Election Live, October 4: Five new Covid cases, all at border; poll shows race tightening in Auckland Central

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 4, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. 7.00pm: The day in sum Judith … Read more

Election Live, October 3: One new case of Covid-19 in MIQ; polling stations busy as advance voting opens

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 3, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on aliceneville@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day … Read more

Women make up just 15% of Covid advisory groups worldwide

A new study published in the journal BMJ Global Health says that men make up more than 85% of Covid-19 decision-making and advisory boards. Authors of an observational study into the gender gap on Covid-19 advisory boards have called the male dominance they found the result of a “disturbingly accepted pattern”. Men make up 85% … Read more

Election Live, October 2: Donald Trump tests positive for Covid-19

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 2, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day … Read more

The Bulletin: For and against a four year term

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: For and against a four year term, Labour planning market studies on groceries and building supplies, and NIMBYs fighting youth hub in Christchurch. One of the major newslines out of Wednesday’s leaders’ debate was on a point of agreement between Ardern and Collins. During the quickfire … Read more

Zealandia: The sci-fi short film that Covid-19 turned into a social drama

Director Bruno du Bois talks about Zealandia, a short film depicting a futuristic New Zealand in the midst of a global pandemic which was written long before Covid-19.  New Zealand’s biggest annual short film festival Show Me Shorts kicks off on October 2, bringing over 75 films from around the world to 30 cinemas throughout … Read more

The future of work is flexible

Covid-19 taught businesses that one workplace doesn’t fit all employees. Ben Fahy learned about what flexibility really means in a modern office.  Vaughan Fergusson, the founder and director of retail software company Vend, lifts up his laptop and gives me a glimpse of Vend HQ a few days after the second lockdown was eased in … Read more

Election Live, October 1: Advance NZ barred from Newshub debate; 12 new Covid cases in MIQ

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 1, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 9.30pm: The second … Read more

Election Live, September 30: Ardern and Collins go head to head in second leaders’ debate

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 30, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 9.10pm: That’s a … Read more

How Wellington’s food community is bouncing back

After a year of uncertainty and disruption, the capital’s hospitality industry says Visa Wellington On a Plate will bring a much-needed boost – to spirits as well as business. For two-and-a-half weeks in August 2018, Wellingtonians Casey and Blair Wilson worked 20-hour days, taking turns to sleep in four-hour shifts. “We had no understanding of how … Read more

Election Live, September 29: Two new Covid-19 cases; two charged in NZ First Foundation case

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 29, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day … Read more

The Bulletin: The poll the Greens wanted

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New poll puts Greens in coalition hot seat, Labour pledges more time for Tiwai Pt phase out, and what the bosses think about the election. Another poll is out, and this one is telling a story of a very different parliament after the election compared … Read more

Election Live, September 28: Man escapes MIQ using bedsheet ‘rope’; new political poll released

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 28, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz The day in … Read more

Election Live, September 27: Two new cases in managed isolation; Nats still under 30% in new poll

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 27, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on catherine@thespinoff.co.nz 6.55pm: The day … Read more

Fighting in the age of Covid, Israel Adesanya represents a new New Zealand

Israel Adesanya has fought his way to the top of his sport, and into the hearts and minds of New Zealanders – whether they want him there or not. What’s at stake when he fights this weekend in Abu Dhabi? Just two years into his UFC career, mixed martial artist Israel Adesanya is a bonafide … Read more

Election Live, September 26: Two cases of Covid-19, one imported and one historical

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 26, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on jihee@thespinoff.co.nz The day in … Read more

Election Live, September 25: Two new Covid-19 cases, one linked to community

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 25, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz The day in … Read more

The Bulletin: Focus on the farming plans

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Focus on the various farming plans put out this week, concerns raised about contacts of new positive Covid cases, and huge bill coming for Wellington region water. For a lead story today, a look at the various farming policies that will be taken into the … Read more

Election Live, September 24: New locations of interest in Taupō and Auckland mall

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 24, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.45pm: The day … Read more

Two mums, one foodbank and the unlikeliest of friendships

The Rawiri Community House, nestled between the Auckland suburbs of Manukau and Manurewa, helps hundreds of families with food and other essential services each week. It’s kept going thanks to an unlikely friendship forged in the struggle to help those doing it toughest. My interview at the Rawiri Community House in Rata Vine, with Liz … Read more

What the next government must do to save lives from breast cancer

OPINION: Covid-19 has created a huge backlog for New Zealanders affected by breast cancer. The next government must improve access to diagnosis and treatment to prevent more deaths, says Breast Cancer Foundation NZ CEO Evangelia Henderson.  I always look forward to the contest of ideas that comes with every election, but I never imagined we’d … Read more

The Bulletin: Who will pick the fruit?

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Horticulture industry facing labour crisis, details of new cases spark concern, and Canterbury candidate under fire for local government record. Fears are growing that fruit will simply rot on the vine this season, because nobody will be there to pick it. Plenty of this sort of … Read more

Election Live, September 23: Three new community Covid-19 cases

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 23, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day … Read more

Suet pastries and free-range hens: Paul Little on writing The Covid Chronicles

Determined to write New Zealand’s first Covid book, Paul Little chronicled the lives of more than 20 New Zealanders under lockdown as rural domesticity took over his own.  It all started with a mysterious virus causing a global pandemic that threatened the lives of millions of people, my writer wife and I losing our long-standing … Read more

Election Live, September 22: ‘I am not done on child poverty’ – Ardern clashes with Collins in TVNZ debate

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 22, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz Recap: Ardern and … Read more

The Bulletin: Country moves to a more cautious level one

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Country outside Auckland now at level one, previewing the first major leader debate, and another error found in National’s costings. The alert levels will shift down around the country this week, with most of the country moving back into level one. Our live updates from yesterday has the … Read more

What the conspiracy theorist parties believe, and why it matters

On Saturday four parties that believe Covid-19 is being used by the government to impose social control put their differences aside to share a stage. Alex Braae went to Nelson to see where they were coming from. “If you question the government, you get called a conspiracy theorist. Why? And what’s so wrong with questioning … Read more

Election Live, September 21: NZ dropping to level one, Auckland to full level two

Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 21, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day … Read more

What every NZ university has planned for the rest of this Covid-disrupted year

As tertiary institutions round the halfway mark of semester two, The Spinoff spoke to students and their universities about how they’re adapting to the changes wrought by the pandemic. With New Zealand’s alert levels confirmed to be shifting down this week, we’re edging closer to something approaching normality. But what does it mean for university … Read more