On top of the world
The All Blacks resumed their world No.1 ranking after a compelling 45-6 victory over European champions France. “I felt powerless,” said French coach Bernard Laporte. “I had the feeling that we could play for hours and hours and not find our way to the line. The All Blacks are well and truly a better side.” The Guardian called the win the “dominant image of a vibrant autumn,” and named Daniel Carter – “the new Johnny Wilkinson and Carlos Spencer rolled into one” – player of the month.The AB's followed up their French win with a 47-19 defeat of a predominantly Australian Barbarians side.
(30 November 2004)

Leading by example
Despite opposition from home, NZ’s method of funding scientific and technological development is being used as a model by EU countries looking to overhaul their outdated research structures. Cordis: “The OECD has declared the country's framework for allocating funding to research, science and technology to be one of the best in the world, the World Bank has claimed that NZ's economy is the best globally for doing business, and New Scientist has alluded to the country punching ‘way above its weight’ in scientific research … With its recognition of the importance of basic research and moves to make research less dependent on government funding, NZ could be regarded as ahead of Europe in many respects.”
(28 October 2004)
    

Mane attraction
Turanga Merito has officially assumed the lead in Sydney’s The Lion King, taking over from close friend and fellow Kiwi, Vincent Harder. The 20-year-old from Rotorua studied for a Bachelor of Performing Arts at Auckland University and honed his considerable singing skills at church. More than 800,000 people have seen the Disney stage production since it opened in October last year.
(14 October 2004)
     

Crisp, stunning humdingers
The Scotsman urged readers to sample NZ’s “crisp, green apple and gooseberry-steeped sauvignons” and “stunning, cold-climate reds” at The New Zealand Wine Fair in Edinburgh. In a separate tasting section, Drylands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was given a glowing review: “[An] absolute humdinger. The minerally acidic zip up the middle is electrifying. Shellfish of any hue will die in its arms.”
(21 October 2004)
   

Something for everyone
NYT travels to Auckland and finds a sprawling and diverse city “finally growing into its own.” Recommended activities range from sipping coffee on Ponsonby Rd or visiting the Auckland Art Gallery to trawling the Otara and Auckland Fish Markets.
(31 October 2004)
   

Ric Burch stages his story
Ric Birch, the NZ born maestro behind many of the sporting and cultural worlds’ most spectacular events, has published a tell-all autobiography entitled Master of the Ceremonies. Birch has organised the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, the Los Angeles, Barcelona and Sydney Olympics, and the Australian Bicentennial celebrations and 1988 Brisbane Expo, to name but a few. Publishers Allen & Unwin describe the book as “a fascinating insider's tale of the highs and lows of creating truly unforgettable public spectaculars - a gossipy and fascinatingly entertaining memoir from an author consistently in the public eye.”
(18 November 2004)
   

Basis for change
The British government is considering an overhaul of its outdated pension scheme based on the current NZ system. According to the Times, the state of women’s pensions in the UK is “a national scandal” in urgent need of attention. In NZ, a flat-rate payment equal to approximately £94.48 per week is made to all people over 65, on the condition that they have lived in the country for at least ten years. Raising the income of elderly women means that only around 5% of pensioners live in poverty, compared to 20% in Britain.
(21 October 2004)
   

Moa, moa and more moa
New scientific evidence reveals that humans may not be entirely responsible for the extinction of the moa. According to research undertaken in NZ and the US, there were 3 to 12 million moa roaming the forests thousands of years before the arrival of humans, by which time the estimated moa population had dropped to a mere 159,000. This suggests that moa were already in serious decline due to an earlier and equally dramatic biological or environmental event. “We were really surprised because we had been very conservative with all the parameters we used,” said study Director Neil Gemmell of Canterbury University. “It suggests that moa were very common indeed.”
(10 November 2004)
    

Shoo fly, don’t bother me
Massey University scientists have teamed up with the Centre for Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research at the University of Melbourne to decipher the genetic code of the dreaded Aussie blowfly. The study hopes to find a successful method for controlling the pests, which cost Australian farmers in excess of $160 million a year in lost production.
(9 November 2004)
    

A year in review
Canadian Runners Web featured an email from Kiwi triathlete Bevan Docherty in its news section. “It's been one of the most amazing years for me, a World cup Win, a World Championship Win, Taking the No.1 ranking on the World cup, and of course a Silver medal at the Olympics … Now I'm looking towards Beijing and hoping to get a collection of medals, different colours of course…”
(24 October 2004)
    

Crusader of the highest order
NZ’s foremost campaigner against apartheid, Trevor Richards, was awarded the Supreme Companion of OR Tambo by South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria. “Its not every day that one wakes up and wonders what award they will be receiving today,” said Richards, the founder and leader of HART (Halt All Racist Tours) and author of seminal anti-apartheid work Dancing On Our Bones. In an inspiring address, President Mbeki described the national order recipients as “beacons that must guide us forever as we build a society founded on the high ideals of freedom, justice, equality and human solidarity.”
(29 October 2004)
  

Warning heard around the globe
Top Kiwi scientist, Dr Peter Barrett, has warned the world “if we continue our present growth path, we are facing extinction … Not in millions of years, or even millennia, but by the end of this century.” An expert on climate change, Barrett is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Marsden award and Director of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre.
(17 November 2004)
  

Kiwi scoops top Australian award
Slow Water by Annamarie Jagose won the prestigious AU$30,000 fiction prize at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards in October. Jagose has lived in Australia for 12 years and is currently on leave from the University of Melbourne to teach film, TV, and media studies at Auckland University. Slow Water is a fictional account of the trial William Yate; an English missionary charged with the capital crime of homosexuality in colonial Australia. The novel has also been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin award.
(19 October 2004)
    

Eco-adventurer
In 2002, Aucklander Pete Bethune launched a bid to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe by powerboat. The difference is Bethune aims to do so using a state-of-the-art biodiesel powered vessel: The Earthrace. Designed by Craig Loomes, the 20m race-boat runs on a new generation fuel made predominantly from canola oil. “A major reason for attempting this record is to place a global spotlight on biodiesel as a serious alternative to fossil fuels,” says Bethune. “Of course, we also want to win the record!” The voyage launches in early 2005.
(9 November 2004)
   

Voters want out
The re-election of George W Bush has sparked an increase in enquiries about emigration to NZ from US voters seeking more liberal pastures. According to the Telegraph, “the size of [Bush’s] victory has led hardcore Democrats, as well as homosexuals, opponents of the Iraq war and supporters of abortion rights to fear that their values and way of life may be at risk.” The NZ Immigration Service website recorded 10,300 hits from the US the day after Bush was re-elected, more than four times its usual average. Another 300 inquiries were received daily by phone and e-mail, up from roughly eight a day before the election.
(9 November 2004)
    

Accidental winner
Sally Andrews won Best Actress at this year’s San Diego Film Festival for her starring role in NZ feature, Her Majesty. The 15-year-old Hutt Valley High School student is a self-described “accidental actress,” who only joined a talent agency because her younger cousin did and almost didn’t bother auditioning for her award winning part. Her Majesty is set in NZ in 1953, against the backdrop of Queen Elizabeth’s royal tour.
(24 October 2004)

    

Exchange of potential
In mid-October Helen Clark made the first visit to India by a NZ Prime Minister in nearly 20 years. During her meetings with the President, Prime Minister, Congress Party leader, and economic heads, Clark emphasised the potential for mutually beneficial cultural and information exchange between the two countries. The importance of the film industry to both nations was a key point of Clark’s speech in Mumbai.
(20 October 2004)
    

Making it on their own
The Age profiles ex-pat band Betchadupa and finds that despite their “pop-star pedigree” (Liam Finn is son of Neil and Matt Eccles of Angels drummer Brent), they are more likely to eschew parental advice and do their own thing. “You're not supposed to make music to please your parents, anyway,” says Liam. The band’s new album, Aiming For Your Head, is described as “equally remarkable for its classy songcraft and amazing band dynamics … it sometimes sounds like a band with more ideas than studio time.”
(21 October 2004)
   

A Kiwi voice in Cannes
Cuisine won silver in the Food Magazines category of the inaugural Gourmet Voice Awards in Cannes. The September 2004 Middle Eastern special was recognised alongside such renowned international publications as Delicious (UK), Olive (US), and Cucina (Italy). “To take out a top award like this when competing with some of the world’s most respected food magazines endorses the world class quality of Cuisine,” said Editor Simon Wilson in Scoop. “This award will bring worldwide attention and industry recognition, further showcasing our country’s inventiveness and resourcefulness when it comes to cuisine.”
(18 November 2004)
   

Sir Ed speaks out
Sir Edmund Hillary has spoken out against a US-led project to build an “ice highway” in Antarctica, which would allow hundreds of tons of scientific equipment to be transported to the Amundsen-Scott Base. “[Sir Edmund] spent weeks battling against the elements to get to the pole, and it was an enormous achievement. Now you've got the concept of a marked route that takes away the challenge and the adventure of getting there, and that is anathema to [him],” said Foreign Minister Phil Goff, who accompanied Hillary to Antarctica to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Erebus disaster. NZ has joined the 29 other Antarctic signatories in sanctioning the project as ecologically sound.
(29 November 2004)
   

Icons of Indiepop
‘I Love My Leather Jacket’ by Flying Nun legends, The Chills, makes the Guardian’s list of 10 great singles from the golden age of indiepop. “The Chills … took the so-called ‘Dunedin sound’ from regional fame to international obscurity. Martyn Phillipps was one of pop's great melodicists, whose following remains fanatical despite the rarity of his visits to recording studios over the past decade.”
(13 October 2004)
   

Iron-will an inspiration
The inspiring story of Napier mother-of-four, Tracey Richardson, has made headlines around the world. Two of Richardson’s children have cystic fibrosis and, in 2002, she decided to create awareness for the disease by competing in the 2004 NZ Ironman. News of her mission spread internationally, resulting in her invitation to attend the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. She came 1,446th in a race with a record number of non-finishers, both professional and amateur. “For me Ironman has been about finding out who I am and what I am made of, of discovering a strength deep inside me that I could draw on to get me through, a strength I know I will need to tap in to in the sad times to come,” says Richardson. “Ironman from the very start was always about setting an example and inspiring my children to believe that no matter what the goal, or how unattainable it might appear, that by taking one step at a time in the right direction you get there eventually.”
(2 November 2004)
    

Cream of the crop
Fonterra milk protein chemist, Lawrie Creamer, is the first New Zealander to win the International Dairy Federation (IDF) Award. The honour marks the pinnacle of Dr Creamer’s distinguished 40-year career, which has seen him receive a further 14 awards. The winners were announced at the annual IDF conference in Melbourne, Australia, in association with the Global Dairy Summit.
(22 November 2004)
  

From lamb to land
Property has overtaken lamb as NZ’s major spending ground for Britons. Sprawling sheep stations are being divided into smaller blocks and sold off at a great rate to young families, business entrepreneurs, and “lifestylers” from the other side of the world. Telegraph: “The best of that real estate is out of this world: classic landscape that makes your heart dance before you have seen a single lamb … If you fancy a gentle pace of life among natives who are far friendlier than their rugby team would suggest, you should include NZ on your shopping-list.”
(16 October 2004)
   

Battle of the titans
Fonterra has made a formal takeover bid for Australian conglomerate, National Foods, earning it the title “NZ moo-nopolist” in the Sydney Morning Herald. The super-company already owns Australian brands Bega, Western Star, Bodalla, Perfect Italiano and Peters & Brownes. In an ironic twist, Fonterra’s chief competition in the takeover bid looks likely to be Graeme Hart, NZ’s most successful entrepreneur and owner of the Burns Philip food group.
(3 November 2004)
   

North Island odyssey
The Telegraph’s Max Davidson takes a leisurely tour of the North Island’s wine-producing hot spots. The trail begins in “cosmopolitan Wellington,” followed by the Wairarapa, Auckland, and Waiheke Island. Further north, the scenery becomes more and more spectacular, reaching its climactic point in the Bay of Islands. “The dramatic wooded archipelago, with the Pacific Ocean beyond, bowled me over the way it must have bowled Captain Cook over in the 18th century,” says Davidson. “Why he bothered discovering Australia is beyond me. I would have stayed put here, among the trees and the birds and the sea-surrounded hills.”
(16 November 2004)
  

This is your wake up call
Researchers at the Canterbury District Health Board are developing an alertness monitor for drivers, in the hope of preventing fatigue-related accidents. With the help of Canterbury University’s Canterprise Ltd, the group hopes to have the device ready for commercial release by 2006. “It has colossal potential,” says study co-author Richard Jones. “A system which could monitor a person and detect lapses of consciousness would be of considerable value in helping to prevent serious accidents.”
(24 November 2004)
   

Southern bookmarks
Four American students embarked on a voyage of self-discovery against the backdrop of NZ’s South Island. After taking in such “must-sees” as Queenstown, Franz Josef Glacier, and Milford Sound, the four would “[throw] back a few cold ones with the local Kiwis and [recap] the day’s events.” The author’s verdict: “NZ's perfect landscape helped me to turn three college acquaintances into lifelong friends and placed a bookmark on my experience abroad that I won't soon remove.”
(3 October 2004)
     

Dance floor Casanova
“Strapping Kiwi dancer,” Brendan Cole, has found UK tabloid immortality as the fiery star of hit BBC1 show Strictly Come Dancing. Cole won the first series with TV presenter partner Natasha Kaplinsky – with whom he was rumoured to have had an affair – and is hotly tipped to take the second with Casualty star Sarah Manners.
(20 November 2004)
  

Down Under cowboy
Keith Urban took out the Best Male Vocalist category at this year’s Country Music Association awards in Nashville. Urban was the surprise winner in an all-star American field, which included Alan Jackson, George Strait, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith. Urban’s first two albums have sold a million copies each and his third – Be Here – debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Country Albums Chart. A recent New York Times feature describes the NZ-born/Australian-raised singer as a self-made “country heartthrob.”
(30 October 2004)
    

Fresh innovation
State of the art fruit packaging from NZ, ripeSense, has been named one of 36 Coolest Inventions of 2004 by Time magazine. Co-created by Hort Research and the Jenkins Group, the ripeSense label detects aroma compounds in fruits and changes colour depending on their ripeness, thus removing the need for customers to damage fruit by squeezing. The “intelligent” packaging was initially developed using pears but will be extended to include avocados, melons, and kiwifruit in the near future.
(21 November 2004)
   

Leader of the pack
Dunedin based production company, National History New Zealand, won two major awards at this year’s Beijing International Science Film Festival. The World’s Biggest Baddest Bugs and Spider Power took gold and silver respectively in the Nature and Environment category. “The challenge for NHNZ has always been to combine good stories and real science with broad appeal shows for a multi-country audience,” said NHNZ Managing Director Michael Stedman in Scoop. “I believe all these elements have all come together in Bugs and Spider Power. These shows have raised the bar considerably, both in style and content, in science and nature television.”
(22 November 2004)
  

Strong silent type
Telegraph feature extols the many virtues of NZ, voted Favourite Holiday Destination in the paper’s exhaustive annual poll. “NZ is the silent type: take the trouble to get to know her and you will discover hidden depths ... Returning from NZ, most people struggle to put into words what they found so magical. ‘It's a Utopia... a paradise on earth... another Eden...’ they say, before trailing off into wistful silence. Usually they end with: ‘You'll just have to go and see for yourself.’ It's the only way.”
(16 October 2004)
   

Melancholy masterpiece
The Australian mainstream release of In My Father’s Den has seen writer/director Brad McGann dubbed “NZ’s answer to Ken Loach.” Features in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age focus on the humble manner in which McGann overcame his “new kid on the block status” to create a masterpiece of NZ film. So far, In My Father’s Den has won the International Federation of Film Critics prize at Toronto and the Youth Jury Prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. It also made the cover of Australia’s Inside Film October edition, which described it as simply “superb.” “What was wonderful about In My Father's Den was that it was like coming back to a little patch of land in NZ,” says McGann in The Age. “When you start digging in your own soil, it's interesting how satisfying it is to realise the wealth of material you become conscious of.”
(22 October 2004)
   

Hood helms Oxford
John Hood was inducted as the 270th Vice Chancellor of Oxford University on October 5; the first non-staff member ever to hold the post. Dr Hood was formerly Vice Chancellor of Auckland University and an advisor to the NZ cricket squad. He has a PhD in engineering from Oxford, and was CEO of companies in the Fletcher Challenge Group.
(5 October 2004)
     

Fitzy on the ball
Sean Fitzpatrick gives a lengthy interview in the Irish Times. The legendary All Black captain is currently based in London as a TV analyst and motivational speaker. He is also a charity ambassador (along with Martina Navratilova, Michael Jordan, and Pele) for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Academy, for whom he recently travelled to war-torn Sierra Leone. Fitzpatrick describes meeting Edge co-founder and world Saatchi CEO, Kevin Roberts, in 1992 as a turning point in his life: “Kevin had a big influence on me. At the time we met, what he had to say was like a reality check. It changed the way I thought about myself as an athlete, I suppose.” Fitzpatrick has gone on to make the smoothest possible transition from the playing field to the boardroom, as “curious mix of traditionalist and new marketer.”
(20 November 2004)
  

Coutts’ cup runneth over
Russell Coutts beat American Ed Baird and Australian Peter Gilmour to win the US$30,000 King Edward VII Gold Cup. He now heads the leaderboard of the 2004-5 Swedish Match Tour championship after three of eight races. The Gold Cup victory was Coutts’ seventh in thirteen years, making him the all-time greatest winner of the trophy.
(25 October 2004)
    

Time is on their side
A Scotsman interview with Tim and Neil Finn finds that time and age has turned sibling rivalry to “sibling revelry, mate.” “There’s always a tension there between us,” says Tim. “One of us backs off and one of us pushes forward. And that way we ended up with songs I wouldn’t have written on my own at all.” The formula evidently works, for both fans and critics. The Scotsman describes the latest Finn brothers collaboration, Everyone is Here, as “an album of mature, melodic and literate songwriting that stands alongside the brothers’ very best work, both together and solo.”
(10 October 2004)
    

Home to rest
In November, NZ became one of the last participants of WW1 to create a tomb of the unknown soldier. The soldier’s remains arrived from France to an emotional Maori and military welcome, and were interred at the National Warrior Memorial in Wellington on Remembrance Day. “The establishment of the tomb represents a growing understanding of the part which history has played in shaping the country NZ is today,” said PM Helen Clark.
(10 November 2004)
    

Go get ‘em, Tiger
Former NZ tennis No.1, Tracey King, is the brains behind successful Cardiff-based smoothie company, Tiger Bay Beverages. With the help of Entrepreneur Action and the Welsh Development Agency, Tiger Bay is poised to break into the relatively untapped European market, with an emphasis on Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. “The smoothie market in Europe does not exist and with tough competition in the UK we see it as potentially a huge market,” said King, who predicts that up to 70% of future sales could be derived from outside of Britain.
(9 November 2004)
    

Good things take time
Globe writer, Leigh Turner, believes NZ’s value as a holiday destination lies in eco rather than adventure tourism. “In the last six years, international visitor numbers have risen 41%. But that success poses challenges for a country whose unique selling proposition in the global tourism market is spectacular, unspoiled nature.” Turner’s leisurely South Island itinerary includes Akaroa, Oamaru, Lake Manapouri, and Fiordland.
(7 November 2004)
    

Brothers in arts
Cheyene Emery, Lisa Bartlett, and Marie Panapa of Te Wananga o Aotearoa (University of NZ) travelled to Sante Fe to take part in an international arts exchange with the Institute of American Indian Arts. According to Panapa, “There were similarities (in the art.) Suddenly the world seems like a tiny, tiny little planet.” Four IAIA students learned about Maori art in NZ last year.
(15 October 2004)
    

Great white
Boston Globe raves over Kumeu River Winery’s 2003 Mate’s Vineyard Chardonnay, calling it “unbelievably rich and refined.” Named after Mate Brajkovich, son of the vineyard’s founders and managing director until his death in 1993, the wine is distinctive amongst NZ chardonnays, which are generally dry and understated. Globe: “[The wine] has extraordinary intensity and length without being overdone or heavy. If you are planning to spend this kind of money or more for California chardonnay or white Burgundy, reconsider … Kumeu River's Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay is a knockout.”
(17 October 2004)

    

Hobblers anonymous
Paul Kennett of the NZ Police has founded what is believed to be the first broken leg recovery room online. Entitled ‘My Broken Leg,’ the website was inspired by Kennett’s own biking accident and has quickly caught on with users worldwide. “It dawned on me that I could set up a site to let people tell their stories,” he says. “Non-broken-leggers tend to underestimate how much of a drama it is. I haven't heard of any broken leg support groups out there in the real world. So the website pulls all those geographically spread people together.”
(21 October 2004)
    

Not just for young ‘uns
MSN writer takes a leaf out of her post-collegiate travelling days and revisits the joy of youth hostels: “I was skeptical, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made.” She recommends Franz Josef’s Montrose Backpackers, Napier’s Criterion Art Deco Backpackers, and Pukenui Lodge in National Park.
(20 November 2004)
    

Information overload
Only Punjab profiles Greg Scowen’s tourism website, New Zealand Focus, which has grown from a university design project to a 500-page source of quality registration. The site includes a ‘NZ Tourism Directory,’ which allows registered tourism businesses to advertise their products and services free of charge.
(1 November 2004)
   

Whinge benefits
Research undertaken at Victoria University suggests a positive side to gossiping and whining at work. According to the report, “whingeing to a sympathetic co-worker both reflects and constructs the close relationship between team members, thus consolidating the team's solidarity.”
(25 October 2004)
    

"Dusseldorf, Reykjavik, Melbourne, Madrid and Hong Kong may as yet be household names only in the households taking part, but Mercedes-Benz Sydney Fashion Week, Air New Zealand Fashion Week and Sao Paulo Fashion Week are getting noticed ... Air New Zealand Fashion Week is considered to be the most creatively interesting, with designers such as Zambesi, Nom D and Trelise Cooper - whose last collection was snapped up by Julia Roberts and Reese Witherspoon, and whose turnover is $14.3million a year - stocked in the world's most cutting-edge shops." (direct quote) - originally printed in The Times.

Powerhouse collaboration
Miracle: A Celebration of New Life, the multi-media collaboration between photographer Anne Geddes and Canadian singer Celine Dion, has reached Bestseller status in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly since its October 12 launch. “I've always been a huge fan of Anne's,” says Dion on the Miracle website. “Long before I became a mother, I admired and appreciated the beautiful way she photographs babies. It has been wonderful working with her on this very special project.” The 180-page coffee table book features more than 100 images of newborn babies, including 19 with Dion. It also comes with a CD of lullabies and classic covers by Dion and a behind-the-scenes DVD.
(1 November 2004)

    

A man of two halves
LA Times profiles Ricky Ellison, a NZ-born NFL linebacker turned US defence advisor. “His [49er] team-mates called him ‘Fruit Loops,’ but this was also a guy who read the Foreign Affairs journal at lunch and spent his off-seasons working as a consultant for Lockheed.” After an unsuccessful attempt to launch an American football league in NZ (the Haka Bowl), Ellison returned to the US and, in 2001, founded the Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance, a non-profit organization promoting missile defence and measuring public opinion.
(30 October 2004)
  

Next stop Oscar?
Taika Waititi’s Two Cars, One Night won the Grand Jury Prize for best international short at the AFI Los Angeles Film Festival. The story of a relationship which develops between two children in the car park of a rural NZ pub beat 50 other contenders in the international short category. Two Cars has already won a slew of international awards, including best drama at the Aspen Shortsfest, best short film at Berlin’s Panorama Film Festival and best fiction short at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and is now eligible for Oscar contention.
(18 November 2004)
   

Winner by invitation
Peter Boggs won Australia’s most esteemed drawing prize, the Kedumba Drawing Award, in late October. He was selected from a field of 24 contemporary artists to win the invitation-only award, which is now in its 15th year. Boggs has also been invited to show his Boboli Gardens series at the annual Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival in Florence next year. A former student of Colin McCahon, Boggs describes his work as “an ongoing exploration of form and composition . . . The subjects are in the main simple forms and careful arrangements, invested with mystery, silence and hopefully some poetry, and out of that with luck, comes a sense of quiet introspection and contemplation.”
(7 November 2004)

  

Much love for Lovemarks
Tom Peters named Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands (written by Edge co-founder Kevin Roberts) his Business Book of the Half-Decade, calling it “just bloody brilliant.” Lovemarks also made Amazon’s top ten business books of 2004, with the accompanying description: “Lovemarks is an entertaining, elucidating, and ultimately inspiring vision of the rejuvenation of brands through the power of love and the responsibility of business to fulfill one of its key functions - to make the world a better place.”
(12 November 2004)
   

New World charm
The international reputation of NZ Pinot Noir continues to grow, with glowing features in both the Bradenton Herald and San Francisco Chronicle. The former article praises the grape’s “dark, earthy Burgundian profile with a little more consistency, a little more ripeness.” Burgundy expert Clive Coates agrees: “In the enologically short period of 20 years, an infatuated Pinot Noir has planted a big wet one on the lips of NZ,” he writes in the Chronicle. “If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Burgundy should feel pretty good about NZ's efforts to capture the aromatic, alluring, elegant, mercurial personality of red Burgundy in its Pinot Noirs. The wines aren't Burgundies, but they're pretty darn close.”
(25 October 2004)
    

Mind the gap
The Herald ran a lengthy feature on trans-Tasman cultural differences prior to the Australian elections, claiming that “geologically, the land masses are creeping together again. However, all other evidence points the other way.” According to the writer, the shift in national identities began with NZ’s anti-nuclear stance in the 1970s and has been exacerbated by such recent issues as the war in Iraq. “NZ sees itself as a country that wants to make its own judgement,” says Foreign Minister Phil Goff. “Not just to be an echo of another nation.” The “browning” of NZ - its move towards a distinct Pacific/Asian identity - is another major factor.
(9 October 2004)
   

Dino-buff wins US accolade
Dr Joan Wiffen of Havelock North received the esteemed Morris Skinner Award from the US-based Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology at its 64th annual meeting in Denver, Colorado. According to the SVP website, the award is “for outstanding and sustained contributions to scientific knowledge through the making of important collections of fossil vertebrates.” Wiffen, an entirely self-taught palaeontologist and dinosaur expert, famously discovered fossils in a remote section of Mangahouanga Stream in northern Hawkes Bay. “Her contributions are extremely important nationally and give NZ geographic position, internationally, said Chris Hollis of NZ’s Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in the NZ Herald.
(17 November 2004)
   

Worth the wait
Once again, NZ features in the Guardian’s “long-haul trips of a lifetime” travel feature. Highly recommended are Lake Rotorua’s On the Point chalet and Big Tom’s Cottage in Hawkes Bay.
(16 October 2004)

    

Civil unions 101
Chris Carter, elected as the country’s first openly gay MP in 1993, spoke to LA’s The Advocate about gay rights in NZ and the Civil Union Bill. “The reason that we haven’t gone for marriage is that politically that would be very difficult to pass in our parliament. But secondly, we also feel from a personal and a political point of view that the term marriage is loaded with tradition … Our law is based on the French model, where since 1999, when civil unions came in, about 95,000 people have participated, of which about half have been straight couples. Our Prime Minister herself said she would prefer a civil union, since it doesn’t have that traditional religious aspect, because she’s not religious.”
(8 November 2004)
    

Breaking new ground
Phil Keoghan’s US profile continues to climb, with a hit TV series and inspirational book - No Opportunity Wasted: Creating a List for Life – under his belt. Currently in his fifth season presenting Emmy Award-winning reality show, The Amazing Race, Keoghan’s next starring role is fronting the highly anticipated serialised TV adaptation of No Opportunity Wasted for the Discovery Channel.
(16 November 2004)
   

Shrinking world
Students at NZ’s International Pacific College took part in a live projection teleconference debate with a class at Cerritos College in Long Beach, California. Cerritos teacher, John Haas, wanted to “literally bring the world to his world history class” and, in the process, try to dispel some of the anti-American sentiment overseas. “[The NZ students] were so aware of what is going on in our country,” said US student Laura Ramirez-Guerrero. “And I have no idea what's going on in theirs. One girl was giving facts about the presidential election. She knew the names, the numbers and exactly how many electoral votes were received by Bush and Kerry.”
(16 November 2004)
   

Dynamic partnership
Christchurch based Nano Cluster Devices Ltd (NCD) has secured a potentially lucrative partnership with American organization and manufacturer, NanoDynamics. NanoDynamics is to take over international sales duties for NCD’s groundbreaking technologies, which include the self-assembly of nanowires in production of semiconductors and electronic components.
(18 October 2004)
     

Treasures of the deep
A joint NZ/Japanese exploration of a deep-sea volcano off the NZ mainland has unearthed a mass of fascinating new life forms. According to a statement by Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd, who headed the venture, the discovery of colonies of heat-loving micro-organisms “may have potential future applications in pharmaceuticals, in bioremediation of contaminated sites, and in biomining.”
(18 November 2004)
    

In the pink
Kim Crawford’s ‘Pansy’ Rosé received its official Australian launch at popular Sydney gay bar, Stonewall. Local drag diva Maxi Shield gave the wine “a double thumbs up.” Crawford originally created Pansy for the owners of Auckland’s SPQR restaurant.
(18 November 2004)