As the Auckland Art Fair wraps up for another year, our anonymous art world insider looks back at the festival’s highs and lows. The easiest way to describe the Auckland Art Fair, at The Cloud until today, is to say it is basically a trade fair – one large hall, many small booths, many traders … Read more
We’re in the middle of the single biggest democratic act in the land and there’s hardly been a ripple about it. Paul Brislen issues a clarion call to New Zealanders – or at least those with kids at school Every three years we, as a nation, get to make this decision and what we decide … Read more
Delaney Mes looks back at short but exhilarating history of netball’s ANZ Champs, the end of which was announced this week after nine sweet seasons. One of the most harrowing things I’ve ever witnessed occurred on a Monday night in July 2013. I was on my parent’s couch, watching the Northern Mystics lose to the Waikato/Bay of Plenty … Read more
The Spinoff asked a bunch of clever people to give us one sentence they’d like to see magically written into the finance minister’s Budget speech. These are the words they’d put in his mouth … “Inequality in New Zealand has increased dramatically in recent years, and we need to urgently address it, particularly in the … Read more
The Minister of Transport chided Generation Zero yesterday for urging a place for rail on a new harbour crossing. Here, two Gen-Zeroers hit back, saying his remarks lay bare an absence of strategic thinking. The story of Auckland is too often one of missed opportunities. And there is little cause to hope that the current … Read more
Opinion: National gets away with mixed messages over tax cuts because Labour has failed to grasp the nettle and frame tax as both a fairness and patriotism issue, argues Simon Louisson The left’s failure to frame the tax debate since the last election has put it firmly on track to spend three more years in … Read more
Believe it or not, it is possible that Helen Clark is both the best option for the job of Secretary General, and that she is an important candidate because she is female The first thing I heard on Tuesday morning: “Helen Clark is not running to be Secretary General of the UN because she is … Read more
Opinion: An illicit market has emerged for on-selling plane tickets, but instead of suffocating the idea, the airlines should be running it themselves, writes Wellington student Jack Close. My time as a student away from home at the University of Otago can be summarised simply: $500 return flights. Motivated by the “beauty of the price … Read more
Nick Smith was totally right to crack down on a politician who pandered to his rich, elderly voting base at the expense of sensible housing policy. Now, about National pandering to its rich, elderly voting base at the expense of sensible housing policy. Nick Smith, a sentient turnip acting undercover as New Zealand’s Housing Minister, launched … Read more
RNZ needs to do some serious soul-searching about its decision to give a platform to non-scientific nonsense, writes Dr Siouxsie Wiles As I write my blood is boiling. I’m in a rage. There is a measles outbreak going on in the Waikato region, with over 20 confirmed cases. It looks as though the virus has … Read more
News of a proposed merger between NZME and Fairfax has met with a predictably fearful response from news creators and consumers. But Duncan Greive thinks it might finally properly differentiate the main online brands and give consumers a real choice. This week’s major media news was the announcement that NZME and Fairfax were in talks … Read more
Everyone’s hailing Leicester City’s amazing Premier League victory as a one-in-a-million sporting tale, but James McOnie argues it was plagarised from the Highlanders’ 2015 season. While everyone thinks Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League victory will be turned into a movie, let’s just remember this rags-to-riches tale involves some players* who earn more in a fortnight than many All Blacks do … Read more
Opinion: The marriage of Fairfax NZ and NZME may make sense in commercial terms, but it’s bad for depth, diversity and democracy, writes Paul Brislen If you want to know about a burning platform that’s forcing change, talk to a journalist. “Do 10% more with 10% less” has become the new strategy. And that’s in … Read more
Dan Carter’s Racing 92 is battling Saracens for the European Champions Cup this weekend. But would either side make the playoffs in Super Rugby? And what does this have to do with dog racing? In the 1980s, dog racing would often, unbelievably, be the first sport covered on the BBC’s flagship midweek sports show, Sportsnight (best theme … Read more
The Spinoff has been accused of being anti-Mark Weldon and his work from time to time, so we thought we’d get one of his defenders to make the case for him as a misunderstood visionary. Here is ZenithOptimedia’s Stuart Rutherford, arguing Weldon reshaped MediaWorks for commercial success at a time of great upheaval in the sector. Seven hundred … Read more
What are foreign trusts and where do they come from? Is New Zealand really a tax haven? And how can we fix things? Tax expert Deborah Russell explains all No one ever set out to create a tax haven in New Zealand. Our tax system is largely robust, transparent and fair. There’s just this one … Read more
A junior Newshub reporter made an error at a Reserve Bank lockup in February. There were bound to be consequences, but now Governor Graeme Wheeler is just being a dick about it, says former MediaWorks head of news Mark Jennings. It takes a lot to shock or shake a Newshub reporter these days. The Weldon … Read more
Opinion: Publishing the names of thousands of people who have dealt with Mossack Fonseca irrespective of wrongdoing is reckless, unfair, and worthy of Kafka’s The Trial, argues Ben Thomas. The internet loves lists. “The 28 Most Unfortunate Names In Sport”; “23 Friends Quotes That Never Stop Being Funny”, “17 Delicious Salads You Should Pack For … Read more
Yesterday the Herald previewed its admirable #betterthanthis series on domestic violence by attempting to address the elephant in its room: Tony Veitch. Unfortunately the broadcaster used his column to paint himself as the real victim, says Delaney Mes. New Zealand has the highest rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world. New Zealand Police … Read more
Michael Field covered Tony Veitch’s original trial and reported on the release of his police file. He writes that the broadcaster’s column yesterday was just another instance of his abdicating responsibility for his actions. A long time ago I sat in a court as a judge pulled a black handkerchief over his white wig and passed a sentence … Read more
As the tension builds towards tomorrow night’s Ockham national book awards, Graeme Lay shudders to recall the time the award for best novel went to a bogan – and Steve Braunias barges his way in at the end of the story, and adds a highly unusual postscript. Book awards are wonderful. They’re also fraught. Glittering … Read more
The prime minister has suggested his lawyer was sloppy in his choice of wording in an email two years ago. Now, on assurances regarding Mossack Fonseca, is the sloppiness getting even sloppier? On April 13, the prime minister was widely reported as saying he had been assured that his longstanding personal lawyer, Ken Whitney, had … Read more
Opinion: The government wants more electric vehicles on NZ roads. But the plan to let them drive in bus lanes can only throw improvements in bus services into reverse, writes Matt Lowrie. The government wants to boost the currently dismal uptake of electric vehicles, increasing the numbers on our roads from about 1,200 to 64,000 … Read more
Opinion: By issuing a blanket ban because an age restriction would be “impracticable”, the Office of Film and Literature Classification has dangerously overdone it, putting drivers of the vans on a par with child sex offenders, writes Graeme Edgeler. Last week, the Office of Film and Literature Classification declared three Wicked Campers vans “objectionable” because … Read more
David Seymour has thrown his member’s bill into the parliamentary hat. But the legislation currently being debated in Canada differs in some important ways, writes Andrew Geddis. The case of Lecretia Seales last year brought to prominence the issue of doctor assisted suicide/aid in dying (it’s a telling sign of how divided views are that … Read more
Land tax is a good idea. But the proposal to lump it on non-residents alone just invites go-betweens to take advantage. Time for a properly coherent tax policy, argues Gareth Morgan. John Key has floated the idea of an annual land tax on foreign buyers of residential real estate as one response to the influx … Read more
Beauden Barrett is bad at kicking, but there’s no rule saying he has to keep doing it. Why can’t his teammates step up? The Hurricanes lost to the Chiefs on Saturday in what is being called one of the better games this Super Rugby season – I was there and do not agree. Beauden Barrett … Read more
There’s been a major push to keep the Pop-up Globe in Auckland. Sam Brooks says it’s deeply misguided. If you’ve been lucky enough to walk around Central Auckland over the past three months, then you’ll have seen a large white silo building sitting in the carpark that you might’ve tried to park in when the Civic … Read more
Opinion: NZ’s ranking as one of the least corrupt countries in the world counts for nothing if our good reputation is used to aid corruption elsewhere, writes Amnesty International’s Grant Bayldon My daughter returned home with from seeing Romeo and Juliet at Auckland Pop-up Globe the other night quoting one of Shakespeare’s famous lines: “What’s … Read more