The On the Rag team meet one more time to talk about how the Covid-19 crisis affects women and what you can do to cope. It’s our last podcast for a little while so crack open a bottle of something fizzy and join us as we undergo what is basically a group therapy session. We … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
A new life has been put on hold for people in the Auckland resettlement centre, writes Greta Yeoman. For the 135 refugees based at the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland, plans to resettle in towns across New Zealand towards the end of April are up in the air with the country four-week-long Covid-19 lockdown … Read more
Amid the seemingly endless bad news at the moment, a new initiative is trying to get people to think positively. While the world may seem like it’s slowed to a crawl, there are still people out there creating and innovating. The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically altered how we’re living, but aspects of this change could … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
Misinformation about adrenochrome and its supposed links to Covid-19 has gone into overdrive. But what is it? We separate the substance’s literary history from its real-world functions. Read more about the bizarre life of the ‘truth about adrenochrome’ story here If you’ve spent much time online lately, like everyone else in lockdown, you’ve probably fallen … Read more
Our essential workers deserve more than a round of applause, but danger pay is not the answer, writes Kerry Davies from the Public Service Association. Did you shower this morning? Is the kitchen clean? Have you changed your sheets since we went into lockdown? Have you vacuumed? Are you taking that rubbish out? For most … Read more
Reverend Scottie Reeve on the meaning of Easter during the Covid-19 pandemic, and why we need to embark on a journey of collective repentance. On Wednesday while I was going for a walk, I came across a friend on the Wellington waterfront. We’ll call him David. David had no idea what was happening at the … Read more
From managing the expectations of friends and whānau to making sure there’s enough PPE, Jihee Junn talks to an Auckland-based funeral director about what their job has been like under Covid-19. More than 400 people are said to have died during New Zealand’s first week under level four lockdown. Only one had a direct connection … Read more
If and when New Zealand exits alert level four and its restrictions, contact tracing becomes the most important tool we have to prevent having to lockdown all over again. So what does it involve, and are we doing enough of it? Just quickly – what is contact tracing? Contact tracing is what happens to determine … Read more
The face mask question is more complicated than it might at first seem, explains Siouxsie Wiles. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here. Read Toby Morris’s new Side Eye comic, created with Siouxsie Wiles, here. And more of Siouxsie’s … Read more
Alex Casey talks to a physiotherapist about how we can all save our necks and backs from a world of pain while working from home during the lockdown. As we enter another week of lockdown, you might be starting to feel a new twinge at the nape of your neck, or a growing ache in … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence. I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to “be brought before the … Read more
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction on the movement and … Read more
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise that our dreams are getting … Read more
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four. On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has an incurable blood cancer, … Read more
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown. A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data, reveals the scale of human behaviour change the pandemic has wrought. Using … Read more
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown. On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the face of all our … Read more
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered. I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled. I should elaborate. It was a Monday, and my mum, … Read more
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer. It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south of Temuka. Although it … Read more
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here. As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our communities and the world … Read more
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. New Zealander Paula Simpson reports from her corner of the global lockdown. I’ve been living in India for more than three years now, and still I haven’t even begun to understand its rich, complex history and culture. This article is only from … Read more
About those handles and rails and communal areas … The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here. As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how … Read more
With the nation in lockdown and schools closed, many parents will be looking for ways to keep educating their children. Amee Parker is in her final year of a PhD looking at homeschooling, and she has some advice. As a nation we are now forced, out of necessity, to stay in our homes. For those … Read more
History warns that we should be wary of the misuse of power in the name of public health, writes Scott Hamilton. Content warning: This feature contains distressing descriptions of racism against Māori. In the winter of 1913 a group of Māori appeared in the office of Arthur Manning, the mayor of Hamilton. The visitors had … Read more
Lotta Dann reflects on staying sober in the midst of a global crisis, and shares some advice for those who are looking to cut back. If you’ve seen the endless news reports and social media posts about alcohol, you’d be forgiven for thinking all New Zealanders are drinking away their days in lockdown. But you’d … Read more
Striking scenes from the first week of alert level four restrictions in our biggest city. As New Zealand adjusted to alert level four Covid-19 restrictions, the usually bustling streets of Tāmaki Makaurau were all but deserted. We captured this surreal, strangely beautiful footage during the first week of lockdown, visiting familiar Auckland locations including the … Read more
There’s never been a better time to connect our tamariki with nature than now. Paul Ward, co-founder of the gamified learning platform Wild Eyes, explains how. Thanks to Covid-19, cabin fever is on the curriculum for primary and intermediate school kids and their parents. Keeping Kiwi kids active, curious (and awake!) during lockdown – let … Read more