In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Week, writer Carolyn Gillum has put together five poetic ‘cures’: poetry as a prescription for anxiety and stress, for feeling less alone, for insight into yourself and the world, for hope and for friendship. Poetry. Twenty-five years out of high school and the word still conjures the clink … Read more
In her third Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt begs folks back home to spare a thought for a Whittaker’s fanatic stuck with no supply. I am stomping across the office when I hear someone call “EEL.” I carry on stomping across the office. Then I realise it’s … Read more
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week so your Facebook feed is awash with encouragement to “reach out”. It’s important people know they can reach out if they need help – but what happens next, asks Emily Writes. Like many, many, many other people, I have quite bad anxiety. It has been described by various clever doctor … Read more
Pallas Hupé Cotter took a part time role helping women transition from welfare dependence to paid employment. She says participants loved the course, and it seemed to be working. So why did the government cancel it? It’s not often I’m moved to tears by helping people write their CV or LinkedIn profile. But when I … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here For more on drug law reform in Portugal read Max Harris’s reporting for The Spinoff here The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s acclaimed, free daily curated digest of all the most important stories from … Read more
This week New Zealanders of all backgrounds rallied around compatriots who found themselves disenfranchised and humiliated after being denied the birthright of every ordinary hardworking Kiwi: entry into the Koru Lounge. The Spinoff is proud to publish this harrowing and brave first-person account from a Koru Club member, whose identity we have agreed to protect. … Read more
Wellington resident-cum-vandal Hunter Macdonald claims he was bored out of his mind when he came across Len Lye’s Water Whirler sculpture and broke it. Madeleine Chapman and Sam Brooks discuss. Madeleine Chapman Hunter Macdonald had a day off yesterday. So like all 28 year old adults, he decided to climb a piece of art in public. That … Read more
A new study reveals self-confidence among people in Australia can significantly differ because of their month of birth, and it’s down to when you start at school. Researchers Lionel Page, Dipanwita Sarkar and Juliana Silva Goncalves explain their findings (Spinoff editor’s note: In New Zealand, children start school between the age of five and six, typically following … Read more
Despair is understandable. So is shouting about the facts. But to effect real change we need to appeal to values, to deploy effective story-telling and psychological techniques, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw The latest report for the IPCC is out and the singular message is we need to pull finger on climate action. For many people the … Read more
Kate Aschoff began university with high hopes for her future. A year later she had dropped out, unable to cope with the stresses of university study while navigating her mental illness. I started studying at Victoria University of Wellington in March 2017. I was planning to complete a BA majoring in Sociology with a minor … Read more
We must never be afraid to stand up against undue influence, writes Anne-Marie Brady, the NZ academic whose publications about China led, she believes, to break-ins at her home and office Earlier this week America’s public radio NPR published a major feature which identified New Zealand and Australia as “Ground Zero For Chinese Influence”. The … Read more
In the latest episode of their Spinoff TV segment looking at stuff white people inexplicably like, comedy group Frickin Dangerous Bro – Jame Roque, Pax Assadi and Jamaine Ross– overcome one of their strongest fears.
Looking for a bit of publicity for your small business? Just stir up anti-kid outrage and watch those dollars roll in, says The Spinoff’s marketing expert* Emily Writes. I’m here to introduce you to the newest marketing techniques all the Boomers are going crazy for! Or as the millennial say: Avocado! I’ve been in marketing … Read more
Hamish Parkinson investigates one of our great nation’s least-known foundational moments: Sir Edmund Hillary’s ultimately fruitless 1960 expedition to Nepal to look for the yeti.
In the second of a series on PhD students delving into fascinating subjects, Madeleine Holden talks to Tara Pond, who is studying sexuality and gender. ‘I think 90% of the world thinks that queer people are all sexually fluid, that they are all whores, and that they have no morals, commitment or integrity, which is … Read more
After almost 20 years with a drinking problem, newly sober Baal Caulfield* knows a thing or two about the lies you tell yourself as a ‘functional’ alcoholic. Sweet sweet liquor, nectar of the gods. Bringer of joy the world over. Whether it’s a glass of your favourite Pinot with your wife over dinner or drinking … Read more
The chair of Universities New Zealand appears to think that training programmes alone will solve the gender imbalance in the academic workforce. But we need to stop trying to fix the women and focus on fixing the system, write Sandra Grey, Cat Pausé and Sarah Proctor-Thomson, representing the Tertiary Education Union. One of the key … Read more
We need to find an alternative to the dangerous enforcement tactics of the global response to the drug trade, or people will keep dying, writes Kali Mercier. New Zealand’s recent deaths from synthetic cannabinoids are deeply tragic and should never have happened. A report released yesterday by the Global Commission on Drug Policy shows how … Read more
In her second Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt writes about seeing the city through the eyes of people who are just passing through. I am at an indoor market in Brixton. I have never been to this market before, though it is held every week, about a … Read more
If the Otago University proctor won’t respect students’ private property rights, students may have to take matters into their own hands, writes Otago law professor Andrew Geddis. Calling out members of your own institution for what you think is bad, indeed unlawful, behaviour is something of a fraught task. These are colleagues, after all, and … Read more
Otago University’s Dave Scott, a former police officer, appears to be making a habit of entering private property and removing inhabitants’ possessions, reports Critic editor Joel MacManus. A second flat is alleging that University of Otago Proctor Dave Scott entered their home without permission while everyone was out and took their bongs. This comes just … Read more
Dave Scott has defended going into a privately owned flat without permission and taking bongs worth hundreds of dollars, writes Critic editor Joel McManus A Leith Street flat says University Proctor Dave Scott trespassed and stole their property when he entered their house while they were out and took several bongs/water pipes. About three weeks … Read more
We’ve been telling the world our level of marine protection is world-leading when in fact, it’s tiny – about time we owned up, writes Livia Esterhazy of WWF In New Zealand, our Exclusive Economic Zone is enormous. Fifteen times the size of our country’s land mass, our EEZ is the fourth largest in the world. … Read more
New Zealand needs Ginny Anderson’s miscarriage amendment – it’s a subject close to my heart, writes Alex Penk A bill to provide bereavement leave for miscarriages will soon face its first vote in parliament. It’s a subject that’s close to my heart. I can vividly remember the day, nearly six years ago, when I drove … Read more
A controversial speech by a school principal who said students skipping school are more likely to get raped speaks to a failure to understand the complex issues teenagers face, writes Waikato youth worker Jared Ipsen I wagged school a lot as a teenager. Dealing with heavy anxiety and depression, trying to juggle the enormous social pressures … Read more
As we celebrate Suffrage 125, let us not forget that just as disabled people were excluded in 1893, many continue to feel excluded from society today, writes Hannah Gibson. This week, we celebrated 125 years of women finally getting the vote in Aotearoa. It’s indeed something to celebrate. It took a petition of 32,000 individuals … Read more
Late on Monday night saw an unprecedented, large-scale ‘point in time’ census of Auckland’s homeless population, ‘Ira Mata, Ira Tangata’. Toby Manhire went out counting, together with about 700 others. Think about it like this, said Wilf Holt: “You’re going to be visiting people in their bedrooms.” He said: “If tomorrow night someone flashes a torch … Read more
Why did a global first happen in a small and isolated corner of the South Pacific? Historian Katie Pickles has the essential primer One hundred and 25 years ago today, Aotearoa New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant all women the right to vote. The event was part of an ongoing international … Read more
Last night The Aunties founder Jackie Clark won not just the Community and Not for Profit category but also the supreme prize at the special suffrage anniversary edition of the Westpac women of influence awards. To mark that achievement, which recognises her work with women survivors of domestic violence, we republish here her conversation with Alex Casey, … Read more