The swoop by Spark to secure rights to screen the rugby world cup in Japan means a decision to make about the combo in the commentary box. So who are the runners and riders to call Beaudy’s World Cup winning drop goal, asks Jamie Wall While it probably won’t be remembered as a particularly memorable match, … Read more
Newstalk ZB listeners were treated to not one but two absurd opinion pieces from the hosts this morning, on a modest new government proposal to get kids cycling. There’s a rumour about Newstalk ZB’s ratings that perhaps explains a lot about their hosts’ opinions. The station first really boomed in the early 90s, coinciding with … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Emily Writes: Great mates: The prison inmates caring for retired greyhounds “A prisoner in the unit said that working with greyhounds has taught him to trust again. He says working with the greyhounds has taught him communication skills. Another said it has taught him to … Read more
Leonie Hayden went in search of the people behind community access radio station Planet FM, and their newly minted and very silly Twitter account. She discovered a group of people who love their jobs and the communities they help. Community access radio station Planet FM gives good content. If you had any investment in this … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Emily Writes: Inside the secret world of co-sleepers “Oh god there is a dad here. I ask if he’s lost. He tells me that he’s a proud co-sleeper. This is outrageous. Men don’t co-sleep. Men are meant to want their “marital bed” back. Does he … Read more
In a dramatic moment on the radio airwaves, a sports talkback host put the theory of giving nothing to racism into practice. It has long been clear that rugby has a problem with racial classification of players. It’s a well worn trope that white players get described as intelligent and knowledgeable, while brown players are … Read more
Half of all children in New Zealand say they’ve experienced bullying, an ominous number in light of our dire mental health statistics. For Newshub, Patrick Gower reveals his own struggles in an emotional appeal to stand strong. It all started with “Paddy Carrots” and “Bugsy”. As a schoolboy, I had seriously protruding buck teeth, and … Read more
With social media having sprouted misinformation machines, we need to think harder about the right tools to use to fight back, writes InternetNZ’s Nicola Brown. Scroll down for a comic strip for InternetNZ by Judith Carnaby The internet was meant to be so great for democracy. All human knowledge a couple of clicks away. Tools for people … Read more
The ad might not be shown on television, but the company behind it has got the publicity it was looking for, writes Cathrine Janssson-Boyd. A Christmas advertisement for the UK supermarket chain Iceland, which tells the story of a young girl who tries to help a baby orangutan whose home has been destroyed to create … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Alex Casey: The Chemist Warehouse is pure hell and I love it “A woman with blue eyeliner and thick framed glasses was desperately trying to get the best price per gram on vitamin C for someone on the phone, not unlike like a proxy bidder … Read more
As Marcus Lush reveals ‘outrage about the NZME Christmas Party’, we launch our crowd-sourced investigation into the contemporary reality of the festive work do. Last night Newstalk ZB’s evenings host Marcus Lush blew the lid on a major New Zealand media scandal for the festive season. The issuing of invitations to radio and publishing giant … Read more
Stuff has confirmed that 16 reporter and three news director jobs could be made redundant in community papers. And that’s terrible news, former Rodney Times editor Rhonwyn Newson writes for Newshub. When I was a child my mum would occasionally pop into our local newspaper’s newsroom and drop off a photo of my brother’s water-polo … Read more
A new product from the upmarket US audio company promises to lull you to sleep. Toby Manhire takes them to bed. Fruit flies need it, homo sapiens need it, we all need it, even if scientists may not know all the reasons why we do. And the moments we know most of all that we … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Hayden Donnell: If you think Lime scooters are a safety menace, wait till you hear about cars “It’s encouraging to see people getting so worked up and uncompromising about road safety, because they’re right: New Zealand is facing a transport emergency. There are death traps … Read more
Janice Mary has been off Facebook for a month, but it wasn’t an easy road to get there. She writes about her social media addiction. Ten years is how long I was on Facebook. Ten years of habitual, mindless, scrolling day in, day out. I revealed 943 status updates and 628 photos exposing to the … Read more
Meghan Markle and her ranked but unimportant husband came to New Zealand this week, and a huge amount of people lost their collective and metaphorical shit. Self-appointed royal commentator Sam Brooks explains the obsession. Who doesn’t remember where they were when Meghan Markle and her plus-one landed in Wellington airport one windy afternoon? I do, … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Nicky Hager: Dirty Politics, 2018: Nicky Hager assesses the Jami-Lee Ross saga “The book Dirty Politics is not about awful people; it is about a negative and destructive style of attack politics that has infected New Zealand from US politics. This is the idea that success in … Read more
Tickled co-director David Farrier becomes suspicious about yet another website that is very quick to point out that it is not porn. Definitely not porn. Update, October 30 – Splat! HQ has been in touch with the following response: With regards to the “This is not an adult website” statement we had on our site. Yes, … Read more
Emily Writes travels to the future to file the first news report on Meghan and Harry’s forthcoming tour of New Zealand. Queen Princess Meghorn United Kingdom Duchess and a small red haired man landed in New Zealand, Aotearoa, Middle Earth, today to huge fanfare. Dozens of royal enthusiasts lined the street holding celebratory buckets of … Read more
Reports that Botany MP has been sectioned and is in care for mental health issues have sparked a flurry of conjecture over the last couple of days. The Mental Health Foundation of NZ, which has to date not entered the debate around the controversial MP, who by his own account had a breakdown in recent … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Don Rowe: Tasman deathtrap: the brutal toll of Australia’s deportation policy “Shortly after 9pm on September 11, Togatuki sent two calls for help over the prison intercom, telling guards he had harmed himself. No one responded. There was a big NRL game that evening. Sydney … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Dylan Reeve: A night aboard the most loathed aircraft in New Zealand “The sharp sound of the blades cutting into the air as it circles is familiar to many Aucklanders, including Orakei Local Board member Troy Churton, who attracted attention when he complained publicly about the helicopter … Read more
Comics artist and writer Dylan Horrocks pays tribute to the revered New Zealand cartoonist Barry Linton, who died last week. A note from Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris: Last week New Zealand lost a true legend. A relatively under the radar one, but a legend none the less. Barry Linton, often called the godfather of comics … Read more
Our two favourite frenemies still have a lot of shit to work through. Watch round 1 here.
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Don Rowe: How Ngāi Tahu turned a landmark settlement into a billion dollar iwi empire “At the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, almost half the landmass of New Zealand was considered the rohe of the South Island’s Ngāi Tahu. Within 20 … Read more
The annual free concert featuring the top local pop stars of the day is one of New Zealand’s most enduring Christmas traditions. James Mustapic looks back at its most memorable moments. Watch all of James Mustapic’s Repressed Memories here.
In the ongoing palaver around the non-appointment of a chief technology officer, we’re awash in opinions from pakeha blokes. It’s not good enough, and we’re getting very tired of having to say so, writes Anna Connell It’s a hard road finding a CTO for New Zealand. After one failed attempt we were left flailing in … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Danyl Mclauchlan: The dumbfounding nastiness of Simon Bridges’ ‘meth crooks’ remarks “Bridges is competing for media-space with Judith Collins, who was first out of the gate attacking the meth compensation announcement, declaring that the tenants were all evicted because of their ‘criminal activity’. Bridges … Read more
The Spinoff’s editor Toby Manhire is back with our regular round up of the week’s winners and losers in New Zealand news. This episode: it was a very bad week for people trying to pronounce our prime minister’s name.