Hayden Donnell is a staff writer for The Spinoff.
New Zealand’s insistence on changing its clocks twice a year doesn’t make sense, and it needs to stop, argues Hayden Donnell.
She set foot in the US and immediately became a media sensation. How did she become a light for our troubled world?
Many of us have suffered the terror of a beetroot poo, but few of us ever talk about our experience. Hayden Donnell says it’s time to bring this important issue into the light.
After reading advice urging him to microwave red wine during the winter, Hayden Donnell angrily takes on New Zealand’s entire wine community.
Facebook is flooded with rabid anti-1080 activism, but the poison is the only barrier between many of New Zealand's native species and extinction.
Anti-1080 activism has exploded in popularity and intensity in the last few months. Hayden Donnell goes down the rabbit hole to find out what’s behind the movement’s rise.
Having nitpicked its way into rejecting two high-density apartment developments near the CBD, does Auckland Council's consents department really believe in the vision of the Unitary Plan?
New Zealanders have woken up to a topsy turvy world this morning, with normally annoying commentators Mark Richardson and Mike Hosking talking a lot of sense, reports Hayden Donnell.
A rogue Auckland Council email footer has sparked a wave of angst and recriminations in Takapuna, providing a glimpse into a broader conspiracy culture in local government.
Facebook streams have been overrun by an army of anti-1080 activists. We go in search of the source of the spam campaign.
The former CEO of the Pike River mine says he doesn’t feel guilty over the explosion that killed 29 of his workers. Here are a few things that should twig his conscience.
Kraft is introducing a new peanut butter to compete with Bega peanut butter, which due to some business stuff is now producing Kraft's original recipe. Hayden Donnell taste-tested it.
Councillors are forever going to public meetings to receive bad advice from angry people who mostly don’t know what they’re talking about. Hayden Donnell asks why.
Sometimes it pays to focus on the dark side of gaming. Hayden Donnell shares the harrowing story of his own crippling addiction to Dark Souls.
Judith Collins called on Jacinda Ardern to condemn France over a story she sourced from yournewswire.com. Turns out it's the tip of the iceberg
Featuring hints of marshmallow, Prince Charles, booze-soaked shoes and being bullied by a large Scottish man named Paul.
Being a tenant in New Zealand is often a difficult and disempowering experience. Hayden Donnell looks into what’s broken in our rental housing market.
The world’s greatest peanut spread underwent some frightening changes recently. Hayden Donnell delves into the animosity and legal wrangling behind the death and rebirth of Kraft Peanut Butter.
Playing onboard the Interislander, one of the most important (and worst) shows in the country.
Just a few times some of the newly formed Free Speech Coalition members have been less than fervent in their defence of free speech.
The National leader has been lambasted over an interview about the Ardern-Clarke baby. But the real problem is he has been possessed.
Auckland’s golf courses are huge tracts of heavily subsidised land lying vacant in the middle of a housing crisis. We need to seize them back
Hayden Donnell runs down the latest media salvos in the ongoing battle between road warriors and public transport champions.
Ever noticed that every summer news story is recycled from previous years? We've even regurgitated this drinking game to improve, or at least anaesthetise, your holiday news reading experience.
Who invented Kiwi Onion Dip, and why isn’t there a gold statue of that person on top of Mt Cook? Hayden Donnell goes on a wildly emotional search for an unheralded New Zealand genius.
The Spinoff's Blighty correspondent Hayden Donnell meets some UK game developers to find out why the US gaming industry might be better off shifting operations to the Motherland.
Spare a thought for the true victims of the housing crisis, beseeches Hayden Donnell
