It may surprise you to hear that not every article published on the Spinoff is read by tens of thousands of discerning punters. Here are some of the (relatively) neglected crop that we think warranted more click-love. Yesterday we published the top 20 most read posts of the year. Today we turn our attention to … Read more
Clicks and content, content and clicks: these are the posts that attracted the most eyeballs on friendly fledgling website ‘the Spinoff’ this year. Tomorrow we’ll be publishing the Spinoff stories that were unfathomably spurned by readers, but for today, these are the 20 most clicked-upon articles from 2016, in reverse order. 20 From June, Madeleine … Read more
FFS! It’s Xmas Eve, and you still haven’t done your Xmas shopping? We identify 10 kinds of readers and match them with 10 books published in 2016 guaranteed to bring pleasure and that. Non-fiction FOR SOMEONE WHO LIKES DRUGS Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany (Allen Lane, $55) by Norman Ohler * FOR SOMEONE WHO LIKES NEW … Read more
A brief note of festive gratitude as we plunge into hibernation (mostly) for a fortnight. The final Friday beer gong of the year has reverberated through Spinoff headquarters, and we are just about out of here. From tomorrow, our “Summer reissue” series begins, in which we showcase some of the best Spinoff writing of the … Read more
We asked a whole bunch of people who are involved in music in different ways for their top three albums and songs of the year, both locally and internationally. Here are the results. We all love a good list. And if you love lists, December is a month like no other. ‘The Best of Everything … Read more
The Spinoff’s hand-picked gallery of sagacious politics watchers cast their minds forward to next year, and gaze foolhardily into their crystal balls We asked: What are the issues upon which 2017 election year will hinge? And we beseeched: Given the unqualified success of predictions in 2016 politics, please give us a wild crystal-ball prediction for … Read more
Our glittering garland of experts assess the performance of the political parties, the economy, the media and more – and attempt to sum up 2016 in a single sentence We asked: for each of the below, would you say they ended the year stronger, weaker, or the same as they started it? And how would … Read more
After a political year in which New Zealand saved its most surprising moment till the very end, the Spinoff assembles a pantheon of 21 wise owls to pick out their winners and losers Following the surprise John Key resignation and ahead of Bill English’s first cabinet reshuffle, we asked: Who would you rank as the … Read more
The directors of videos for Lorde, Shihad, Ladi 6, Lawrence Arabia and more choose their favourite music vids of 2016. Joel Kefali Joel Kefali is the director of music videos for Lorde, Katy Perry and Leisure. When I look back at the music videos of 2016, I found it difficult to make an objective top … Read more
An old year, a new prime minister and a very tired world. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas bedeck themselves with boughs of holly and size up the winners and losers of the year 2016, and what to expect in the next one. Ho, ho, ho, really, when you think about it. Ben and … Read more