Buying secondhand clothing is one of the best ways to refresh a wardrobe without spending wads of money or contributing to the wasteful fast fashion industry. But there’s a fine art to finding pieces that are worth your time. I’ve never been hunting but I imagine, in a lot of ways, it’s similar to shopping … Read more
While working at The Dominion, journalist Phil Taylor met Dan Dudson – a prolific burglar who liked sending long, handwritten letters to the detectives busy trying to pin him down. The pair would eventually go on to strike up an unlikely and enduring friendship, right up until Dudson’s death in June this year aged 74. … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 1 where we bring you the latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. 7pm: The day in sum A second traveller to Australia from New Zealand has tested positive for Covid-19. There are now three cases from New Zealand that … Read more
Community initiative or commercial enterprise? How a planter box-slash-chair is trying to revolutionise berms around Auckland. On the corner of Ariki Street and Crummer Road in Grey Lynn is a cafe called Crumb. It’s a good cafe, but that’s by-the-by. It’s the berm next to Crumb that’s controversial; it’s at the centre of a dispute between … Read more
After months trying to get back to her husband and daughter in Hungary, Daisy Coles is finally on her way home. So why is it so hard to say goodbye? In April, I wrote about what happened to my family when Covid-19 came crashing into 2020 like the Kool-Aid Man. Our Hungarian-Kiwi family was split … Read more
South Auckland’s five local boards all face similar challenges when it comes to supporting its local residents with jobs, transport and providing places to have fun. So what are their draft plans proposing? Justin Latif finds out – and hands out some awards. Is there anything more soporific than an Auckland Council consultation document? They … Read more
Those who oppose cannabis law reform often argue that people are already avoiding arrest for possession of minor amounts of the drug. That’s not the reality for thousands of cannabis users every year, reports Madeleine Holden. “You have no idea what it’s like, how powerless you are.” Greg, a 61-year-old invalids’ beneficiary, is recalling his … Read more
New short film Rise profiles some of the country’s youngest protest organisers as they take to the streets to lead one of the generation’s biggest protest marches. It’s only 16 minutes long, but Jess Feast’s new documentary elicits a sense of climate anxiety that lasts much longer. Filmed on September 27, 2019, the day of … Read more
As the global pandemic drags on, an already precarious situation for New Zealand migrants is becoming increasingly fraught, reports Maria Hoyle. Romi Aggarwal speaks softly and calmly, choosing her words with care. Still, her emotion is tangible when she talks about being separated from her family. “Jacinda Ardern recently celebrated her daughter’s second birthday. She … Read more
It’s a podcast almost four years in the making on a topic ‘shrouded in silence’. Emily Writes speaks to Susie Ferguson about The Unthinkable. Susie Ferguson is talking about something I desperately don’t want to talk about. Baby death or stillbirth is a heart-breaking subject that many of us instinctively turn away from. Ferguson didn’t … Read more
In October 2019, she laid a complaint of sexual assault. Police say they’re ‘still waiting for a free detective’ to assign to the case. Emily Writes reports. For Anne*, the morning of Thursday October 31, 2019, is indelibly printed on her memory. At 11.30am, she was brutally sexually assaulted in her home, she told The … Read more
Finding yourself homeless is terrible at any age – but it’s even worse for those under 18, who are routinely turned away by emergency housing providers, writes Aaron Hendry. “Our response to Covid, on the face of it, had a very simple premise: stay home, save lives. That simple requirement forced all of us as … Read more
Kathy Errington introduces a conversation with Anjum Rahman on online harm, an extract from the upcoming BWB text Shouting Zeroes and Ones, edited by Andrew Chen. Articulating what matters when we look to reduce online harm is becoming ever more important in a context where states are increasingly turning to regulation to address harms caused … Read more
The Borrowdale case, which goes before a full bench in the High Court today, demonstrates a society taking its basic governing commitments seriously, writes Andrew Geddis. As time goes by, it becomes ever more apparent that New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 has worked as well as we could hope. We didn’t just flatten the curve, … Read more
Piiata the lab was supposed to paper over the cracks of Nadine Anne Hura’s broken family with beads of glittering gold. Instead, she began to dismantle the house one panel and one cushion at a time. She was second to last of the litter and fully golden. We took her home and called her Piiata. She … Read more
Parents are increasingly being encouraged to talk to their kids about sex, and the unrealistic expectations created by porn. But how much information is too much? I’m walking with my daughters around glistening Lake Hayes during the school holidays. One is 20 and in a relationship. The other is 17 and single. We’re talking about … Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen doctors and nurses cast as heroes battling a villainous virus. It may be well-intentioned, but it’s a narrative that serves no value, writes ICU doctor Alex Kazemi. In a foyer in Southampton General Hospital in the UK hangs a one-metre-square artwork, donated by the street artist Banksy during the time … Read more
David Goldsmith is a 52-year-old father of three and a very hungry man, currently on day 13 of a three-week hunger strike on parliament grounds. He talks to Mathias Corwin about the strike and his mission to raise awareness about the global climate and ecological crisis. It probably won’t come as a surprise to learn … Read more
Crucially, Australia’s ambition has been suppression, rather than elimination. Back when Aotearoa was in lockdown, many people loudly complained that we should be following Australia’s lead in dealing with the pandemic. While our strategy was to try to eliminate Covid-19, Australia was taking another path. They would try suppressing the virus instead. That meant that … Read more
The dancing plague of Strasbourg in 1518 is fertile artistic ground to explore – so much so that two identically titled productions have been released in the same year. Alex Braae reports on why that has left a New Zealand artistic company feeling aggrieved. After more than two years of development, NZ performing arts company … Read more
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is going predominantly digital for the very first time, replacing nights out at the Civic with nights in-front of the living room TV. Aaron Yap explores both the upsides and downsides to this unprecedented shakeup, and wonders if film festivals in the … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews our capital’s most iconic stretch: Courtenay Place. Every city in the country has that one place that after a certain age, a certain income bracket, or a certain night, that you just know to avoid. If you’re in Auckland, it’s the Viaduct. Dunedin? The Octagon. Christchurch? The Terrace, formerly The Strip. Hamilton? … Read more
He’s an industrial designer, a social justice campaigner, a former national softball player, and an activist member of the Filipino rainbow community. Now based in Wellington, Julian Tanaka talks to Tessa Guest. Five years ago, Julian Tanaka stood on a TEDx stage in Manila, the Philippines, and shared an excruciatingly personal part of his life … Read more
The number of active cases remains astronomical. Hopes of curbing community transmission of political disgrace in New Zealand are fading, with a succession of new reported cases raising fears that the so-called “Bowen cluster” is out of control. At a press briefing this morning the director general of parliamentary misconduct announced there was one new … Read more
The harsh new national security law has cast a shadow over Hong Kong, but the threat of Covid-19 is still big enough to keep many New Zealanders in Hong Kong from leaving. The Spinoff spoke to four people living in Hong Kong during a time of historic upheaval. On June 30 a draconian new national … Read more
The court said a prison sentence was ‘manifestly unjust’, but it had no alternative, explains Andrew Geddis. In some New Zealand prison sits a man called Daniel Clinton Fitzgerald. He has been behind bars since December of 2016. Unless something happens, of which more later, he may stay there until December 2023. All because he … Read more
Good afternoon, and welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for July 20. The latest on New Zealand news, politics and the Covid-19 crisis, updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 8.10pm: The day in sum National MP Andrew Falloon announced he would not be standing in this year’s election after reportedly sending a … Read more
What should you expect when you touch down in New Zealand, bound for your temporary hotel home? It all depends on the luck of the draw, writes the NZ Herald’s Isaac Davison in this Herald Premium article. SCROLL DOWN FOR THE GUIDE TO THE 32 HOTELS It is the lottery of managed isolation: Some returning … Read more
New Zealand has erected statues and carried out elaborate tributes for a ragtag collection of fools and racists. Hayden Donnell asks why we haven’t we memorialised one of our greatest residents, Nigel the gannet. To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love – Oscar Wilde Mana Island is … Read more