The rich lister behind The Platform
Who are the funders of the right-wing media startup, and what do they want?
Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend. I’ve been in Wellington this week seeing friends (and also attending political debates!) and I’ve been sinking back into my old bad habit of following a catch-up with someone by sending them a heap of links to articles I want them to read. I assume this is very irritating but hopefully it also makes them feel literate and smart, which is the main goal of consuming journalism. (That’s a joke, to be clear — feeling smug about being smart and informed is only the secondary goal of journalism.) The primary goal of journalism? If you ask Wayne Wright Jr, he might say that he aims for robust discussion and free speech. Not everyone would agree. Make some Coffee Supreme if you’re so inclined; otherwise, read on for the buzz of good writing from The Spinoff and the rest of the internet.
-Shanti Mathias, staff writer
Why does Wayne Wright Jr fund The Platform?
When Spinoff publisher Duncan Greive heard about plans for The Platform, Sean Plunket’s alternative, right-wing radio station and website, he knew it was going to be expensive. When he heard that those funds were coming from the Wright family, Tauranga-based business people who have stakes in BestStart Childcare, among many other enterprises, he wanted to ask them why. Greive tracked down scion Wayne Wright Jr and asked him what role a right-wing media alternative will play in Aotearoa. Some of what Wright says — like implying that Māori and Pasifika individuals are to blame for poor economic outcomes — is certainly not mainstream thinking. But “I think it’s important to know what motivates someone to do this,” Greive told me.
Osa Kightley’s Dawn Raids play is still relevant
Osa Kightley’s seminal 1997 play Dawn Raids comes back to Auckland this week. Toby Manhire also profiled Kightley this week, asking about his career as an actor, theatremaker, broadcaster, journalist and activist. How do these roles speak to each other? “When you’re part of a group of people that have been told you don’t belong here, so many aspects of your life then become about showing that you do,” he says. Some things have changed – people are more comfortable with his name Osa, not anglicising it to Oscar – but some haven’t – Pacific kids are still getting racially profiled by police. Twenty-five years after its debut, the new season of Dawn Raids makes Kightly feel “squirmy” with nerves about responding to the still-tender harm the Dawn Raids did to Pacific communities.
It’s a play that makes the political personal: Sam Brooks reviews Dawn Raids
How to picture the depth of inequality in New Zealand
The richest 10% of New Zealand holds more than half the wealth in the country. As an isolated statistic, this is horrifying — but it’s also abstract. In this month’s edition of long-running comic The Side Eye, Toby Morris tries to express that inequality with a metaphor: if you were at a meal with 10 people, that would be like one person getting six meals, while five people had to share less than one. While the experience of these extremes of poverty and wealth can look like a lot of things – overcrowding in damp houses vs backyard swimming pools and summer trips to Europe – they’re also the product of generations of inequity. “People at the top don’t understand what’s going on for those struggling down at the bottom,” says community worker Dave Letele. But picturing the difference is a place to start.
The 47 second version: Toby Morris takes to TikTok to explain his comic
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Christopher Luxon is slightly right about the disability employment crisis
In the furore around the National Party’s, uhhh, MP selection process, a detail from Chris Luxon’s plan to get fewer people on the benefit faded into the background. The issue of how hard it is for disabled people to get jobs has always been in the background, says writer Jonathan Mosen, chief executive of disability employment agency Workbridge. But making it harder for people with disabilities – of whatever age or background – to get income support will just make the burden of disabilities more invisible. “Disabled people seek the mana, economic independence and sense of participation that comes from having a job, just like everyone else,” Mosen says. Changing the attitudes and structures that make it difficult for disabled people to contribute their skills and resources will be more effective than benefit sanctions, he argues, and that’s something that every party should have a policy about.
Artistic responses to being called “plastic”
Sela Jane Hopgood, The Spinoff’s Pacific community editor, profiles four AUT students who have launched an award-winning exhibition about how it feels to be called “plastic”, a term used to tell some people that they can’t claim their cultural identity. Being plastic is a “colonised term,” says Jordan Tane, one of the creators of the project. In creating imagery to respond to this – a beautiful set of annotated photographs – there’s a way to reclaim the story that some people don’t belong.
Everything else
Who is Andrew Tate, the man targeting kids through TikTok?
New Zealand’s sugar-free tomato sauce is no more.
One very visible way to understand generational wealth is on the Instagram feeds of Hollywood stars (Brooklyn Beckham can keep thinking up new careers — Sydney Sweeney cannot).
The frustrations of local politicians in Nelson highlights the need for whole-sector reform
I’ve been obsessed with lampreys ever since I had to do a presentation about “a weird animal” in Year 9 science. I loved this article about the scientists learning about their mysterious biology.
Innovative product alert: mushroom polystyrene is packaging without plastic.
I’ve been watching way too much fast fashion TikTok. This visualisation from a few months ago is a much better way to understand the effect of overproducing clothes.
More science news: maybe two asteroids killed the dinosaurs? Sometimes I miss the dinosaurs.
Everyone uses captchas, the ‘prove you’re a human’ test on websites. They’re getting progressively more absurd.
A TV reboot of the classic movie, A League of Their Own is very good, says Mad Chapman.
“Tea” the first time, a “bitter brown infusion” the second. The poetry of second mentions.
We need non-pathological ways to relate to our emotions.
Alex Casey reveals the identity of New Zealand’s newest unruly tourist
I’ve been trying to read more fiction from beyond New Zealand, the US, and the UK. This list of new novels from South America, Asia, and Africa added some more titles to hassle the library for.
Weekend reading: a scintillating excerpt of Dominic Hoey’s new novel.
Weekend watch: the Westport group keeping their community safe.
And finally, a podcast episode about the importance of workplace wellbeing
Oh cool, right-wing racist millionaires funding right-wing journalism. Cool cool cool