The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction on the movement and … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 7.00pm: … Read more
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise that our dreams are getting … Read more
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four. On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has an incurable blood cancer, … Read more
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. Hey Dad, I knew once I … Read more
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown. A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data, reveals the scale of human behaviour change the pandemic has wrought. Using … Read more
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown. On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the face of all our … Read more
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel The Night of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the character of old Mrs … Read more
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered. I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled. I should elaborate. It was a Monday, and my mum, … Read more
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer. It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south of Temuka. Although it … Read more
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members Information about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand … Read more
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here. As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our communities and the world … Read more
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. New Zealander Paula Simpson reports from her corner of the global lockdown. I’ve been living in India for more than three years now, and still I haven’t even begun to understand its rich, complex history and culture. This article is only from … Read more
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée. Yes, a few cyclists out and about. I remember my first bike bought from Farmers around 1942, five shillings a week, all up 19 … Read more
The loss of a loved one can be difficult in the best of times. But it’s even more painful when the planes are grounded. Late on Saturday night, three days into New Zealand’s level four lockdown, Harish got a call from his sister in India telling him that his father had died. In bed and … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Media reels after horror week, Wellington Council facing massive budget crunch, and highest single day of new Covid-19 cases. It had always been clear that this was going to be a difficult time for the media, with the Covid-19 downturn hitting already battered budgets. But could … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
About those handles and rails and communal areas … The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is only possible because of the support of members. If you can, please consider joining Spinoff Members here. As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Kirstin Mead from the Regional Business Partners’ Network. Business owners around the country will have been watching to … Read more
The fourth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff. This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff Members Information about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand … Read more
Pre-clinical trials will assess how effective and safe the potential vaccines are using an animal model before human testing. Mirjam Guesgen reports. The Australian national science agency, CSIRO, has begun testing two potential vaccines for Covid-19, with results due by June, 2020. These pre-clinical trials will assess how effective and safe the potential vaccines are … Read more
Her mother’s job was a source of shame for Yawynne Yem growing up. Now checkout operators are essential workers as we hunker down against Covid-19. Any time I had to reveal my mum’s job to someone, hastened justifications would also fall out of my mouth, reeking of shame. “We’re a first-generation immigrant family…” “Oh but … Read more
With the nation in lockdown and schools closed, many parents will be looking for ways to keep educating their children. Amee Parker is in her final year of a PhD looking at homeschooling, and she has some advice. As a nation we are now forced, out of necessity, to stay in our homes. For those … Read more
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, political commentator and essayist Morgan Godfery. IS IT DAY EIGHT? In the absence of a capitalist routine, one day bleeds into the other. In the before times … Read more
The Covid-19 crisis in media has claimed NZ’s biggest magazine publisher, Bauer Media, but the government says it didn’t seek help through its business assistance initiatives. Bauer Media NZ is closing its doors permanently and with immediate effect due to the severe economic impact of Covid-19, staff have been told via a Zoom meeting this … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Rising tide of hardship putting strain on services, big wage cuts coming at Fletchers, and fears many hospitality businesses won’t be viable after lockdown. We’re beginning to get a picture of how the Covid-19 economic shock will hit those living in the most hardship, and … Read more
History warns that we should be wary of the misuse of power in the name of public health, writes Scott Hamilton. Content warning: This feature contains distressing descriptions of racism against Māori. In the winter of 1913 a group of Māori appeared in the office of Arthur Manning, the mayor of Hamilton. The visitors had … Read more
The more people take part, the better it will be at spotting potential clusters of Covid-19. Siouxsie Wiles explains. You might have heard the prime minister and the director-general of health mention in recent days something called FluTracking. What’s it all about? Here’s what you need to know. The FluTracking project is a fantastic initiative … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. 6.55pm: … Read more