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The Best OfJuly 31, 2019

The Side Eye: The Bottles – a story about nostalgia and dog poo

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The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.

Julian Batchelor, left, is suing TVNZ with the financial backing of Jim Grenon, right

Billionaire NZME director funding defamation lawsuit against TVNZ, court told

Jim Grenon suggested to controversial evangelist Julian Batchelor that he should sue TVNZ, according to evidence given in court.

By Joel MacManus | 16th December, 2025

Image: The Spinoff

The world in 2025, in one sentence

As 2025 draws to a close, we asked our pantheon of politics watchers to describe the world this year as succinctly as possible.

By Group Think | 16th December, 2025

A bunch of people

The cost of being: A self-employed couple ‘getting very close to retirement’

The cost of being: A self-employed couple ‘getting very close to retirement’

'Three words to describe my financial situation: Secure for now. However, retirement could be another question.'

By The Cost of Being | 16th December, 2025

Mourners gather to lay flowers at Bondi Beach. (Photo: Izhar Khan/Getty Images)

Bondi attack reignites gun debate in Australia and security fears at home

The shooting has renewed scrutiny of firearms laws, intelligence failures and how both Australia and NZ protect their crowded public spaces.

By Catherine McGregor | 16th December, 2025

Contributing writer

Can you age-restrict the internet? Some countries are trying.

What NZ can learn from Australia’s under-16s social media ban

What’s worked, what’s gone madly wrong and what’s now brewing in Aotearoa.

By Emma Gleason | 16th December, 2025

Contributing writer

M Nolan Gray outside Ockham Residential’s Toi apartment building in Point Chevalier.

A plea from house-price hell: don’t let the nimbys win

A visiting US town planner has a cautionary tale for New Zealand.

By Hayden Donnell | 16th December, 2025

The Fold: Ranking the top five global media giants of 2025

The Fold: Ranking the top five global media giants of 2025

The second part of The Fold's 2025 finale.

By The Spinoff | 16th December, 2025

Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) has a lovely time in this year’s Shortland Street cliffhanger (Photo: SPP)

Does the Shortland Street cliffhanger still deliver bang for its buck?

The explosive 2025 Christmas cliffhanger, reviewed.

By Tara Ward | 15th December, 2025

All I want for Christmas is Judith Collins’ favourite app

Judith Collins is pumped about the new government services app. Is it any good?

When the minister for digitising government has given you an early Christmas present, it would be rude not to open it.

By Shanti Mathias | 15th December, 2025

Contributing writer

The Best Of

The Papatoetoe-Ōtara Action Team didn’t just win, they dominated.

Did NZ’s most brazen electoral fraud just take place in Papatoetoe?

In court, they opened up 53 wrongfully cast ballots. Fifty of them had gone to the winning side.

By Hayden Donnell | 10th December, 2025

Ruth Richardson and Nicola Willis in budget mode. (Images: Getty; Parliament TV. Design: Tina Tiller)

Ruth Richardson v Nicola Willis: the mother of all epochal debates

Two National finance ministers, three decades apart, are locking horns. But just how different is the political environment of today to the time of the juggernaut?

By Toby Manhire | 10th December, 2025

Editor-at-large

Christopher Luxon at the opening of Ikea on Thursday, December 4 (Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Why Christopher Luxon thinks Ikea could win him the election

National’s strategy in 2026 will be all about grand openings and major events.

By Joel MacManus | 9th December, 2025