Most students at the University of Auckland have no idea that their education provider has millions invested in fossil fuels. Fossil Free UoA would be happy to tell them about it – if the university only gave them the chance, writes member Ben Martelli. Early in the morning a couple of Thursdays ago I and … Read more
An intensive self-defence and empowerment workshop puts young women in stressful roleplays of power dynamics and attempted assault. Don Rowe visits the Stand Up programme at Rodney College. “You fucking bitch, I’ll kill you!” Dragging the girl backwards, the armoured man ranted and raved, screaming obscenities as she squirmed and struggled. First she freed her arm. … Read more
The bullying and suicide rates among queer youth are dramatically higher than than for non-queer youth. Joel Bateman and Henry Yuen on how NZ schools can provide targeted support for LGBTQ+ students. The years of growing up and stepping through adolescence are a turbulent time for young people wrestling with issues of identity and self-esteem. … Read more
JackpotCity gets around NZ laws to advertise on television in a scheme that grooms gamblers, including the young and vulnerable. Authorities need to show the moral muscle to tackle it, writes Paula Snowden. Read Don Rowe’s investigation for the Spinoff here JackpotCity has navigated its way around our laws and its getting away with it. … Read more
Sam Brooks explains his decision to cut all men out of his comedy festival diet. Yeah, that’s a clickbaity headline. The fact is, this year I saw a fraction of the comedy festival shows I usually see. Last year, when I was the comedy editor here at The Spinoff, I saw 42 and reviewed almost … Read more
It might seem unbelievable to today’s students, but it’s true: once upon a time students regularly drank in bars, lured there by cheap drinks and a crude culture of excess. Chelle Fitzgerald looks back on the student pubs Dunedin has loved and lost, and talks to Marc Ellis, the celebrity sportsman who tried to resuscitate … Read more
Kiwi journalist in London Jono Hutchison took the train to Windsor to join the Royal Wedding crowds. This was his day. Much like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, my Saturday started early, full of nerves and in famous surroundings. My alarm went off at 4:40am; I rose regally from my bed and put the micro-kettle … Read more
As the world fusses endlessly over Ed Sheeran marrying a Suits star, The Spinoff unearths a true royal scandal. The Spinoff has learned that a New Zealander once sold two plastic dog poos to Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1995. This exclusive breaking news arrives on the same day that her youngest son, Prince Harry, … Read more
Kirsty Johnston’s piece recounting an encounter with a creep in a pub has prompted an online response which leaves Morgan Tait happy to conclude that Johnston’s conclusion – that NZ has an issue with toxic masculinity – is 100% irrefutably wrong. Rejoice! A New Zealand journalist wrote about a run-in with a man in a Dunedin pub this … Read more
News that an employment deal for migrant workers in the construction sector made joining a trade union a sackable offence should by rights have generated disgust and protest, but with a few exceptions the union movement was strangely quiet, writes barrister Greg Lloyd. I was disgusted – but not surprised – to see reports that an … Read more
Alex Casey goes on an odyssey to discover the fate of Auckland’s disposable sanitary waste. Chux cloths. The odd bit of corn. A set of false teeth. It was the worst Generation Game any human had ever played, and I hadn’t even found what I was looking for yet. I was staring into the void … Read more
Almost universally, men’s online dating user descriptions are terrible. Madeleine Holden recently launched a modest enterprise to help. A little over a month ago, I launched my latest, semi-serious side hustle: for the princely sum of $25, I will draft men’s Tinder or Bumble bios for them. Soon after I dashed off the tweet that … Read more
Former YHANZ board member and Opoutere YHA member Mark Ebrey argues that the national board of the Youth Hostel Association is losing touch with the people that really matter – it’s members. All over the country, organisations are losing touch with their stakeholders. The Plunket Society recently taking over local branch funds is just one example of … Read more
‘Mental disorders’ rank as the third-leading cause of health loss for New Zealanders. Kyle MacDonald makes the case for universal, free counselling for all. What if I told you that one of the biggest and most expensive health problems in New Zealand was not only being ignored, but although we had the technology to treat … Read more
Able-bodied commuters who think they’re up against it would do well to take a moment to consider the challenges faced by disabled people on the same journey. Robyn Hunt writes. My daily commute these days is a few steps to my home office in my PJs and barefoot if I want. But I’ve done the … Read more
KiwiSavers like you and me are the benefactors New Zealand’s infrastructural development is looking for, says Simplicity’s Sam Stubbs. The government is signalling that New Zealand’s infrastructure build, apart from anything rail related, will go slower than expected. Increases in core funding, let alone mouldy surprises at Middlemore, are draining the national coffers of monies that any … Read more
Headquartered in a tax haven, JackpotCity is getting around legal restrictions to advertise on television with what critics call a ‘Trojan horse’ – then using aggressive sales tactics to keep vulnerable gamblers hooked. And according to the Department of Internal Affairs, it’s all totally legal. Don Rowe investigates. Imagine yourself at home on your couch. … Read more
New Zealand’s fifth biggest city is remarkably thin on culture, writes Rebecca Galloway, and it’s time to change that. Just like the real Miami. Tauranga is a beach city marked by an ever-expanding tidemark of homes under construction. Its low-rise downtown is studded by colourful shops with names like Tres Chic! and Fancy That, proving … Read more
The Spinoff concludes Commute Week by sharing commute images from you, our lovely readers. *We received exactly one (1) photo from the South Island. The Spinoff hosted Commute Week last week, seven days committed to discussing all things transport. Throughout the week we asked for pictures of your commute and you all delivered. The main … Read more
Commute Week: Sam Brooks muses on the commutes of his life – what they meant to him at the time, and what they mean now. As a near lifelong Aucklander, I’m also a near lifelong participant of the Auckland commute – a commute which I will apparently spend 20 working days in each year. This is … Read more
Commute Week: The rush-hour drive from Rangiora into Christchurch is bad enough to give Auckland a run for its money. But Jamie Small finds it’s no longer a commute from hell. The morning run into Christchurch from the north is famously terrible. The burgeoning population of the neighbouring Waimakariri District adds to the congestion problem, … Read more
Our well-being and our bank accounts are intricately linked. Simplicity’s Amanda Morrall says the relationship between your financial health and your mental health is inseparable. Juggling the worlds of yoga and finance as I do is a mind bend for some folks. They can’t seem to square the rational with the esoteric. On the surface it … Read more
Why are young Māori over-represented in New Zealand’s youth justice system? Maybe we could start by asking them, writes Victoria University’s Sarah Monod de Froideville. The first Youth Justice Indicators Summary Report, recently released by the Ministry of Justice, shows that young Māori (and Pasifika) increasingly make up the greatest proportion of young people who appear … Read more
Is there nothing that public transport can’t do? My commute nearly killed me. And it also came pretty close to dismantling my marriage. To get from my home in Titirangi to my previous job in Penrose, I had little choice but to drive. The journey by car was 30 minutes to an hour depending on … Read more
Commute week: Some encounter it routinely, for others its existence may come as a surprise. Is enough being done to combat sexual harassment on our public transport networks? Alex Casey talks to the people trying to change your commute for the better. It was, sadly, the first penis I ever saw in real life. I … Read more
Commute week: In the second of his new 5 people series, Toby Morris sizes up the lord guardian of the extra seat, and other passengers we love to hate. Jay Barker, bag-dozer Jay’s got a bag full of textbooks and his head in an essay that’s due on Wednesday morning that he hasn’t started. … Read more
Commute week: You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, unless perhaps it’s a human placenta or a cello. We present the most bizarre items left behind on public transport. Amid the seething mass of humanity who drag themselves from light-polluted sleep to the various cars, coaches and carriages which deliver us to work … Read more
Crowdfunding platform PledgeMe has been overwhelmed by demand from investors into a medicinal cannabis company. How? Why? Find out in today’s cheat sheet. What’s all this then? PledgeMe, the crowdfunding website where you can donate to a band’s debut record, or help get an artisanal homemade coffee roaster off the ground, has a new big … Read more
Nicky Elliott loves her daily commute from Wairarapa to Wellington. It’s the heart of her social life, and she’s already on to her second train husband. My train journeys started about nine years ago when my husband was offered a job in the Wairarapa. I didn’t even know where that was; I had married a … Read more