Nothing we weren't already doing, said Opposition leader Simon Bridges this morning in response to yesterday's announcement by Housing minister Phil Twyford that, in the first iniative under Labour's Kiwibuild policy, between 3000 and 4000 homes will be built on…
Arthur Taylor has had some “luck” in the Supreme Court recently, getting two cases there in a month, both looking at the 2010 amendment to the Electoral Act that expanded the prohibition on prisoner voting. Many lawyers wait years to…
Last Friday night I was in a happy place. I'd witnessed an intense, exultant performance by Orchestra of Spheres and now I was not so much dancing as having a spiritual experience with some classic Loft disco records. ¶ The big…
By the time the third panellist responded to my question about inclusion –about concrete actions to include disabled women – with stories about the disabled women they knew, or knew about, I was getting ticked. Very ticked. It’s something that happens…
A couple of weeks ago when I appeared on a discussion panel organised by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner around the Auckland Arts Festival stage production of George Orwell's 1984, I decided to talk not about how we might…
The harm-reduction organisation Know Your Stuff announced today that for the first time it has found the synthetic opioid fentanyl in a field sample in New Zealand. It's something everyone who watches the illicit drug market knew was almost certain…
I'm no fan of the Electoral (Integrity) Amendment Bill, the law that seeks to reinstate anti-"Waka-jumping" laws. And I wrote a submission saying so, to Justice Committee. A bunch of people have already made submissions on the objections in principle…
I couldn't ride my e-bike for a few days last week, having strained my back by, ironically, dismounting said bike and missing a step. In truth, my back had been ready to go for a week or two and I…
It strikes me that with the essays that have occupied Friday Music lately, it's a while since I just rounded up a whole bunch of music and related stuff. And there is quite a lot of stuff. So here's a…
Several weeks ago at Splore, I ran, as I do every year, the festival's talk programme, The Listening Lounge. And the highlight this year was a discussion of medical cannabis and the law featuring five people who are at the…
The news that this week's New Musical Express will be the final print edition of the magazine has no impact on my life. I've never seen a copy of the freesheet version that was NME's last bid to stay in…
I had an excellent time with my friends at Auckland City Limits yesterday. I witnessed a spellbinding performance from a great artist and discovered how much I loved another band. So why was I wondering in the midst of it…
At 4am on Sunday, we caught the yellow Splore schoolbus back up the hill to our campsite. By the time the engine clattered into life, it was packed with revellers coming down as well as going up. And just as…
We’re stopped at an intersection. I’m peering into the car next to us, seeing a featureless face of blue. ¶ ‘There’s a blue man,’ I say. ¶ Jasmine leans over the passenger seat, eyes wide. ‘What do you mean blue? How is…
There’s an old yellow bach at Hudson’s beach with a rusty green roof and blue window frames. Aloe vera, flax, and pink flowers grow under the deck. There are feijoas, mandarins, and lemons growing in the backyard and two Norfolk…
On the Spinoff this week, Gareth Shute has a fascinating analysis of which New Zealand artists get the most monthly streams on the biggest of the streaming platforms, Spotify – both within New Zealand and worldwide. ¶ You can have a look…
They can be heroes, day after day … ¶ There’s another story in the ruins and rebirth of post-quakes Christchurch for me at seven years on from February 22, 2011. ¶ Heroes. ¶ The villains have had a good workout. We all have our…
It’s not steep but it’s still uphill. There’s a gentle sloping footpath leading through the memorial garden, up to the central cenotaph. Park the wheelchair. Get up. One step at a time. A wobble, hold it, a few more steps,…
As I've done for the past few years, I'm running the talk programme at Splore – the Listening Lounge – this year. And I'm pleased with what we have for Splorers at the Living Lounge tent on Saturday, February 24. Here it…
At eleven years old, not seeing my dad was a daily thing; he left home for work at 6 am, returning around 8 pm, the day having long passed. He would lay down on the couch, unfazed by the world…
Go up K Road after dark, stay on the south side, and head west. Here, in the shadows, you might meet a queen. Ask her the right questions and you could get to know her. Or she could get to…
1. ¶ Lovegrove Crescent has no beginning, and no end. It’s like a miniature race track, a lopsided circle of tarmac connected to Otara’s main drag by a short lane; an umbilical cord, diverting and circulating traffic from the main arterial…
The first time I recall hearing Sandy Mill's voice is about 15 years ago, on Epsilon Blue's chunky electronic banger 'So Many Times' (later reprised as 'Sweetest Sound'). Who, I wondered, was behind that wild, digitally-distressed refrain? ¶ We're friends these…
A few days ago, TVNZ journalist Andrea Vance tweeted an Official Information Act response she had received from David Parker, the Attorney-General. Vance had sought information about workload and funding pressures on Crown Solicitors, something he had apparently taken an…
I’ve been under Dr Lennon the last few days, taking tips from his detox ditty 'Cold Turkey'. ¶ 36 hours rolling in pain/praying to someone to free me again ¶ It’s junkie journalism at its finest as I retch and shudder my…