Summer reissue: The stars of Youth Wings brought the banter, and the party slogans, to the Auckland Town Hall earlier this month for a very special election year debate. First published 25 August, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to … Read more
The stars of Youth Wings brought the banter, and the party slogans, to the Auckland Town Hall earlier this month for a very special election year debate. Watch all the episodes of Youth Wings here. If the six youth wing leaders were feeling nervous about taking part in a debate filmed in front of a … Read more
It’s the political event the country has been waiting for. You’ve met the young leaders from Aotearoa’s five main political parties in Youth Wings, released on The Spinoff last week. Now, watch them go head-to-head on all the big issues in Youth Wings: The Debate. Filmed in front of a vocal audience at the concert … Read more
In the first instalment of our new pop-up podcast, The Spinoff Book Out Loud, Madeleine Chapman reads her poignant, hilarious response to the response to her scandalous ranking of New Zealand chips. In March 2019, Madeleine Chapman spied her Everest, and she climbed it. “All 123 chip flavours in New Zealand ranked from best to … Read more
The Spinoff editor explains the thinking behind The Spinoff Members. As anyone who has been following the story of the New Zealand media in 2019 will know, it’s stormy out there. Across the board, outlets, us included, are feeling the digital pinch. Advertising spends are down, and the lion’s share of what is being spent … Read more
A bumper crop of the best of our first five years on Planet Earth, plus a slew of new stuff, The Spinoff Book is out today. Here’s what you’ll find in it, and how to get a copy. In a bold pivot to print, The Spinoff today publishes an actual book. You can pick it … Read more
In this bonus edition of Gone By Lunchtime, the prime minister talks to Toby Manhire at the Auckland Writers Festival Last weekend at the Auckland Writers Festival, Jacinda Ardern spoke with Spinoff editor Toby Manhire about the extraordinary election campaign of 2017, and the book it inspired, Stardust and Substance, edited by Stephen Levine for … Read more
Ten days after the terrorist shooting in two Christchurch mosques took 50 lives, Jacinda Ardern speaks to Toby Manhire in her Beehive office. ‘I’ll show you something,” says Jacinda Ardern. We are sitting on sofas in her office on the ninth floor of the Beehive. It is just 10 days since a terrorist attack in Christchurch … Read more
The editor of The Spinoff explains why he is no longer editor of The Spinoff, plus talks through other key staff changes. Then indulges himself about what The Spinoff means, and how it was made. Hello. This is a post announcing that I’m handing over the editor’s job at The Spinoff from today. I want to … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Calum Henderson tries the New Zealand sweetie fusion to (hopefully) end all New Zealand sweetie fusions. “Oh they haven’t, have they?” – Toby Manhire, Spinoff Politics editor, 9:15am Oh yes they have. Pascall – the confectionery company owned by … Read more
Marion McLeod reviews Before the War by Fay Weldon. I threw away all my Fay Weldons last year. Well, I didn’t actually throw them. I piled them into a rusting supermarket trolley and pushed them across the road to Arty Bees. All of them – about two dozen novels (mostly hardback), a few collections of … Read more