Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand, with the interview available as both audio and a transcribed excerpt. Adàn Tijerina is the director of Almighty Beverages. It’s a Wellington based company … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today: Madeleine Chapman reveals where to find the best chocolate hot cross bun in New Zealand. Karori is pretty bad. I lived there from birth until I went off to university and I loved every moment of it, but it’s … Read more
It’s nothing personal, says Aucklander Paul Brislen – the earthquake-prone capital just isn’t secure enough to house our vital government headquarters. Ah, Wellington. As the plane banks and slides in to land, every single time I end up singing the bit that’s not entirely written by Don McGlashan: “And they’re playing the tape for the … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. I remember doing Art History in high school and stumbling my way through all the endless old blokes from ages ago, trying and failing to connect with some rude nude dude holding a stone. That was until we were presented … Read more
Are all the craft brewers going to be bought by the big guys? Garage Project’s Jos Ruffell tells Duncan Greive that, despite the sale of Panhead and Tuatara, they’re doubling down on the independent route. A couple of weeks ago it was announced that Tuatara had been sold to the Heineken-owned DB Breweries, the latest … Read more
The Wellington Sevens that took place this weekend was a noticeably less raucous party than tournaments of years gone by. Ruined by the ‘Fun Police’? Emily Writes isn’t buying it. The Sevens is no longer a drunken mess, she says – and that’s a good thing. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but The Fun … Read more
As the scandal around the request for a gecko-tattoo leaving-gift threatens to engulf Wellington, Wade-Brown speaks. The intrepid Taxpayers’ Union this morning revealed that former Wellington mayor Celia Wade Brown had last year requested a gecko tattoo as a leaving present. The council’s response: how about a park bench? (A park bench in a reserve, … Read more
Nick Leggett, the former Porirua mayor and unsuccessful Wellington mayoralty candidate, has left the Labour party and says he intends to stand for National in the Mana seat next election. Josie Pagani explains why she thinks he could live to regret his decision. Nick Leggett’s decision to go to National is an embarrassment for those … Read more
Did anyone in Wellington actually get any work done last week? Sarah Lang suspects not. I finally joined the Twitterati (@sarsoss) days before what became Trumpocalypse. Rather than joining a virtual celebration of a glass ceiling in shards, as expected, I watched The Spinoff’s Trumpocalypse Rating swing from ‘panic/stockpile’ to ‘all Hail Dear Leader Trump’, … Read more
Barely a month into his mayoralty, Justin Lester found himself leading a major disaster response following the 7.8 Hanmer Springs earthquake. He looks back at how the city handled the quake and its aftershocks, and lays out what can be done better next time – because there will be a next time. Last week’s earthquake … Read more
Steve Braunias finally gets around to writing about the event he got sent to cover by Wellington Tourism – LitCrawl, which kind of got overshadowed by this thing that happened on a Sunday night. I was all set to write about Wellington’s very lively and audaciously staged LitCrawl live-event literary extravaganza last Monday, but the … Read more
On a bus in Colombo Street five years ago, I experienced first-hand the hazards of sacrificing safety in the cause of an urgent return to normal service in the city, writes Ann Brower On February 22 2011, everyone around me died when a red-stickered building collapsed on to a bus I was riding. I was … Read more
The place: Cuba Street, downtown Wellington. The time: approximately midnight Sunday. Lloyd Jones is a writer and farmer, a strongly built fellow, a little bigger than I am, but I sized him up with a view to kicking his fat ass late on Sunday night in the lobby of our hotel in Cuba St, downtown … Read more
Congratulations, New Zealand. The court of public opinion has outdone any mere judge, delivering a punishment that reeks of knee-jerk outrage and lazy prejudice, writes Madeleine Chapman. Losi Filipo was today re-sentenced to nine months’ supervision and counselling for assault. After being discharged without conviction earlier this year, the victims spoke out to the media … Read more
Despite all the headlines bemoaning apathy over local body elections, voter turnout is on the rise in Wellington. Jeremy Baker, communications director at Wellington City Council, sticks the boot into traditional media and trumpets the council’s polarising ‘Declare Your Love’ campaign. Last week Bryce Edwards, the high-profile political commentator and academic, announced he didn’t vote … Read more
Wellington Rugby seems determined to say the bare minimum about Losi Filipo’s assault case. Jamie Wall says it’s time for rugby to stop looking the other way. It was somewhat telling that the Wellington Rugby Football Union’s official statement regarding the Losi Filipo assault case and subsequent discharge without conviction was released at 10pm Monday night. … Read more
Under pressure over its Auckland fixation, the Spinoff tasked Wellington man of letters Danyl Mclauchlan with investigating the mayoral race in the capital. He headed immediately for the key battleground: the La Scala lounge at the Malvina Major Retirement Home. It is the first of September, the first day of spring after an ominously warm, … Read more
The Auckland Council has long been blamed for the myriad of issues facing the country’s largest city, in particular the housing crisis. It’s about time central government took some responsibility, argues AUT Pro Vice Chancellor Ian Shirley It is difficult to take the Government’s housing policy seriously when a central plank of that policy is … Read more
We fixed Larry Williams’ abominable ‘ban the beggars’ column. For the most part, all it took was replacing the words ‘beggars’ and ‘begging’ with ‘boomers’. It started with Bob Jones. Then the virus spread. A Wellington mayoral contender called for begging to be banned, in an edited Facebook post that originally called addiction a “lifestyle choice”. A … Read more