Baking is for everyone
Sweet treats transcend penal institutions
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend, the newsletter rounding up some of the most interesting links from The Spinoff and around the internet. It’s starting to feel like an election is really happening — as noted on Gone by Lunchtime this week, there are less than two months until advance voting starts. My colleague Stewart Sowman-Lund was in Wellington this week and has several dispatches from the capital. This edition also has baking (delicious), sports updates (thrilling) and thoughts about thoughts — that is, debates in contemporary psychology (just as interesting as it sounds and I mean that!)
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Good Bitches get baking in prisons
Alex Casey has a delightful story about Good Bitches Baking (GBB), the charity that delivers sweet treats to people in need and is now getting bakers in prison facilities involved. Here’s her explaining her own history with GBB.
I first interviewed the people behind the charity way back in 2018 when they were a mere petit choux compared to the quadruple layer gateau they are today. GBB’s latest venture is Prison Bake, a six-week programme that takes baking inside prison facilities. I spoke to Kate McCormick, who leads Prison Bake in Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison and sold the transformative magic of baking so hard to me that I now want to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in myself. “We're bringing food to people who are often at that lowest point in their life,” she said. “When somebody shows up with a white box of homebaked something they'll say, ‘where did that come from?’ and I’ll just say, ‘somebody made it for you’.”
All roads lead to roads
The National Party released its transport policy last weekend and it contained all the streets, highways, motorways and pothole repairs an asphalt lover dreams of. It criticised the current government for inaction on the urgent issue of potholes. It’s a sign, perhaps, that the all-out tussle for votes is upon us, with Labour saying that National’s plan had a $2.8b gap in it. But transport is full of potholes for all political parties, with the current government’s commitment to the Let’s Get Wellington Moving project and Auckland light rail questioned too. Steward Sowman-Lund reports from parliament.
Is Nicola Willis National’s secret weapon?
Beetroots, boondoggles and the spectre of 2011
Removing GST from fruit and vegetables sounds like a good and healthy idea, but it’s difficult to administer and the price of produce fluctuates throughout the seasons. But if Nicola Willis’s leaking sources are correct and it is one of Labour’s election policies then it’s an interesting redux of 2011, writes Toby Manhire. “The case for removing GST from fresh produce is compelling. Especially when there is a cost of living crisis. Especially when you’re determined to underline your focus on people’s basic, everyday needs. Especially when supermarket produce areas are full of jaws slackened at silly prices.” Outlining the case for and against the idea, Manhire says this of our nation’s finance minister: “He has his work cut out for him in explaining how he is not swallowing a rat, so much as a delicious and suddenly more affordable ratatouille.”
Youth Wings is back and Spinoff Members are invited
Join the next generation of Aotearoa politicians on the campaign trail, and watch them debate – a second series of Youth Wings is coming soon. Spinoff Members are also invited to the filming of the Youth Wings debate in Auckland. Contact us for more info. RSVPs close on August 16.
Not a member yet? Join up to gain access to exciting events like this, while also helping us bring you more of the content you love – it's a win/win!
What wānanga means to Māori
There’s no direct equivalent to the word wānanga in English, writes Airana Ngarewa. It’s used mostly to refer to people coming together to discuss something important, but can also refer to how knowledge emerges collectively in community. “Over the weekend, we held a wānanga at Pariroa Pā, a short drive out of Pātea, which was about gathering all the hapū of the marae together and talking through the different stories and histories that have been passed down through different whānau,” he writes. “Each difference serves to further anchor our place on this land, kōrero braiding like roots beneath the soil bolstering us against the wind and cementing our place here as mana whenua.”
The fight to uphold tikanga continues in Kaipara
Who to root for in the World Cup now the Football Ferns are out :(
I attended the USA vs Portugal football game on Tuesday. It was my first ever time at Eden Park and I felt deeply overwhelmed seeing the number of people and feeling like an amateur sociologist analysing the behaviour of the Americans around me who seemed to have a large number of “soccer” group chats to update, but that’s another story. The game was a draw unfortunately but Thomas Airey’s article about which other teams to root for in the World Cup now the Football Ferns are out has renewed my commitment to the highlights packages for the next few weeks. I especially liked learning all the nicknames for the teams I haven’t been following — how cool is the name “Super Falcons”? Or “Las Chicas Superpoderosas”?
Everything else
At least three kinds of emergencies might result in you needing urgent undies. So why are they so hard to find at supermarkets?
Bic Runga performed all of Beautiful Collision in one go. It was a perfect concert, says Mad Chapman.
As promised this is a “psychology” themed instalment of Everything Else, starting with this interview with Esther Perel where she talks about how therapy-language can be reassuring but also isolating
Something about Hobbiton brings out the dork in even the coolest celebrities, as well as Ed Sheeran
Why teenagers love libraries (the kids are alright!)
Trauma is a very popular diagnosis — the man who popularised the concept is unapologetic
How to interpret political polls
Thought-provoking opinion piece: children with anxiety need good care — but they also need to know that their condition is not necessarily a permanent identity
Some business owners are taking a brave stance and electing not to move to Australia
A deliciously inspiring guide to Pacific Island food offerings in Auckland
Has typing into search boxes changed how we think?
Everything you need to know about the Netball World Cup and New Zealand’s chance’s of defending the title
Mike Lee has been removed from the board of Auckland Transport; Hayden Donnell writes, for Metro, how Lee was involved in a massive delay of a universally popular street upgrade plan
How the term “boundaries” got so out of bounds
And finally, some weekend inspiration for us all: fun activities for when you are over 30
"Removing GST from fruit and vegetables sounds like a good and healthy idea, but it’s difficult to administer"
Yet Australia has managed it for years