Kayaker Paddles from Australia to New Zealand
“Scott Donaldson has arrived in New Plymouth after spending two months at sea, covering 2000km,” as reported in The Guardian. “The 48-year-old has become the first person to kayak the…
Tag Archives: Guardian (The)
Jacinda Ardern What the Global Left Needs Now
The future of the left is bright if it looks like Jacinda Ardern and American political activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to Guardian Australian columnist Van Badham. As a political communication, Ardern’s recent handheld Facebook Live…
Jane Campion’s the Piano Still Hits All The Right Notes
“Rereleased after 25 years, this literary work about a mute woman in 19th-century New Zealand remains full of extraordinary images and enigmas,” writes Peter Bradshaw in a review in The…
Winston Peters’ 40-Year Political Rise
The ascension of power will be a curious one for Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters who, at times through his career, has looked like he could take the role with ease and at others…
Q&A with Instapoet Star Hera Lindsay Bird
Acclaimed by the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, as “the most arresting and original new young poet”, New Zealander Hera Lindsay Bird, 31, is one of the stars of the new generation of “Instapoets”…
NZ Female Cricketers Make World’s Best List
A Guardian newspaper panel of 15 experts compiled a list of the globe’s top 20 greatest female players, which includes Dunedin-born Suzie Bates (pictured), 30, Christchurch-born Amy Satterthwaite, 31, and Sophie Devine, 28, from…
NZ Radio Station That Wants Listeners to Switch Off
“John Watson is the first to admit that his DJ skills put people to sleep. Luckily for him, that is the point,” writes Charles Anderson in an article for The…
Will New Zealand’s Mount Taranaki ‘Living Person’ Status Bring Respect?
“Recognition is something Māori communities have been campaigning for over 150 years. In 2013, they achieved a landmark ruling when the Te Urewera national park on the North Island was granted ‘all the rights,…
New Zealand Rallies to Save its Iconic Bird
There are 68,000 kiwi left in New Zealand, and they are declining at the rate of 2 per cent per year. A century ago, there were millions. Outside the predator-free zones, kiwi chicks and…
Mothers-to-be on Birth of a New Kind of PM
In a Guardian article, New Zealand women with babies due this month discuss what it means to have a pregnant prime minister, and how they will balance parenthood, work and a severe lack of sleep. In…
Scientists to Lead DNA Hunt for Loch Ness Monster
An examination of Loch Ness using DNA sampling techniques will try to establish exactly what lives in the UK’s largest freshwater body – it may also discover whether there is any scientific basis to…
Jane Campion Rewatches Her Own Classic
One of the world’s most unconventional filmmakers, New Zealander Jane Campion talks with The Guardian about the end of the patriarchy, doing away with decorum, and how losing her baby son changed her forever. Twenty-five…
Thomasin McKenzie Steals the Film in Leave No Trace
Debra Granik’s third feature, Leave No Trace, which stretches the theme of life on the margins to breaking point, is already being talked of as one of the year’s best releases, according to The…
Leave No Trace with Thomasin McKenzie Cannes Hit
“Debra Granik is the exceptional film-maker who directed Winter’s Bone in 2010, launching the career of Jennifer Lawrence, and now she returns with this deeply intelligent, complex, finely tuned and observed movie, [starring New…
Autoportrait Wins Deutsche Börse Photography Prize
The 2018 Deutsche Börse photography prize has been awarded to the New Zealander Luke Willis Thompson, 30, for Autoportrait, a film installation about the partner of Philando Castile, who was shot dead by police…
Scientist Richard Dawkins Considers Move to NZ
The British scientist Richard Dawkins has told current affairs programme The Project he would like to move to New Zealand as a refuge from the “madness” of a post-Trump, post-Brexit northern hemisphere. “I thought about…
Exhibition of Colliding Worlds on in London
Work by ill-fated illustrators aboard Captain James Cook’s first journey to the Pacific sit alongside revelatory images by a Polynesian high priest in a haunting exhibition on now at the British Library in London. “The…
World’s Longest Emperor Penguin Dive Recorded
Scientists in Antarctica have recorded the world’s longest penguin dive, an astounding 32.2 minutes under the water, a full five minutes longer than the previous record. Emperor penguins, which live only in Antarctica, are the…
Ardern Joins Khan, Trudeau and Young Fans in London
In this Guardian ‘photo highlight’ of the day, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau takes a selfie with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, at City Hall during the…
New Zealand Bans All New Offshore Oil Exploration
“The New Zealand government will grant no new offshore oil exploration permits in a move that is being hailed by conservation and environmental groups as a historic victory in the battle against climate change,”…
Keith Murdoch a Giant Who Never Made It Home
Keith Murdoch, who has died in Australia, aged 74, played just three Tests for the All Blacks, but his name was etched in New Zealand rugby folklore after he became a recluse in the…
Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn Continues to Impress
Dame Ngaio Marsh’s skilfully completed “continuation novel”, set in a New Zealand hospital, is an exquisite reminder of the brilliance of Marsh’s London detective Inspector Alleyn, Sophie Hannah writes in a review of the…
Jacinda Ardern on Life as a Leader
In a Guardian interview, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reveals how her life has changed and her ambition for a can-do country. This time last year Ardern was known as a young opposition MP…
How Flight of the Conchords Took Off
Few comedians ever play London’s O2 Arena and fewer still manage three nights in a row. Those who do tend to have some things in common: a relatable observational style, limited creative ambition and…
Helen Clark Film Reveals a Shadowy World at the UN
Filmmaker Gaylene Preston’s documentary My Year With Helen playing in Australia this month provides a happy and timely reminder that before there was Jacinda Ardern, there was Helen Clark. The extraordinary post-parliamentary career of former…
On the Rodeo Trail in New Zealand
Animal activists are calling for rodeos to be banned in New Zealand, but cowboys say bull riding is their calling. Eleanor Ainge Roy and Paul Roy report on the controversial sport in a photo…
Post Makes Its Way to the Farm up the Long Drive
A parcel sent to a couple in New Zealand addressed only with “a farm, situated up a long driveway with cows, opposite a pub or thereabouts” has reached its rightful owners, via the Cust…
NZ Company Offers Employees $10 a Day to Cycle to Work
Christchurch advertising company Make Collective “is offering hard cash to employees who bike to work every day in a bid to energise staff and move the city away from a…
Why New Zealand and Australia Should Bid To Host The Winter Olympics
“The five interlaced rings on the Olympic flag represent the five continents of the world, but the Winter Olympics has only been hosted on three continents by just 12 countries. No southern hemisphere country…
How NZ Peanut Butter Inspired This Couple to Make Their Own
After returning to the UK in 2012, after seven years in New Zealand, Stuart Franklin and his wife Kathryn “found they were missing one thing about New Zealand more than anything else: peanut butter.” …
New Zealand’s Role in Apocalypse Now
“If you’re interested in the end of the world, you’re interested in New Zealand. If you’re interested in how our current cultural anxieties – climate catastrophe, decline of transatlantic political orders, resurgent nuclear terror…
Pirate Involved in Peter Blake’s Death Recaptured
Brazilian police on a remote Amazon River island have arrested a man involved in the murder of round-the-world sailor New Zealander Sir Peter Blake in 2001. José Irandir Cardoso had been a fugitive for the…
Former PM Bill English Quits Politics
Former New Zealand prime minister Bill English, 56, has resigned as leader of the National Party, quitting politics after a 27-year career. “Now is the right time for me to step aside and embark on new professional…
Peter Beck’s Mission to Conquer Space
Rocket Lab entrepreneur Peter Beck’s recent launch into orbit of the 65-sided, carbon-fibre satellite Humanity Star drew a barrage of flak from scientists. But the New Zealander remains undaunted. Beck explains his decision to Ian…
Perpetual Guardian Announces Shorter Work Week
New Zealand trustee company Perpetual Guardian is on the cusp of granting its employees the ultimate in work-life balance: four days work for five days pay, Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for UK newspaper The…
While Away the Weekend in Auckland and Northland
From breathtaking golf courses to pristine waterways, there are many amazing ways to enjoy New Zealand’s northernmost tip, Tourism New Zealand promotes in gallery format on Britain’s Guardian news site. “Legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau…
PM Talks about Her Particularly Public Surprise
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern talks to Guardian contributor and Spinoff editor Toby Manhire about her surprise pregnancy and why she won’t stay quiet on sexism. “I did think about her quite a bit…
Country Swelters Through Hottest Ever Month
January was the hottest month ever recorded in New Zealand, according to figures released by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), and experts say climate change is one factor. The heat has…
Mark Bridgwater’s Breathtaking Outdoor Shot
Christchurch commercial and adventure sports photographer Mark Bridgwater’s shot of fellow New Zealander, skier Charlie Lyons flying down the slopes at Temple Basin in Arthur’s Pass, was recently included in a Guardian selection of…
Rocket Lab Launches the Humanity Star
The glittering Humanity Star satellite, which may be the brightest object in the night sky, serves no purpose other than to “make people look up and realise they are on a rock in a…
New Zealand’s Glory From a Train Window
Thirty years after the TranzAlpine was launched, Observer journalist Susan Grossman boards one of the world’s most scenic trains in Christchurch, before completing her trip on the North Island’s Northern Explorer. “Completed in 1908, after…
Experts Develop Roadside Gym for Endangered Kea
Conservationists want to stop New Zealand’s kea – dubbed the world’s smartest parrot – from wandering onto roads and begging humans for food, so they have designed a special gym for the country’s playful…
Top 2018 Comedy Acts Include Two NZ Favourites
Flight of the Conchords and Rose Matafeo are two “uproarious” comedy acts Guardian readers are recommended to buy tickets for this year, included alongside the world’s biggest standup Chris Rock and fellow American Maria…
There Are English Trees in Neil Finn’s Garden
A recent Guardian reader-curated playlist about trees includes songs from the Beach Boys, Esperanza Spalding, the Shamen and Crowded House. “Since time immemorial trees have provided people with shelter, food, lumber and even medicine. They…
Laughing Kea a Science Story of the Year
Leading scientists pick the dozen most significant discoveries and developments of 2017 – from a steep decline in flying insects to a laughter-like play vocalisation – a warble call – has been discovered in…
What Will Lorde Come up With Next?
Lorde’s Melodrama has made it into the top five of the Guardian’s 50 Best Albums of 2017, an LP the UK publication considers, “a work of insight, strength and gloriously self-aware wit.” “On the face…
Mt Taranaki given Same Legal Rights as a Person
The sacred mountain in the North Island is the third geographic feature in the country to be granted a “legal personality” entitled the same legal rights as a person, Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for…
Waiheke Commute One of the More Unusual
Whether it’s skiing, snowboarding or skating, Guardian readers from around the world, who opt to take an alternative route to work, share their stories, including Aucklander James Scroggins who commutes daily from Waiheke Island…
Oslo-Based Brady Daniell-Smith’s Debut a Hidden Gem
From hypnotic hip-hop to Japanese psych-rock, Observer critics pick some albums of 2017 that deserve a wider audience, including the work of New Zealand-born Brady Daniell-Smith, who produces the melodies for singer-songwriter Anna Lotterud…
The World’s Largest Kauri Tree – Tāne Mahuta
Tāne Mahuta is the “largest kauri tree in the world and being up close to ‘the lord of the forest’, a sacred Maori site, is a powerful experience” that is said to reduce visitors to…
Rochelle Canteen’s Food Feels Just Right
New Zealand-born chef and co-owner of London’s Rochelle Canteen, Margot Henderson has a new endeavour in the capital city inside the ICA on The Mall, which was recently given high praise by the Observer’s…
Miriam and Peter Lancewood Living Off the Grid
For seven years, Dutch woman Miriam Lancewood and her New Zealand-born husband Peter have lived a nomadic life – she is the hunter and he is the cook. Five years into a nomadic life…
Human-Sized Penguin Remains Found on Hampden Beach
Remnants of a 1.77-metre-tall penguin who walked on earth 55m to 60m years ago have been found south of Christchurch on what is now Hampden Beach. Measurements of the partial skeleton show that the flightless…
André Spicer Desperately Seeks Self-Improvement
Like a couple of lab rats, professors New Zealander André Spicer and Swede Carl Cederström have subjected themselves to every conceivable test in pursuit of perfection, hoping to become better human beings, smarter, more…
Lorde Lands No 1 Guardian Spot for Green Light
England’s Guardian collates a list of the 100 best songs of 2017 as voted for by its critics, which Auckland-born singing sensation Lorde tops, with the single Green Light from her award-winning second album,…
Luke Willis Thompson Shortlisted for Deutsche Börse
New Zealander Luke Willis Thompson, 29, is one of four to make the shortlist for the prestigious 2018 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. It’s the 21st year of the prize, and this year the shortlisted…
