As Americans go to the polls in Iowa, US-Kiwi import Nik Dirga explains the fear and loathing driving Donald Trump’s rise. If you’re an American living in New Zealand, chances are you’ll get asked for your take on US politics. “So, do you think they’ll really elect Trump?” You hear this a lot lately. Now, … Read more
In light of National’s decision to fast-track the City Rail Link, Hayden Donnell looks back at some of the times the party’s top MPs scorned the project as a terrible idea beloved only by wastrel lefties. National’s stance on public transport in Auckland lurched toward sanity yesterday, with an announcement it will fast-track funding for … Read more
Did you know the key to winning in politics is having enough votes in Parliament to form a government after the election? If not, Danyl Mclauchlan has found just the publication for you. It’s Christmas. The political year is over. Parliament has risen. The festive season has begun: work parties, family holidays, barbecues, long car … Read more
A pantheon of New Zealand politics watchers were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select their champs and their flops, their ups and their downs, and the issue or story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part Four: The Big Issue for 2016. We asked our glittering academy to gaze into their crystal … Read more
How do we remember Rob Muldoon? Hardly at all, if the paucity of coverage around the 40th anniversary of his first election victory as leader of the National Party is a guide. And yet he’s surely the least forgettable Prime Minister New Zealand has seen. Everyone knows about the Great Counterpuncher On November 29, 1975, … Read more
A pantheon of New Zealand politics watchers were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select their champs and their flops, their ups and their downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part Three: Stronger, Weaker, the Same We presented our experts with a list of things, parties mostly, and asked … Read more
A pantheon of New Zealand politics watchers were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select their champs and their flops, their ups and their downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part Two: The Flops. We asked our experts to rank the three worst performing individuals in politics for 2015. … Read more
A pantheon of observers of New Zealand politics were asked to cast their minds over 2015, select champs and flops, ups and downs, and the story to look out for in 2016. Today, Part One: The Champs. We asked our experts to rank the three best performing individuals in politics for 2015. Below, read the … Read more
Tis the season to be frothing at the mouth over beat-up stories about the PC brigade wanting to throw children’s Christmas stockings into a pit of fire. Beat-ups about do-gooders wanting to “ban Christmas” have become a mainstay of the leadup to the festive season the world over. This year in New Zealand, the target … Read more
The French capital will host close to 50,000 visitors from Monday for the milestone fortnight-long climate summit. In the lead-up to the event, many people have had a lot to say. Below is a selection of the best and most eye-raising verbal (and illustrative) emissions. 1. Christiana Figueres: Paris Will Mark, Rather than Create, a … Read more
Exciting developments in one of New Zealand’s most enduring news categories: people and things getting sued by Colin Craig. The enigmatic former Conservative Party leader has reportedly threatened angry blogster Cameron Slater with legal action over the publication of a poem what he wrote. “In an email to the blogger,” reports the New Zealand Herald, “Craig … Read more
The NZ flag debate is fomenting confusion throughout the international press. Voting forms for New Zealand’s flag referendum have been dispatched by the legions of androgynous orange workers at the Electoral Commission, and the debate has returned to entertain and curse us. One point on which almost everyone, or at least those who favour a … Read more
A dispatch from Estonia, where the five leading countries in terms of online government are deep in digital conversation. The second D5 Summit is being held this week in Tallinn, Estonia. At first glance, it may appear an unlikely venue. After all, Tallinn is one of the oldest cities in the world, with the first … Read more
A close hearing of history reveals the things world leaders say to one another when they think the microphones are off. This week the world reeled at the release of footage that captured small talk between US President Barack Obama and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull at the Apec summit in Manila, during which they competed … Read more
During a quiet moment at the Apec summit in Manila, microphones picked up Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull and US President Barack Obama chatting like any pair of old geezers might, about bilaterals and what have you, and Obama has the gall to say “You actually talk to the New Zealanders?” He’s kidding, relax, he’s kidding. … Read more
The weekend events in Paris have generated millions of words in response, be it reportage, raw emotion, or analysis. Paradoxically, it is possible to feel less informed the more you take in. Here are seven pieces that we think it’s worth taking the time to read. 1. Written before the latest attacks, George Packer’s fascinating … Read more
For the second consecutive day, a group of opposition MPs has walked out of Parliamentary Question Time in protest at rulings by the speaker, David Carter, over remarks made by the Prime Minister. In the house yesterday, John Key enraged MPs who had raised concerns about New Zealand citizens in Australian detention on Christmas Island … Read more
In Geneva this week, Australian delegates appeared in a grey convention room as the UN Human Rights Council conducted its official Universal Periodic Review of the country’s human rights record. You can watch the whole thing, as it unfolded in the Palais des Nations, below, though it’s only fair to warn that it’s mostly tedious, … Read more
Discussion around inequality tends to have been dominated by what people earn. Now the debate is turning to the question of wealth, writes Max Rashbrooke in the introduction to his new short book in the Bridget Williams Books BWB Texts series, Wealth and New Zealand. Imagine a river that, running faster or slower as the … Read more
Craig expected to pursue legal action against Craig following Craig’s revelation about Craig. Contained within the thundering and snappily titled pamphlet Dirty Politics And Hidden Agendas: Colin Craig Vs The Dirty Politics Brigade and Their Campaign of Lies (PDF here), an unnamed interviewer speaks to someone called “Mr X”, a pottymouth insider. This morning Colin … Read more
On Sunday, Andrew Little will deliver his first speech as leader to the Labour Party conference. In the leadup, he’ll have been peppered with advice on what to say, what not to say, and how to say it. We at the Spinoff want to help, too, and invited a bunch of bright people to draft … Read more
On Sunday, Andrew Little will deliver his first speech as leader to the Labour Party conference. In the leadup, he’ll have been peppered with advice on what to say, what not to say, and how to say it. We at the Spinoff want to help, too, and invited a bunch of bright people to draft … Read more
According to a range of sources the month concluded some days ago, but let’s face it you were so high on All Black hysteria you’d not have noticed the Spinoff Politics Power Rankings had we published them any earlier. So without any further delay: the Power Rankings for the month of October and up until … Read more
Nicky Hager tells The Spinoff about his case in the High Court, Dirty Politics a year on, and his next book – “one of the most important projects that I could imagine”. Nicky Hager has been back in headlines lately after court documents revealed, among other things, that Westpac had provided his transaction statements to … Read more
Christmas Island made headlines in 2001 when the Norwegian ship MV Tampa attempted to land more than 400 asylum seekers on the Australian territory, an island nestled beneath Indonesia with a resident population of less than 2,000. For years before and after the island had been a target for so-called “boat people” travelling from Asia … Read more
Following the All Blacks’ tense victory over the Springboks early on Sunday morning, the New Zealand prime minister did what he does, and, let’s be honest, what many of us would do were we the New Zealand prime minister: he sauntered into the team’s dressing room and chewed on a beer with The Boys. Photographer … Read more
Say what you like about Judith Collins but she lacks nothing for confidence. Given the ranking of “politician” and “car salesman” in the lists of least loved professions, it takes some chutzpah for an MP to accept the role of brand ambassador for a car yard. What next? Moonlighting as a journalist? (Actually come to … Read more
Day in day out, or some weeks from Tuesday to Thursday, at least, our parliamentarians gather en masse, or about 20 of them usually, to debate matters of state in the House of Representatives. From time to time The Spinoff intends to recognise these oratorical contributions with the award of the Spinoff Golden Gob. Drawn … Read more
The thrice-weekly Question Time session is routinely the most viewed and talked about event in the New Zealand House of Representatives. But it rarely achieves much beyond the Punch and Judy theatrics. A couple of weeks ago, the opposition parties attempted a choir-like gambit, with each of their questions beginning “Does the Prime Minister stand … Read more