Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily.
Today on The Spinoff: Who should own Wellington airport, how did the Wellington Phoenix go from wooden spoon favourites to title contenders and what should happed to the Wellington golf course hardly anybody uses.
But first: What actually are the Ockhams? Rebecca K Reilly investigates our national book awards.
“How do authors feel about the awards?
This was going to be about how the sentiment around the awards is mixed, but the responses I collected from authors were… all negative. When asked to describe the Ockhams in one word, the words I got back were ‘frustrated’, ‘tired’, ‘conflicted’, ‘sad’, ‘lottery’, ‘resigned’, ‘nebulous’, ‘crapshoot’ and ‘lol’. All awards are weird, but what makes these ones particularly fraught?”
Behind the Story is a new podcast from The Spinoff that goes beyond the bylines. Join The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman every Saturday as she sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the week. Listen now.
Why selling Wellington Airport would be colossally careless
Why it’s time to ditch Berhampore Golf Course
Two senior publishers axed at Penguin Random House amid major restructure
How the Phoenix went from wooden spoon favourites to title contenders
The government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to landlords. But an economic analysis done by Otago University’s public health department has found keeping the smokefree measures would have been of benefit not only for public health, but also for the economy.
Otago University professor Nick Wilson joined Bernard Hickey on this week’s episode of When the Facts Change to discuss the fascinating figures resulting from that research.
This new TVNZ anthology is Motherhood as you’ve never seen it before
Review: Swan Lake is a reminder of how much work it takes to look effortless
The Friday Poem: ‘High Tide at Local Maxima’ by Eamonn Tee
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 10