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Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for October 17, by Alice Neville. Auckland is now at step one of the alert level three pathway, Northland and parts of Waikato are in regular level three. Reach me on aliceneville@thespinoff.co.nzOur coverage of Covid-19 depends on support from members. Join us here. 4.10pm: It’s one year since the […]

If you’ve been experiencing stressful early morning wakings recently, you’re not alone. When I wake at 3am or so, I’m prone to picking on myself. And I know I’m not the only one who does this. A friend of mine calls 3am thoughts “barbed-wire thinking”, because you can get caught in it.The thoughts are often […]

When you can’t face cooking but you need more than toast, make this.Not everyone likes to cook, and let’s face it, even those who do (myself included) sometimes find it a real chore! You might be sick of cooking the same old things on rotation, tired at the end of a long day, lacking inspiration, […]

Patrick McKendry on boxing, writing, and an unlikely friendship with Joseph Parker.This essay was first published in Dylan Cleaver’s newsletter The Bounce. Subscribe here.One of the best books I’ve read was written by José Torres, a light heavyweight born in Puerto Rico who won silver at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and went on to become a world […]

We will be updating you all day with every memorable moment from the country’s first (and hopefully last) live televised Vaxathon extravaganza. 7.45pm Pio Terei attempts to make himself a real fruit ice creamHopes and dreams collapsed before our very eyes when Pio Terei poured himself the finest ice cream any vaxathon has ever seen, only […]

In celebration of Super Saturday, three much-admired whaea from Northland and Waikato share their words of wisdom and encouragement on the Covid-19 vaccine.“This is a māuiui that can’t be taken for granted,” says whaea Ngāpare Hopa (Waikato-Tainui). Whaea Ngāpare is a professor, Tūrangawaewae Marae ruruhi, and also the first Māori woman to gain a PhD […]

Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for October 16, by Catherine McGregor. Auckland is now at step one of the alert level three pathway, Northland and parts of Waikato are in regular level three. Reach me on catherine@thespinoff.co.nzToday is Super Saturday – find out more, including links to vaccine events and locations in your area, […]

We are facing an uncertain future, says Emily Writes, but at least we’ll have a baby chimp to coo over.  Life is very hard. But Sally the chimp at Wellington Zoo is having a baby. When I saw Sally, my favourite chimp, at Wellington Zoo last weekend she looked so extremely over it all. I […]

She’s been in the media for more than three decades, but only recently scored her dream gig. Now Leah Panapa tells Sam Brooks how she is making Magic Mornings her own. “It was the hardest day of my 35 years,” Leah Panapa says over the phone.Just over a month ago, Panapa was announced as the replacement […]

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.AUCKLAND1  The Raffles Affair: A Victoria West Mystery by Vicki Virtue (Penguin Random House, $37)A modern whodunnit set at the glamorous Raffles Hotel […]

A new poem by j. taylor bell.Jimmy Carter’s Peanut Farmor a perfectly intact 2-pack of colgate max fresh patiently waiting for no one at the gaston stop benchwhether or not there’s still radioshack what ever happened anyway to circuit city & when was the last time someone set foot inthe lonely alcoves of a best […]

Having children and some empathetic conversations changed everything for Aaron Hendry.I grew up opposed to vaccines. Genuinely, I thought they were harmful and posed a risk to some kids. It wasn’t until I had my own kid that I was forced to reexamine what I’d previously believed.Leading up to the birth of our firstborn my […]