One woman’s online mission to blow the cover of false prophets around the world is becoming more and more taxing. Anke Richter talks to guru hunter Be Scofield, who is determined to bring sexual abuse in spiritual disguise to light. On our first meeting, via video link, Be Scofield was somewhere on the east coast … Read more
From Shepherds Bush to Acton, Wimbledon to Wandsworth, and even Hackney, London is sprinkled with New Zealander strongholds, writes Elle Hunt. I am a little less than halfway through the Hackney Half Marathon when I realise that I haven’t done enough training, and that that was a mistake. Choosing to listen to Louis Theroux’s Desert … Read more
Public health campaigns constantly encourage parents to have their children walk to school. Yet when the unthinkable happened, a coroner pointed the finger at the parents. Dion and Fiona Neems have been through every parent’s worst nightmare. Their precious child Carla was killed by a rubbish truck outside her home. A tragic accident like this … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.
The tax department is currently chasing millions from so-called ‘High Wealth Individuals’ who won’t pay up. But when inequality is spiralling, why not set a maximum level of wealth, and simply take the rest for the betterment of all, asks Alex Braae. Drive into Omaha and you’ll barely notice the road. The tarmac throughout the … Read more
Fears are growing about the seemingly unstoppable descent into alt-right radicalisation many young men are falling into. A visiting expert says it doesn’t have to be like that, reports Sophie Bateman. Since the Christchurch mosque attacks, a number of urgent changes have been made in New Zealand: semi-automatic weapons have been banned, media guidelines for … Read more
It’s a common argument for religious belief: if you believe that everything ends with death, then what’s the point of life? But the finality of death is exactly what gives value to life, writes atheist Baal Caulfield. “The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.” – Carl Sagan The other day, while outside filling … Read more
They call themselves conscientious objectors, but doctors opposed to abortion are causing significant harm to patients, according to a new study. Alex Casey reports on a call for a crackdown. Patients seeking abortion care in New Zealand are experiencing significant delays, financial cost and feelings of stigma and embarrassment as a result of the broad … Read more
From fine art school graduates to hobbyists, magazine-making talent from all over the city is showcased in Auckland Zinefest. Lucy Zee went along to check out the zines and meet some makers. Aucklanders love a festival. If it’s not food, wine or farm equipment, then it’s celebrating creatives. You may have come across a flour-pasted … Read more
One of the many unspoken rules of British life is that when one is drinking at the pub with others, one buys rounds. For the naive New Zealander, it’s stressful AF, says Elle Hunt. At the pub one Friday night in London a few weeks ago, I was at the bar with a large group … Read more
Sephora store employees may have swept some confetti down Auckland city’s drains on Saturday, and people got angry… at an entire generation. On Saturday, French cosmetics giant Sephora opened its first New Zealand store on Auckland’s Queen Street. Excited makeup enthusiasts queued overnight for the honour of being the first through the doors to get … Read more
More than 20,000 Aucklanders don’t have access to regular showers or the ability to wash their clothing. Alice Webb-Liddall tags along on a shift with Orange Sky, who are giving homeless people back these basic needs. On an overcast Friday morning outside the Auckland City Mission, a group of volunteers are gathered around an orange … Read more
Six things councils can do right now to make the ’emergency’ worth more than the paper it’s written on. Councils are declaring climate emergencies across the country, but with only a decade to cut carbon emissions in half, it’s time for them to act like this is an emergency. So, what can our cities be … Read more
Hundreds of artefacts connected with the lesbian community in New Zealand are displayed in a small volunteer-run museum in West Auckland. Charmaine always had crushes on girls. When she was head girl of Auckland Girls’ Grammar, she fell in love with her deputy. Her mother warned her of the dangers of intense friendships with women, … Read more
For generations, women have done the heavy lifting in the fight for social change. What will it take to get more men to give a fuck about their children’s future? At every question and answer session I attend, I get a variation of the same question. If it’s not asked by the chair, it’s asked … Read more
In a world of racist tweeting presidents, climate crisis and cricketing travesty, what you need in your life is this palliative conversation about Dunedin’s Baldwin Street losing its crown as world’s steepest street to Ffordd Pen Llech in Wales The slope of Baldwin Street, Dunedin, curled into a melancholy frown this week with the announcement … Read more
Dreamed of traveling long term, but at a loss about how to afford it? Here’s how Kristin Hall and her partner managed it (spoiler: involves a lot of brown rice and cabbage). *Scroll to the end for an important note about privilege I’m not good with money, never have been, probably never will be. I … Read more
For their latest ageing episode, Hilary Barry joins the On the Rag team to talk wrinkle creams, menopause and why people still think she is Jeremy Wells’ mum. This month’s episode of On the Rag is all about ageing. Time ravages us all, of course, but there’s no denying that women bear the bigger burden … Read more
It comes thrice a year to pummel your aura into cosmic shards. Horoscope lovers are fiends for it, knowing that soon they’ll have a whole month of stellar excuses for their abominable behaviour. Oh yeah, Mercury’s in retrograde, baby! But what does that mean? I almost had a breakdown writing this article. I want to … Read more
Eating vegan, buying less plastic and cycling are all useful things you can do for the environment, but not everyone can manage that. Generation Zero’s Alexandra McNeill has something that everyone can do, right now. Biking to work makes me angry. I’m constantly aware of car drivers, especially when they’re in my lane, or cutting … Read more
A new ‘bath salt’ mimicking MDMA has been found circulating at the University of Otago re-orientation week. Drug testing by the New Zealand Drug Foundation has revealed a batch of the previously unidentified substance eutylone is currently circulating at the University of Otago’s re-orientation week. Eutylone, first detected by KnowYourStuffNZ in December 2018 (known then … Read more
Nowadays, sex toys aren’t all dildos and vibrators. Emily Writes tries out the cutting edge in sex toy technology. I know exactly when I first read about the Satisfyer Pro 2. Still shaking, my friend had taken to Instagram to spread the gospel, writing that she’d had the best orgasm of her life with it. … Read more
The Women’s Bookshop has been on Ponsonby Road longer than almost any other shop. This year, it turns 30. We talked to owner Carole Beu about the bookshop and its upcoming birthday party. Since 1999, the Women’s Bookshop been in its same, central spot in Ponsonby. Around it, restaurants, art studios and boutiques rise and … Read more
Immediately following the Christchurch Mosque Shootings the National Telehealth Service expanded by 120 staff to counsel more than 800 New Zealanders by phone. Don Rowe visits to learn how they did it. In the 24 hours following the Christchurch Mosque Shootings an army of counsellors mobilised across New Zealand. Psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers scrambled … Read more
From last Monday, single-use plastic bags are banned in New Zealand. To keep the ball rolling, here are five more things we could look at banning. The hotly-debated plastic bag ban came into effect last Monday, aligning New Zealand with the likes of the EU, the UK, Peru, and other nations with bans on single-use … Read more
It seems quite a claim to say Chocolate is choreographer Sacha Copland’s best work considering her immense talent but it’s true, says Emily Writes. I am not a fan of immersive theatre or interactive dance or whatever you want to call it. I don’t want to get involved. While my son will wildly volunteer for … Read more
Police social media posts showing children being arrested have drawn the ire of the Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft and Green MP Golriz Ghahraman. The Children’s Commissioner has criticised police and media organisations following widely shared social media posts showing the arrest of three children in Auckland yesterday. “We are concerned with posts by police and … Read more
As of this week, I don’t qualify for a benefit. Why? Did I suddenly get healthy enough to work fulltime? Did a distant cousin leave me their millions in Apple stock? No. I just made the mistake of falling in love. Two years ago, MP Alastair Scott was asked about disabled people losing their financial … Read more
We did not create the queues outside the Manurewa Work and Income. Policies that entrench poverty did, write Auckland Action Against Poverty in an open letter Kia ora Minister Carmel Sepuloni and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Let’s be very clear: Auckland Action Against Poverty did not create the poverty that has led to people lining … Read more