In a photo essay by Justin Spiers and interview with Spinoff art editor Mark Amery, artist John Ward Knox introduces his Karitāne home and garden, and various projects – bees, pond, a portrait on silk of the prime minister from a live sitting. Ward Knox also answers one of this year’s biggest mysteries: the origins … Read more
Growing up Asian in white New Zealand, Joanna Cho tried to find a mirror in books. I went to a proud, decile 10 high school that had few POC. I prided myself on being part of the “white” group. When my boyfriend in Year 9 broke up with me, because his rugby mates teased him … Read more
Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we’re joined by The Spinoff’s resident poutine authority (and politics editor) Justin Giovannetti for our second together-but-apart Zoom pod. On this month’s Dietary Requirements, we’re still physically apart but together in … Read more
There aren’t many women composing for taonga puoro. In fact, there aren’t many people like Te Kahureremoa Taumata and Khali Phillips-Barbara at all. Earlier in the year I was lucky enough to attend the Te Hā annual Māori writers’ hui, where I met (among many inspirational kaituhi Māori) a poet and musician named Ladyfruit. Mere … Read more
This week, parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee has been hearing submissions on the Screen Industry Workers Bill. Equity New Zealand president Jennifer Ward-Lealand explains why the actors’ union supports it. The Screen Industry Workers bill rolls back some of the worst aspects of the 2010 Hobbit Law, and we believe this will lead to … Read more
Yesterday New Zealand recorded zero new cases for the seventh day in a row, and just one person still classified as an ‘active case’. How does that compare with other Covid-stamping countries? As we enter our first long weekend since the end of lockdown, we also prepare to join a small group of countries who’ve … Read more
Lady Gaga’s sixth album, Chromatica, sees the popstar stepping back into big pop after the experiment that was Joanne, but at what cost, asks Sam Brooks. Since Lady Gaga’s last album, 2016’s critically shrugged off Joanne, the star has stepped as far away from her meat-dress persona as possible, collecting a Golden Globe and an … Read more
National and Labour have once again dominated the Electoral Commission’s broadcast allocation, reports The Spinoff’s minor party correspondent Alex Braae. The pot of money for political parties to spend on election advertising on radio, television and the internet has been divvied up for 2020, with Labour and National securing more than a million dollars each … Read more
As part of a $175 million arts package, a new $7.5 million ‘Careers Support for Creative Jobseekers’ programme was announced today, building on ‘the most successful aspects’ of the former Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment (Pace) programme, which ran from 2001-2012. Former Pace recipient Henry Oliver writes on what he learned on what became … Read more
In the spirit of international cooperation and mutual chair dancing, Sam Brooks and New York City-based culture critic Mark Blankenship are revisiting the top 10 singles from key weeks in their respective countries. This week, Sam and Mark discuss the top 10 singles from the chart dated May 28, 2000 in New Zealand and May … Read more
A new poem by Wellington writer Joanna Cho. Dig deep! I have to write a poem but I’m finding it quite hard so I call Jos and he says ‘Dig deep!’ He is driving back from basketball in Palmy, where he trains three times a week. I say ‘I just wanted to … 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
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 Auē by Becky Manawatu (Makaro Press, $35) Winner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, the most prestigious prize … Read more
The brains trust at World Rugby have conjured up some optional law trials to obviate the risks of coronavirus. Scotty Stevenson is intrigued. The World Rugby Executive Committee yesterday announced that it had “approved 10 optional law trials which are designed to provide national member unions with Covid-19 transmission risk reduction options if required”. This … Read more
A new first-person photography game set in a dystopian Tauranga under lockdown is the best work of Māori science-fiction this decade, writes Dan Taipua. Umurangi Generation is a first-person photography game set din the shitty future. Designed and developed by Naphtali Faulkner (aka Veselekov) the game has you move about a futuristic Tauranga and surrounding … Read more
The prime minister yesterday announced a package including $25m to ‘provide artists whose projects are funded by Creative NZ with jobs.’ An even more substantial investment in the creative arts will help drive our post-Covid recovery, argues Paul Millar. When Covid-19 forced the postponement of the popular international literary festival WORD Christchurch, director Rachael King … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mixed views on freshwater rules, pay equity settlement for teacher aides, and concerns raised about new internet filtering proposal. The final form of a major package of freshwater reforms was announced yesterday, and it was notable how little anger came from certain quarters. Throughout this process, … Read more
Te Mana o te Wai is being heralded as a game-changer for waterways. But for one freshwater scientist, it’s a bitter disappointment. Two weeks into alert level two, it seems we have already forgotten all those resolutions about the pandemic being an environmental “wake-up call” to do things differently. Despite being issued by a government … 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
They call themselves the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, but they’re not a church, and the treatment they sell is called Miracle Mineral Supplement – but it’s chlorine dioxide, commonly known as bleach. Susan Strongman reports for RNZ. A New Zealand website is advising people with symptoms of coronavirus to drink or inhale … 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 New Zealand investor and business advisor David Bell. As a university professor at Wharton in the US, David … Read more
When Claire Freeman became a wheelchair user at age 17, the questions she had about how she might enjoy sex were dismissed and she was made to feel like that part of her life was over. Here she flips the script with some advice on how to find pleasure on your own terms. A version … Read more
The government has just announced a whole lot of new rules and policies for freshwater with the aim of urgently stopping degradation and cleaning up rivers over the long term. What’s all this then? A massive package of work on freshwater quality has just been announced in an attempt to halt further damage and start … Read more
In a world where players have unfettered access to fans through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it raises the question of whether traditional media still has a role to play. But as Scotty Stevenson explains, a player-driven model powered by social media can only go so far. Among the many weird and wonderful tales of the … Read more
Emily Writes celebrates wholesome shows and the rise of cosy television. The world is frightening right now. From Covid-19 to climate change, just watching the news can be overwhelming let alone going outside. This horror is the perfect environment for what I call Soft TV to flourish. Wholesome reality TV isn’t new, but it used … Read more
While many areas of the workforce have been shaken by the effects of Covid-19, a Ngāi Tahu futures lab has been working to give rangatahi Māori the opportunity to decide their own futures. Futurists have thought up myriad strategies for how the world should look post-Covid. For all its hurt, the global pandemic is offering … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Kiwibuild buyers left facing years of delays, calls for relaxation of alert levels and travel, and new details emerge in NZ First Foundation saga. Despite a reset of the policy last year, Kiwibuild is still proving to be problematic. A disastrous new story has emerged from One … Read more
Diversifying the export economy is a worthy goal – but let’s be realistic about what throwing away a critical relationship with China would mean for New Zealand, writes Stephen Jacobi of the NZ International Business Forum. In a 2018 study of 183 economies’ dependence on China, undertaken by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and … Read more
Last night New Zealand witnessed one of the most exhilarating, confronting political stories to air on national television. Hayden Donnell has watched it several hundred times. Newshub at 6 opened last night with a back-and-forth between presenters Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts. After an intro from Hayes, McRoberts set the scene for a drama inside … Read more