Toby Manhire watched the second leaders’ debate among a crowd of undecided voters at Q Theatre. Maybe the afternoon meal of pulled teeth and gravel soup in the presidential debate emphasised it but, shit, that was a good debate. Whether it was a motivational speech or a few Red Bulls, Jacinda Ardern had a different … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: March 15 memorial service to go ahead, more travel restrictions likely to be announced, and moves against migrant exploitation in spotlight. Unless there is a last minute cancellation, commemorations of the March 15 mosque attacks will be going ahead this weekend. Stuff reports that because of a … Read more
Louise Mensch is set to hit New Zealand airwaves this evening. Who is this conspiracy theorist and what could she possibly be saying to Lisa Owen? Who is Louise Mensch? She’s a former Tory MP, founder of the Rupert Murdoch-funded “no safe spaces” website Heat Street, a romance novelist, and a conspiracy theorist. She’s considered … Read more
Early on Thursday NZ time, the Trump impeachment inquiry kicks into high gear, as the previously closed-door proceedings are replaced with televised public hearings. Here’s the lowdown. What’s about to happen? Just over seven weeks since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, televised hearings are … Read more
In withdrawing from the Paris agreement, Donald Trump is breaking with a tradition of political leadership and the best of humanity. But others are surging forward, writes Green Party co-leader James Shaw. At the height of the Cold War, President John F Kennedy proclaimed that all of us should have “the right to live out … Read more
The School Strike 4 Climate has been widened to a general nationwide strike. Ten of thousands of New Zealanders are expected to skip work and classes today. Here is your guide to what’s going on, and where. What and when? The School Strike 4 Climate movement has invited people of all ages to a nationwide … Read more
New Zealand banning Huawei’s 5G network equipment won’t impact you nearly as much as the US’s recent moves against Huawei phones, writes Henry Burrell. Twenty years ago, you would have shown off your flash new Ericsson or Nokia. How times change. Now, those two entities exist only to provide mobile network equipment, (Nokia’s Android phones … Read more
Londoner Dorian Lynskey usually writes about music for big mastheads like the Guardian and GQ. His latest project, The Ministry of Truth, is something completely different – and fascinating, writes Orwell fan Mark Broatch. In the months leading up to the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four in June of 1949, George Orwell talked down his novel. … Read more
Not for the first time, the bleakest corners of the internet have apparently spawned real world tragedy. What is 4chan, and how does it foment so much hate? Even as the nation was plunged into a whirlwind of shock, horror and grief, there were plenty of online communities that had an opposite, chilling reaction – … Read more
The increasingly hated Ivar revels in fake news, but will his people care? Alex Braae reviews the latest episode of Vikings. So, you might remember that there was a person about to be sacrificed at the end of the last episode, as a symbol of Ivar’s divinity. There were fears that it might be Hvitserk, … Read more
Tonight the NZ prime minister dines with the US vice president – a man who holds numerous views on the world that are, well, pretty much the opposite of everything she stands for. Don Rowe previews the worst working dinner imaginable. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in Singapore today for the East Asia summit. United … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s full address to the United Nations General Assembly. Jacinda Ardern has delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly this morning, calling for kindness over fear, accountability, and collectivism in fights and inequality and climate change. E ngā mana nui o ngā whenua o te ao Tēnā koutou katoa Nei rā te reo … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw reports on the latest weird and turbulent week in Donald Trump’s presidency: “The most powerful country in the world is at the mercy of someone so unfit for office that he shouldn’t be running a gas station.” It was the end of summer on the east coast of America, and it was only getting … Read more
Charlotte Grimshaw writes about the forces behind her new novel: “Trump, Putin, Kim Jong-un. The posturing. The bizarre hairstyles, the violence and cruelty. The narcissism…” May 2016, London We were staying in a small flat with a roof terrace. I typed sitting outside at a picnic table. I’d written pieces about Karl Ove Knausgaard … Read more
Christchurch’s Wunderbar in Lyttelton attracted fury today after a refugees advocate posted a photograph which seems to run counter to its ‘nice people only’ slogan. Henry Oliver called to ask what they were up to. Last night, Murdoch Stephens of Double the Quota, a refugee advocacy group, posted a photo of Wunderbar, a Lyttelton bar … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Sandra Clark and Francesca Emms about Together We Make a Nation, their multimedia storytelling project that shines a light on refugee women in New Zealand. Seeking to tell the stories of former refugee women who now call New Zealand home, Together We Make a Nation weaves together video, yum recipes, data … Read more
Following the Women’s March and the hellish weeks since, Alex Casey reached out to people across the country to make this list of actions and organisations you can lend help to here in New Zealand. It is almost impossible to comprehend that New Zealand led the rest of the world during the Women’s Marches less … Read more
Every month host Alex Casey is joined by comedian/writer Michele A’Court and Mana magazine editor Leonie Hayden to discuss what happened in the world of women over the preceding four weeks. Fresh from the Auckland Women’s March, they return this year with help from their legendary sponsors at BON tampons. With a much-needed glass of bubbles, and in the safe bunker … Read more
It’s Icy Tower meets Flappy Bird meets Election 2016. Don Rowe speaks to the Auckland-based designers of Jrump, the game that puts The Donald in the hands of the people, rather than other way around. Kiwis are famous for our seemingly innate ability to make light of serious situations. But these days, what with people … Read more
Pete Douglas looks at two of the great capitalists of our times, Donald Trump and 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy, and wonders if they really would get along like a house on fire IRL. One of the best plot devices on my all-time favourite show 30 Rock is the conflict (and eventual friendship) between … Read more