The Spinoff Weekend: Tonga, Tova, omicron and ice
Every story we loved reading this week...
Kia ora and welcome to The Spinoff Weekend, a collection of all the stories you may have missed over the past seven days. It’s been a massive news week, from the devastating volcanic eruption in Tonga to Tova O’Brien’s employment battle with Discovery, and kids finally getting their Covid-19 vaccinations. All of that’s in here, but because it’s still summer, we also went and found out who makes all the party ice that’s been cooling your chilly bin lately. Relax, brew yourself a fresh cup of Coffee Supreme and enjoy.
-Chris Schulz, features editor
Tonga: ‘It’s the not knowing that’s hard to bear’
In her first two weeks on the job, The Spinoff’s new Pacific communities editor Sela Jane Hopgood has found herself covering a story she never saw coming: Tonga’s Hunga-Tonga-Hunga underwater volcano eruption. Sela’s covered the troubling event exhaustively, including the issues surrounding the lack of contact with loved ones and all of the ways we can help from Aotearoa. She’s found herself increasingly concerned about her own family’s safety. “When the news broke about Tonga, I was anxious not knowing how my family were doing. Fortunately enough, this isn't the first time I've covered stories about the Pacific region and natural disasters in particular with Tonga, so holding it together when the working week started was manageable,” she says. Sela found it comforting telling her story, “which was the same story for many Tongans living in Aotearoa, and offering their support and words of comfort as I waited to hear from my relatives.” She has since heard from them, and they’re okay, but their family home has suffered damage. Follow her reporting here.
When it comes to Tova, Three has already lost
There has been much media discussion this week over Tova O’Brien’s employment battle against her former employer, Three. As Duncan Greive argues, the former political editor’s move to morning radio should be the most thrilling time of her career. Instead, Tova’s found herself wondering if she can even begin her new Mediaworks job thanks to a restraint of trade clause Discovery is attempting to enforce. “Irrespective of the outcome, Discovery should consider whether it was worth going to war over this, and push to settle,” writes Duncan. “The case has put O’Brien across news sites and bulletins for days on end, just as the channel gears up to launch AM. It makes them look wounded and vindictive at a time when they should be confident amid the renewal of a new CEO and owner, and with a slate of exciting new shows.” You can read Duncan’s full coverage of the ongoing case here.
Kids and Covid? Your questions answered
Children aged 5-11 have finally begun to receive their Covid-19 vaccine, and many parents have questions they want answered. Is there a difference between the adult and child Pfizer vaccines? What do we know about adverse reactions in kids? And, is the vaccine as effective in kids as it is for adults? We organised the experts — Siouxsie Wiles, Jin Russell and Helen Petousis-Harris — to answer those for you. If you’re wondering how to talk to your kids about needles, Emily Writes has the answer. When it comes to the omicron Covid variant, we’ve covered why the mask exemption loophole puts retail staff at risk, how to up your mask game, and why Auckland DHBs are bracing for up to 1800 cases a day.
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Ice, ice, baby: Where does all our party ice come from?
Over the holidays, Alex Casey sat in her overheated car watching customer after customer walk out of Whananaki’s general store with a dripping bag of ice. A thought struck her: the classic Kiwi summer owes a lot to party ice, but how much do we know about how it is made? Alex visited the site of Manurewa’s Polar Ice to find the answer, and, in the middle of summer, discovered a winter wonderland that would make Anna and Elsa jealous. “The thick layer of flaky, pristine snow is already approaching chest height, with a lone man in a white onesie tending to it as it gracefully falls from twinkling frosted pipes in the ceiling,” she writes. You can read Alex’s full story here.
Everything else we loved this week…
Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and many more beloved TV shows and movies, did something many think he shouldn’t have, allowing Vulture to probe questions of misogyny and inappropriate behaviour in this deep-dive (and paywalled) profile. The fallout remains ongoing.
Remember the Big Day Out? It’s been eight long years since Auckland’s much-loved rock festival was last held, so we asked organiser Campbell Smith if it could ever return, and then ranked the festival’s 20 best moments. Mosh on!
Dylan Reeve normally writes about the nasty side of the internet. For his latest piece, he changed tack to list all of the good things the internet has ever given him, including his marriage, his children and so much more.
Eighty years ago, the Holocaust was planned out at a 90-minute “final solution” meeting at Lake Wannsee, near Berlin. The New York Times (paywalled) details how it happened, and why anti-semitism is again on the rise.
Trying to save your dollars for a house deposit? Madeleine Chapman has some foolproof tips. (Or does she?)
Lena Dunham is the voice of her generation, or, at least, a generation. She sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for a fascinating interview in which she admits she’d like to reboot her hit show Girls, but HBO won’t let her.
Has Valentine’s still got it? Jihee Junn visits one, reporting that the legendary buffet providing all-you-can-eat feeds is on the comeback trail.
Finally, to prepare for today’s T20 Black Clash, Calum Henderson has named his dream nostalgia Black Caps team, including Mark Greatbatch and Chris Pringle, and it’s a wonderful trip down cricket’s memory lane.
