Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Rebecca Stevenson: The rise and fall of CricHQ, the star-backed ‘Facebook for cricket’ With Stephen Fleming and Brendon McCullum among its founders, CricHQ capitalised on global interest in both cricket and cloud-based internet startups. It attracted a star-studded lineup of investors and seemed hugely successful, … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Jacinda Ardern: ‘I want to be able to tell my child I have earned the right to stand here “And if we value that about ourselves as a nation 364 days of the year, why would we not value it here at Waitangi. I will … Read more
A Pride Week campaign by telecoms company Spark brought out the worst in some internet commentators. Spark social media manager Frith Wilson-Hughes explains why she decided to respond. I spent much of last weekend battling folks on the internet. To be honest, it’s not how I generally like to spend my weekends, but this was … Read more
Auckland artist and influencer Andrew Steel recently debuted a major work about consent. The post blew up then, just as quickly, disappeared. On January 22 Auckland artist Andrew Steel announced his latest work “Safe From Harm”. It debuted as a series of photos on his Instagram account, with accompanying text which encouraged women to talk … Read more
‘I shan’t bother writing any more for NBR,’ says Sir Bob Jones after his piece calling for Māori gratitude is deleted from the paper’s website. Toby Manhire and Duncan Greive report. Bob Jones will be filing no more for the National Business Review after the deletion of his most recent contribution, which included a call … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Leigh Hart: An open letter from Screaming Reels to our confused Australian neighbours “Many Australian viewers are suggesting that the broadcaster 7 Mate has mistakenly scheduled the programme at the wrong time, a time normally reserved for serious educational documentary programming. As far as … Read more
An interview with Dave Gibson, the outgoing head of the Film Commission, looking back on four years of rapid change. Public sector arts jobs look horrible from the outside. You have an inevitably too-small pot of money, distributed to a group of people who are either deliriously happy or incandescent with rage according to whether … Read more
From fan shortages to sweaty insomnia, New Zealand can’t get enough of heatwave talk. But there’s one subject that few media stories about high summer temperatures seem eager to discuss. Over the past two weeks, virtual gallons of digital ink have been spilled over the current record-breaking temperatures Kiwis are enduring all over the country. … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Annabelle Lee: Why Jacinda Ardern’s decision to spend five days at Waitangi is a really big deal “Every Waitangi it’s the same. The lack of gratitude shown by Māori at being among the poorest, sickest, most unemployed and incarcerated people in Aotearoa is an ongoing … Read more
If you can write a snappier job ad than this, please consider the vacant situation at your friendly local website. The Spinoff is hiring a general reporter/editor for a new role across our news and media coverage. The successful applicant will be an avid consumer of New Zealand journalism, and willing to work weird hours … Read more
The editor of The Spinoff explains why he is no longer editor of The Spinoff, plus talks through other key staff changes. Then indulges himself about what The Spinoff means, and how it was made. Hello. This is a post announcing that I’m handing over the editor’s job at The Spinoff from today. I want to … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. James Roque: Think the racist menu is OK? Fine! Just know you’re making others feel like shit “Now, before I smash my head into my keyboard out of sheer frustration and exhaustion at having to deal with stuff like this, let’s get one thing … Read more
To paraphrase late-90s hitmakers LFO: Summer beards come and summer beards go, some are worthwhile and some are so-so. The summer of 2017-18 has been rife with speculation and chatter over which previously fresh-faced New Zealand politicians or television personalities have grown a summer beard. These are people who, like many working professionals, are precluded … Read more
In purporting to deliver a disinterested appraisal of the US president’s first year, Heather Du Plessis-Allan creates a perfect storm of misinformation, argues Branko Marcetic. A lot of people will hate the column in yesterday’s Herald on Sunday column, which purported to explain “why Trump’s first year hasn’t been that bad”, for a lot of … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Louisa Woods: How to talk to your children about Logan Paul’s suicide video “I’m not going to debate whether or not the video should have been posted. It should not. Apart from the utter disrespect shown to the man and his family, the lack … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, an anonymous staffer reviews the official merchandise of the former First Son. On a sunny Saturday afternoon in December last year I sat outside my flat, sweating into my phone, too ashamed to put my name on an order … Read more
The Art of Banksy at the Aotea Centre in Auckland is replete with contradictions, writes Don Rowe. “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” – Banksy, exhibition entrance “Walls painted in Resene Alabaster and Resene All Black.” – Resene, exhibition entrance The Art of Banksy at the Aotea Centre in Auckland is so … Read more
Most world leaders are content with typing their own name into Twitter, or coining new weird words. Not Helen Clark, who solves pub arguments and affirms her past deeds, writes Alex Casey. First published 3 August 2017. I’ll never forget the first time Helen Clark interacted with The Spinoff on Twitter. I think it was … Read more
Having analysed the spate of uplifting stories about millennial strugglers buying homes, Don Rowe reveals how you, too, can lift your foot above your head and on to the lowest rung of the property ladder. It’s not impossible, it just takes a few little tricks – like not paying rent. First published on 16 March … Read more
In which an accountant, his nurse wife, and their lawyer daughter lovingly squabble through letters to the editor, on the subject of the 5-minute quiz. This post was first published on May 28, 2017. Something like the lost epistolary novel of PG Wodehouse has surfaced in the pages of Wellington’s daily paper over the last couple of weeks. … Read more
Ever noticed that every summer news story is recycled from previous years? We’ve even regurgitated this story by former sadsack reporter Hayden Donnell (with a few updates to make it appear relevant) who last year designed a drinking game to improve, or at least anaesthetise, your holiday news reading experience. The news will be the … Read more
The 10 best Kiwis of Snapchat as brought to you by auteur and comedian Tom Sainsbury. 10 Let’s be honest, 2017 was a pretty shit year for a lot of us. There was one demographic however who did really bloody well out of the clusterfuck that was Auckland city: landlords. And nobody captured just how … Read more
It may surprise you to hear that not every article published on the Spinoff is read by tens of thousands of discerning punters. Here are some of the (relatively) neglected crop that we think warranted more click-love in no particular order. 1. The Art of the Thiel Super-wealthy internet tycoon, Trump-booster and ordinary Kiwi geezer … Read more
Clicks and content, content and clicks: these are the videos that attracted the most eyeballs on friendly fledgling website ‘the Spinoff’ this year. 10 The original MacGyver is a stone-cold 80s classic, with a likeably earnest hero and a lot of heart. The reboot, which started screening on Prime all the way back in January? … Read more
Clicks and content, content and clicks: these are the posts that attracted the most eyeballs on friendly fledgling website ‘The Spinoff’ this year. 20 Parents in low income families are always being told that they’re making bad choices in the supermarket; many wealthy or comfortable families seem to believe they’d be better able to survive … Read more
A moving short film to be enjoyed with your nearest and dearest this Christmas Day. To honour both the birth of Jesus and the retirement of Peter Dunne, we at The Spinoff have assembled a touching Christmas video for you to enjoy with your friends and family.
In July, US Ambassador Scott Brown had what he probably thought was an interview scheduled with Kim Hill. What actually ensued was a brilliantly shady media boxing match. Sam Brooks gives his play-by-play. My prevailing memory of Kim Hill is from something I once taped on One, back in the dark ages where you would tape … Read more
As 2017 draws to a close, we ask eminent guest columnist Ernest Penman to reflect on the year that was. When I cast my mind across the year 2017 I am transported immediately to that moment, L’éphanie. Allow me to explain. I gently adjusted my fedora as I mounted the undulating Kmart snake, lining up … Read more
Simon Wilson wanted to like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and some of it he really did. But then there was the rest. And, yes, there are MANY SPOILERS. You can read The Last Jedi as the story of two sisters who, if this were not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, … Read more