The Bad Take Power Rankings: A greatest (s)hits of terrible opinions

An announcement: We will no longer be responding to all the tired old opinions on Māori language and culture trotted out by people with no lived experience of being Māori in Aotearoa. Instead, we will rank them here.  You know what’s tiring? Like, so deep-in-your-bones exhausting your very marrow puts on trackpants and goes back … Read more

The folk story of NZ history, as told by drunk uncles, bores and columnists

Why the strange fixation with broadcasters using te reo? Probably because it raises questions about the legitimacy of the country they imagine themselves to live in, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. I have this theory about Māori Language Week and the outrage it routinely provokes from a mostly older, mostly Pakeha subset of the population; outrage that … Read more

We’ve found it: the worst column of 2017

With 2017 coming to a close, one brave fisherman has thrown his hat in the Worst Opinions ring with a rant against te reo and those who dare speak it. Madeleine Chapman responds. You might be thinking that the Spinoff publishing responses to bad columns is getting old. But so are these columnists and that … Read more