Don Rowe

Staff Writer

Don Rowe (Ngāi Tahu) is a staff writer at The Spinoff. He was the 2015 Canon Media Awards student journalist of the year and the 2017 junior long form feature writer of the year. Email him on don@thespinoff.co.nz

Media
Aug 20, 2018

The Spinoff reviews the Spin-Off, a knitting quarterly

Don Rowe reviews Spin-Off, a knitting quarterly with easily as many polemics and features as The Spinoff – only more well staffed. 

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Food
Aug 16, 2018

You wouldn't eat a kiwi – so why is whitebait okay?

Whitebait season is here, and Forest and Bird are steaming mad about it. Why are we serving endangered fish in kitchens and cafes alike?

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Business
Aug 16, 2018

Meet the DOC dogs protecting New Zealand's native wildlife

Since 2016, the department has partnered with Kiwibank to develop the conservation dog programme and, by proxy, raise the profile of conservation as a whole. 

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Society
Aug 10, 2018

SkyCity’s bet on offshore online gambling lays bare the crapness of NZ’s law

SkyCity want to open an online casino. What makes them any different from the sharks already here, asks Don Rowe.

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Music
Aug 6, 2018

Burned out: The Kiwi Burning Man has been cancelled

'Burners' around the country will have to look elsewhere for their collectivist fix, after Kiwiburn 2019 was cancelled by event organisers.

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Business
Aug 3, 2018

Apple reaches $1 trillion – and you’re an investor!

Youth of New Zealand rejoice: Apple has become the most valuable company to ever exist, and we're all investors. 

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Food
Aug 1, 2018

Blades of glory: The knives chefs go nuts for

In a world replete with generic knives, Auckland chefs are moving towards something a little more special.

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Society
Jul 31, 2018

Why the fly-spray and toxic waste hysteria on synthetics has to stop

Stuart Nash says it was just 'a metaphor', but that's not good enough: for too long the drug debate has been blighted by wild and counterproductive hyperbole, writes Don Rowe  Police …

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Society
Jul 26, 2018

Finally: tests reveal NZ had some very legit pingers last summer

Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, the results of more than 400 drug tests from across the festival season are in. Who is eating what? 

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Sports
Jul 25, 2018

A win is not enough for Joseph Parker in London

Joseph Parker’s future in boxing demands a career-high performance this weekend, writes Don Rowe.

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Ātea
Jul 21, 2018

‘The key word is manaakitanga’: Trading indigenous knowledge with First Nations peoples

As winter passes and new life takes hold in New Zealand, indigenous guests from far abroad have arrived to exchange cultural knowledge. 

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Food
Jul 20, 2018

An illustrated guide to New Zealand’s loosest BYOs

Nothing goes better with cheap food than cheaper wine drunk quickly. Here are the 10 best BYO spots in New Zealand, as submitted by you. 

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Ātea
Jul 19, 2018

The podcasting architect aiming to revitalise a historic Northland community

Whangārei architect Jade Kake has made a career changing behaviour through design, decolonising Māori thought patterns and outcomes through altering the environment in which they take place.

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Science
Jul 15, 2018

Fact check: could smoking weed off a can give you Alzheimer’s?

Teens have smoked weed from the side of a can for decades, and probably always will. But doesn't that give you Alzheimer's?

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Media
Jul 12, 2018

Newshub reporter attacked by grizzly beer as England’s World Cup dream dies

A Kiwi reporter took a pint of lager to the face live on the AM Show as England fell to Croatia in extra time this morning.

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Food
Jul 12, 2018

How terrible food is killing New Zealand’s poor

New research from the University of Auckland reveals startling disparities in the ways communities are targeted by junk food retailers. Don Rowe speaks to the study's author. 

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Music
Jul 7, 2018

Remembering shuffling, the dance craze of the Bebo era

For a time in the late 2000's, youth of all backgrounds in this country began to dance. Don Rowe remembers the brief flash when techno became a unifying force in New Zealand.

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Media
Jul 3, 2018

Metamorphosis is the most revealing Joseph Parker doco yet

A new documentary following New Zealand's Joseph Parker offers fascinating background on the make-or-break moments of boxing, writes Don Rowe. 

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Business
Jul 1, 2018

Meet the NZ ad guru who wants to fix weed’s PR problem

Medical cannabis is still illegal, but an arms race is already under way in anticipation of that changing.

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Music
Jun 25, 2018

An oral history of the night Faith No More played a tiny bar in Queenstown

In May of 1993 alt-metal weirdos Faith No More were cast adrift in New Zealand with nothing to do. And so Don Rowe's dad booked them to open his nightclub, a tiny room in a very different Queenstown. 

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Media
Jun 21, 2018

Are drug drivers really killing us by the droves?

For the first time drug driving deaths have eclipsed drink drivers. Or have they? Don Rowe looks at the media furore around an AA press release experts argue is unsubstantiated. 

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Business
Jun 13, 2018

Auckland Council wants you to help them buy new trains

Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, Auckland Council wants you to help buy trains. What's the deal, and can they be trusted with your money?

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Media
Jun 12, 2018

A yuge and groundbreaking analysis of the Trump-Kim staredown in Singapore

The 'Nectarine Nero' meets Kim Jong-un in Singapore today to pursue the shared goals of peace in Korea and a lovely Nobel prize. Don Rowe breaks down the 30 seconds or so the pair spent with the press ahead of their talks today.

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Sports
Jun 8, 2018

Joseph Parker puts himself back in the title chase

In today's cheat sheet, Joseph Parker is heading back to the UK to rejoin the hunt for the heavyweight title. 

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Business
Jun 7, 2018

It’s a wrap on plastic bags

Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, the latest on New Zealand's efforts to fight plastic pollution.

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Society
Jun 5, 2018

A brief history of Big Foot, New Zealand’s most ridiculous RTD

For a brief moment, New Zealand was home to Big Foot, a mythically potent RTD served in a giant bottle and apparently aimed squarely at teens. Don Rowe talks to the brain behind it.

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