All aboard the mystery yacht
A new theatre show goes out onto the water
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend. A few weeks ago I realised that June had started — yes, time to panic, we’re nearly halfway through 2023 — and I didn’t have any mangoes. In the grey of June, the absence of fresh and luscious alphonsos, or bright orange chaunsa mangoes brought home from the bazaar seemed another strike against this wet country. In an exotic plant group I’m part of on Facebook I saw people buying mangoes and trying to grow them here, so I wrote about why people love this fruit so much. I wish I could dedicate myself to writing about tropical fruit all the time but this is not possible for me, so let’s get on with the links — and if you know where to find New Zealand-grown mangoes, please tell me about it this summer.
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
The wild story behind the marine murder mystery show
The boat waits in the harbour for its guests. For the price of a $175 ticket, you’re promised a journey across the waves; you will not just get to watch a 1920s Hollywood party where someone has been murdered, you’ll get to be part of it. Sam Brooks went along. He told me: “The story behind any show is often wilder than what happens onstage. That’s especially true with Butterfly Smokescreen, probably the only murder mystery you’re ever likely to buy a ticket to go see on a superyacht. While the story is completely bonkers, it’s a reminder of the fact that any show being put on, ever, is a miracle.”
The two poverties
In a two-part series on The Spinoff this week, writer and researcher Max Rashbrooke tried to answer a really thorny question: Has the current Labour government made a difference to poverty and inequality? As with crime, there are lots of data points that can be used to answer these questions. When she became prime minister, Jacinda Ardern was focused on child poverty, which means lots of poverty-reduction measures in the last five years have focussed on families, while minimum wage increases have reduced poverty for people with jobs. For people who are single, childless and unable to work, it’s a different story. Both of these articles are rigorously reported, data-focussed and very fair; if poverty and inequality in Aotearoa concern you, it’s worth reading both.
The Act resurgence
In the 2017 election, the Act Party got 0.5% of the vote. It clung on only through a National endorsement that secured the Epsom seat for David Seymour. In 2020, the party got 7.6% of the party vote — and with the 2023 election approaching, it’s polling even higher. What happened? Toby Manhire talks to leader David Seymour and Act insiders about the work the party did to change its image, lean into causes like end-of-life choice and add pink to its branding. Seymour studied up, copying some of the strategies of libertarian parties overseas and worked on the culture of the party so that staffers and MPs felt able to communicate. It’s a fascinating look at the third-biggest party in Parliament.
New Zealand First sticks to crowd pleasers at a Grey Power meeting
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A century of Tongan rugby
In Tonga, rugby is a big deal. So when a change in eligibility rules meant some of the country’s best players, playing in New Zealand, Japan and beyond, would be allowed to play for their country in the world cup, rugby enthusiast Sebastian Hurrell thought it would be the perfect opportunity to document how a century of rugby has shaped Tonga. Sela Jane Hopgood talks to Hurrell about how the documentary, due out next year, got made. On a strictly limited budget, the teams brought their cameras in suitcases, forgoing other clothing. The film allowed the team to look at broader issues facing Tonga and its young population — it’s so special that this important history is documented.
This Christchurch supermarket might be dear – but it’s beloved
Sometimes, community comes in the shape you least expect it. This week, Alex Casey finds a group of people bound only by their love of St Martin’s New World in Christchurch: its dream veggie spritzers, wide aisles, extensive freezer selection and, well, very high prices. She talks to the founder of a Facebook page dedicated to the St Martin’s supermarket and visits the store with a fan, experiencing its pleasures firsthand. Having had my fair share of visits to this very supermarket, I can confirm it’s a shining light at the base of the Port Hills, despite the high costs.
Stewart Sowman-Lund uncovers the secrets of Costco with someone who visits multiple times a day
Everything else
This story about how libraries are the last truly public space made me cry
“My ancestors didn’t survive centuries of turnips and gruel for me to deny myself the pleasures of 21st-century food” – a great line in the latest instalment of The Cost of Being series
Scientists are trying to understand the secrets of the biggest lights in the animal kingdom (feat. a video filmed by an elephant seal – future cinematographers might not even be human!!)
Acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy passed away this week. He wrote this fascinating article about the origin of language in 2016.
Loved this astonishing photo of “aquatic ballet”
Are these the most tense episodes of Shortland Street ever?
Gabi Lardies tries to train her boyfriend based on a self help book she discovered via an Instagram advertisement
The Cuba Street bunnies are gone, and their absence tells a story about why rabbits are actually high-maintenance pets
Why is it so hard to talk about the severe side effects of antidepressants, or to question whether they’re effective?
Very cool interview with Chris Tse about the day-to-day work of being poet laureate
Anna Pendergrast tried out a driverless taxi. She … didn’t love it.
Mr Beast’s YouTube channel is a vision of big-number philanthropy, but can charitable purpose be separated from algorithm chasing?
Hera has some brutal advice for someone who cheated on their partner and isn’t planning to confess
The photos of English naturalist Merlin Sheldrake in this excellent profile show that he looks exactly how you’d expect an English naturalist called Merlin Sheldrake to look
Stewart Sowman-Lund goes to Fieldays. Wait, what is Fieldays?
“There are only 12 notes in music” — and it’s possible to make a lot of money from repeating them
Finally, if you’re looking for some artistic inspiration for the weekend, ponder the avant-garde tendencies evident in the first piece of art shown on the “My Kid Could Draw That” segment for TV panel show 7 Days.
