Waitomo is a town built on tourism. But as overseas visitors who have been flocking to its spectacular network of glow-worm caves for over a century dry up, the future looks uncertain. More than 130 years ago, the eruption of Mount Tarawera killed an estimated 153 people and buried Te Otukapuarangi and Te Tarata, the … Read more
The US president has warned he could to send thousands of ‘heavily armed soldiers’ into the streets. Can he do that, and what will it mean if it happens? What’s all this then? Protests have been raging across the US for almost a week now, after the suffocation of Minneapolis man George Floyd by a … Read more
Greg Daniels (The Office US) and Steve Carell’s successful return to TV? If only. Sam Brooks reviews the abysmal first season of Netflix’s Space Force. It’s pretty much indisputable: The Office is one of the most beloved television shows of its generation, and perhaps one of the most beloved shows of all time. After a … Read more
With the help of her faithful four-legged assistant, Jean Teng disregards commonsense and ‘only for pet consumption’ labelling to review dog food fit for a king (or at least a cavalier king charles spaniel). Three months ago, I was reviewing fine-dining restaurant The Grove. Today, I’m reviewing vacuum-sealed frozen dog pizza. Such is life. Dog … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this work, … Read more
Thousands of New Zealanders took to the streets on Queen’s Birthday to express solidarity with the US response to the killing of George Floyd. Here’s what went down. Despite it being announced with less than 24 hours’ notice, huge crowds gathered at Auckland’s Aotea Square on Queen’s Birthday to march in solidarity with the Black … Read more
Amy McDaid works as a neonatal intensive care nurse at Starship. Her first novel is about loss that erodes and the kindness that – eventually – comes after. The accumulation of daily disappointments is a tragedy in itself; a series of pleasures consistently denied, joy deferred and kindness deflected. All the things we hoped for … Read more
Debt has been a bad word in Wellington for decades. All of a sudden the government is planning to spend billions of dollars we don’t have because of Covid-19. Justin Giovannetti on the new appetite for debt, and how it compares with the rest of the world. New Zealand is about to embark on a … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Thousands of NZers join solidarity protests, increasing questions about alert level move, and Muller pushes hiring bonus policy. Protests have taken place in New Zealand cities in solidarity with the Black Lives matter movement in the US. All up thousands of people attended the various events, … Read more
Todd Scott made millions as a sales genius, and bought New Zealand’s best-known business publication. Then he lost his house. Duncan Greive profiles the country’s most enigmatic owner, and hears some blunt criticisms from the old friend he bought the paper off, Barry Colman. When Sinead Boucher bought Stuff for $1 last week, it brought … Read more
The commitment and coordination demonstrated can inspire us towards a true Te Tiriti partnership, reinforced by human rights, write Meng Foon, the race relations commissioner, and Paul Hunt, the chief human rights commissioner. As we all get used to life at Covid-19 alert level two, we’ve been thinking about the success of the Iwi-led checkpoints … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more
This is a huge opportunity – and a wero – to demonstrate commitments to diversity, write sector engineers Troy Brockbank, Elle Archer, Sifa Pole and Sina Cotter Tait and Honor Columbus. Aotearoa is awash with discussion on how we might re-imagine our post-Covid future; what could and should our economy and society look like? The … Read more
No, there is nothing ‘wrong’ with being white. But it comes with unearned privilege which makes progress through the world easier. It is a tailwind through every storm, writes Mary Breheny, associate professor of health sciences at Massey University. I have never thought of myself as coordinated or physically adept, but since the first week … Read more
Covid-19 has given rise to a new era of remote working, potentially opening up more income, and regions, to New Zealand’s freelance economy. For many of us, the only obstacle that ever stood in the way of a prosperous life in Dunedin was its tiny job market. Now, thanks to Covid-19 and the fundamental changes … Read more
What are you going to be watching in June? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. Click here to see our listings from May. The biggies I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (docuseries on Neon from June 29) … Read more
The tech sector is well-placed to lead New Zealand’s recovery from Covid-19. Deep tech provides a chance for that recovery to be sustainable and values-led – an approach already bringing success to the Māori economy. Aotearoa is currently a pretty good place to be, if you can get here. The $50bn of pandemic-related borrowing is … Read more
Felix Walton has tall friends. These are his best tips for getting by in an unforgiving world. I am not a short person – let’s get that squared away. I am a perfectly ordinarily sized person whose friends happen to be a bunch of freaky statuesque Adonises (Adoni?). My friends are also, apparently, very busy … Read more
In their first game of the new all-local competition, Super Rugby Aotearoa, the long-struggling Blues take on their star new recruit’s former team. Can they keep up the cautiously promising return to form the pre-Covid Super Rugby season hinted at? After a 12-week lockdown-enforced break, normal media service resumed for the Blues rugby team last … Read more
Tara Ward checks out Beat the Chasers, the new quiz show starring all five brainiacs from The Chase. If you think the greatest show on television is The Chase, then you are correct. You are also wrong and must leave the stage immediately, because there’s a new gameshow hitting New Zealand screens that will be … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more
From 2012 to 2013, a small bunch of enterprising Dunedin promoters opened a new nightlife frontier in the city: club nights for teens, held in adult bars with minimal adult supervision. But should 13-year-olds really be clubbing? Caroline Moratti reports. Underage clubs have a long and questionable history, as anyone who remembers overpriced glow sticks … Read more
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass. Here’s what you’ll hear on this month’s podcast: Book news Ockham results Congratulations to all the winning and shortlisted authors, and especially to Becky Manawatu for her sweep of Best First Fiction and the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction. Auckland … 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 The Noisy Book by Soledad Bravi (Gecko Press, $25, 0-2) An unusually long board book. What this means is it’ll take your toddler an entire … Read more
Blindspott’s self-titled debut album has just hit No 1 for the second time. Fiona Connor talks to the resurgent West Auckland band. Content with playing rock covers out of west Auckland garages, longtime friends Damian Alexander, Marcus Powell and Shelton Woolright never thought it was within their reach to write and release an album of … Read more
With New Zealand on the brink of zero known active cases of Covid-19, the clamour for an immediate move to alert level one is growing among politicians, media commentators, and many others. That’s understandable, but there are very serious reasons to be careful. We’ve had a string of days with no new Covid-19 cases and … Read more
From the highs (Ralph Hotere’s turtleneck), to the lows (Bain), the jersey is as much a part of this place as the jandal or the Swanndri, but it resists such easy nostalgia, writes John Summers. Whenever it comes time to lure tourists back to our shores again, we really must work on our slogan. Forget … Read more
Like other pharmaceutical products, a potential Covid-19 vaccine is at risk of being controlled by corporate interests. New Zealanders should join the call for a vaccine that’s free for everyone, writes Jo Spratt of Oxfam. As we celebrate a long weekend and head further away from the restrictions of strict lockdown, many of us will … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more