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Tim and Neil Finn onstage at Electric Avenue. Image: Alex Casey

Review: Split Enz makes history at Christchurch’s Electric Avenue

The first day of Electric Avenue was a smorgasbord of local legends and international superstars, but nothing could top a Split Enz reunion.

By Alex Casey | 28th February, 2026

Grishma’s popularity is entirely through word-of-mouth

Grishma in Newtown: a review of the best eyebrow threader in Wellington

Grishma is a local legend but she's refused to give The Spinoff an interview for a decade. Mad Chapman settles for writing this review.

By Madeleine Chapman | 28th February, 2026

Special correspondent

NZ First ditches members’ bill attempt to get definitions of men and women into law

NZ First ditches members’ bill attempt to get definitions of men and women into law

It's the second time the party has scrapped one of its flagship members' bills to make way for a new one.

By Lyric Waiwiri-Smith | 27th February, 2026

Politics reporter

A big week for Wellington, Gore and power companies.

Good week/bad week: Huge profits for energy gentailers are probably bad, right?

It was a good week for the major gentailers, which posted a combined profit of $1.85 billion. That’s good for the New Zealand public, which owns 51% of the four companies, and is bad for the New Zealand public, which makes up 100% of their customers.

By Joel MacManus | 27th February, 2026

16-year-old running phenom Sam Ruthe.

Why Sam Ruthe runs so fast

The Tauranga teenager may be the greatest prodigy in the history of running. What's his secret?

By Joel MacManus | 27th February, 2026

Image by Tina Tiller

Puberty blockers ban anxiety grinds on as ‘very, very worried’ children and families look for support

'Ultimately, there's a very real chance that it's going to cost people's lives.'

By Alex Casey | 25th February, 2026

Move-on orders are a game-changer for fixing the nation’s complex problems

Move-on orders are a game-changer for fixing the nation’s complex problems

It’s amazing what issues you can solve if you just shift them to somewhere you don’t have to look at them.

By Hayden Donnell | 25th February, 2026

The first lineup of America’s Next Top Model hopefuls (Photo: Netflix)

Reality check: Where is the apology in the new America’s Next Top Model docuseries?

Who does Tyra Banks think is responsible for the harm inflicted on contestants?

By Rebecca Trelease | 24th February, 2026

Waiora in 1996 and 2026
(Photos: Supplied)

‘Immigrants in our own country’: Hone Kouka on the 30-year legacy of Waiora Te Ukāipō

The writer and director of one of New Zealand's most impactful plays reflects on its success and continued relevance ahead of its stage revival.

By Sam Brooks | 24th February, 2026

Contributing writer

Sharon has been on the streets for seven years and has stage four cancer. (Photo: Emma Gleason).

Move-on orders: ‘I’d move on if I had somewhere to go’

Ministers say more powers to clear rough sleepers will make communities feel safer. This is what 'streeties' think of the move.

By Liam Rātana

& Emma Gleason | 24th February, 2026

Contributing writer

New To Streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week

New To Streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week

Including the return of both Scrubs and Robyn Malcolm as a criminal matriarch.

By Thomas Giblin | 23rd February, 2026

Scenes from the last ever Splore (Photos: Nico Penny)

Goodbye Splore. We’ll try to hang on to the memories

At Splore, a collective utopia felt attainable. That it's not a sustainable experience to offer feels sad – and revealing of the current world we live in.

By Simon Day | 23rd February, 2026

Contributing Writer

At left: Gary Simmons, Screaming into the Ether (detail) (installation view), 2020, oil and cold wax on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of the Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, by exchange, and Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, by exchange, 2021.68. © Gary Simmons. At right: Kehinde Wiley, Willem van Heythuysen (installation view), 2006, Oil and enamel on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, 2006.14 © Kehinde Wiley

Past, present and pop: Don’t miss this striking survey of American art in Auckland

Some of the biggest names in modern American art are in Auckland right now.

By Emma Gleason | 23rd February, 2026

Contributing writer

Pūtātara: Revolutions in Māori Art explores the evolution of Māori art from the 1970s to now. (Design: The Spinoff).

The revolution was painted: how Māori art reshaped Aotearoa

Pūtātara: Revolutions in Māori Art shows that for Māori, art has always been political.

By Liam Rātana | 23rd February, 2026

Resources minister Shane Jones (Image: The Spinoff)

The critical minerals debate is mired in confusion, duplicity and agendas

Elements we can extract from our rocks promising riches and security may sound appealing, but the reality is far more complex.

& Sefton Darby | 23rd February, 2026

Parts of the red zone have become community spaces (Image: Shanti Mathias)

Revisiting childhood memories in Christchurch’s red zone

Sometimes my childhood memories try to sketch buildings onto the big empty plots in the central city. Am I disoriented, or just rebuilding what used to be there?

By Shanti Mathias | 22nd February, 2026

Contributing writer