Society

Wellington’s Evolve clinic does a brilliant job helping disadvantaged youth – and now it’s unable to cope with demand

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This week it was reported that a Wellington youth clinic that offers free doctors’ appointments, mental and sexual health services, and support for homeless teens has closed its books to new patients. The loss will be felt throughout the city, writes Jess McAllen. There’s a scene in the 80s movie Heathers where, following a spate … Read more

A guide to the people who are turning your office kitchen into a house of horrors

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Someone always leaves their cereal bowl in the sink, the microwave is filthy and there’s never any forks. The case is clear: the modern office kitchen is the closest us cossetted Kiwis get to hell on earth, says Greg Pritchard. In the last 50 or 60 years the New Zealand workforce has changed massively. Back … Read more

Climate refugees in our own country: why NZ needs to divest from fossil fuels

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From an idea floated in Rolling Stone magazine just five years ago, divestment – the withdrawal of investments in immoral industries – has grown into a global campaign. Now New Zealand businesses, government organisations and community groups are being encouraged to join the movement, writes 350 Aotearoa’s Niamh O’Flynn. A whole town evacuated, powerless in … Read more

Canterbury Rugby is taking responsibility and taking a stand, to rid the game of racial abuse

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Racist abuse is not welcome in our game. By launching We All Bleed Red, Canterbury has courageously become the first union to tackle discrimination head on in this way, writes the race relations commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy Until you’ve run out onto a sports field and had someone call you a “black c—” or an “ape” then you’ll … Read more

Getting your shit together… in the workplace

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Getting Your Shit Together is a new monthly column on everyday mental health from Auckland mindfulness educator Kristina Cavit. Here Kristina looks at simple ways to cope with workplace stress. A couple of years ago I was disorientated and hooked up to a drip at Auckland hospital, using my free arm to email my new … Read more

New Zealand rape survivors, in their own words (WATCH)

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What do rape survivors think about the New Zealand justice system? How do they think we should address victim blaming and Kiwi rape culture? In a video collaboration between Frame News, Wrestler and The Spinoff, launched today to mark Rape Awareness Week, seven rape survivors talk candidly about their experiences. Here Frame News’ Kim Vinnell … Read more

The Kapiti Expressway, Māori road names, and the media outrage machine

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The usual defence of stories about Pākehā enraged by Māori ‘uppitiness’ is that the media are simply reporting people’s views. And that’s bollocks, says Aaron Smale. If you drive down the new expressway on the Kapiti Coast towards Wellington, when you get near Waikanae there is a slight bend. On the left a large concrete wall … Read more

Celebrating our vets on World Veterinary Day: The story of Daniel the cat

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World Veterinary Day is tomorrow, 29 April. To celebrate veterinarians and the pets we love, here’s the story of Daniel, his survival, and the very special home he has with Amy Wilson-Hughes and her wife Frith. It’s 2am, and my wife’s phone is ringing. Groggy, she answers the call and places it on speaker. It’s … Read more

From Chesdale to camembert: how cheese helped shape NZ identity

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A new public discussion series explores the link between primary products – dairy, meat, wine and wool – and New Zealand national identity. Victoria University’s Prof Lydia Wevers introduces the series. Every Kiwi baby-boomer remembers having to drink quarter-pint bottles of warm milk at playtime, which at my school had been left outside on the … Read more

Here, let me help. Start by imagining your penis is bleeding

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Following that Waikato Times column about blokes suffering from women’s periods (comprehensively rebutted here) Michele A’Court generously proffers some empathy advice for men. Hey Tom O’Connor, I think you’re doing “empathy” wrong. You’re doing that thing where, instead of imagining what it is like to experience something, you just describe what it is like for you to know … Read more

A champion is crowned: Air New Zealand vs United Airlines

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Madeleine Chapman flew to Los Angeles on United Airlines and flew back on Air New Zealand. One was better. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone. Is something that annoying people love to say out of context. But sadly it’s true, and no more so than when a New Zealander finds him or … Read more

Lest we forget: 1917, New Zealand’s darkest year in military history

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2017 is the centennial anniversary of New Zealand’s darkest period in military history. This Anzac Day, Don Rowe looks back on 1917, a time of fleeting hopes and unprecedented human loss. While the Gallipoli campaign is rightfully remembered as both a tragedy and the birth of a national character, it’s easy to forget that almost … Read more

Memories of memorials: Looking back at the Anzac Days of my life

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Over the past two decades, Sandra Sarala has attended Anzac Day ceremonies in Wellington, Berlin, Moscow and at Gallipoli itself. She reflects on the meaning of our war memorial day as the terrorist threat grows in Europe and Turkey slides towards dictatorship. Growing up in Dunedin’s splendid isolation, Anzac Day meant ‘holiday, shops closed’. Aside … Read more

After the equal pay decision, joy – and anxiety – from care workers who missed out

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Amidst the celebration of last week’s landmark care worker pay settlement came concerns about how future wage discrepancies will affect the mental healthcare sector. Jess McAllen reports. Last Tuesday it was announced that workers in aged and disability residential care and home and community support services will receive pay rises between 15 and 50 per … Read more

Rebuilding flood-stricken Edgecumbe with the Ngāti Awa Volunteer Army

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The flooding of the Rangitaiki River left devastation for residents of the small Bay of Plenty town Edgecumbe. To help with the recovery effort local iwi Ngāti Awa put out a call for volunteers. People from across the district and the country answered. Jason Renes joined them  Your shoulders start to get tight after a … Read more

The Good Farmer: in defence of (non-industrial) dairying

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Gina Williams’ family has owned the Waikato dairy farm she grew up on for generations, and today they still tend the land with pride. She writes about the other side of the dairy industry, where care for animals and the environment remains paramount. Earlier this month, the current affairs show Sunday aired a segment called … Read more

A Very, Very Important Person’s guide to Queenstown

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Queenstown has some special systems and facilities to cope with billionaires, movie stars and VIP’s. But here’s our guide to Queenstown for the VVIPs – like CIA director James Comey, FBI director Mike Pompeo, and other Five Eyes bigwigs expected in Queenstown this weekend. Queenstown is a lovely, unspoilt mountain resort in the South Island … Read more

After covering the price of tampons for Seven Sharp, the Pharmac decision has me seeing red

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TV reporter Kristin Hall spent much of 2016 drawing attention to the high price of sanitary products in New Zealand – a cost barrier that affects most women, but has serious implications for those at the bottom end of the income scale. Here she responds to this week’s decision by Pharmac not to fund sanitary … Read more

Obituary: Goodbye to Bernie, the goodest boy in Wellington

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Laura Vincent farewells Wellington’s famous furry friend, Bernie the beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog.  It’s true of Wellington that we have to talk ourselves up desperately to stay here. Yes the weather is garbage and there’s the constant threat of earthquakes and no sodding international musicians will perform here, but we’re still the coolest little capital … Read more

Believe it or not, Bill English’s government might just be feminist after all

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Yesterday’s news of a major settlement for aged care workers is a big win in the fight for pay equity in New Zealand. Now it’s time to close the loopholes that could prevent women with children benefitting from the deal, says Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw. In announcing that the female-dominated aged care and caring work force … Read more

St Patrick’s Silverstream parent: handling of school sexual harassment a ‘spectacular moral failure’

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Two women teachers who were sexually harassed by male students have resigned following ‘considerable distress’. Here a parent writes of her dismay at the way the college has dealt with the incident and the message it sends to young men. Two women teachers at St Patrick’s Silverstream who were sexually harassed by male students who … Read more

Parking nightmare! How the car lobby is hijacking the Christchurch CBD rebuild

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Plans for post-quake Christchurch promised a focus on transport alternatives and a compact, pedestrian-friendly core. But media generated hysteria over car parking – and the meddling of Gerry Brownlee – is threatening to send the city back to the 60s, writes James Dann. Since his appointment as the head of CERA, Gerry Brownlee has often been called the … Read more

‘Inmates behave because they actually like being here’: what I learned at a Norwegian prison

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There are plenty of lessons for New Zealand’s criminal justice system to be drawn from the Scandinavian approach, writes Max Harris in this edited excerpt from his new book The New Zealand Project. An increasing number of New Zealanders accept that our criminal justice system – and our approach to imprisonment – is broken. Bill … Read more