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Tough Guy Mourned
Auckland talent agent and former professional wrestler Robert Bruce has died, aged 65. The Scottish-born villain could enrage the crowd with a mere facial expression. Such were his talents…
Key Looks Ahead
6 March 2009 – The idea of growing a nation out of recession by improving productivity puts Prime Minister John Key and his conservative National Party at odds with…
A Classical Reaction
Waitakere City has been using classical music to deter vandals and loitering youth, driving them away from a local transit hub with remarkable success. Bob Harvey, mayor of Waitakere,…
Time has flown
Auckland watchmaker Malcolm Campbell of Timeshop Watch Repairs, who has been in business in a two metre square Lorne Street premises for almost twenty-two years, is now to retire….
Dreamy Transformation
26 February 2009 – Aucklander Nadya Vessey, who lost both legs to a childhood illness, now swims as a mermaid might with a custom made wetsuit created for her…
Broadened Horizons
Twenty-four per cent of New Zealanders with tertiary education live abroad, the highest rate in the OECD, according to research conducted by the University of Waikato management school. The…
Redback Revival
Redback spider numbers are rising rapidly on the South Island as the New Zealand climate becomes warmer and drier. Scientists expect the trend to continue, and for the redback…
Relocation for longevity
New Zealand is becoming a popular destination for Americans concerned about the effects of global warming in their own country. The Fier family of Montgomery County decided to move…
Claiming the Treasure
Auckland Maori performing arts group Te Waka Huia has claimed the national title and the Donald McIntyre Trophy for the fourth time at the biennial Te Matatini National Kapa…
No with Black
A protest against Section 92a, an amendment to New Zealand’s copyright law due to come into force from February 28*, has resulted in an “internet blackout”, part of a…
Unbroken Ties
An exhibition — called Passchendaele: the Belgians Have Not Forgotten — commemorating New Zealand lives lost on Flanders soil opens in Wellington on March 6 in the Hall of…
An Ace in the Air
Michael Korda’s new book, With Wings Like Eagles, speaks of a time when a precious few prevailed over all odds, deprived Hitler of victory, and saved the world. It…
A Hero Honoured
A Jack Russell Terrier from Manaia has been honored with the PDSA gold medal for sacrificing his life while protecting a group of children from two pit bull terriers….
Pacific bikies do good
11 February 2009 – Auckland Harley Davidson bikers, the Aotearoa Riding Pirates, are currently motoring around Tonga donating supplies to local primary schools, as well as sharing the experience…
Whiti te ra
The ‘Ka Mate’ haka has been officially designated the intellectual property of Ngati Toa in a compensation agreement signed in Wellington. Ngati Toa was compensated for its decades of…
Onward and Upward
Former Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Helen Clark is a candidate for the position of administrator of the UN Development Program, three below the UN secretary-general. The role…
East Mends West
Victoria University professor of philosophy Kolkata-born Jayshankar Lal Shaw says philosophy helps individuals with a “global perspective and a clear notion on how to alleviate pain from the world”,…
On a virtual garden stroll
West Melton gardener Mary, “aka ‘Moosey'”, is mentioned in The Seattle Times in an article recommending her virtual garden tour. The publication writes: “A woman whose children call her…
Shaking off the Shackles
Waitangi Day is also World Nude Day, a day which originated in New Zealand and which this year promoted itself with the slogan “Nude not Lewd” and a US$10,000…
High-Country Star-Gazing
Plans for a Starlight Reserve and UNESCO world heritage recognition in the skies above Tekapo continue with former cabinet minister Margaret Austin meeting a UNESCO committee in Paris this…
Gains from history
A Maori welcome onto a marae for visitors, a walking tour with Footprints Waipoua and the All Black performance of the haka are all examples of Maori reclaiming their…
Not So Drowned Continent
Fossils of an 18 million year old ancestor to the tuatara have been found outside of Saint Bathans, Otago, filling a huge void in the fossil record, and casting…
Small Surprises At the Zoo
Four two-week-old Kunekune-cross piglets are the newest attraction at Five Sisters Zoo near Polbeth in West Lothian, Scotland. A cross between New Zealand and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs, they originate…
Henry’s Heyday
A 111-year-old tuatara named Henry has successfully sewn his seed after over fifteen years in solitary confinement. Henry, who lives at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, was assumed…
Slippery Subjects
Maori eel catching methods are related in a new book about migratory animals by American artist and author James Prosek, who spent time in New Zealand studying the fish….
Altered stories
“New Zealand remains a comfortably social democratic society, less dynamic but also less brash or polarised than Australia,” writes Guardian political blogger Michael White in a posting which looks…
Facebook’em
Queenstown police have caught a burglar by posting footage of a man trying to break into a safe on the social networking site Facebook. The burglar broke into the…
Pre-Human New Zealand
Paleontology researchers from the University of Adelaide, University of Otago, and the NZDEC have begun to paint a picture of ancient life on the New Zealand islands by investigating…
Killer Waves
A New Zealand man spent one recent Saturday surfing alongside three orcas near a beach on the Taranaki coast, enjoying the perfect waves. Craig Hunter, who has been surfing…
Bush’s Pacific Monument
Large areas in the Pacific near New Zealand territory have been designated as American national monuments by outgoing U.S. President George Bush. The areas include the Mariana Trench and…
Around New Zealand in 30 Days
Sherman’s Travel offers up a primer on New Zealand’s “stunning landscapes … fantastic wine scene, unbelievable lodges, and happening cities,” charting a course through the premier attractions of Auckland,…
Unlimited Potential
After the multi-blockbuster book The Learning Revolution, Gordon Dryden returns with his latest book Unlimited: The New Learning Revolution and The Seven Keys to Unlock It. The new book,…
Fondly Remembered
Sir Edmund Hillary is one of 45 individuals remembered in Time magazine’s 2008 ‘Fond Farewell’ tributes. “On May 29, 1953, Hillary, with the help of his Sherpa guide, became…
Drilling For Knowledge
Victoria University’s Tim Naish is one of a hundred scientists from 40 different countries working on a map of climate change. The Antarctic Geological Drilling Program (ANDRILL) is digging deep below the…
Aiding an Avian Identity
Though the battle to save New Zealand’s famous national symbol the kiwi is “conceded unwinnable on some fronts”; the bird’s existence is mounting with the help of Zealandia, Wellington’s…
Minnie Dean Memorialised
Infamous Winton baby-farmer Minnie Dean, the first and last woman to be hanged in New Zealand, will soon have a headstone erected on her unmarked grave in the Winton…
Hold the Cash
One alternative form of paper money in New Zealand is the local exchange trading system (LETS) of green dollars, which is a particularly useful means of trade in…
Revolution in the Wananga
Maori educator and chairman of tertiary institution Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi Professor Graham Hingangaroa Smith was a key speaker at the World Indigenous People’s Education Conference in Melbourne…
Goodbye to a Good Guy
Former All Black front rower John Drake has died at his home in Mt Maunganui aged 49. Drake was a tighthead prop in the World Cup-winning All Blacks team…
Via the Red Route
Since its opening in 1995, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary – recently renamed Zealandia – has assisted in halting the continued demise of many native bird species, releasing 15…
Pouhaki Relocated
In 1920, Maori carver Tene Waitere gifted Prince Edward an eight-metre pouhaki, or flagpole, carved from a single tree trunk. The Prince then bequeathed the pole to Portsmouth…
Leader for Change
01 December 2008 – Time calls John Key’s election win “an emphatic triumph”, and in a Q&A, Key notes that “we are 22nd out of 30 countries in the…
Masterful to the End
Dunedin-born professional chess player and writer Robert Wade has died in London, aged 87, bringing to an end a career which famously included a draw with Bobby Fischer at…
Educating the World
New Zealand’s international students industry is flourishing again after a recent downturn in numbers. Smart marketing strategies and the lower New Zealand dollar are luring overseas students back. Compared…
With Loppers at the Ready
Conservation Volunteers New Zealand is joined by British gap-year blogger Ruth Holliday who writes about her time spent with the group in the Telegraph, “doing what is best described…
An Astral Heritage
23 November 2008 – Tekapo’s Graeme Murray – director of Earth & Sky at Mt John Observatory – is the driving force behind obtaining UNESCO World Heritage Starlight Reserve…
Teaming Up for Culture
New Zealand and South Korea are forging an artistic alliance with a film co-production treaty signed in September 2007 and the forthcoming New Zealand Cultural Diplomacy International Program which…
Antarcticans Unite
Nearly every New Zealander, according to American author of The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica, Leslie Carol Roberts “has some link to Antarctica – either they had…
Parliamentary Melting Pot
Pansy Wong, 53, is New Zealand’s first Asian cabinet minister, having been named Minister for Ethnic Affairs and Minister of Women’s Affairs in the new government. Wong, who was…
Te Rauparaha’s War Cry
The all-Maori team first performed a haka against Surrey in Richmond in 1888 where they, according to theIllustrated London News, “cavorted about in ostrich-feather capes and tassell’d caps in…
The siege of Helengrad
Antony Green, election analyst with the Australian Broadcasting Commission, summed up Election 08 thus (abridged): “Whether New Zealanders wanted change or just a change of government is the mandate…
Legendary Cricketer
Former test-cricketer and left-arm spinner Aucklander Hedley Howarth has died, aged 64. Howarth claimed 86 wickets in 30 tests for New Zealand between 1969 and 1974, retiring from test…
Key In Clark Out
8 November 2008 – National Party leader John Key, 47, has ousted Labour’s Helen Clark from office and a nine-year term, with a mantra of change. Prime Minister Helen…
R.I.P Harry
Henry William Bourne Palin, British actor Michael Palin’s uncle, was a farmhand in New Zealand who at the outbreak of war in 1914 enlisted in the 1st battalion of…
Better Late Than Never
30 October 2008 – For the first time in approximately two hundred years, a tuatara has been discovered nesting on the New Zealand mainland. The event happened at Wellington’s…
Green Light District
New Zealand’s “liberalisation” of the world’s oldest profession is, according to the Economist, a success story, where in 2003 the magazine writes, “that country decriminalised the sex trade with…
