The Weekend: Big frick energy

How not to keep your cool, moving targets and precious gems

Kia ora and welcome to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman

There's something very funny about the word frick. Perhaps it's the Christian undertones, popularised by kids who were too god-fearing to say the bad f-word (but probably just god-fearing enough to say the other bad f-word). It might sound like a milder version of fuck but once you realise anyone saying frick is using every last ounce of their being to not say fuck, it becomes a whole lot more powerful.

This internal struggle played out on the face of prime minister Chris Luxon on Thursday during his press stand-up announcing 500 new police officers. Leading up to the moment, Luxon had stood alongside police minister Mark Mitchell, butting in and getting remarks in across Mitchell's attempted answers. He was either not confident that Mitchell could answer adequately, or rarked up enough to need to say something.

When a reporter asked if removing gang members from the gang registry (eg people who are now deceased) was a clever way of "lowering" gang numbers, Luxon had had enough. He leaned over and said "it's not about the fricken targets, it's about outcomes".

First of all, the government has been all about targets, so to balk at being asked about them is concerning. Second of all, is an outcome not a target and vice versa? In his next breath, Luxon specified that the desired outcome is lowering violent crime. Lowering violent crime is literally a government target. 

But that's all by the by. What I'm more interested in is frick. We've become so accustomed to prime ministers being almost errily calm and collected in front of the media. John Key could let a press conference run well over time and appear unconcerned by the barrage of questions. Jacinda Ardern was, frankly, frustratingly measured in her answers, no matter the topic. Even Bill English had figured out an approach that didn't give too much away. But Luxon hasn't.

From even before the election, it was clear he didn't enjoy (who would?) being questioned by the media. Many assumed he would simply learn on the job and figure out his media persona but the opposite has happened. Luxon appears perpetually shocked that there are people whose whole job is to question his lovely announcements. In fact, on Newstalk ZB on Friday morning, Luxon was asked about his media appearances and use of Tiktok and other platforms that don't include a journalist. Part of his reasoning was "we've got a press gallery in Wellington and the parliament. They sort of get very obsessed on the political stuff".

The parliamentary press gallery is obsessed with asking about political stuff? An objectively crack up thing for the prime minister to say, but also unsurprising. On numerous occasions, Luxon has appeared visibly agitated by the routine questioning from reporters. Sometimes it results in an insultingly short press conference (just 15 minutes to discuss the royal commission's final inquiry report into abuse in care). Other times it's simply his terseness in responding.

And now it's frick.

It may just be a word but in the context of Luxon's increasing contempt for journalists and after nearly a full year of no improvement in his ability to calmly answer questions, I can only presume that it's the top of a frickin slippery slope.

This week on Behind the Story

Bulletin editor Stewart Sowman-Lund has had a few roles in his time at the Spinoff, first as live updates editor, then reporter, and now as bulletin editor. Writing a bulletin every morning takes up plenty of his time, but he also specialises in following those random, one-off tips that every journalist gets. This week’s tip was from a man who had strangely been called by the police while driving, to tell him to stop using his phone while driving.

Stewart joined me on Behind the Story (now with video!) to discuss writing in different formats, following a scent and dealing with feedback.

How can everyone be part of the AI revolution?

AI technology is an increasingly common part of many people’s working lives – but not everyone has the opportunity to benefit equally.“Technologies can create divides, but they can also help to overcome them,” says Dr Jade Brooks of the University of Auckland Business School. She’s researching how workplaces can bridge the digital divide, not just through improving overall access to technology but by exploring how people from different demographics are included or excluded, and ultimately how it impacts their job performance. Read the story here.

Unbought gems: Who will buy New Zealand’s largest gemstone collection? 

Vince Burke, the 85-year-old proprietor of the Birdlings Flat Gemstone & Fossil Museum, is New Zealand’s largest collection of natural gemstones. Alex Casey paid him, and his collection, a visit. Groaning with over 10,000 items, his kaleidoscopic collection was almost impossible to absorb. There’s rusty red jasperized wood from the Coromandel, millennial pink rhodonites from Dunedin, and cornflower blue agates found just 100 metres away on the beach. He’s been collecting since he was a boy, but Burke has now found himself “getting on a bit”. His children aren’t interested in the collection, so he’s looking to sell it. On the bright yellow COLLECTION FOR SALE sign, the $750,000 asking price has been changed with a Sharpie, reduced to $650,000. But just because he’s looking to sell, doesn’t mean his collection has stopped growing.

The snow is melting – so what are skiers and mountaineers doing about it?

For people who spend time outdoors, there’s no way to ignore that a warming climate is happening now, writes Shanti Mathias. If you go skiing every winter, you might notice more rocks and tussocks poking up through thinning snow cover. If you’re climbing mountains, you might have to change access routes as crevasses yawn open on melting glaciers. At the same time, outdoor activities can generate lots of emissions, especially in the transport required to get to these areas. Mathias talks to some of New Zealand’s outdoor community about their views and actions on climate change.

Exclusive: Inside the government’s beleaguered bid to reduce violent crime

Our deputy editor Alice Nevile has spent weeks pouring over  hundreds of pages of correspondence released to The Spinoff under the Official Information Act. Her findings give a glimpse of what’s been going on behind the bold claims and big promises around the government’s target for reducing violent crime. Public sector belt tightening appears to have delayed, if not derailed, progress on the target. Despite the government’s repeated assurances that its money-saving measures won’t impact frontline services, ministers have been warned that “back-office” cost-cutting is not only putting the delivery of the target at risk, it is expected to “place further pressure on frontline staff”. This is only the beginning of her findings, make yourself a cuppa and settle in for a long, but fascinating read.

Aware and alive: Why motorcycle safety is an issue for car users too

The weather is warming up, and with it motorcyclists are dusting off their bikes and heading out on the roads. But it’s not only motorbike owners who should be brushing up on their road skills – car drivers also need to have motorcyclists’ safety in mind when they get behind the wheel. This Motorcycle Awareness Month, Z Energy is appealing to all road users to help keep motorcyclists safe. Read why here.

The stories Spinoff readers spent the most time with this week

• Joel MacManus discovers his inner cartographer and draws up three all-new maps that demonstrate how Wellington’s bike network has grown

  • Bonus content: based on popular demand, we’ve given his three excellent maps a Spinoff glow-up.

Wellington’s cycleways - past, present and future (Original maps by Joel MacManus, new design: Archi Banal)

You can also find and share them on our Instagram and Twitter accounts.

• Alice Neville with an excellent deep dive into a pile of documents and a detailed look at the government’s beleaguered bid to reduce violent crime

• Max Rashbrooke asks whether David Seymour has ‘saved’ school lunches – or enshittified them?

• A public servant with a six-month-old baby and a quality coffee habit reveals their spending habits in this week’s Cost of Being

• Hayden Donnell gives up on aspirational transport projects that will actually happen in Auckland and declares, “Screw it, build Wayne Brown’s weird bridge”

Recommended reads for your weekend

• Sunday is international hobbit day. To celebrate, Luke Wilson has ranked almost all of the Hobbits in the Tolkienverse

• The social media app you forgot about is on every kid’s phone. Staff writer Lyric Waiwiri-Smith looks back at the rise and fall of Snapchat

• Toby Manhire casts his eye back a decade to revisit a wild night in New Zealand politics: The Moment of Truth

• Children’s book connoisseur Hera Lindsay Bird rates the most miserable and fucked-up children’s authors

• If you’re giving your handbag the window seat or vaping in the back seat, please read our latest guide to life: How to ride the bus

• Ātea editor Liam Rātana argues with himself about where to draw the line when businesses use Māori cultural elements

• Ruby Solly tells us what it was like recording Keri Hulme’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Bone People audiobook

• A university study concerning paedophilia explores “stigma and attitudes towards people with a sexual attraction to children”. Maddie Holden considers if the researcher is a righteous moral crusader or deeply full of shit

• In our latest Pacific profile, Litia Tuiburelevu speaks to Mr Tiria, the English teacher showcasing Pacific literature in Naenae

• Nick Iles spills the tea on where Wellington’s top chefs eat on their day off

Thanks for coming to our party!

If you joined in our treasure hunt, ranked our rankings, emailed, commented, or otherwise celebrated 10 years of The Spinoff with us last week, thank you. We can only exist through your ongoing support.

In case you missed it, you can catch up on our full story, check out some of the stories that have defined us, enjoy our biggest regrets, or dive into a ranking of all our rankings.

Reader feedback of the week

• On I’m a school principal. Here’s why I’m worried about the new curriculum

“I work in learning support in a school. The students are not failing Maths because the curriculum is poor. They are failing because of over crowded classrooms, because there’s not enough support for struggling students, because they’re hungry or cold, because they have to keep moving house and school, because their family is struggling with trauma or any number of other issues. Fix the system before the curriculum.”

— JRo

• On Has David Seymour ‘saved’ school lunches – or enshittified them?

“As a boomer, I was brought up with free school lunches.  In those days, many of our parents had to be off to the shops and factories, via public transport: preparing lunches for  four children, when there were essentially no convenience foods was an extra burden.  Moreover, with all the children receiving a lunch there was no stigma.  Sadly, the food was chosen down to budget and badly cooked.  Stupidly, there was always a pudding after, which only served to stimulate my generation's sweet tooth.  But the principle was decent.And I too, favour UBI.”

— Annie

Thanks for reading.

— Madeleine Chapman