Yes, I’m lazy, and yes, I was motivated by the spectre of Trump, but it’s still surprising that I found it easier to vote for the US presidency this month than in the Auckland council elections, writes Madeleine Chapman. I’ve done a lot of voting in my 22 years of life. When you grow up … Read more
Online dating brings with it a whole heap of questions about expectations and etiquette, not least the vexed issue of sexting. Should I? Must I? Ms X has some advice. Dear Ms X, My six year relationship has just ended. This is obviously very difficult and I need counselling on a number of levels including … Read more
Next week The Spinoff Music launches, thanks to the support of Spark. Duncan Greive explains what it will be, who will edit it and why it’s such a big deal to him. Last night I watched with a slightly queasy feeling as a group of eight or so musicians stood on a stage off to … Read more
They’re some of our biggest industries but how much do you really know about New Zealand growers and farmers? Test your knowledge below. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
Donald Trump may be enveloping the US in his godforsaken embrace, but is he also ruining New Zealand? Hayden Donnell talks to Tayyaba Khan about being a Muslim in the age of Trump. Most of us are living in fear of a Donald Trump presidency. If you don’t inhabit one of the Republican states imprisoned … Read more
There’s a revolution underway. Deep within the Auckland Viaduct lurks the beginnings of our own tiny Silicon Valley. At GridAKL, more than 50 startups, in industries as diverse as medicine, robotics and augmented reality, are running the entrepreneurial gauntlet looking to build a high-growth business – or at least a get a second funding round. In On … Read more
Targeting people who attended a euthanasia advocacy group meeting under the guise of a road safety operation is deeply disturbing. The police minister needs to condemn it immediately, writes Toby Manhire Breath-testing checkpoints have these days become a staple of the New Zealand driving experience, as reliably familiar and cheering/infuriating as flocks of sheep being … Read more
The first step in tackling racism in New Zealand: stop telling people to ‘get over it’ and start actually acknowledging their experiences, says Ally McCrow-Young. I’ve never felt more like a Kiwi until I moved almost 20,000 kilometres away from home, to Sweden. When I arrived three years ago in Malmö, in the south of … Read more
The housing crisis has dominated the news cycles this year, but there’s still a lot we don’t know. Professor John Tookey is an expert in the area and is ready to answer your questions. Housing makes me money. Take it easy though. I’m not a property investor or a builder. In fact, I only own … Read more
Pacific nations have been upbraided for failing to make advances on LGBTI rights. But too many overlook the impact of colonisation, the stranglehold of the church and alternate conceptions of gender identity, writes Patrick Thomsen As Australia flip-flopped over its same-sex marriage vote, retired Australian High Court Judge Michael Kirby earlier this month accused Pacific … Read more
Are unions in New Zealand dwindling? With unions trending towards older workers, they may very well be.
Three American prison experts were in NZ when Judith Collins announced a $1bn boost to the corrections department and 1,800 more jail beds. Expansion of an approach that even Bill English calls a ‘moral and fiscal failure’ is a huge mistake, write Erica Meiners, Isaac Ontiveros and Rachel Herzing. And, below, a statement from the … Read more
This week, a teenage special: Ms. X dishes out advice to a uni student with a crush on an older guy, and to a teen girl sick of hearing her sister have loud sex. Hello Ms. X, I am a 17 year old girl and I have two problems. So I have a twin sister … Read more
Before you switch your brain off for the long weekend and the All Blacks once again embarrass the Wallabies, test your knowledge of our favourite frenemies from across the ditch. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
This Labour Weekend, Christchurch welcomes back the Festival of Transitional Architecture, a biennial examination and celebration of the post-earthquake rebuild. Summer Hess talks city-making with the FESTA team. Most people wouldn’t plan an event in central city Christchurch while the army still controlled the Red Zone. But Jessica Halliday, an architectural historian and the co-founder … Read more
There’s a revolution underway. Deep within the Auckland Viaduct lurks the beginnings of our own tiny Silicon Valley. At GridAKL, more than 50 startups, in industries as diverse as medicine, robotics and augmented reality, are running the entrepreneurial gauntlet looking to build a high-growth business – or at least a get a second funding round. In On … Read more
Its ostensible subject was rugby’s recent sex scandals, but yesterday’s op-ed by Northland Age editor Peter Jackson seemed more concerned with criticising the sexual behaviour of Warriena Wright, the New Zealander whose death led to Gable Tostee facing murder charges in a Brisbane court. An appalled Kristina Hard responds. Yesterday nzherald.co.nz republished a vitriolic screed … Read more
My boyfriend was meant to have surgery today to prevent further paralysis. For us, the stakes in the doctors’ strike could hardly be higher, writes Laura Taylor My partner and I are two twenty-something students who, in a surreal turn of events, for the past year and a half have found ourselves up close and … Read more
Last week Metro editor-at-large Simon Wilson hosted a Spinoff debate at Auckland’s Ika Seafood Restaurant about the future of the Labour Party. But does the party have a future at all? He’s not convinced. The Unitary Plan debate in Auckland opened another faultline in the progressive movement, just in case you didn’t have enough to … Read more
They say everyone has a book in them – even assorted Real Housewives – but how many of us actually get published? And how healthy is the industry that supports our novelists, poets and non-fiction writers? Two charts from Figure.NZ take a closer look. For more data on the New Zealand publishing industry, check out … Read more
Blaming homelessness on bad choices misses the core of the problem – we created the circumstances that allow such deprivation to flourish, Moira Lawler of Lifewise tells the Spinoff. Images of families living in cars and dilapidated garages thrust the plight of homeless people into headlines in 2016. One of the groups at the sharp … Read more
This week Ms X advises a letter writer who can’t stand her flatmate – but suspects she might be the problem, not him. Hi Ms X, I have a weird dilemma about my flatmate and would love some advice. Our new flatmate has been living with us for a few months now, and I don’t … Read more
To mark the release of a new online film about intelligence agencies and privacy, seven New Zealand artists reflect on self-censorship in the surveillance age. As many as 11% of Yahoo Chat conversations involve naked participants. That is what British surveillance agency GCHQ discovered while testing their surveillance powers in the operation “Optic Nerve”. While … Read more
It’s late on a Friday afternoon and the weekend beckons – what better time to test your knowledge of occupations and employment in New Zealand? Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
Morgan Godfery pays tribute to his friend, the impassioned and inspirational workers’ advocate Helen Kelly. Helen Kelly, the mighty trade union leader, the irrepressible campaigner, the bane of dodgy bosses everywhere, was my comrade and hero. She is dead at 52. Even when you know death is coming, when cancer invades the body’s cells and … Read more
The inspirational union leader and workers’ advocate has died aged 52. Today we republish her vision for the party that many hoped she’d one day lead. The tributes are flowing in this morning for the formidable Helen Kelly. In November last year The Spinoff invited contributors to write a passage they’d like to see pasted … Read more
Once again, low voter turnout in local body elections has sparked a round of hand-wringing about the public’s lack of political engagement. But is political apathy really the problem, asks Marianne Elliott. Despite some promising efforts to get people excited about exercising their democratic rights, this year’s local body elections again failed to attract a … Read more
There’s a revolution underway. Deep within the Auckland Viaduct lurks the beginnings of our own tiny Silicon Valley. At GridAKL, more than 50 startups, in industries as diverse as medicine, robotics and augmented reality, are running the entrepreneurial gauntlet looking to build a high-growth business – or at least get a second funding round. In On the … Read more
In an opinion piece for the Spinoff yesterday, the Labour leader said his party will work to ‘eradicate’ child poverty. Janet McAllister explains why she’s raising a sceptical eyebrow. When it comes to cutting the granite rock of child poverty, it takes a lot more than a plastic pair of pinking snips. These are the … Read more