The Best Of

We warned you. We begged. We pleaded. And now we demand accountability

by

For more than five years, Muslim representatives knocked on every door we could, we spoke at every possible forum. We pointed to the rise of vitriol and the rise of the alt-right in New Zealand, writes Anjum Rahman of the Islamic Women’s Council of NZ How does a heart break? Does it shatter into a million … Read more

What it means to be a Muslim New Zealander in 2019

by

Faisal Halabi – an Arab, a Muslim, and a New Zealander – reckons with what all those identities mean for him.  I’m sitting in my London flat, thinking about the distance between myself and New Zealand. It’s just over 18,000km. I’m also thinking about the distances between the different identities I’ve balanced growing up in New Zealand: … Read more

Hatred lives in New Zealand

by

The warning signs for yesterday’s atrocity were everywhere, if only we’d looked – or listened to New Zealand’s Muslim community, writes former race relations commissioner Susan Devoy. A few weeks ago a good friend rang me to say her family and friends had once again been threatened by racist, anonymous strangers. The fear in her … Read more

The atrocity profits

by

New Zealanders were furious with news organisations that broadcast video and manifesto related to the atrocity in Christchurch. But what about the online giants which made it all accessible? I’m sitting in a hotel room in Singapore, having just left Facebook’s APAC HQ, about to attend a news conference organised by Google, thinking about Christchurch. … Read more

Christchurch terror attack: How to support NZ’s Muslim communities

by

This Friday marks one week since 50 Muslim New Zealanders were killed at worship. Here are some things you can do to remember the lives lost and support a devastated community. Observe a two-minute silence Prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday that a two-minute silence will be observed on Friday to remember the lives lost in … Read more

Big Google is watching you

by

Danyl Mclauchlan stares into the abyss that is Google and wonders if we are about to experience the birth of a new, even more terrifying capitalism. I feel it most when I’m at the supermarket. I’m standing there looking at jellymeat but at the same time, I’m aware of being embedded in a web of … Read more

Contemplating the end of the world with Extinction Rebellion

by

Take urgent action on climate change or face mass, worldwide death – that’s the stark message of a new global protest movement that calls itself Extinction Rebellion, who have recently become active in New Zealand. Alex Braae reports on a demonstration the Auckland chapter undertook, and the increasing alarm being caused by climate inaction.  What … Read more

What Cook missed when he landed

by

The current New Zealand innovator of the year, Ian Taylor, is on a mission to sear the real story of New Zealand’s discovery into the minds of a generation of New Zealanders.  In 1990 a team from the University of Otago’s small computer science department entered the world’s foremost test of computational skill: the ACM … Read more

In New Zealand, our cops don’t carry guns

by

The recent controversy over the arming of Christchurch police prompted Amanda Thompson to remember the time she was confronted by the United States’ unapologetic gun culture. I’ve never understood guns; I’ve never even understood the need to hold a gun. I don’t want any more of them around than the bare necessity. I’m as keen … Read more

RIP Luke Perry, the TV bad boy we all wanted to save

by

The actor Luke Perry, whose performance as Dylan McKay in the TV show Beverly Hills 90210 was an early ’90s cultural phenomenon, has died aged 52. Emily Writes pays tribute. Luke Perry, aka Dylan McKay, was my first love. There was no separating Luke from Dylan. He was Dylan. Wearing a white shirt and leather … Read more

Dear Police et al: Your cutesy social media account is bad and foolish

by

The flood of fun memes, hot takes and utterly inane dog speak springing from the social media accounts of public organisations and corporates needs to stop, writes Anna Connell Call me old, call me jaded, call me someone who enjoys the pain of shooting herself in the foot, but I don’t think every company or organisation … Read more

Now that’s what we called 2009: Looking back at the monster hits of a decade ago

by

Sam Brooks steps back in time to 2009, the year of Now! That’s What I Call Music 31. What did his younger self think of those songs – and do they still hold up today? The year was 2009 and it was full of, as your worst friend would say, ‘absolute chunes’. No album, no compilation, … Read more

How freaked out should we be about the measles news?

by

More and more cases of the scary spotty disease measles are popping up in the news. Here’s what you need to know about whether you’re in danger. Getting a serious dose of measles isn’t a pleasant experience. The symptoms are extremely not fun. Ear infections. Pneumonia. The wild shits. Your brain literally swelling so much … Read more

Peter Northe Wells, 1950-2019

by

Steve Braunias farewells Peter Wells. But really I hardly knew him. “He was a noble man,” said Suzanne Blumhardt, his eldest surviving cousin, at the funeral for author Peter Northe Wells, 1950-2019, at St Matthew-in-the-City in downtown Auckland yesterday morning; one of his closest friends, novelist Stephanie Johnson, said: “He was a born writer and … Read more

How NZ advertisers got unwittingly linked to a child porn racket on YouTube

by

Two years after David Farrier helped to unearth the exploitation of children on YouTube, the sexualisation of children on the platform continues – and NZ companies are inadvertently appearing alongside it. Oskar Howell reports. New Zealand businesses are advertising their goods and services alongside softcore pornographic videos on YouTube; they just don’t know they’re doing … Read more

Hello Darkness, Goodbye Peter

by

Jeremy Hansen pays tribute to author Peter Wells, who died yesterday – exactly a week after the launch of his final book, Hello Darkness, a memoir of living with his fatal illness. The past is a foreign country, especially if you were gay before the internet existed. In 1993 I was 23 years old and … Read more

The bitter fight tearing Avondale apart

by

For 18 years a small group of local business owners ran the Avondale Business Association as they pleased. It took 18 months for two brothers to spark a revolution. Marcus Amosa loves Avondale. And not in the reluctant way that most people love a place they’ve been forced to spend years of their lives in. … Read more

I adore NZ cricket. But I won’t watch until the silence on Kuggeleijn is broken

by

Until New Zealand Cricket addresses the Scott Kuggeleijn situation, Black Caps superfan Michelle Langstone will no longer be watching her beloved team. Here she explains why. A letter to New Zealand Cricket chair Debbie Hockley, and to the board of NZ Cricket – You don’t know me at all, but I’m one of the biggest fans … Read more

Not a racist bone in your body? Please meet implicit bias

by

Research points towards an unconscious, cognitive basis for racism and other forms of discrimination, suggesting that even the super-woke can be secret and subconscious racists, writes Danyl Mclauchlan I thought about this story a lot over the summer break. It wasn’t one of the huge scandals or rolling controversies from last year, or even one … Read more

Martin Devlin in wild on-air attack on ‘chick from the Spinoff’ over cricket banner

by

The only plausible explanation for the Radio Sport host’s diatribe against my colleague is an elaborate attempt at performance art – the alternative is heroic incoherence and worse, writes Toby Manhire It was a belter of a night at Eden Park on Friday. A sell-out crowd. A sea of mostly Indian flags; drumming and chanting. … Read more

Police uniforms were a deal breaker at Pride. So why weren’t they at Waitangi?

by

Controversy over police insistence on wearing their uniforms led to their withdrawal from today’s Pride Festival march. So imagine Emilie Rākete’s surprise to see officers deployed in casual clothes just three days ago at Waitangi. By now most of us have likely heard about the public debate around police involvement in the Auckland Pride festival. … Read more

There’s something off about the London Waitangi Day Pub Crawl

by

Every year, thousands of New Zealand immigrants in London celebrate Waitangi Day by dressing up, publicly getting drunk, and doing the haka, and it makes Madeleine Chapman shudder. New Zealanders acknowledge Waitangi Day in different ways. Some do nothing and are just glad to have a day off work. Some celebrate it, believing that the … Read more

My father, lost in smoke

by

The cannabis referendum debate is deeply personal for some people. Nicole Skews-Poole details the agonising role weed played in her father’s life. My earliest childhood memory is opaque and soupy. The more I try and focus on its details, the more they wriggle away. But in my mind’s eye, if I stand back and pretend … Read more

Peter Jackson is out of control and must be stopped

by

The announcement that Peter Jackson’s latest project is a Beatles documentary is proof the decorated director has finally gone too far, writes Duncan Greive. It seems scarcely credible to suggest at this point, but Peter Jackson used to be cool. He made silly, weird movies about New Zealand – its monsters and its murderers – … Read more

The Irishman who stuffed New Zealand’s birds

by

Catherine Woulfe goes searching for the legacy of one of New Zealand’s first taxidermists.  This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine under the title Legacies: He Never Quit the Hustle. Birds! In the 1800s they were everywhere. Huia, kōkako, takahē, kākāriki – all clamouring to be shot and stuffed and stuck on a mantle. Into this cornucopia … Read more

The furious world of New Zealand’s far right nationalists

by

Are we missing the rise of the far right? Marc Daalder speaks to the angry middle-aged men who want to see nationalism rise in New Zealand. Hundreds of Kiwis have pledged to march today against an obscure UN migration pact today under the guise of a brand-new organisation calling itself NZ Sovereignty. The central issue emphasised … Read more

An honest living

by

A Stuff column by ‘millennial’ Jackson Thomas pondered why anyone would work in fencing, but it applies to much of manual labour. With her husband’s permission, Emily Writes shares his story of what an honest living really is. “Fencing sounds like a great way to make an honest living, but you don’t have to be a … Read more