Which conspiracy theory are you? A complete astrological guide

Can’t decide which rabbit hole to fall into? Not sure if you think Jacinda’s a reptilian shapeshifter, or if there’s a moose on the loose in Fiordland? Fear not – Sherry Zhang has consulted the stars. The rise of conspiracy theories goes hand in hand with a global pandemic. Could the combination of fear, misinformation … Read more

Emily Writes reports on a new and frankly upsetting twist on #TurnArdern

An exclusive interview with Steve McSteverson about his traumatic and tragic ordeal this week. Many New Zealanders are struggling with the news that a children’s book not commissioned or authorised by Jacinda Ardern was advertised in a newsletter for children’s books. This horrific attack on New Zealanders whose ears are permanently fused to Magic Talk … Read more

The vicious hidden message in Shane Jones’ blast at students from New Delhi

The New Zealand First MP’s attack on ‘students that have come from India’ comes as another prominent New Zealander completes a visit to India embracing, well, students that have come from India.  This morning on Newshub Nation, the minister for the regions and verbal jukebox Shane Jones took aim at Indian students, and their impact … Read more

An exclusive interview with a dude who yells at women from his car (WATCH)

In this hard-hitting episode of current affairs show OTR 24/7, lady journalist Leonie Hayden comes face to face with one of society’s most elusive figures. “Hey baby, show us ya [insert weird word for body part here]!” To many women and non-binary folks this is a common greeting, usually delivered with great pizzazz by a … Read more

Oh, the humanity! What you need to know about living to 100

Life expectancy is increasing all the time, and now actuaries and retirement experts say young people need far more information on what they’ll need to do with their money if they live to 100. Don’t worry, we’re here to help.  The message from the Retirement Income Interest Group of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries … Read more

Why did Facebook go down? Here are our theories

For a desperate and difficult period of at least eight hours, Facebook and Instagram suffered a massive outage. They’ve so far kept a stony silence on the reasons. And wild uninformed speculation loves a vacuum. Here are 10 definitely true theories. 1. Facebook have confirmed on Twitter that they have not gone down because of … Read more

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Ardern Administration

I work for the prime minister but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of her agenda and her worst inclinations. The Spinoff is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior member of the Ardern administration whose identity … Read more

Flipping the bird at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: an apology from New Zealand

Crowds in Wellington today were seen raising their middle fingers at the motorcade carrying the American secretary of state. We’d like to take the opportunity to say sorry. Donald Trump’s diplomat-in-chief was in the New Zealand capital today, and it welcomed him with grey skies and blustery rain. We’re sorry about that, Secretary Tillerson. This is … Read more

We fixed Larry Williams’ historically bad column on Auckland beggars

We fixed Larry Williams’ abominable ‘ban the beggars’ column. For the most part, all it took was replacing the words ‘beggars’ and ‘begging’ with ‘boomers’. It started with Bob Jones. Then the virus spread. A Wellington mayoral contender called for begging to be banned, in an edited Facebook post that originally called addiction a “lifestyle choice”. A … Read more

Politics: Colin Craig to Sue Colin Craig

Craig expected to pursue legal action against Craig following Craig’s revelation about Craig. Contained within the thundering and snappily titled pamphlet Dirty Politics And Hidden Agendas: Colin Craig Vs The Dirty Politics Brigade and Their Campaign of Lies (PDF here), an unnamed interviewer speaks to someone called “Mr X”, a pottymouth insider. This morning Colin … Read more