Bafta – Remembered Gold
Lord of the Rings is ready to cast its spell on the Oscars after bewitching the Baftas with five awards, including best film and best director, for Peter Jackson: “I wanted to make films…
Tag Archives: Guardian (The)
“Sweet As”
Next stop Queenstown – “an adrenalin-fuelled, hyperactive, big scream of a town where tourists go for one of two reasons: either to jump from a plane, mountain or bridge, or to watch others do…
University Challenge
Roger Barnard, chairman of linguistics at University of Waikato, argues in The Guardian that sharp increases in enrollments of Chinese students at NZ universities and polytechnics requires an urgent response by staff and administrators to meet the…
89 All Out!
“England were routed by an undeniably better team”, proclaims The Guardian, as New Zealand dismisses the poms for their second lowest one-day score ever (80) in the 2nd ODI in Wellington. Meanwhile Stephen…
Earlier Ellie: “Sweet As”
Ellie finds down under dialect quirks and more: “At the Polynesian Spa I soaked in the thermal pools overlooking Lake Rotorua…I don’t know whether it was the ylang ylang, the lavender, the sandalwood or…
Kiwi Resourcefulness
The Guardian takes time out from the New Zealand – England cricket series to talk up World Cup preparations: “England are on the way although they have a way to go, but it would be in…
Intellectually Challenged NZ
Record numbers of NZ scholars, researchers, and graduates continue to leave antipodean pastures in search of work overseas notwithstanding another dose of local official hoopla, this time heard at the Innovate Conference in Christchurch. “New Zealand has…
“Give Me Red Wine, the Kind That Makes Me Feel Fine”
Two NZ Pinot Noirs – Gibbston Valley’s 1999 Nevis Bluff Pinot Noir and Wither Hills’ Pinot Noir (2000) – are included in Guardian Top 5 “seduction wine” list for Valentine’s Day. “Like love itself, the fickleness…
Rugby Great
Grant Fox is named by The Guardian’s Eddie Butler as one of the ten greatest fly-halves in the history of rugby union.
Stand and Deliver
NZ Post held up as successful post-liberalisation model which British Post could try to emulate. As a “beacon of public service in a privatised world”, NZ Post has remained dominant because, “it has the…
“Fair-dinkum” Kiwi tops the pops
NZ-born musician Daniel Bedingfield, 21, tops the UK pop charts with Gotta Get Thru This – recorded on rudimentary equipment and a computer in his south London bedroom. “The track is absurdly brilliant, as…
“Cook Me Some Eggs James”
NZ-born Lee Tamahori, is charged with the license to uphold pop-cultural iconography, as he undertakes the directorship of the 20th James Bond installment, taking over from another Kiwi Martin Campbell. “To me the Bond film is…
Fans Flock to Tolkien Trail
“Thanks to a bunch of elves, orcs and hobbits”, New Zealand is “one of this year’s most fashionable tourist destinations”. Experts believe the trilogy will boost NZ’s tourist industry by a third. On the edge we’ve always…
Irish Rugby Miracle
Alone it Stands, a heart-warming and hilarious re-enactment of Irish club side Munsters’ defeat of the All Blacks in 1978, plays to its 100,000th person. “Beating the All Blacks is the ultimate dream of anyone who…
Heavenly Creatures
“Director Peter Jackson knew something Hollywood did not. He knew that his home country was more than a match for the imaginative breadth of Tolkien’s vision. The Lord of the Rings blows the secret – there is…
Lord of the Screen
“The Lord of the Rings is easily the best film of the year” – The Times. “Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the fantasy classic is as near to perfection as makes no difference” -…
Floored by the Rings
“The real star of The Lord of the Rings is New Zealand. The scenery, ranging from snowbound mountain passes to rolling grasslands, has a beauty of jaw-dropping quality and it is all lovingly captured…
NZ Rugby Back at #1
You might not know it from the reaction of local fans, but the All Blacks are No.1, at least according to French Centre Thomas Castaignede in the Guardian. “They have the perfect mix.” With England No.2 the Aussies…
More than Mansfield in Bloomsbury Group
Liz Calder, the NZedged head of Bloomsbury publishing (publishers of such literary luminaries as Michael Ondaatje, Will Self and John Irving), talks to The Guardian about the touted blockbuster battle, book and film drawn…
Lego Abandons Maori Names
Danish toymaker Lego is to stop making a multi-million-dollar range of toys after protests from New Zealand Maori groups, claiming the company had appropriated their language and images for the toy range. “Future launches of Bionicle sets…
“Gale From the Sea” Laid to Rest
More than 6ft tall, handsome and with the build of a rugby lock forward (which he was), John Platts-Mills blew into the English House of Commons as Labour MP in 1945 “like a gale…
Green Party Turns Red
The Green Party briefly turns red after the party swallows a report posing as part of a campaign to ban the substance Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO). Convinced it was genuine the party responds enthusiastically requesting more information to…
“For You to See Our World the Right Way Round”
Allen Curnow, one of New Zealand’s great 20th-century writers and poets, has died in Auckland. Daily Telegraph: “regarded by many as New Zealand’s greatest poet” Curnow helped define a separate NZ identity in verse,…
Publishing Gem
Author Fay Weldon, who spent her childhood in New Zealand, has divided the literary world with her latest novel, The Bulgari Connection. It’s sponsored by the Italian jewellery company in what Weldon describes as…
Wading In
Robert Wade, Professor at the London School of Economics, gave NZ a “developing” status at the Knowledge Wave Conference. “The comparative position of New Zealand today is more serious than many think,” Dr Wade said, adding that…
Kiwi Temps
New Zealanders on the big OE are staffing London’s offices: “They usually have stable work histories and excellent IT skills, great interpersonal skills, confidence, and a good work ethic”.
Underground S&M
Q&A with Emily Perkins, including her worst fear – “it’s a tie between black-water rafting and those SM zip masks. So I guess being on a black-water raft with everyone wearing those masks would…
Tour That Divided the Nation
It was twenty years ago that New Zealand heaved into violence as 150,000 New Zealanders took to the streets to stop the Springbok tour. A time when “New Zealander turned against New Zealander” in…
Perkins short cuts to praise
The Guardian Review draws comparisons between Perkins’s tale of small town angst and the American master of the form: “Perkins has wonderfully light touch; she is a master of dialogue and plain speech, a…
Schuster, Stoppard, Sauvignon
The 1999 Montana Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (“my homage to Michael Schuster”) is a current favorite of British women’s-health guru Dr Miriam Stoppard. This New Zealand example is ‘fresh and rich and slightly oaky with a really lovely…
The Lion Doesn’t Sleep Tonight
‘If you must know, I woke up at two o’clock. My mind was racing. I tried to read for a bit, dropped off and woke again at four thirty. Mind racing again.” Lions coach kiwi Graham…
Advice to Note
Icon of NZ music remembered. Composer Douglas Lilburn, 85, found a “distinctive voice from his native New Zealand.” The Guardian praises the “strong emotional appeal” of his music, noting that Lilburn took to heart…
Clean as a Whistle
New Zealand comes up smelling of roses, second equal behind Finland in the world anti-corruption rankings.
The Fox Boy
Comment on Peter Walker’s “fascinating” biography of William Fox Omahuru, the Maori boy abducted to be raised by Sir William Fox, future New Zealand PM. A tale of colonialism told with “doggedness, intelligence and…
Gentleman Amateur
Mourning the days when tennis players had urbanity and looked like professors, Howard Jacobson, first time Wimbledon-watcher turns to the past for solace: “Bored with it, I take a turn around the museum and spend…
The green-eyed monster
How does it feel when your pregnant girlfriend takes an acting role that breaks all the boundaries about sex on screen in serious, mainstream films? Kerry Fox’s boyfriend answers that question.
Milford Enchants
Beautiful scenery and dare-devil flying over “a serene sea-loch towered over by glossy, beech-clad pyramidal peaks”.
He Makes Me Lie Down in Green Pastures
“This New Zealand guy who came into my shop gave me the seeds. He was like the Jesus Christ of cannabis: long-haired, blue-eyed, a big healer. Fortunately, he told me the potential of the seeds. They…
And Why…
“There was a moment halfway up the Coromandel Peninsula, only a couple of hours out of Auckland, when I felt that this was as good as it gets. But there was plenty of competition for that…
Boyish Blair
Ex-Labourite, New Zealander Bryan Gould comments on the man who runs Britain: “When I see him on television now, he still seems very young to me – just as he was in 1983, refreshingly boyish, wet…
Don’t Bank on British Security
NZ is light years ahead of Britain for banking security. “I don’t want to sound like a homesick Antipodean”, writes Charlotte Denny, “but ever since I arrived here 10 years ago, the true awfulness of the British…
Lego-ality of Language Hi-jack?
Intellectual property Lawyer and “defender of Maori culture” Maui Solomon challenges the right of Danish toy-maker Lego to use Polynesian words in its new game Bionicle.
Britain’s Brain-drain
Young educated people are leaving Britain for the good life down under: “There’s both a pull of countries like Australia and New Zealand and a push from this country, where there are too many…
A day in the life
Margaret Mahy’s 24 Hours confirms her place among the “world’s best”. Her books for young adults “are not easy reads, but they are hugely rewarding, emotionally and intellectually”. Also, Mahy at The Hub…
Mahon’s Final Stroke
“Laconic, grizzled New Zealander” Harry Mahon, legendary international rowing coach dedicated to creating the perfect stroke, died of cancer aged 59. Mahon took team after team to the top, including the British gold medallist eight at Sydney…
Away Damn Spot!
Does a bottle of water keep the dogs at bay? A New Zealand man claims to have made it up to fool his aunty …
Pinot Edge
New Zealand “can and will” challenge the Cote d’Or for first place in the Pinot Noir stakes, with wineries like Felton Road, Ata Rangi and Palliser Estate producing complex, top-line drinking.
Green Tours
Gardening is sexy and the green-groupies flock to Christchurch, New Zealand’s Garden City.
Smell of Success
Ben Powell, STA student travel writer of the year, visits New Zealand as his prize. He samples the delights of Rotorua: the small, the spectacle and the zorb.
Shrek at Cannes
Kiwi Andrew Adamson is co-director of Dreamworks’ hit Shrek, the first animated movie to make competition at Cannes since Dumbo 50 years ago. Guardian picks it as a Cannes top ten. Shrek “deliciously…
Antelope Contagion
Professor Roger Morris of Massey University believes he has tracked down the source of the BSE epidemic – an antelope from a wildlife park, probably in south-west Britain. His paper on the subject will be published…
Abandoning “Captain Calamity”
Crew-member Rob Salvidge said goodbye to round-the-world challenger Tony Bullimore at “a late-night cook-up in a Maori taxi-drivers’ cafe in Wellington”.
The Tough Got Going
“Tough New Zealanders, adept at navigating the desert by the stars-and-sun compass,” formed a key part of David Lloyd Owen’s Long Range Desert Group, “regarded by some as one of the most cost-effective special forces…
Seven Worlds will Collide
“It’s like stumbling into your own birthday party – you don’t know where to look first. Centre stage is Neil Finn, hair greying but still a hint of that haphazard Crowded House quiff, a…
