1000 words: David White and *those* Colin Craig photos

1000 Words is a Spinoff series talking to the photographers behind our most iconic political images. In this instalment, Don Rowe speaks to David White, the photographer who shot Colin Craig.  Following a failed attempt at the Auckland mayoralty in 2010, notorious goof and Auckland accountant Colin Craig founded and led the New Zealand Conservative … Read more

1000 Words: Peter Meecham and the David Cunliffe log

1000 Words is a new series talking to the photographers behind our most iconic political images. In the first instalment, Don Rowe speaks to Peter Meecham, photographer of the David Cunliffe log pictures. In 2014, David Cunliffe led Labour to their worst election defeat in almost 100 years. It was a brutal affair. Forced up … Read more

David Shearer is off to the UN, and so the last former Labour leader leaves the building

Should David Shearer’s South Sudan appointment be confirmed, a byelection is likely in Mt Albert, signalling the departure of the last ex-Labour leader and leaving the question hanging: did the party err in knifing him? “Former leaders” are a mixed blessing for a political party – they can be weathered, wise old owls, or they … Read more

Politics podcast: Farewell to Parata and Cunliffe, hello to PM-for-a-day Bennett

Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas brave the Spinoff stairwell of doom to join Toby Manhire for another Gone By Lunchtime, the hi-energy Zumba workout of political podcasting. The Spinoff political podcast trio abandon all good sense and attempt to analyse the auditor-general’s report into the Saudi sheep farrago and what it means for Murray McCully … Read more

David Cunliffe is quitting politics. These are his Kodak moments

As the polarising former Labour leader announces his parliamentary retirement, Toby Manhire recounts the most vivid Cunliffe memories – from poetry to beach pics to cats So farewell then, David Cunliffe. The New Lynn MP and former leader of the Labour Party announced this morning he won’t be standing in next year’s election. What memories … Read more

David Cunliffe and the soulful zone: a 2007 profile by Steve Braunias

David Cunliffe has announced he is leaving politics. He was once the Rising Man; in October 2007, in the age before Key, Helen Clark promoted him as health minister. Steve Braunias profiled him for the Sunday Star-Times. You could tell at once what was going to happen when an old couple approached newly promoted cabinet … Read more

#PeakCray: Making current affairs TV during NZ’s strangest election

From the legalistic urges of Colin Craig to Dirty Politics to the Kim Dotcom Town Hall spectacular, the unstoppable weirdness of the 2014 New Zealand general election was best encapsulated by the hashtag #PeakCray. In this chapter from the new collection Moments of Truth: The New Zealand General Election of 2014, Nicola Kean recounts the … Read more