The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Rage by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster, $55) “A better title for Rage, perhaps, would be Rabid … He remains … Read more
Three years. Two leaders. And a whole lot of diplomatic shade. This week, our country was name-dropped by a celebrity (twice), except that celebrity was sitting US president Donald Trump and the name-drop was a bizarre claim that the relatively small cluster of Covid-19 cases in Auckland right now was a “big surge”. The prime … Read more
Linda Burgess reviews Curtis Sittenfeld’s much-anticipated novel, Rodham. I read Rodham a while ago now but I put off writing about it. I was waiting. Waiting for what exactly? Well, waiting to see if they do what Trump kept insisting they do, back then, when the world seemed what we nostalgically think of as normal. … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump (Simon & Schuster, … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump (Simon & Schuster, … Read more
Before Covid-19, it’d take a long flight and half a grand to see Hamilton in the flesh. Now, the biggest musical of the past two decades is available to watch on Disney+. Sam Brooks takes stock of this extraordinary move. Right now, Broadway is a sleeping dragon. New York theatres have been dark for months … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions over stability of the government, health minister throws top official under the bus, and concerns raised over dolphin protection plan. After several days of frantically knifing each other at parliament, you’d be forgiven for thinking the coalition government is on the verge of collapse. The … Read more
The US president has warned he could to send thousands of ‘heavily armed soldiers’ into the streets. Can he do that, and what will it mean if it happens? What’s all this then? Protests have been raging across the US for almost a week now, after the suffocation of Minneapolis man George Floyd by a … Read more
The greatest of cities is rapidly becoming the most afflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Tess McClure, a New Zealand journalist based in New York, writes. March 12 – 95 cases in NYC At the start of today – Thursday – we still thought we’d be going to work. The first emails had come through that … Read more
Today President Trump again touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for Covid-19, despite a lack of good evidence that it is safe or effective against the coronavirus. Here’s what we do know about the drug Trump calls a ‘game changer’. On Saturday the US Food and Drug Administration granted authorisation of two antimalarial drugs, hydroxychloroquine … Read more
Siouxsie Wiles on the contrasting responses by leaders in the US, Britain and New Zealand. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by Spinoff Members. To support this work, join Spinoff Members here. It’s been a whirlwind few days on the Covid-19 front. The biggest headline of today was Jacinda Ardern’s announcement of a … Read more
Several major events across the US have also been postponed or cancelled, including the NBA season after a player tests positive. What’s happening? In a televised address from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has announced that all travel by foreigners from Europe to the United States would be suspended from midnight Friday for the … Read more
With the impeachment process essentially shut down by the Senate, attention turns today to the state of Iowa, where it’s finally time for voting in the race to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency. So what are the Iowa Caucuses, why do they get such attention, and which Democrats are best placed to make it … Read more
I thought that by being super-informed about the US political process and arguing about it online I could influence the outcome, somehow. Which, obviously, I couldn’t, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. I’ve been addicted to US politics for most of my life. It’s an easy drug for political nerds to get hooked on: American elections are very … Read more
They are the clowns who shall inherit the earth – and for Trump, Johnson, Morrison et al, the jokester act provides the perfect political cover, writes Morgan Godfery. (This essay is extracted from new essay collection Public Knowledge: Radical Futures and is heavily abridged. Godfery goes on to argue for a revolution by degrees, beginning … Read more
In a developing situation, Iran has fired ballistic missiles at two US military bases in Iraq. Here’s what we know so far about the attacks, the response, and the impact for NZ forces currently in the country. Last updated 4.14pm. What has happened? Iranian state TV has confirmed that missiles have been fired at US … Read more
Winston Peters’ weak statement on the US assassination of a Iranian military commander is a craven display of fealty to Donald Trump, argues former Green MP Keith Locke. How can New Zealand claim to have an independent foreign policy when it won’t even criticise America’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian leader? The furthest … Read more
Tensions between the US and Iran, and across the wider Middle East, are reaching boiling point after the assassination of a senior Iranian military leader by an American airstrike in Iraq. What does it mean for the NZ personnel currently in Iraq? What’s all this then? One of the most tense parts of the world … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to the last Bulletin of 2019. Here’s a collection of some of the people and issues who will shape the news in 2020. It’s the end of another year. I’ve got a few thoughts further down the page on that, but to start with, today’s Bulletin will be about looking ahead. Like … Read more
US justice reform activists Deborah Small and asha bandele say white supremacy and colonialism are at the heart of punitive drug laws. They spoke to Teuila Fuatai about how drug reform can reverse their effects on minority communities. Deborah Small sees Donald Trump as the US Dorian Gray. “He’s the physical manifestation of what America … Read more
After years of calls to do so, Democrats in the US Congress are finally having a go at impeaching Donald Trump. But why now? What’s all this then? US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful Democrats, has announced the launch of a formal inquiry of impeachment into one Donald J. … Read more
After 15 years, the satirical video game Metal Wolf Chaos XD is finally being released worldwide. Today its depiction of a crazed, militaristic America seems more prescient than ever, writes Sam Brooks. In gaming, very few things are truly inaccessible. If someone knows there’s a game they might love, they’ll do their best to get … Read more
The white supremacist terrorist who killed 20 people in El Paso over the weekend claimed direct inspiration from the Christchurch mosque shootings. Don Rowe explores how our darkest day became an aspirational target for the far right. Scrolling 8chan after another white supremacist terrorist attack was foreshadowed on the site over the weekend I flicked … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Options for getting agriculture into ETS unveiled, leading academic savages billion trees programme, and OIO approves Westland Milk sale. A historic day for climate change policy in New Zealand, with agriculture set to become part of the emissions trading scheme. However, the mechanism by which that … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Controversial West Coast dairy co-op sale goes through, time running out for sealing Tūhoe road, and tensions rising around AAAP action days. Yesterday was a hugely significant day for New Zealand’s dairy industry, partly for what happened, and partly for what it could signify about … Read more
The metric system might seem obvious to us, but resisting it has started to become a point of extreme pride for Americans. Can New Zealanders help save them? Elle Hunt investigates. With Trump gearing up for his 2020 campaign amid ongoing investigations into Russian interference, it is the question on every honest American’s lips: can … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. Eid Mubarak to all. In today’s edition: Digital services tax takes shape, Corrections makes unexpected money out of prison canteens, and infant formula industry takes hit on China moves. We’re getting a much better idea of what the digital services tax is going to look like, after the release … Read more
In the land of hope and glory, the US president’s state visit is under way against a backdrop of wild insults between Donald Trump and the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. Here’s the backstory. Not since Lindsay Lohan slandered the Northamptonshire town of Kettering and failed to switch on their Christmas lights has a transatlantic feud … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Indifference from major players looms over Christchurch call summit, big changes coming for NCEA, and Peters savages Fonterra’s decision to sell Tip-Top. The Prime Minister is in the spotlight at the Christchurch Call summit on stopping extremism spreading on social media in Paris. It comes at an … Read more