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Tag >> Independent (The)
Drawn to the horizon
It is the lot of New Zealanders to be peripatetic, says author Lloyd Jones, 55, in an interview with the Independent on Sunday’s James Kidd in Streatham, south London….
Big Man in Front
Hawke’s Bay prop Clint Newland, 3, has signed a three-month deal with Irish side Leinster. “He’s a big man,” Leinster coach Joe Schmidt said. “He’s 6ft 3ins, 130 kilos,…
Kitchen for hot shots
One thousand young chefs will compete in the 18th Annual New Zealand Culinary Fare at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland on August 22-24. The three-day ‘hot kitchen’ competition is…
All Blacks start afresh
“New Zealand is revolutionising rugby,” according to The Independent’s Peter Bills. “For those with a brain to think, a mind to rationalise, what the All Blacks are doing right…
Hartley Locks Ears
New Zealand-born English hooker Dylan Hartley, 23, talks to The Independent on Sunday ahead of the team’s biennial trip to Edinburgh to play Scotland, which England meets once more before a…
Adrift on Lush Rakiura
“It’s from the air that Stewart Island reveals itself,” describes The Independent’s Ben Ross on a trip to Rakiura, or ‘Glowing Skies’. “All but one-sixth of the land is…
Multi-tasking Birds
Two female royal albatrosses at Taiaroa Head Royal Albatross Centre on the Otago Peninsula have successfully incubated a chick, after the father — one of scores to recently leave…
A Man and His Machine
Extreme enduro rider Aucklander Chris Birch, 29, “is expected to be one of the guys to beat in the World Xtreme Enduro Championships (WXEC)” reports The Independent on Sunday. With…
Meeting of minds
New Zealanders director Jane Campion, 55, and actress Kerry Fox, 43, tell The Independent on Sunday how they both came to meet. Fox recalls: “I walked into the audition…
Blissful ending
The Phoenix Foundation’s latest album Happy Ending has been given five stars by The Independent’s Andy Gill who says the Wellington sextet “are surely the most potent band to…
Our Feathered Friends
“New Zealand’s island ecology – from the kauri trees to the kiwi, the country’s emblematic bird – is unique,” writes The Independent on Sunday’s Ben Ross. “Twenty years ago,…
Pressure for the Best
All Black coach Graham Henry has told The Independent that though New Zealand’s national team has a much smaller resource than the majority of countries, this is what makes…
Win on a Mistral
Emirates Team New Zealand has won the Sardinia Trophy of the Audi MedCup series off Sardinia making it two in a row after their win in Marseilles. The bush…
Radio with Pictures
New Zealand-born DJ, radio host and television personality, Zane Lowe, 35, is piloting an initiative by BBC’s Radio 1 to make radio a visual medium, with Lowe’s antics being filmed by…
All Black Nostalgia
Dan Carter is returning to New Zealand from his time playing in Perpignan, France and in the first of an exclusive two part interview with The Independent, Carter “makes…
Whisked Debate
Helen Leach, an academic at Otago University, is hoping to settle the origins of the pavlova with recipes found in a 1933 Mothers’ Union cookbook and in a 1929…
Rugby’s Slam Dunk
The All Blacks have won their third Grand Slam and the inaugural Sir Edmund Hillary Shield beating England at Twickenham 32-6. In The Independent Hugh Godwin writes: “The clever…
In all honesty
“The curry-scented streets of Pip Brown’s east-London neighbourhood Brick Lane are a far cry from her beginnings in New Zealand,” writes The Independent on Sunday’s Luiza Sauma in a…
Clay’s Reading Gift
New Zealand-developed remedial programme Reading Recovery, devised by the late educationalist Dame Marie Clay, is proving successful in the UK with 30,000 British children a year expected to take…
Relaxed in the South
There is more to Queenstown that diving off bridges and screaming down slopes on snowboards. There is, according to the Irish Independent’s Mary O’Sullivan, a “super holiday destination” leaving…
Dixon’s Big Apple Re-run
On 23 October 1983, Nelson-born middle distance runner Rod Dixon raced past UK-emigrant Geoff Smith and won the New York City Marathon raising his hands to the sky in…
Pests Transformed
New Zealand possum fur is being imported by Portland-based company Eco-Luxury which produces throws, cushions and bedspreads, “for all of the luxury and none of the guilt.” On…
Emotional Win
The All Blacks have retained the Tri-Nations title for the fourth successive year, beating the Wallabies 28-24 in Brisbane. Sustained by the brilliance of captain Richie McCaw and also…
Familial Ties
Gisborne has the highest concentration of the surname Blair – and Northland the surname Beckham – in the English-speaking world, according to a new website which enables the names…
Oriental’s Ohtel
Wellington’s latest accommodation option, the 10-room boutique Ohtel, is ‘Hotel of the Week’ in The Independent on Sunday. Situated on Oriental Parade, a wooden Victorian house was removed to…
Beauty in Cold
Winter in New Zealand is captured in seascape images by Independent photographer Hannah Bills, who travelled through Wellington and then south, taking shots in and around Christchurch, “the Oxford…
Imagination Roars to Life
Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin’s ultralight aircraft, the Martin Jetpack, a $100,000 “jetski for the sky” able to climb to heights of almost 2500m, has been launched at an aerospace…
Yacht Technology for Cars
Auckland property developer and yacht maker Jock Freemantle will launch a 2008 version of New Zealand’s first super car, the 550bhp BMW V8 Hulme named after New Zealand’s 1967…
Fear the Flanker
Forty-eight test veteran, Jerry Collins, 27, has announced his retirement from New Zealand rugby. Collins said: “It’s difficult for me to talk about myself but I know I’ve always been committed…
London from home
New Zealand author Emily Perkins leans out to close a window at her publisher’s in Soho and “raising her voice over a building site, takes a deep breath of…
Union Commute
First five-eighth and fullback Aucklander Nick Evans has signed a three-year contract with English side the Harlequins for the 2008-2009 Guinness Premiership season. Considered the high-quality understudy to Daniel…
Outfoxing furniture
The small town of Pokeno in Franklin district, Auckland is behind ex-Thompson Twin Alannah Currie’s latest artistic foray, a display of surreal furniture on show at London’s Ragged School….
Antarctic Oddities
New Zealand scientists were part of a 50-day “voyage of discovery” through the Ross Sea recently, coming face-to-face with some truly odd creatures. The marine life encountered during the…
Tips for the Irish
Irish sheep farmers are looking to their New Zealand counterparts for advice on how to make more money tending their flocks. Lincoln University’s Dr John Hickford spoke at two…
Holding His Breath
Dispensing with weights, ropes and flippers, New Zealander William Trubridge descended to 82 metres and broke the world record for constant weight diving without fins. Now living and…
“Food Miles” Shredded by Chef
NZ celebrity chef Peter Gordon has made discrediting the “food miles myth” and promoting quality NZ produce his mission in the UK. In recent months, the London-based chef…
Down Under Planter
Next month sees the NZ launch of the Antipode Planter, an award winning upside-down planter by the Matakana-based Morris Design Office. Designed by Patrick Morris, the Antipode Planter won the UK…
Two Down, One to Go
The All Blacks have completed the final leg of their World Cup build-up by retaining both the Bledisloe and TriNations trophies, with a 26
Let Them Wear Possum
The Independent reports on NZ’s thriving (and environmentally kosher) possum fur trade. “Elsewhere, designers who work with fur earn the wrath of animal rights activists. But in New Zealand, they are…
The Imblackables
In the French rugby stronghold of Lyon, the All Blacks demolished the home side and second-ranked team in the world 47-3. Dubbed “The Imblackables” by Le Midi Olympique, as a defensive…
ABs at the Top of UK Game
Former All Blacks Carlos Spencer and Justin Marshall lead the nominations for the Professional Rugby Players’ Association (PRA) player of the year award. Described by The Independent as godlike and “the…
Food for thought
A lengthy Independent feature examines Auckland’s burgeoning food scene – and NZ’s as a whole. While NZ has embraced café culture (“probably the best espresso experience outside Italy in…
David Lange 1942-2005
Former Prime Minister David Lange died on Saturday 13 August aged 63 after a long battle with ill health. He was regarded as “the best loved New Zealand political figure of…
All in a Day’s Work
The Economist reports on ructions to repair the dire finances and arcane structure at Oxford University. Proposals by new vice chancellor John Hood to centralize decision-making and change the…
Farm Charm
Wharekauhau Lodge features in the Independent‘s five best luxury farm stays. The 5,000 acre sheep station is renowned for its Shaker-style cottages and panoramic views of the Wairarapa’s Palliser Bay.
Kai to die for
Independent food writer Jenni Muir nominates Nelson and Marlborough as the lesser-known food capitals of NZ. In Nelson, she recommends foraging for kai-moana with guide Mike Elkington of Te…
Culinary invasion
An Independent feature nominates the ten best places to “eat Australasian” in London. These include The Zetter (NZ chef Megan Jones), The Providores and Tapa Room (Peter…
A field trip worth taking
For aspiring cooks looking to learn Down Under, the Independent recommends Te Horo’s Ruth Pretty Cooking School and Catherine Bell’s Epicurean Workshop in Auckland
Diamond and the Rough
Independent travel writer indulges mind, body and soul in NZ’s up and coming wine and tourism centre, the Wairarapa. After experiencing chocolate therapy at Greytown’s Schoc, sampling the region’s famed Pinot Noir…
All Aboard
Independent travel writer takes a stunning tour of NZ by train. ” you want to experience your visual thrills in comfort and without the threat of sea-sickness, you can simply let…
Handled with Care
Mansfield, C.K Stead’s fictional account of the life of Katherine Mansfield, received warmly in the Independent. “Any novelisation of this kind is a daunting task, with readers either knowing…
Adman Personified
“If you ever wanted to make a feature film about the advertising industry, the adland equivalent of Broadcast News, there would be no contest on who should get the starring role.”…
Model Students
NZ’s recently remodelled academic examination system (NCEA) is being touted by education reformers in the UK. The NCEA system is almost identical to one proposed by Britain’s former chief schools inspector,…
National Ikon
An Independent obituary for Pat Hanly calls him “the jester of modern NZ art … His images – exuberant, colourful, feisty and humorous – reflected the personality of their…
White Knuckle Christmas
The Independent lists Queenstown as one of 25 top Christmas holiday destinations. “Work up an appetite for a festive roast lamb dinner by getting the adrenalin flowing among NZ’s stunning mountain scenery…
A Long Innings Remembered
Obituaries for Auckland-born British Conservative MP, Sir Trevor Skeet, appeared in both the Independent and Guardian. Independent: “Academia in Britain has been vastly enriched by the infusion of talent from NZ,…
