The Spinoff Weekly: Who is Lucinda Baulch, the Australian who refused a Covid test?
February 22 – March 1
Siouxsie Wiles: Why this new case means level three – and, please, don’t misdirect your anger
Siouxsie Wiles explains what’s concerning about the new case, and urges a moment’s pause on today’s anniversary of the first case, to reflect on what could have been.
Who is Lucinda Baulch, the Australian who refused a Covid test?
Having refused to take a Covid-19 test over the duration of her 28-day stay, Australian woman Lucinda Baulch was released on Tuesday from managed isolation in Wellington. Contrary to some initially credulous reporting, her claim that she only wanted ‘informed consent’ on the PCR test was far from the full story, writes Dylan Reeve.
‘Quite a 364 days’: Grant Robertson on Covid, a year on, and the crisis today – housing
The finance minister spoke to Auckland businesspeople on Friday on the state of the economy a year after Covid-19 landed, and how he hopes to take on another crisis. Toby Manhire went along.
Fed-up residents speak out on grey, characterless things ruining their suburbs
New Zealand news is replete with heartfelt articles foregrounding the agony of residents standing bravely in opposition to new housing developments. But what if the stories were told from another point of view? Hayden Donnell gives it a go.
Attaching a beeping device to people with Autism isn’t treatment. It’s torture
A crowdfunding campaign for a ‘tool’ that attaches to the back of the neck is abhorrent to people with lived neurodivergent experience, writes ADHD and Autism advocate Rory McCarthy.
Raconteur, ratbag, knife-thrower: Tony Astle on 48 years as Antoine’s chef
Revered, feared and frank, Tony Astle has closed the doors on his fine-dining Auckland institution after almost half a century. Michelle Langstone heads to Parnell expecting to meet a tyrant.
I listened to Magic Talk for 12 hours straight and I think my brain melted
It’s been controversy upon controversy for the talkback station in recent weeks, so Alex Casey embarked on a Magic Talk marathon to find out what the hell is going on.
How Moa’s awful marketing left it stranded in craft beer no man’s land
Its 2012 investment prospectus was all suits, cigars, guns, sports cars and models in short skirts, and its consumer advertising was possibly even worse. Did the Moa brand’s dodgy attitude to women contribute to its huge losses?
My body is not the problem – my school’s obsession with ‘modesty’ is
Nevada Wolfgramm, a year 13 student at Mount Aspiring College in Wānaka, has been repeatedly censured by the school for breaching its dress code, told by teachers that what she’s wearing is distracting boys and male teachers. Here, she explains why it must stop.
How to get to zero deaths on New Zealand’s roads
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Last year 320 people were killed on New Zealand’s roads. Alex Braae spoke to the people on the front line of road safety about the plan to turn that around.
