Blog Archives

Slump looks likely

Slump looks likely

New Zealand economist Robert Wade, a professor at the London School of Economics, predicts a further slump into global recession in 2010 or 2011. Wade, who made his name analysing East Asia’s economic…

Good as gold

Good as gold

Zespri is encouraging Malaysians to eat two kiwifruit a day in a six-month campaign dubbed ‘Extreme Nutrition, Extreme Vitality’. In its promotional flyer, Zespri claims that kiwifruit has immune-boosting qualities; it contains twice the…

Dropping in on Europe

Dropping in on Europe

Wellington’s Fat Freddy’s Drop will tour Europe in November on the back of their latest release, the mammoth nine-minute track ‘The Camel’, which readers are offered free to download at the Times Online site….

Global Positioning Sleuths

Global Positioning Sleuths

Rotorua has always been famous for its geothermal activity, now another ‘geo-‘ is making its mark around the city, less the sulphur. It’s the sport of geocaching, a kind of outdoor treasure-hunt practised worldwide….

Writing in the margins

Writing in the margins

Auckland writer Tzeming Mok spoke about globalization and the Chinese Diaspora at last month’s Shanghai Literature Festival. Mok, a published poet, author, blogger and journalist, is known for writing about issues of displacement, with…

New Zealander of the Year

New Zealander of the Year

Wellington architect Jonathan Rennie was named New Zealander of the Year at the annual NZ Society Waitangi Day dinner in London. The award recognises an outstanding contribution by a NZ or British national…

NZ Cricket Patriarch Remembered

NZ Cricket Patriarch Remembered

Walter Hadlee, involved in NZ test cricket from the start has died in Christchurch aged 91. A productive and aggressive batsman, Hadlee played 11 Tests for NZ, eight of those as captain, and later served as national…

Findings Nothing to Sneeze At

Findings Nothing to Sneeze At

A NZ-led medical study has found that children around the world became more susceptible to common allergies during the 1990s. The research, which questioned parents and children in 56 different countries, found that rates of asthma, hayfever…

Fonterra Gets Bigger

Fonterra Gets Bigger

NZ dairy giant Fonterra has established a strong foothold in Australia’s eastern states thanks to a crucial new partnership with Lismore-based co-op, Norco. Under the agreement, Norco will provide the manufacturing facilities and supply milk to the…

Shark Attack

Shark Attack

“More than 14,000 fans screamed along to anthems from the Split Enz and Crowded House song books. There was no doubting the brothers’ enduring relevance with songs from their latest album Everyone is Here…

Three-pronged Aid Effort

Three-pronged Aid Effort

As well as donating $10 million to the tsunami stricken Indian Ocean countries, the NZ government provided Thailand with a state-of-the-art victim identification software package, developed by NZ’s Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR)….

Janet Frame

Janet Frame

“The sun is all love and murder, judgement, the perpetual raid of conscience, paratrooping light which opens like a snow-blossom in the downward drift of death. Wherever I turn – the golden cymbals of…

Rhodes steers latest hit

Rhodes steers latest hit

Kiwi singing star Teddy Tahu Rhodes has a lead role in the latest opera by Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman. Portman’s adaptation of the classic French children’s book The Little Prince premiered with…

Third Culture Kiwi Guides Lodestar

Third Culture Kiwi Guides Lodestar

New Zealander Tim Radford (the “doyen” of UK science editors) is the Guardian‘s science editor and recently introduced their new weekly science supplement, Life. Radford has been the paper’s general science editor since 1988, as well as…

Science Cynics and Bad News

Science Cynics and Bad News

Denis Dutton plays scientific advisor to the president in Edge.org‘s hypothetical survey on issues facing governments in 2003. His counsel? Do away with the scare-mongering and cynicism typifying science (and its media coverage) today in favour of “…

Pacific mix

Pacific mix

Jazz has been described as the “original dance music” and one of the genre’s legendary labels, Verve, has dipped into its vaults and commissioned new mixes for contemporary dancefloors. Kiwi Mark de Clive Lowe…

Internet Oscars

Internet Oscars

Wellington web firm Click Suite scoops the internet equivalent of an Oscar at the European Multimedia Awards. The company won the business training award for its ‘Find the Lady’ CD-Rom, designed to inspire…

Scholar honoured

Scholar honoured

New Zealand novelist, poet, critic and scholar Professor Karl Stead awarded an honorary doctorate  by Bristol University.

Good Lovin’

Good Lovin’

“Trust has to change to love. There should be an air of mystery, sensuality and intimacy attached to the brand.” Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts spreads the loving word in Dubai.

Aotearoa Casts Big Shadow Over Australia

Aotearoa Casts Big Shadow Over Australia

Australia’s population is five times bigger, its economy six times bigger and its defence capability similarly robust. Yet in recent years New Zealand has been the far more influential of the two neighbours in world affairs….

The Battle That Broke Two Nations’ Hearts

The Battle That Broke Two Nations’ Hearts

85 years on, thousands gather before dawn to pay tribute to the thousands of Anzac troops who died fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula.