Her public profile has exploded thanks to her new role as the minister in charge of border isolation and quarantine, but Megan Woods has long been known as the most reliable pair of hands in government. She talks to Michelle Langstone about her slew of portfolios, chairing Labour’s 2020 election run, and the secret to … Read more
After months trying to get back to her husband and daughter in Hungary, Daisy Coles is finally on her way home. So why is it so hard to say goodbye? In April, I wrote about what happened to my family when Covid-19 came crashing into 2020 like the Kool-Aid Man. Our Hungarian-Kiwi family was split … Read more
After hitting a career-low in recent years, New Zealand’s most successful rally driver ever is ready to once again take on the world. He talks to George Driver from his Cromwell garage about reaching WRC success against all odds, the trauma and disappointment of the last few years, and his plans to build the world’s … Read more
Those who oppose cannabis law reform often argue that people are already avoiding arrest for possession of minor amounts of the drug. That’s not the reality for thousands of cannabis users every year, reports Madeleine Holden. “You have no idea what it’s like, how powerless you are.” Greg, a 61-year-old invalids’ beneficiary, is recalling his … Read more
In contrast with last year’s often terrifying local election offerings, 2020’s election signage is big on bold colours and simple messaging. Spinoff creative director Toby Morris delivers his analysis of the best and worst designs. All along suburban fences and major intersections around New Zealand a virus is spreading. Desperate faces splayed out across corflute … Read more
Judith Collins today unlocked the secret of her political comedic code. ‘When my eyebrow goes up, it’s a joke,’ she told reporters. Enlightened, we’ve gone back through her first speech as National leader, to excavate the punchlines. On a trip to the comedy capital of Palmerston North yesterday, Judith Collins announced that no one had … Read more
Well over 150 vaccine candidates for Covid-19 are in development, and they take a myriad of forms. Siouxsie Wiles helps make sense of the different approaches, with illustration by Toby Morris. For more Siouxsie-Toby collaborations, see here. With the exciting news that two Covid-19 vaccine candidates (Oxford/AstraZeneca and CanSino Biological Inc/Beijing Institute of Biotechnology) have … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, Joeli Vidiri, the greatest All Black that never was. Most customers at Mitre 10 Mega in Pukekohe don’t realise they’ve just been greeted by one of … Read more
Can the conspiracy theories of social media be coalesced into a party that makes parliament under MMP? We’re about to find out. Alex Braae attends the conscious conspiracy-theory-replete coupling ceremony. A covers band was smashing out a blistering version of ‘Higher and Higher’, on a stage packed with candidates. The flags were waving proudly over … Read more
Piiata the lab was supposed to paper over the cracks of Nadine Anne Hura’s broken family with beads of glittering gold. Instead, she began to dismantle the house one panel and one cushion at a time. She was second to last of the litter and fully golden. We took her home and called her Piiata. She … Read more
The crowd’s attention wasn’t primarily on the ball when political editor Justin Giovannetti went to see his first rugby game. As the parliamentary team faced off against the local Centurions all eyes were on the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, starting at openside flanker. People like Ashley Bloomfield just aren’t supposed to exist. To … Read more
Between 2009 and 2014, New Zealand’s top-rating breakfast radio host published a serialised ode to life’s simple pleasures on Twitter. We pay tribute to ‘Life is Perfect’, an unheralded literary achievement. On a warm Saturday evening in February 2013, New Zealand broadcaster Mike Hosking lifted the lid of his Weber barbecue. The meat he was … Read more
The Covid-19 pandemic has seen doctors and nurses cast as heroes battling a villainous virus. It may be well-intentioned, but it’s a narrative that serves no value, writes ICU doctor Alex Kazemi. In a foyer in Southampton General Hospital in the UK hangs a one-metre-square artwork, donated by the street artist Banksy during the time … Read more
Crucially, Australia’s ambition has been suppression, rather than elimination. Back when Aotearoa was in lockdown, many people loudly complained that we should be following Australia’s lead in dealing with the pandemic. While our strategy was to try to eliminate Covid-19, Australia was taking another path. They would try suppressing the virus instead. That meant that … Read more
The government has just done away with one of the worst planning regulations in New Zealand. Why did National’s presumably free market-loving urban development spokesperson come out in favour of more council red tape? National has billed itself as the party of the free market and limited government. That’s reflected in its language on town … Read more
The election is in 56 days, so expect party leaders to pop up in your neighbourhood any day now. Political editor Justin Giovannetti followed National’s Judith Collins as voters asked about cheaper cheese, pine trees and everything, really, but the scandals rocking parliament. “Hi Judith.” The National Party’s leader is on a first-name basis with … Read more
Last night Seven Sharp revealed to New Zealand children that the Tooth Fairy is not who they thought it was. Tara Ward relives this shocking moment. Something wild happened on Seven Sharp last night, and I don’t mean Jeremy Wells saying “light bladder leakage” after the first ad break. Wells was joined by Toni Street … Read more
New Zealand has erected statues and carried out elaborate tributes for a ragtag collection of fools and racists. Hayden Donnell asks why we haven’t we memorialised one of our greatest residents, Nigel the gannet. To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love – Oscar Wilde Mana Island is … Read more
People have been writing about what diversity can add to an organisation for literal decades, and yet we find ourselves with two major political party leaders that either can’t or won’t accept some very easy-to-grasp concepts. Gerry and Judith, this is for you. New National Party leader Judith Collins announced on Wednesday that she would … Read more
Jean Teng has had a lifetime of people telling her they despise tofu, when really they just don’t know what to do with it – or it’s been cooked for them by someone similarly clueless. While everyone else was breaking their back kneading for crusty sourdough during lockdown, all I wanted to do was make … Read more
In June, Trevor McKewen, an Australian citizen living in New Zealand, travelled to Queensland to be with his dying brother. Now back home, and staying in an Auckland hotel, he writes this dispatch from his second spell of managed isolation in as many months. For the past month and a bit, I have lived in … Read more
The leader of the National Party, Judith Collins, doesn’t know how much cheese costs. Yesterday, the nation stopped when one of the hosts of The Project, Josh Thomson, asked Judith Collins how much a 1kg block of cheese cost. “I think it’s about $4 or $5 – something like that, depending on the cheese,” she … Read more
The new National leader has only a few weeks to turn the party’s fortunes around. But that’s what Labour’s new leader did in 2017. While there are obvious differences, there’s plenty Collins can draw from, writes Clint Smith, who was senior communications strategist under Andrew Little and Jacinda Ardern. It was 56 days from the … Read more
From eggplant emojis and twerking llamas to sweaty anthropomorphic butts, we present some of the most fascinating, hilarious and outrageous complaints dismissed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from 2019 to now. Avocadon’t (January 2019) The ad: In this ad from Specsavers, a man gets ready to join a cricket match, but when he reaches … Read more
A new EP from an unknown Auckland singer ignited a bidding war before she’d released a single. Today ‘Call You Out’ is released, with eerie parallels to Lorde’s rise. Duncan Greive meets the artist known as Deryk. Madeline Bradley wasn’t expecting a lot. She’d been to dozens of these meetings over the past four years … Read more
Claire from McLeod’s Daughters died in 2003 and Tara Ward is still not over it. The unexpected death of Claire McLeod is the most tragic event you’ll see on television. It was a miserable day when that white Brumby bolted across the road and made Claire drive off a cliff, leaving viewers a traumatised wreck. … Read more
If you’ve ever wondered what influencers have to offer to the world, look no further than Simone Anderson’s new recipe book So Delish!, which will revolutionise the way you put things on plates and in freezers. You know what I’m tired of? Professional cooks publishing cookbooks. Boring. If I ever fancy making coconut tamarind prawns, … Read more
Sacked cabinet minister Clare Curran speaks for the first time about the brutal end to her political career – and what she calls the toxicity and bullying that marked her years in parliament. By Donna Chisholm. Of all the humiliations – often self-inflicted – that Clare Curran endured during her 12-year parliamentary career, the one … Read more
The Spinoff’s most-viewed article, by far, is an explainer about a drug that probably doesn’t exist. Josie Adams explains why a low-stakes story she wrote in a morning took flight. In early April I wrote this story about adrenochrome, a chemical compound that doesn’t exist in any meaningful way, and how it became the centre … Read more