International Women’s Day is a day to reflect on how far women have come, and how far we still have to go. Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond looks to the future and what sexual and reproductive health barriers remain to be overcome. In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding voting rights, … Read more
Working on my Night Moves is the latest show from award-winning theatremaker Julia Croft and marks a philosophical change for her. Julia Croft is one of Auckland’s most essential theatremakers at the moment. The work she makes is consistently engaging with the zeitgeist in performative, accessible ways. The difference, according to the artist herself, with Working on … Read more
Tomorrow, early childhood educators and support staff around New Zealand will be wearing black and white. Teacher Mel Burgess explains why. There are plenty of ways to mark International Women’s Day on Friday 8 March. You can take some time out to honour women who have blazed trails in the past or look to those … Read more
New Zealander Gregory Burke is due to start as Auckland Art Gallery director next month. The new director of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is under investigation for alleged workplace harassment in Saskatchewan, Canada. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission is investigating a complaint filed by a co-worker against Gregory Burke, according to a report by … Read more
In a stunning new run of Wild Dogs Under My Skirt, Samoan women are allowed to be whole, writes Madeleine Chapman. I had two mums growing up. There was Pani (pronounced “Bunny”), my mum, who spoke Samoan on the phone to her sisters for hours, howling with laughter, yet seemed angry all the time. She could silence … Read more
Is it a bird, is it a plane? Online sleuth Elle Hunt fires up the search engines. What is “the Kiwi way of life”? The question has been troubling me ever since Simon Bridges defined it as definitely not a capital gains tax. OK then. Is that it? Bridges later elaborated that it was “planning reform … Read more
Today is Ash Wednesday, when the annual 40 Days for Life anti-abortion campaign kicks off. This year, explains ALRANZ president Terry Bellamak, the pro-choice counter-protest has a new focus: breaking the silence. A large majority of New Zealanders trust women and pregnant people to decide for themselves whether to receive abortion care. Only the people … Read more
The recent controversy over the arming of Christchurch police prompted Amanda Thompson to remember the time she was confronted by the United States’ unapologetic gun culture. I’ve never understood guns; I’ve never even understood the need to hold a gun. I don’t want any more of them around than the bare necessity. I’m as keen … Read more
Can New Zealand afford for the world to give up meat eating, and go fully vegan? Can the planet afford for that not to happen? Here are the key issues around whether or not the world should make that choice. This piece by Emma Cropper was originally published on Newshub. While some have declared 2019 … Read more
More and more cases of the scary spotty disease measles are popping up in the news. Here’s what you need to know about whether you’re in danger. Getting a serious dose of measles isn’t a pleasant experience. The symptoms are extremely not fun. Ear infections. Pneumonia. The wild shits. Your brain literally swelling so much … Read more
Arthur William Taylor was released from prison this month, and is set to continue his legal work started behind bars including campaigning to restore voting rights to people in prison. But why did prisoners lose the right to vote in the first place? On November 10, 2010, a young Simon Bridges took to the … Read more
How will schools respond to their students walking out on strike later in March? The actions of two Auckland schools show competing visions on how to deal with the activism, with one Principal coming out in full support, reports Alex Braae. Schools are at odds with each other over how to respond to upcoming student … Read more
Frontline police in Christchurch have been told to carry guns until further notice following two incidents in the city during which police were shot at. But more guns are not the answer, argues Emilie Rākete. Last Saturday, the police say a man fired shots at a patrol car in Christchurch. Then on Tuesday, after a … Read more
As New Zealand increasingly backs queer rights, are our Christian churches evolving or standing firm that homosexuality is sinful? Max Towle investigates for RNZ. This piece originally appeared on RNZ. When he was young, every week Ryan Curran would step forward and silently beg and plead at the altar. “God please take this disease from … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.
Christchurch’s massive hand sculpture Quasi is moving to Wellington. Refusing to be palmed off, Emily Writes set out to learn his story. I heard him before I saw him. He was awkwardly trying to get into the Mojo (you know the one on Courtenay next to the one on Dixon that’s next to the one … Read more
Internal affairs minister Tracey Martin has announced that legislation that would allow transgender people to more easily change their sex on birth certificates will be deferred following concerns around changes made by the select committee which, said Martin, ‘occurred without adequate public consultation’, creating ‘a fundamental legal issue’. The decision, widely deplored by the trans … Read more
The landlord who wrote about her disgust at the industry’s ‘negligence and greed’ has sold her rental property. Here she explains why. It’s been two and half years since my husband and I bought our below average rental in its unpopular town, dragged it into the 21st century with a few improvements, and sat back … Read more
In the debate about the safety of Lime e-scooters, one voice has been largely unheard – that of the disabled community, which has had serious concerns from the start, writes Chris Ford. As a disability-rights and pedestrian-rights activist, I applaud both my own Dunedin City Council and the Auckland City Council for their decisions to … Read more
Felix Marwick recalls near misses, close calls, sweary moments and other daily adventures in cycling in Wellington. It’s entirely possible there’s no worse city for safe and easy biking in New Zealand than Wellington. The roads are narrow, the hills are steep, and the local drivers just seem to have this habit of absolutely, positively, … Read more
The government today announced a raft of measures aimed at making rental homes warmer, drier and healthier. If there’s one thing tenants enjoy more than totting up how much of their wages are going to fund an extension to their landlord’s Waiheke holiday home, it’s enumerating all the highly specific ways in which their own … Read more
Eight years to the day since the earthquake that tore Christchurch apart, James Dann takes stock of the city rebuild. For most of the country, it’s just another Friday. For an increasing number of people in Christchurch, it’s just another Friday too. For many of us though, it is the 22nd of February, quake day. … Read more
A New Zealand ban on kwila would send a signal that we’re serious about protecting our planet, its ancient forests and the people whose lives depend on them, writes Maire Leadbeater of West Papua Action Auckland Deforestation is said to contribute about 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In Brazil and Indonesia logging and forest conversion … Read more
‘Kissing’, ‘necking’, ‘snogging’, ‘making out’ – there are a plethora of ways to describe the locking of lips. But Elle Hunt’s favourite is one that’s deeply unique to the Kiwi vocabulary. After a year and a half in London, my accent is increasingly English, my standards for flat whites have plummeted, and I’ve come to see … Read more
In the debate around the right to self-identify, the dignity of the individual should be a cornerstone, writes NZ Privacy Commissioner John Edwards Should transgender people have the right to change official documents to record their sense of identity? This question is attaining increasing prominence, following the recommendation by a parliamentary committee that a statutory … Read more
This week has seen a series of disturbing revelations about the Pike River mine disaster. Rebecca Macfie, author of Tragedy at Pike River Mine: How and Why 29 Men Died, explains what it means On day two of the latest round of breaking news about the suppurating wound that is the Pike River disaster, the health … Read more
A Canterbury investors’ group is the latest example of crying ‘hacked’ when it’s really nothing of the sort, writes Dylan Reeve. It’s so common now that we barely bat an eyelid – some company holding troves of personal information is hacked and personal data is leaked online… sometimes even on the dark web! But this … Read more
Students at the University of Otago will be able to separate the tinnys from the sinnyz this Orientation Week in a first-ever trial between OUSA and KnowYourStuff NZ. This article first appeared in Critic Te Arohi, the University of Otago student magazine. The Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA) will introduce drug testing for O-Week, the … Read more
With screeds of media coverage of self-help strange tie fan Jordan Peterson, Emily Writes ponders if there possibly might be anyone more interesting to get on your podcast. Noted beef eater Jonathan Peitersen is almost literally covered in the excited juices of male journalists everywhere right now. You can’t avoid it even if you wanted … Read more