From a mostly-Māori rural community to the centre of one of the country’s biggest banks: in the latest episode of The Good Citizen, Fonteyn Moses-Te Kani tells Jeremy Hansen how we can do diversity better. Fonteyn Moses-Te Kani didn’t grow up thinking about diversity. She didn’t have to: the small community in rural Tairāwhiti where … Read more
The official history of New Zealand music is filled with songs by artists we all know and love. But what about the artists we’ve forgotten? Or the hits by our most loved artists that remain overshadowed by other, bigger hits? Henry Oliver traces an alternative history of New Zealand music via songs featured on the … Read more
The Spinoff asks the experts for tips on what food to match with your beer. For millennia beer was the second-class cousin of wine. Whenever people were invited over for dinner, wine would be rolled out from the rack. A fruity Spanish something to accompany the chicken marbella, a Chianti to go with the spag … Read more
The new world ain’t so new anymore – especially when you’re killing bears who might not actually be bears, and when your mum has already been there for approximately two hundred years. Tara Ward recaps episode four of season four of Outlander. Holy guacamole, mates, Outlander is BACK. I know it never really went away, although … Read more
Big businesses such as New Zealand’s largest ever transport infrastructure project are tackling “real” sustainability issues instead of the greenwashing of the past, organisers of the NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards say. “We’re all desperately looking for ‘how do you do this stuff’ now. I don’t think businesses would be deliberately doing things that would … Read more
Just like the New Zealand wine industry it champions, Fine Wine Delivery Co has been through quite a journey over the past two decades. Back in 1997, the average house price in New Zealand was $181,000. Jim Bolger was prime minister, with Winston Peters his deputy. The world mourned Princess Diana, Titanic was released, and … Read more
At tonight’s NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards, Z energy – a fossil fuel company – is a nominee. Z CEO Mike Bennetts explains how this could possibly happen. At Z, we believe there are three legs to the sustainability stool – social, environmental and economic. We need to do all three of these well if … Read more
Today the government announced a $13.75 million funding boost for research to combat the spread of kauri dieback and myrtle rust. Could microfluidics be the solutions we are looking for? Here in New Zealand, our native trees are currently under threat from two pathogens – an oomycete (water mould) called Phytophthora agathidicida, which causes Kauri … Read more
In the second instalment in the Money Talks series, Alice Webb-Liddall and Henry Oliver face up to their finances. Dealing with money is complicated enough when you are a single person with a single income. But it can be more than twice as complicated if there are two (or more) of you in a committed … Read more
Kiwi builders have never been in hotter demand, but red tape is making it nearly impossible to get ahead. Alex Braae spoke to builders and bankers about the state of the construction industry. Willie Hewitt’s construction company, Westmoreland, is constantly flat out, but it’s never making any money. In the middle of housing boom he’s … Read more
Lithium-ion batteries are magnificent feats of engineering and vital for renewable energy. But if we’re not careful with them, they’ll create enormous environmental problems, writes Vector Senior Sustainability Advisor Juhi Shareef. Have you ever seen huge piles of tyres in New Zealand? I have. There are thousands of them throughout our country, and that’s mostly … Read more
This year the Basement Christmas show enters its tenth year with Work Do, written by superstar comedians Rose Matafeo and Alice Snedden. Alex Casey talks to the duo about office parties, Christmas fantasies and Michelle Obama. Somewhere in London, Rose Matafeo is lying on her bed, embroiled in a late night battle with what she … Read more
All Heart NZ proves the proverb that one man’s waste is another’s treasure. Nominated for an NZI Sustainable Business Network Award, it’s one of the social enterprises listed on a new platform encouraging corporates to help the world while making money. A hundred metres of unwanted car yard fencing that was destined for the scrap … Read more
With the nature of work changing, companies are reforming how offices are set up and how their staff work, in an effort to get better outcomes for everyone. Alex Braae checked out two of New Zealand’s biggest companies to find out more. Looking back on predictions of the future is always an interesting experience, especially … Read more
The Single Object is a series exploring our material culture, examining the meaning and influence of the objects that surround us in everyday life. In the fifth part of the series James Dann explores Christchurch’s ties to the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, and embarks on his own journey of discovery in pursuit of a … Read more
Inarguably the best sports drama of all time, Friday Night Lights, dropped in its entirety on Lightbox last week. Sam Brooks on why you should watch it – and the other cult classics you might not know are on the service. Friday Night Lights (S1-5) I’m surprised this show didn’t incorporate some sort of partnership with … Read more
A long time before being green was cool, and sustainability was a buzzword, ecostore was committed to looking after the planet. Henry Oliver talks to the founder, and the new CEO, about how to run a successful business at the same time as protecting the planet. A lot has changed in the 25 years since Malcolm … Read more
Delaney Davidson, whose album release tour starts today, talks to Henry Oliver about storytelling, collaborating and his new album Shining Day. Delaney Davidson sees himself as a travelling salesman. He has slicked back hair and a couple of days’ stubble. Suit, tie, hat when he’s performing. Clean shirt tucked into clean jeans when he’s not. … Read more
You’ve heard of them. All your cool friends and your coolest aunt watches them – but what the heck are these blonde dramas with subtitles? Sam Brooks is here to school you on the ubiquitous Scandi-drama. Lock the doors, lower the blinds, fire up the smoke machine and put on your heels, because I know … Read more
The Wombats are one of the most long-lasting bands from the mid-2000s British guitar rock revival. With them on their way to New Zealand, we looked into their story, and what it takes to outlive The Kaiser Chiefs. There’s a line in one of The Wombats’ first hits, ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’, that goes … Read more
They said he couldn’t do it, but what else are you going to do in seven days? Sam Brooks watched 42 episodes of Outlander in a single week to catch up before the fourth season premiere tonight on Lightbox. One week ago today I sat around The Spinoff’s story-pitching firepit, and said I thought it would … Read more
Time travel, a bleak dalliance with the French King, and some dubious flatmates – is Jamie and Claire’s relationship actually worth it? Fictional relationship expert Madeleine Chapman passes judgement. Season Four of Outlander drops weekly on Lightbox from Monday November 5, and you can binge the three previous seasons there as well!
One hundred and fifty years ago today New Zealand became the first country to introduce standard time. Kerri Jackson looks back at time. Time, it turns out, is a construct. That might be useful information for those of us trying to wriggle out of a story deadline, but does it otherwise matter? For most of … Read more
In the second instalment of our Money Talks series, Alice Webb-Liddall and Henry Oliver face up to their finances. Dealing with money is complicated enough when you are a single person with a single income. But it can be more than twice as complicated if there are two (or more) of you in a committed … Read more
Alarmed by the disconnection between his food and its source, Simon Day visits the home of his bacon. I‘ve eaten a lot of bacon. And roast pork shoulder with crispy crackling. I’ve used cured pig’s cheek to make carbonara. Glazed ham at every Christmas. And barbecued so many sausages. But I’d never recognised how disconnected … Read more
Hayden Donnell surveys one of the more rare whiskies to ever go on sale in New Zealand, and asks whether it’s worth its gigantic purchasing price. Last Wednesday night, I pulled into a North Shore industrial zone to taste-test rare and expensive whisky. It was an event put on by the Fine Wine Delivery Company and … Read more
If the future is going to be powered by renewable energy, the world needs to get a lot better at dealing with one very precious element, the Materialise conference on sustainability in Wellington has heard. The argument goes something like this: To fight climate change, the world needs to convert to technology that runs on … Read more
In 1999, Elle Hunt’s dad convinced her that New Radical’s ‘You Get What You Give’ was actually by U2. Today, she revisits the life-changing moment she realised he was wrong. The loss of innocence is a hallmark of growing up. In my personal bildungsroman, mine was precipitated by my dad telling me that ‘You Get … Read more
Halloween is coming up, and you’re panicking. We know, and we’re here to help. Costume designer Christopher Stratton has your solutions, both easy and not! As someone whose livelihood is costuming though – I have zero tolerance for boring out of a bag costumes. I also understand that time is a precious, limited resource – … Read more