A history of togs, togs, undies
The iconic ad and its enduring impact
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend brought to you by Coffee Supreme. I had a “the past is a different country” moment this week, when my grandmother gave me some doilies crocheted by a great aunt’s great aunt for a trousseau. She never got married, so instead of the doilies doing whatever doilies do (this has never been clear to me), I have some beautiful lacework that I’m going to put to more modern use adorning a laptop case. There’s nothing like exquisite yet pointless tat from the past to spur creativity. Alex Casey also goes historical this week, telling the whole story of the iconic Togs, Togs, Undies ad. Hopefully speedos get you in the mood for summer — and if anyone knows what to do with doilies, please let me know!
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
How to make one ad last a lifetime
Senior writer Alex Casey, on her togs, togs undies feature: “In recent times I've found myself becoming increasingly obsessed with behind-the-scenes stories and chatting to the unsung heroes responsible for some of our greatest popular culture offerings. When ‘togs, togs, undies’ returned to the discourse via the guy becoming Kim Crossman's new squeeze, I immediately wanted to know the creation story behind the ad, and how that weird phrase has endured in our lexicon nearly 20 years on (the office remains divided on whether it is ‘togs, togs, undies’ or ‘undies, undies, togs’ but I firmly believe in the former). What I came back with from those involved was a swag bag of unexpectedly profound thoughts about creativity and legacy, but was left the most staggered by discovering which international comedy mega-star did the voiceover way back in 2006. I don't say this often, but the results will shock you.”
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The silence of miscarriage, and the conversations afterwards
The New Zealand health system doesn’t collect consistent data about miscarriage, so it’s difficult to know how many it affects. This week, Zahra Shahtahmasebi wrote about how we (don’t) talk about miscarriage. Here’s an extract. “Stuart, a fertility doctor, knows about the psychological effect of miscarriage partly from her patients and partly from having two miscarriages herself. It left the mother of two wondering what could’ve been, but outside of work, miscarriage is not something she ever really talks about. ‘We sort of bottle it in and think we’re all alone, but in actual fact, talking about it might help people cope better when they do go through it.’” In a second piece, Zahra talks to the charity Miscarriage Matters about how to start those hard conversations.
Related essay: British essayist Rebecca May Johnson on miscarriage, fortune telling and entrails
Number of the week: 76, still renting
Rodney Patea is retired and living in the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula, where he spends his days fishing, playing golf with his friends and making things with his tools. But while he’s surrounded by empty holiday houses, he struggles to find a long term rental. This short documentary follows Rodney and his whānau as they wonder what comes next for pensioners who don’t own their own home — a situation that is increasingly common. 20% of over 65s pay rent, which increases to 35% of Māori and 46% of Pasifika — a situation that can erode savings and prevent people from living in healthy, safe housing.
The number of retired renters is set to double in the next 25 years. Can we do anything about it?
The Spinoff’s big idea, your help and how it’s going
Two weeks ago we launched our What's eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. We’re on the home stretch with under $9,000 left to reach our goal. Thank you. It’s all or nothing with PledgeMe and we need to hit our first goal of $50,000. We’ve got some great rewards including exclusive tips on creating a dating profile from our resident expert Madeleine Holden, tickets to our 10th birthday party next year, and a custom Spinoff homepage. Please support the campaign if you can and get your hands on some tasty rewards.
Campaign candour at post-mortem conference
Wellington editor Joel MacManus attended the post-election conference this week, which is a chance for politicians to reflect candidly on how the campaign went. Opposition leader Chris Hipkins described what he thought went wrong. The mood on the ground during the campaign was “unlike anything I’ve ever felt,” Hipkins said. In some of his past campaigns, he felt confident his party was always going to win (2020), and others he knew he was going to lose (2014). “This year, the mood was harder to read. There was still a lot of goodwill and recognition for the work we had done to lead New Zealand through some exceptionally challenging times. But alongside that, there was also a mood for change that was exceptionally difficult to break through.” In his analysis, “it wasn’t a campaign dominated by policies, it was a campaign dominated by sentiment.”
The best Aotearoa books of 2023
Yes it is nearly the end of 2023, sorry to keep reminding you! I am already compiling a far-too-ambitious list of books for holiday reading, as part of my annual tradition of trying (and sometimes succeeding) to complete seven books in the first seven days of the new year. This magnificent compilation of the year in New Zealand books is doing a lot to tempt me away from contemporary Australian fiction. (Please! Someone read Green Dot and talk to me about it!) My fave Turncoat is on the list, as is Audition, Birnam Wood and The Financial Colonisation of Aotearoa, all of which I hope to get to this summer. Lots of Aotearoa’s coolest literary types have contributed to the list — my nosey influenceable nature means I love knowing what other people are reading.
Everything else
Tracking decades of Christmas tree inflation
Podcast corner: the legendary Todd Niall on four decades of reporting and Wayne Brown’s enmity
Major spoiler alerts in this piece about After The Party, which The Spinoff’s two Madeleines say is New Zealand’s best TV drama ever
A high school student on why National’s school phone ban is a bad idea
Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates why his favourite halloumi is now covered in mint
Ben Lerner, one of my favourite writers, on the blurry lines between fact and fiction, when anyone can be a Wikipedia editor or talk to ChatGPT
What is “NZTA”? A user’s guide to the new, English names used by the government
How do you get more people riding bikes? Start by reducing the number being stolen
A lovely essay from Nick Ascroft about aging and alcohol and friendships
The role of cassette tapes in the Somali diaspora is being recognised by archivists
What do you do when your WINZ-funded therapy stops?
Danny Rood argues that overturning the oil and gas ban is a fool’s errand
Inside India’s massive mission to clean Ma Ganga, the mother river
A high school student describes how he uses his phone, and why National’s blanket phone ban is a bad idea
Some very useful advice on what to do when your counselling isn’t working out
How to go viral on TikTok by sharing stories about terrible renting
Doilies go under a vase to stop it marking the wood, in the days before polyurethane. You can also use them to wipe your nose or mop up dog piss from the floor. Preferably in that order.