Trial of the Outback: The Lindy Chamberlain Story is a potent reminder that fighting for the truth is worth it, writes Sam Brooks. “The dingo ate my baby!” If there’s one line synonymous with Lindy Chamberlain’s story, it’s that. There’s a cruel irony that it’s not even what she said after the tragic death of … Read more
John Summers recalls the delight of seeing agapanthus when he first moved to Wellington, and how they’ve come to represent the perfect imperfection of his home city. Lately, the book I find myself returning to again and again is one featuring Hairy Maclary and his friends. This isn’t by choice, at least not mine, but … Read more
With both the Rainbow Pride Parade and the Pride March imminent, Sam Brooks looks back on the schism that led to the end of the Auckland Pride Parade. What’s the difference between the Rainbow Pride Parade and the Pride March? Glance at photos from the two events side by side and you might think you’re … Read more
Tara Ward transcends the cat v dog debate with a list that also includes a goat, a duckling, and a butcher who likes to share his meat. New Zealand bloody loves Hairy Maclary. We’ve made films about his life, erected statues in his honour, and turned Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy into the bestselling book … Read more
The Australian legislation is crumby, but the response from Zuckerberg, in contrast to the Google approach, presents all sort of hazards, including to New Zealand, writes Hal Crawford. The widely anticipated yet almost unthinkable happened yesterday when Facebook banned all news links on its social network in Australia. At the same time, Google has been … Read more
Carla Crozier, one of Shortland Street’s most memorable villains, is back to wreak havoc in Ferndale. Actor Elisabeth Easther tells Tara Ward why she’s returned to the role – and what’s different this time around. It’s been 25 years since Carla Crozier waved goodbye to Shortland Street, but fans have never forgotten her. Nobody knows … Read more
A recent Twitter thread, which asked Pākehā who are learning te reo to be gentle with Māori who don’t know the language, sparked a lot of conversation. Ātea editor Leonie Hayden reflects on her own experience, and offers some advice. It was a Pākehā friend who first told me that it wasn’t appropriate for her … Read more
Chloe Blades spent two years working to rehabilitate men like those in Jared Savage’s Gangland: New Zealand’s Underworld of Organised Crime. She explains how the book has upended her thinking. Gangland has the kind of title I’ve spent six years avoiding. Books and films on gangs are too often sensationalist. Typically, we get brief intros … Read more
A week after it made its attention-grabbing debut in the US, the documentary Framing Britney Spears has arrived in New Zealand. It’s an uncomfortable watch that forces us to consider our own complicity in Spears’ suffering, says Emily Writes. I’ve been following the collective reckoning around the United States and beyond after the screening of … Read more
A surreal anti-lockdown protest took place today outside the Auckland electorate office of the prime minister, who is currently in Wellington. Alex Braae went along. If the anti-lockdown protesters outside Jacinda Ardern’s Mt Albert electorate offices say their voices aren’t being heard, they’re absolutely right. For most of this afternoon they were drowned out by … Read more
The follow-up to When A City Falls celebrates the people of Christchurch and the wins of the rebuild, but loses some nuance in the edit, writes Erin Harrington. I’ve lived in Ōtautahi Christchurch all my life, but it took me until this week to watch Gerard Smyth’s 2011 film When A City Falls. This award-winning, … Read more
The American lunch meat has a special place on dining tables halfway across the world, from the Philippines to Japan to South Korea – and now, on the tables of Asian communities in NZ. How did this happen? Jihee Junn investigates. Believe it or not, but Spam and Seolnal (or Lunar New Year as it’s … Read more
After years of hearing Aucklanders bicker over who has the least horrific school uniform, Tauranga-born Janaye Henry decides once and for all who is serving the best looks at the inter-school events. Spoiler alert: Contains pinstripes, skorts and cufflinks. Who knew there were so many colleges in Auckland? Certainly not me when I embarked on … Read more
Its name and design are meant to evoke peace and reconciliation, but the proposed Olive Leaf building in historic Arrowtown has instead stoked division, backlash and now court action. Oliver Lewis reports. When the Eiffel Tower was proposed in Paris, a group of artists and writers lodged a petition of protest bemoaning it as a … Read more
From seemingly out of nowhere, the veteran tech giant has waded into the war between Facebook, Google and the Australian government – and may emerge the ultimate victor, writes Hal Crawford. The “big friendly giant” of the tech world, Microsoft, has shown in recent days it retains every bit of the cunning that has seen … Read more
Books editor Catherine Woulfe reviews Bethany Clift’s Last One at the Party. What lots of reviewers mean when they say “compelling” is, I think, something like, “Reading is my job now; thank god this one was actually quite good.” I’m going to say “compelling” about this one and I mean something closer to the dictionary … Read more
Ahead of Waitangi Day, UK schools and education companies tried to engage with Māori culture. But a string of examples, ranging from ignorant cultural appropriation to harmful and inaccurate depictions of history, show colonial attitudes remain entrenched. After 200 years, Aotearoa is finally incorporating what’s hoped to be a more accurate and nuanced teaching of … Read more
For all its faults, writes Danyl Mclauchlan (whose new book Tranquillity and Ruin is itself published this week), the Labour-turned-ACT politician’s 1996 books speaks for something that now seems almost old-fashioned: a group of true believers that had a vision of how the world works. Read Richard Prebble’s reflections on I’ve Been Thinking, 25 years … Read more
On Wednesday, Stuff wrote a glowing tribute to aspiring property magnate Ana Meredith. We commissioned a special Spinoff data project to look into some of Meredith’s ambitions, and unearthed some disturbing implications. Stuff’s profile of the Christchurch serial landlord Ana Meredith is pitched as an inspirational riches-to-riches tale. It starts in 2016, with Meredith nervously … Read more
Our understanding of the way Covid-19 is transmitted from person to person has changed a lot since the pandemic began. A year in, here’s what we now know. It’s just over a year since the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised its highest alarm over Covid-19, declaring it a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). … Read more
Got a friend who’s got it wrong about vaccination? Here’s how to set them right. Yesterday New Zealand provisionally approved use of the Pfizer vaccine, sparking a fresh burst of argument about Covid-19 vaccinations online. Many people have concerns about the vaccines and how they will impact people. I worked with Jo Kirman, associate professor … Read more
Intensive care nurse Edith Scott came to London two years ago to experience life in an exciting, diverse global city. Now she’s part of the desperate fight against Covid-19. She tells George Fenwick about the realities of life in an East End Covid ward. Last week, the UK hit a sobering milestone in the Covid-19 … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Russell T Davies’ It’s a Sin, which tackles the Aids crisis in a powerful, intimate way. Early on in It’s a Sin, Russell T Davies’ new drama about the HIV/Aids crisis in 1980s London, the disease is still so new that Ritchie – the show’s protagonist – refuses to believe it even … Read more
Incensed by yet another sky-high school uniform bill, father-of-three Dylan Reeve tries to get to the bottom of the school uniform racket. For New Zealand parents, the end of January tends to mark the end of one nightmare – the seemingly endless summer school holidays – and the beginning of another: new uniform-stationery-and-shoes season. The … Read more
At times, the knowledge that a return to NZ won’t be likely for an unknowable amount of time can bring an achy sort of feeling, writes Emma Gilkison. In Berlin, we are in the middle of a long, dreary Covid winter. We’ve been back in lockdown since mid December, after the “lockdown-lite” of November. The … Read more
In the latest of her series of food comics, Liliana Mañetto Quick pens a love letter to the barbecue ‘not ribs’ at the capital’s vegan cafe Sweet Release.
He’s been popping up all over central and south Auckland, and his moves have found him local TikTok fame. So who is this mysterious dancer? Jihee Junn caught up with him for a chat. The first time I saw him dancing was from a TikTok I’d stumbled on late last month. Crossing the road at … Read more
From 2000 to 2007, the party drug BZP was legal to buy and available from your local dairy. What happened? ‘This is what movies say drugs are like,” says Jim*, remembering how he felt when he took six party pills in one night. He was a musician, student, and regular drug taker – he’d munted … Read more
Born into one of New Zealand rugby’s royal families, Brooke Stanley Pao is a daughter of privilege. Now she’s the face of the fight against poverty in Auckland. Every Tuesday and Thursday just before 10am, a small queue forms on an Onehunga street corner, waiting for the glass doors to slide open on hope. These … Read more