special language, and politicians have a habit of saying things quickly and authoritatively about it that might not make much sense. So let’s clear that up – and see how New Zealand stacks up. The biggest tax promise from a major party so far … Read more
New research into online crowdfunding for healthcare reveals some worrying trends around which campaigns are deemed ‘worthy’ – and poses wider questions about who we want to be as a nation. “Charity is a sign of the failure of the state.” The above statement from Chlöe Swarbrick on Breakfast will be controversial for some – … Read more
Despite the cartoonish ‘Crusher’ label, the National leader has always been a policy wonk. Right now, she’s doing her best to present a palatable idea of a government in waiting, writes Ben Thomas. It may be hard to fathom but, approximately 17,000 months into 2020, National has not yet officially launched its election campaign. After … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Competing education plans in focus, Māori Party push for greater prominence for te reo, and hundreds of prominent New Zealanders in Chinese intel database. We’ve now had both major parties come out with the education policies they’ll take into the election. As always, it’s likely to … Read more
Despite having lived with a disability her whole life, it took becoming one of the unlucky few who experience symptoms long after they should have ‘recovered’ from Covid-19 that forced Áine Kelly-Costello to reckon with a different kind of disability experience. I was born with a congenital condition with a fancy name that designates a … Read more
Is there life on Venus? A multinational team of astronomers using high-altitude infrared telescopes in Hawaii and Chile have identified the gas phosphine in the upper atmosphere of the planet. So what? The significance of this discovery is that phosphine is regarded as a biosignature, possible evidence of microbial life, as Duncan Steel explains. Venus … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 15, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day … Read more
Annabelle Lee Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire debate the renaming of the nation as the campaign races to the middle. Ben Thomas never attends a party without a whakataukī in his pocket, and he does not disappoint in this week’s edition of Gone By Lunchtime. Along with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire, Ben sprinkles … Read more
Tech start-up Areto Labs noticed online abuse was stopping women from going into politics – so it did something about it. CEO Lana Cuthbertson and creative technologist Jacqueline Comer talk to The Spinoff about their abuse-fighting bot. “Imagine you have a job interview and every day, for a month, you have to walk down a … Read more
Grand Designs NZ is back with a new season that promises more incredible homes, optimistic owners, and the easy charm of presenter Chris Moller. Grand Designs NZ kicked off its sixth season with a reminder that most of us will never have six million dollars to transform a heritage building into our house of dreams, … Read more
Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they go on an odyssey of women’s rage, and find out how we can channel our anger into good. Have you ever been called a bitch? Hysterical? Stroppy? Do you find yourself suppressing warranted anger to appear more likeable? Mad as hell and don’t want to … Read more
Shrill, now streaming on Neon, is more than just a comedy – it’s a landmark in millennial feminist storytelling. Shrill is a sitcom with social grit and feminist nuance that goes where other fat-focused shows have failed to go before – straight into your heart. High on laughs and equally high on feels, the shows … Read more
Too much news? Welcome to the only round-up you need. Mōrena and welcome to another week. Another week of what, you ask? It doesn’t matter, another week is enough at this point. Labour’s Tax Policy – NO Labour and tax. Like two magnetic south poles, they will never connect. For days, finance minister Grant Robertson … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert levels given another short extension, National candidate under fire over business record, and possible evidence of alien life discovered on Venus. In a week, the country outside of Auckland will move out of level two and into level one. As our live updates reported, that will be contingent … Read more
Don’t approach the task as a battle to be won, but as a conversation to get to the underlying reasons why someone might have been susceptible to the false information in the first place. Last week marked six months since the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic. How the world has changed in that time. Here … Read more
With the first of the Hui Pōti 2020 debates on tonight, Mihingarangi Forbes – who’ll be keeping those vying for votes in the seven Māori electorates in line – shares some words of wisdom. As one of my impertinent children pointed out this week, I have been a journalist since “LAST CENTURY” (they’re now grounded), … Read more
The Social Dilemma includes a clip from the shooter’s live-streamed Facebook video showing him preparing to enter one of the Christchurch mosques. A warning has been added to a new Netflix documentary-drama for featuring a banned excerpt from the video filmed by the Christchurch terrorist. The Social Dilemma, which explores the rise of social media … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 14, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz The day in … Read more