Without a capital gains tax, taxing inheritances is the best opportunity to address the entrenched inequalities of inter-generational wealth, argues Jonathan Barrett. The world’s wealthiest people will transfer US$15.4 trillion in assets to their heirs in the next decade, according to a recent report. Published by specialist data analysts Wealth-X, the report focused on the … Read more
While working at The Dominion, journalist Phil Taylor met Dan Dudson – a prolific burglar who liked sending long, handwritten letters to the detectives busy trying to pin him down. The pair would eventually go on to strike up an unlikely and enduring friendship, right up until Dudson’s death in June this year aged 74. … Read more
Last month a group of wāhine Māori gathered in solidarity after a Māori woman reported she was racially abused on Ōwairaka in Auckland. Indigenous human rights experts Tina Ngata, Dr Arama Rata and Dilwin Santos outline the foundations of racism in Aotearoa, and the structural changes needed. Warning: the following article contains racist language. Under … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 1 where we bring you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. 7pm: The day in sum A second traveller to Australia from New Zealand has tested positive for Covid-19. There are now three cases from New Zealand that … Read more
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. Dr Siouxsie Wiles explains what these positive tests could mean. They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are different … Read more
What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. AUCKLAND 1 Sleepy Kiwi by Kat Merewether (Illustrated Publishing, $20, 0-3) Black-and-white board book by the author/illustrator of all the Kuwi books. Tiny bubs love to look … Read more
What are you going to be watching in August? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. Click here to see our listings from July. The biggies Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story (on Netflix from August 14) The original … Read more
Finished watching Floor is Lava and looking for your next dose of bonkers TV? Cannonball is the show for you. The world is going to Hades in a handcart, and for one hour each week, I need the distraction of blue skies, warm sunshine and beautiful people volunteering to make fools of themselves on television. … Read more
Community initiative or commercial enterprise? How a planter box-slash-chair is trying to revolutionise berms around Auckland. On the corner of Ariki Street and Crummer Road in Grey Lynn is a cafe called Crumb. It’s a good cafe, but that’s by-the-by. It’s the berm next to Crumb that’s controversial; it’s at the centre of a dispute between … Read more
Jacinda Ardern is one of many who invoke the venerated former Labour prime minister’s words ‘someone to love, somewhere to live, somewhere to work, and something to hope for’. The only trouble is, it’s unlikely that’s quite what he said. George Andrews, who interviewed Kirk at length, explains. I was glad to see Jacinda Adern … Read more
Her public profile has exploded thanks to her new role as the minister in charge of border isolation and quarantine, but Megan Woods has long been known as the most reliable pair of hands in government. She talks to Michelle Langstone about her slew of portfolios, chairing Labour’s 2020 election run, and the secret to … Read more
The Operation Burnham inquiry found serious failings in how the defence force operated, but none of this ‘transparency’ would have come to light if it hadn’t been for two journalists fighting tooth and nail to hold those in power to account, writes Amnesty International’s Meg de Ronde. When attorney-general David Parker stood up yesterday morning … Read more
After months trying to get back to her husband and daughter in Hungary, Daisy Coles is finally on her way home. So why is it so hard to say goodbye? In April, I wrote about what happened to my family when Covid-19 came crashing into 2020 like the Kool-Aid Man. Our Hungarian-Kiwi family was split … Read more
The publishing debut of New York-based New Zealand poet Gus Goldsack. Go North I got a little thick about the middle, but I’m not talking waist. Waste, though, fuck – I’ve accumulated some baggage. Some I picked up more than willingly, garbage in garbage in garbage in through my eyeballs and out through my mouth. … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 31. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 5.45pm: The day in sum An inquiry found serious failings by the NZ Defence Force in the wake of 2010’s Operation Burnham raid which killed a … Read more
Muppets Now, the troupe’s first foray into the world of streaming, takes on the YouTube era with hilarious – if somewhat disjointed – success. If you can’t be funny, be happy, and if you can be both, then you’re probably doing pretty well at life. The Muppets have spent the better part of a half-century … Read more
Amid fears of growing financial hardship throughout New Zealand, a comprehensive campaign against high-interest lenders looks to be gaining new ground. Payday lenders, trucks shops, loan sharks: the names alone are enough to conjure up grim images of shady operators and hustlers lurking in dark spaces to prey on the financially vulnerable. While the reality … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump (Simon & Schuster, … Read more
After hitting a career-low in recent years, New Zealand’s most successful rally driver ever is ready to once again take on the world. He talks to George Driver from his Cromwell garage about reaching WRC success against all odds, the trauma and disappointment of the last few years, and his plans to build the world’s … Read more
The SAS soldiers involved in a raid where civilians died did nothing wrong, a government inquiry into Operation Burnham found. Instead, it concluded the worrying failures weren’t in Afghanistan but at defence headquarters in Wellington. A decade ago New Zealand’s elite SAS raided villages in Afghanistan’s Tirgiran Valley as part of Operation Burnham. A number … Read more
South Auckland’s five local boards all face similar challenges when it comes to supporting its local residents with jobs, transport and providing places to have fun. So what are their draft plans proposing? Justin Latif finds out – and hands out some awards. Is there anything more soporific than an Auckland Council consultation document? They … Read more
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The Mind Lab’s new leadership course is designed to replace those aspirations with action. One of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman’s best-known quotes is “the only business of business is business”. For him and many others who believed that the market should decide, doing good was … Read more
Just over two months ago, Simon Bridges was rolled as the leader of the opposition. This week he opened up about his tenure, the state of politics in New Zealand and, of course, the baby yaks. Simon Bridges did not hide his disappointment when the National Party caucus turfed him from the leadership. He was … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins wins and loses in new poll, investigations into managed isolation guards napping on the job, and Heron report damns Walker and Boag. The latest poll for National is much better than how they started the week, but they’re still down in a couple of … Read more
Those who oppose cannabis law reform often argue that people are already avoiding arrest for possession of minor amounts of the drug. That’s not the reality for thousands of cannabis users every year, reports Madeleine Holden. “You have no idea what it’s like, how powerless you are.” Greg, a 61-year-old invalids’ beneficiary, is recalling his … Read more
With Sprigs, Brannavan Gnanalingam delivers a great New Zealand novel, writes Uther Dean. Since 2011 Brannavan Gnanalingam has pumped out Major Work after Major Work. Every two years brought another book: Getting Under Sail; You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here; Credit in the Straight World; A Briefcase, Two Pies and a … 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. This week he talks to Amelia Gain from hotel booking software company Preno. Covid-19 has changed the world for a lot of businesses, … Read more
One month since the country’s newest upmarket shopping mall opened its doors, Commercial Bay is giving some of its tenants a rent holiday to help soften Covid-19’s economic blow, reports Amy Williams for RNZ. Commercial Bay – a $1 billion development with more than 120 shops – occupies a city block in downtown Auckland. It … Read more
The end of the wage subsidy is expected to trigger an avalanche of financial hardship requests. Budgeting services and financial mentors are bracing to meet it head on. It’s been a surprisingly quiet few months for most of New Zealand’s budgeting services. Spending was down during lockdown and with more than a million people tended … Read more