Louise Mensch is set to hit New Zealand airwaves this evening. Who is this conspiracy theorist and what could she possibly be saying to Lisa Owen? Who is Louise Mensch? She’s a former Tory MP, founder of the Rupert Murdoch-funded “no safe spaces” website Heat Street, a romance novelist, and a conspiracy theorist. She’s considered … Read more
Prince Andrew has spoken for the first time in public about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What did he say to create such a media storm, and how did he get into this mess in the first place? First thing’s first: who is Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is … Read more
The Gen Z-targeted mobile application TikTok is finally being noticed by adults. But what is it? Here’s a quick explainer. What is TikTok? TikTok was the most-downloaded app in the Apple store last year. It’s a mish-mash of the deceased Musical.ly and Vine, with over 500 million active users. The app allows you to film … Read more
New research has found a third of New Zealanders are actively reducing their meat consumption or have cut it out entirely. What’s this nonsense? Meat and three veg all the way for us Kiwis, surely? Apparently not – a newly released study found 31% of New Zealanders can be categorised as flexitarian or meat-reducers, while a … Read more
The organisers of the Rugby World Cup have made the unprecedented decision to cancel two of the final pool games, citing safety concerns as a super typhoon threatens Japan. What’s this? Rugby CANCELLED? In my day we walked six miles barefoot in the snow to play rugby. The goal posts were made from old … Read more
A footwear company goes into administration, the latest in a string of troubles. Is the industry hanging by a thread? Footwear company Ziera has gone into voluntary administration, leaving the future of its 45 stores uncertain. The family-owned business was founded in 1946 as Kumfs and currently employs 250 people across its stores here and … Read more
Why are so many companies having to pay out extra holiday pay? Here’s all you need to know. A long list of companies are being forced to pay out extra holiday pay to their employees after failing to interpret the Holidays Act correctly. The latest is Restaurant Brands, which joins the likes of NZ Police, … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, it’s all about African swine fever and the pending aporkalypse. TL;DR: It’s “the biggest animal disease outbreak the planet the planet has ever faced”, and Kiwi pork lovers need to do their bit to protect our local pigs. African … Read more
Thousands of views were taken in, meetings were held up and down the country, experts were questioned, and it all fed into a massive report on the state of our mental health system. So what does the report say we need to do? Read more about the mental health inquiry with our edited extract from … Read more
The Consumers’ Right to Know (Country of Origin of Food) Bill passed in parliament last night, with support from all parties apart from Act. Here’s what it means for your supermarket shop. Sorry, I’ve missed all this, what are you on about? Back in 2016, then-Green MP Steffan Browning introduced a member’s bill that proposed mandatory country-of-origin … Read more
Milk is practically white gold, right? Turns out not so much, with Fonterra announcing a huge loss for the year. Business editor Maria Slade explains why our biggest dairy company has lost so much money. Has our largest company really made its first ever loss? Yes. Fonterra Co-operative Group has announced a $196 million loss … Read more
It seems like everyone is talking about syphilis and that can’t be a good thing – or can it? Emily Writes gives you the lowdown What’s all this then? Mate, we’re in the midst of an outbreak and it’s not good. Syphilis, once almost eradicated in New Zealand, is at epidemic levels. There have been deaths … Read more
Broadcasting minister Clare Curran yesterday announced how $15m of new funding for the media will be distributed. How will it affect what you hear, see and read? The minister called it the “beginning of a new era”. Sounds radical. What was announced? Yesterday we learned the detail of a $15m boost to media funding announced … Read more
This morning, news reports confirmed that the speedway will be leaving Western Springs. In today’s cheat sheet, we explain where it’s going and what’s going to take its place. Hey, so I hear the speedway is getting kicked out of Western Springs… Well, kinda. According to my former-colleague and still-neighbour Simon Wilson, the operator of … Read more
Made in New Zealand. Four words that attract a premium price. But who says what’s Kiwi made and what’s not? Following today’s revelation that WORLD sells clothing manufactured offshore with cardboard swing tags that state “FABRIQUE EN NOUVELLE-ZELANDE” (translation: Made in New Zealand) we started to wonder – what are the laws and rules which … Read more
‘Super-gonorrhoea’ has been reported in Australia, and experts say we’re next. How bad could it get, asks Don Rowe. What’s all this then? A historically resistant strain of gonorrhoea has made its way from South East Asia to the UK and Australia, and experts are warning we are next. Antibiotic resistant superbugs? They’re like climate … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, it’s all about the government’s compulsory recall of Takata airbags. This article was published in April 2018 Remind me, what’s being recalled again? Airbags. More specifically, airbags manufactured by the Japanese company Takata. A fault was discovered in … Read more
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, what mycoplasma bovis means for our beef and dairy industry. What’s all this about then? Tens of thousands of cows will be culled, mostly in the South Island, to deal with an outbreak of mycoplasma bovis. The cattle … Read more