Solving the Jam

Auckland businesses have come out in favour of a surprising solution to finding the cash for mayor Len Brown’s $12bn transport improvements, Monocle correspondent Simon Farrell-Green explains: “A daily…

Unsung Hero of Buchenwald

Napier-born Squadron Leader Phil Lamason, who has died aged 93, was the leader of a group of Allied airmen sent to Buchenwald concentration camp by the Gestapo. Lamason worked…

Walking Amongst the Dead

South Island cemeteries intrigue visiting USA Today correspondent, Liz Lewis, who stops in at Collingwood cemetery and the idyllic Church of the Holy Innocents graveyard at Peel Forest. “New…

In Memory and For the Future

Several hundred people attended the unveiling of a new memorial in Paekakariki to commemorate the lives of 10 American servicemen who died at the town’s beach when a landing…

Rethinking Early Education

An analysis of pupils in New Zealand has found that pupils kept out of formal schooling until the age of seven perform just as well as those subjected to…

Taxing the Habit

Over the next four years, smokers in New Zealand will have to pay 40 per cent more for a packet of cigarettes after the government announced tobacco tax hikes…

Shakier Isles Than First Thought

A study has found earthquake-prone New Zealand is even more unstable than previously thought, after Victoria University scientists discovered deep tremors lasting up to 30 minutes along the country’s…

Lake Views To-die-for

A seven-bedroom home with unobstructed views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables features in the online property pages of the Wall Street Journal. “They’ve got quite a bit of…

Meet Our Distinguished Worm

New Zealand’s velvet worm shares the title of a new book by British palaeontologist and writer Richard Fortey. Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms describes “the distinguished groups of organisms…

One Fast Growing Underwater Volcano

Scientists have discovered a submarine volcano in New Zealand waters, 1000km northeast of the North Island, that has undergone the fastest episode of collapse and growth ever recorded in…

Committed to Social Cohesion

Helen Clark, formerly New Zealand prime minister, has just announced that she will be seeking a second term as the first female head of the UN Development Programme. While…

One of the Best Places for Mothers

New Zealand has been rated the fourth best place in the world to be a mother, in line after Norway at the top followed by Iceland and Sweden. Just…

Super Image of Cosmic Lunar Event

Auckland photographer Simon Runting captured this once-a-year cosmic event which lit up the New Zealand night sky as the full moon passed at its closest point to Earth, making…

Introducing a Guardian Fan

New Zealander Roger Cowell, a UK-based freelance writer and registered nurse, features in the Guardian’s reader series, ‘Good to Meet You’. “In 1974, aged 23, I came to the…

Homemakers Reunite in Indiana

Apparently, when a New Zealander makes a promise, it’s a vow to remember – even if it means travelling halfway around the world to attend a birthday party. That’s…

Dr Bogan No Dimwit

Dave Snell has graduated from Waikato University with a doctoral degree that examined the social habits of bogans, who are typically portrayed as “dimwitted, uncultured, and unworthy of serious…

Top Prize for Robotic Whizz Kids

Onehunga High School has won the VEX High School Robotics World Championships, which were held in Los Angles in late April. The team has qualified for the world championships…

Border Control Arguments

New Zealand may be one of the most geographically isolated nations on Earth, but its leaders say the country is not immune to the risks of refugees arriving by…

We’ve Heard of Her

Former prime minister Helen Clark, who is now administrator for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has topped a list of 25 women in a Foreign Policy magazine article…

Spotlight on Adolescent Health

New Zealand has the second highest overall mortality rate and the highest suicide rate in those aged 10-24 years among developed countries, according to recent analysis undertaken by medical…

Ultimate Legend Remembered

Rugby legend Fred “The Needle” Allen – who at age 92 was the oldest living All Black and one of the rare group of players to have both played…

Cup Makes Television History

Last year’s Rugby World Cup final, in which the All Blacks beat France, was the most-watched event in New Zealand television history “attracting a 98 per cent audience share,”…

Technologically Outnumbered

Mobile phones in New Zealand outnumber the country’s population, according to a study conducted by global market research firm TNS, which surveyed 48,000 people in 58 countries finding that…

Time to Pause for Thought

An estimated 15,000 flocked to this year’s dawn service ceremony at the War Memorial Museum in Auckland to mark the 97th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli and to…

Mad for it in Wellington

Wellington’s St James Theatre heaving with a full-capacity crowd features in the Guardian’s ‘24 Hours in Pictures’ as One Direction fans watch the British boy band perform. One Direction’s…

Reflections on Survival

Mayor of Wellington Celia Wade-Brown has opened the capital city’s Holocaust Centre on Holocaust Remembrance Day — an “asset for all New Zealanders to reflect on the importance of…

Emergency Place of Worship

“Christchurch, New Zealand, where an earthquake last year killed 185 people, is still struggling with how to treat another of its casualties, the city’s Anglican cathedral,” Wall Street Journal…

Dangerously High Salt Levels

New Zealand’s fast foods on average contain 8 per cent more sodium than comparable foods in the UK and a massive 18 per cent more than those in France,…

Feral Cats Out Tuatara In

Sixty tuatara have been released on Motuihe Island, which lies between Motutapu and Waiheke islands in the Hauraki Gulf. The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) and the Motuihe…

Well-being in Advanced Age

Older Maori who are engaged in cultural practices and connected to their traditional community have a higher quality of life, according to a ground-breaking study by researchers at the…

Tilly the Force of Nature

Wellington actor and artist Grant Tilly, well remembered for his performance in The Daylight Atheist, has died, aged 74. Having starred in many stage and television productions including Foreskin’s Lament and Gliding On,…

Crowned Mr Gay World

Andreas Derleth, 32, from Auckland was crowned the Mr Gay World in a gala event that took place for the first time in Johannesberg, South Africa. Originally from Germany,…

Currency Sharing Insanity

Perhaps the most “absurd” thing to cross Forbes’ contributor Tim Worstall’s desk on this particular morning was a report on how New Zealand and Australia might merge their currencies to…

Gauging Health Performance

New Zealand has rated sixth worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialised nations. According to researchers writing in the journal Health…

Banking on International Fees

International education is now New Zealand’s fifth biggest export, annually worth $2.5 billion. Chief executive of Education New Zealand Grant McPherson said China, Japan and South Korea were New…

First For Parliament

New Zealand features as part of the Oceania briefing of Monocle this month in which the publication highlights issues surrounding foreign land purchases and the election of…

Well-Respected Senator Farewelled

Picton-born Western Australian senator Judith Adams has died in Perth, aged 68. The former nurse, midwife and farmer was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. “Senator Adams had many…

Finding the Famous Five

When he was last in New Zealand British zoologist Mark Carwardine spent two weeks travelling the length and breadth of the country, “in search of an outlandish menagerie of…

Fair Shake For All

“There is a place in the world where moderate Republicans still exist – unfortunately, you have to take a 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to get there,” New York Times’ columnist…

Locking Up The Problem

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the world and imprisons people at a rate second only to the United States, according to…

Distinguished Scientist

Molecular physicist Sir Paul Callaghan, who was best known for his work with magnetic resonance, a field that has practical applications in everything from health care to industrial production,…

Harmonious Sanctuaries

Woodbridge, Hortensia House and Ayrlies Garden are three of New Zealand’s “stand out” gardens, which Go Upstate’s Betty Montgomery visited on an “unforgettable trip” to summer south of the…

Reversal Of The Right

“New Zealand is finally yielding to the rest of the world when it comes to its unique set of road rules, after decades of confounding drivers from…

Betty Fondly Remembered

New Zealand freshwater algae expert Dr Elizabeth Flint, known as Betty, who was still at the wheel of her 1958 Ford Consul in her 90s, has died, aged 102….

Marmageddon Strikes

This month, the manufacturer of Marmite says its supplies of the yeast-extract product ran out, four months after earthquakes forced it to close the only factory that…

Life Spent Winning

Former All Blacks captain and New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Christchurch-born Jock Hobbs, has died of cancer in Wellington, aged 52. Hobbs played 21 Tests for the All Blacks…

High Life On The Edge

New Zealand is becoming a favourite place to live for wealthy foreigners, with American Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel, Russian steel billionaire Alexander Abramov, and New York Empire State Building’s…

Welcome To New Zealand

New Zealander Dana Wensley returns home for a short visit from Canada where she claims to feeling like “an immigrant.” “In some ways, anyone who is not part of…

Matchless Legend Remembered

Former All Blacks lock Richard “Tiny” White, regarded as New Zealand’s finest rugby players in his position, has died in Gisborne aged 86. White played 30 matches, including 23…

Nationwide Smoking Ban

New Zealand is aiming to eradicate smoking across the country by 2025. In an article published in the international Tobacco Control journal, health researchers at the University of Otago have said…

Unprecedented After-Shock

Deon Swiggs, 25-year-old director of the fledgling nonprofit Rebuild Christchurch, talks to the Los Angeles Times about how New Zealanders are coping one year after a massive magnitude 6.3…

Challenging Reputations

Despite the prevalence of foreign-chartered vessels (FCVs), which in 2010 earned $274.6 million in export revenue and hauled in 62.3 per cent of New Zealand’s deepwater fisheries catch, some…

Paradigm For The Future

Bronwen Evans, former Radio New Zealand economics correspondent and co-owner of Faasai Resort and Spa, an award winning eco-resort in Thailand, will be one of the international speakers…

Servant of Cricket

New Zealand cricket commentator, coach, administrator and former Canterbury offspinner, Peter Sharp has died aged 72. Sharp played eight first-class matches over two seasons, taking 21 wickets at an…

We Bought a Marina

Three years ago, Wellingtonian Boyd Tomkies, 38, combined his childhood passion with a way to support his family – buying what he described as a “failing” inflatables business and…

Discussing Democracies

New Zealand and the United States are open and democratic societies with British colonial origins, a frontier legacy, a history of mass immigration and widely remarked-upon senses of optimism,…