Responding to reports that packs of cat-sized rats have taken over Titirangi, Don Rowe travelled to West Auckland to find out the truth. There’s an infestation in Titirangi and it’s not just white girls with dreadlocks. Rats “the size of cats”, ten to a pack, staring down residents like a gang of mean teenagers. Frothing, … Read more
On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, New Zealand Chinese writer Tze Ming Mok writes a beautiful, bitter letter to an old friend in Xinjiang, grappling with matters of conscience, community survival, and Anne-Marie Brady’s ‘Magic Weapons’ paper. Originally published in the new collection Life on Volcanoes: Contemporary Essays But where were we? You … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.
Budget 2019: Unless we can find some way of taxing wealth as well as incomes, New Zealand is headed for an intergenerational economic meltdown, writes Grant Thornton tax partner Murray Brewer. It’s hard to get your head around how much money the government has. The slew of spending announcements in the run-up to Budget Day makes … Read more
A watery war zone has emerged in New Zealand’s biggest city, with Waiheke-Auckland ferry cutbacks leaving abandoned souls desperate for home and hungry for retribution. Josie Adams risks everything to experience the nation’s most hostile ferry journey. The mood was set early on by cement walls and wire caging. Blocky orange fencing like industrial Duplo … Read more
Following a roadside birth in an ambulance, the Southern DHB chief said it is ‘important for mothers and midwives to plan well ahead of their delivery’. Emily Writes wanted to find out more about how pregnancy works, so she asked a man who knows. Here at The Spinoff, we had our first piece on the wonderful … Read more
Last week Hannah Tamaki, Destiny Church co-founder and wife of controversial church leader Brian Tamaki, was announced as the leader of Coalition NZ, a new conservative Christian political party seeking election in 2020. Otago University senior law lecturer Simon Connell remembers another equally controversial leadership bid. In 2011, Hannah Tamaki was nominated for the presidency … Read more
Good news! We’re launching a free daily newsletter featuring all of the Spinoff’s stories published that day. Read on to sign up now. Social media dominates how many consume content today. Whether it’s via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram stories, our reliance on these platforms gives them immense power over what we see and when we … Read more
David Farrier dives deep into the Hotel Bed Jumping Community on Instagram and is quickly told: ‘Should you pursue with your article and publish it we will be taking action’. He chose to pursue the article. I’m a big fan of Instagram, and an even bigger fan of what Instagram influencers are getting up to. And recently … Read more
The launch of a party fronted by Destiny Church leaders was a media event to remember. Alex Braae was there. Somewhere along their journey through the public eye, Hannah and Brian Tamaki got the idea that the media hates them and their church. They have never been more wrong about anything. From the moment Destiny … Read more
Enough of those inoffensive, latte-sippin’ jams selected purely to appease the baby boomers: the most memorable places to dine use music as just one more way to express themselves. If you’ve worked in a restaurant or café in the past 20 years – even if you’ve dined out a whole lot – you’ll likely be familiar … Read more
Stories linking cases of extreme child neglect to plant-based diets are peddling dangerous rhetoric, writes Jai Breitnauer. When I read about the malnourished toddler in Sydney this week, who at 19 months was so severely starved she looked like a newborn baby, I was heartbroken and outraged. But I also felt something else – anger. … Read more
Last night at the Voyager Media Awards in Auckland, The Spinoff was named website of the year. Managing editor Duncan Greive is still in shock. It’s 8.43am and I’ve had I’m guessing ~4 hours sleep, but who in the world needs that because The Spinoff has won website of the year at the Voyager Awards. … Read more
Madeleine Chapman wrote a book and was asked to speak about it at a writers festival. The problem was, nobody wanted to listen. No one came. Seriously, no one came. The first sign, a red flag drifting through my subconscious, was the modest attendance at the three person 2pm panel. Three writers, all known, one … Read more
Paula Bennett’s refusal to go head-to-head with Chloe Swarbrick on the cannabis referendum suggests that the National Party is yet to come to terms with what it means to be in opposition, writes Ben Thomas Schitt’s Creek is a Canadian comedy series about the wealthy Rose family, who lose their privilege, and are forced to … Read more
If you’re a man who isn’t sure that you’re a good partner to the mother of your children, then you’re probably not, says Emily Writes. There’s a thing that happens on Facebook groups and group chats across the country on, or the day after, Mother’s Day. Every year without fail I see it – mothers sharing the … Read more
As Instagram comes under increasing scrutiny for contributing to poor mental health and body image, Alex Casey discovers a growing number of local women who are using the platform to empower and educate. The average Instagram user under the age of 25 spends 32 minutes a day on the app. That’s a cool 11392 minutes … Read more
Two Sketches is a webseries featuring Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris chatting and drawing with a selection of New Zealand illustrators, artists, comic artists, cartoonists, sketchers and doodlers. In episode 2, Toby visits with the political cartoonist of the Sunday Star Times, Dominion Post, The Press and Waikato Times, and New Zealand’s first woman editorial political … Read more
Hard to break, cheap as chips, filled with instant coffee or weak tea – it’s the mug of the marae, the staffroom, the factory canteen, the church hall. It’s our mug, says John Summers. Our son was born almost three months ago. He’s close by, fighting sleep in his bassinet as I write this. He … Read more
This afternoon the recommendations from a wide-ranging study of our welfare system will be released. Hannah McGowan, who has lived on a benefit for most of the past 20 years, writes about the indignities and stresses of her life – and the issues she hopes today’s report will address. The first time I went on … Read more
Emily Writes has been leaked the minutes to a Mother’s Day gift guide focus group for Farmers department store. Here is the unedited transcript of the hour-long meeting. The Spinoff has obtained an exclusive transcript of the focus group that become the basis for the 2019 Mother’s Day Farmers catalogue – one which featured 11 … Read more
The bizarre story that started back in 2016 just won’t leave David Farrier alone. The saga now includes the courts, the police and a very stylish velvet suit. It’s just over a year since I wrote the conclusion to my Bashford Antiques saga. That four-part series focussed on an Auckland antiques store that had turned … Read more
A wave of theft has hit adult store Peaches and Cream, with rampant clowns and suspected drug addicts pilfering expensive sex toys over the weekend. Don Rowe reports. A cadre of clowns spotted apparently pilfering a 19-inch, double-ended dildo from a store in Auckland last night is just the latest in a series of bizarre … Read more
Emily Writes heads over to Harry and Meghan’s whare to discuss the impending (or maybe it’s happening right now) birth of the next royal child. *potentially For years now, Princess Meghan of Buckin’am Windsor has been flaunting her baby bump and causing havoc in the UK White House by being visibly pregnant. We have read all of … Read more
Michael Hill Jeweller is currently urging the public to buy for “all your Mums” this Mother’s Day, including your real mum and your ‘work mum’. Madeleine Chapman wonders how many other mums are out there. Did you ever accidentally call your teacher ‘mum’ in front of the class? Did you shart? Did you not speak … Read more
Alex Casey woke up at 5.59am this morning to watch John Campbell’s Breakfast debut. Here are some of the highlights. Less than two weeks since the announcement that John Campbell was moving to TVNZ’s Breakfast to take Jack Tame’s place, there he was on the telly. It was 6am in the shiny pink studio and … Read more
This is a big deal for NZ journalism, writes Toby Manhire. What will be paywalled and what won’t? And have they got the price right? New Zealand media push notifications cannot often be accused of downplaying news, but the Herald’s announcement this afternoon of “one of the biggest New Zealand media moves of 2019” was … Read more
In the weeks after the Christchurch we’ve seen those who continue to seek profit from hate. But we’ve also seen an awakening of sorts, and that is where the hope is, writes Anjum Rahman We barely had time to take a breath from the tragedy in our own country, when another happened in Sri Lanka. In … Read more
A month ago the ABC published an open letter to Jacinda Ardern from Summer Joyan, a 13-year-old Australian Muslim. Ardern replied personally. Here, Summer Joyan writes on the impact of the Christchurch attack, and the NZ prime minister’s response, in her country. I recently wrote an open letter to Jacinda Ardern. I wrote to her … Read more