Spinoff royal correspondent Alex Casey waits at the Auckland Viaduct for the celebrity encounter of a lifetime. ‘They will be here any second,” said a feverish woman holding a GoPro, an accurate 23 minutes before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would wobble their way down the Viaduct like me after a mad night at … Read more
He had better things to do, and so do you, writes Aaron Hendry. On Tuesday, hundreds of Christians gathered outside parliament to protest the removal of Jesus’ name from the parliamentary prayer. If you’re like me, perhaps your first thought upon hearing that news was…. really!?!? With everything that is going on in this nation, … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s acclaimed, free daily curated digest of all the most important stories from around New Zealand delivered directly to your inbox each morning. Sign up now Email *
A cyclist filmed delaying a driver on a west Auckland road is so alarmed at the reaction that he’s issued a plea for Kiwis to come to their senses and end the cultural war. The inflammatory issue of cyclists riding two abreast or otherwise inconveniencing those in automobiles is regular clickbait on New Zealand news … Read more
Last week, Auckland Theatre Company announced their 2018/19 programme – one with a glaring lack of representation for women and new New Zealand work. James Wenley takes the company to task. Auckland Theatre Company’s response can be found at the bottom of this piece. During the uproar over the Pop-up Globe’s decision to use an all-male cast … Read more
A Wellington sexual abuse support group invited a survivor and scientist, who is transgender, to speak at their AGM this week. Almost immediately came a barrage of attacks from all around the world. Wellington Sexual Abuse HELP does exactly what our name suggests. We exist to support survivors of sexual abuse, their families and whānau, … Read more
Our new series produced by the New Zealand Red Cross profiles people from refugee backgrounds who now call New Zealand home. Our second Kiwi Legend: Niborom Young, who found herself locked out of Cambodia and stranded here in 1975. In March 1975 Niborom Young was in New Zealand on a student exchange. She had just … Read more
Everyone’s a loser in Colin Craig’s defamation case against blogger Cameron Slater – but the only victim is Rachel MacGregor, the woman for whom this saga has become a living nightmare, writes law professor Andrew Geddis. The finally decided defamation proceedings in Craig v Slater must be the stuff of judicial nightmares. A complicated fact … Read more
Wellington woke to the delightful news that Iapa, beloved wine barrel with legs currently being adorable at Wellington Zoo, has popped out seven precious little capybara pups. Noted capybara fan Emily Writes got the exclusive. Capybaras are a wonderful animal, universally loved and adored – they are friends to all. They are like rat pig … Read more
In her fourth Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt navigates the lost connections of a 12 hour time difference. I wake up and check my phone. My lock screen is a list of notifications. While I’ve been sleeping, friends on the other side of the world have messaged … Read more
Our new series produced by the New Zealand Red Cross profiles people from refugee backgrounds who now call New Zealand home. Our first Kiwi Legend: Jorge Sandoval, who fled Pinochet’s Chile for a new life in the Hutt Valley. It’s November 1988 and competitors in the Vuelta Ciclista de Chile (Chilean cycling race) are jostling … Read more
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time to produce a local version of beloved board game Scrabble, featuring Kiwi slang and te reo words. But then the Scrabble diehards played it. New Zealand is a country with a proud history in competitive Scrabble. At this year’s Alchemist Cup, the world’s richest, most … Read more
This year’s Weapon Expo is being held in Palmerston North amid an insistence from organisers that it’s not an arms fair. Valerie Morse of Auckland Peace Action explains why they’re not buying that line and will be protesting regardless Next week hundreds of weapons company delegates, military brass and government officials will descend on Palmerston … Read more
According to reports over the weekend the MP Jami-Lee Ross has been admitted to mental health care after being ‘sectioned’. But what does that mean? What is sectioning? In New Zealand, when you have a mental illness, you can generally decide your treatment options. Sectioning is a term that covers situations where someone needs mental … Read more
The Botany MP is experiencing mental illness – and he, like the women he has hurt, and his family, are as deserving of help and support as anyone else. Public speculation and privacy violations only serve to hinder this, writes Scout Barbour-Evans Scout Barbour-Evans is an expert in being mentally ill, living with PTSD, Bipolar Disorder … Read more
Best playground in New Zealand? According to whom, exactly? Tara Ward and her kids review Whanganui’s greatest claim to fame. In last week’s debut episode of The Great Kiwi Bake Off, one contestant made a statement that shook me like an underbaked ornamental trifle terrine. “I’m from Whanganui,” said amateur baker Clayton, “and it’s a … Read more
Add a new central library and a cinema complex to the Margaret Mahy playground and you’ll see a template for how the rest of the rebuild should work, writes James Dann. Christchurch in the rebuild is a city of extreme moods. There are bursts of energy, followed by long periods of frustration and stagnation. The … Read more
Writer and poet Paula Harris reflects on a childhood friend’s experience with abuse – and how her own upbringing affected how she viewed that abuse. Content warning: this essay discusses the physical and emotional abuse of children. Her name was Allie. Well, no, actually, it wasn’t. Despite never having changed a name for anyone in … Read more
First hand experiences of prison are shared in a new exhibition that provides an insight into the collateral consequences of incarceration. Eighteen people from around Aotearoa have shared their stories with Justspeak and sat for 18 different portraits, displayed at Potocki Patterson gallery in Wellington and online. It’s an opportunity to hear stories that are too … Read more
Dick pics are widely considered a form of sexual violence. But while that is often true, they can also be funny, sexy and playful. Apparently, some straight guys even send them to each other. Why do men send dick pics? Some research and popular commentary suggests it is for reasons of narcissism and over-confidence. Some … Read more
The mother of Maureen Pugh, the National MP whom Simon Bridges called ‘fucking useless’, has rounded on the party leader, calling him a ‘dumb arse’ in return. Good on her, says Emily Writes: all power to mummy warriors, of all ages. I was at Chipmunks – sometimes it feels like I live there – when … Read more
Do you have a terrible boss story? We asked friends and whānau to share their worst for National Boss’s Day*. It’s a fact that a significant portion of bosses are jerks. Many are great**, but a great many are jerks***. Here are the best/worst boss stories we have ever heard. Names have been changed, to … Read more
Last year it was the ubiquitous seagull! But who has nabbed the title of the Dirtbag Bird of the Year 2018? Sam Brooks has the result. It’s been a fierce two days of votes, deep-seated resentment and Facebook comments. I’ve done the numbers (looked at how many votes) and thought hard about my decisions (y’all … Read more
As the number of New Zealand citizens deported from Australia grows, so too does the death toll. Don Rowe reports on the rising human costs of Australia’s immigration reforms. This feature was made possible thanks to reader contributions via Spinoff Members. See here for more. In June 2017, at the Anchor Baptist Church in Lower … Read more
New Zealander Sam Bookman was working at the Supreme Court in Israel when the so-called ‘Boycott Law’ was being challenged. That law has now seen two NZ women targeted in the first ruling, over an open letter they wrote to Lorde last year. Here Bookman – no fan of the boycott movement – argues that … Read more
Website Barstool Sports has been called misogynist, racist and a cyber bully. It’s also the latest sponsor of the NZ Breakers basketball team. Madeleine Chapman has a browse through their content to see if they’re a good fit. The New Zealand Breakers have a “no dickheads” policy. It was instituted by previous owners Paul and … Read more
An Israeli court has ordered Jewish New Zealander Justine Sachs and Palestinian New Zealander Nadia Abu-Shanab to pay thousands after Lorde cancelled a Tel Aviv concert. Having being flooded with offers of financial support, the women explain here why they’re keen to raise funds – not for a foreign court, but for the ordinary people … Read more
RNZ is set to announce the Bird of the Year for 2018 on Monday morning. In honour of this event, and our finest dirtbag birds, Sam Brooks revives The Spinoff’s alternative contest: New Zealand’s Dirtbag Bird of the Year. Reacquaint yourself with last year’s Dirtbag Bird of the Year finalists and the popular vote winner. … Read more
A Jerusalem court has ruled that two New Zealand women should cough up almost $19,000 in damages after calling for Lorde to boycott Israel. The chances of that being enforceable, however, are extremely slim, explains Otago law professor Andrew Geddis An Israeli court has ordered that two New Zealanders, Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab should … Read more