Who Supervises the Supervisors?
New Zealand economist Tim Hazledine detects over-supervision – a proliferation in the ranks of “pseudo-managers monitoring their underlings”.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Sane Dolly
PPL Therapeutics, the company that brought the world Dolly, hooks up with New Zealand company Celentis to clone cows in a BSE-free environment.
Museum commerce
“In terms of the interconnections between commerce and culture, the most interesting example is the new national museum of New Zealand, called Te Papa … seen as a model of current museological thinking and…
Locally Better
Staying awake with a local anesthetic may reduce surgical complications by 30% states an Auckland University study published in the British Medical Journal.
Immaculate Duffy
New Zealander Stella Duffy, creator of lesbian crime-fighter Saz Martin, tackles God and redemption in her latest Immaculate Conception: “I think it’s ground-breaking to write about miracles as if they’re real. It’s not very…
Walker Chases Health
1976 Olympic 1500m champion John Walker was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago. “I would give up all my medals and all the world records for my health,” says the New Zealander who cracked 100…
Fruity Retraction
Ten years ago, Rod Stewart declared to Rachel “I found the girl I want, I won’t be putting my banana in anybody’s fruit bowl from now on”.
Manly, subtle Crowe
“We already knew from The Insider that Crowe was a fine, subtle, vanity-free actor, happy to ruin his looks to play pudgy and useless. But Gladiator and Proof of Life prove that he’s also a great movie…
Romper Stomper
Crowe’s “breakthrough film” released on DVD: “Crowe is electrifying as the brutal head of a group of neo-Nazi skinheads who harass the Vietnamese community in contemporary Melbourne”.
Nail ’em Up
Calcium supplements don’t prevent broken nails according to an Auckland study. Back to the snake oil…
Bill Doesn’t Pay
Enjoying a New Zealand-sourced organic beer in London, President Clinton left without clearing his tab.
Colour in Ireland
Belfast’s Queen Street Studios Gallery is hosting Colour, a group exhibition of New Zealand artists.
Finding Forrester
“I knew that if Gus Van Sant was wanting to make the movie, then it definitely meant there was something special about it,” says Anna Paquin. She plays opposite co-Oscarites Sean Connery and F….
Eco-2001
Seventy-five international teams extreme sport teams will tackle 400km of New Zealand’s roughest terrain at ECO-Challenge 2001. Kiwis are feared competitors in extreme multi-sport, “dominating competitions world-wide”.
Right to Protest
The actions of New Zealand police, removing protesters during the visit of the Chinese President Jiang Zemin last year were “unjustifiable and outside the law”.
It’s Shirley, Isn’t It?
The Shirley Convention 2001 is expecting “500 Shirleys from across Australia and New Zealand”.
Perspective
New Zealand-based singer Lucky Ali’s latest album cover reads: “The artist acknowledges that his success and acceptance is as temporary in nature as his own existence and that there are far more important issues…
Nuclear Protest
ANZAC protest flotilla to confront Tasman-bound shipment of nuclear waste in early 2001.
Torture Campaigner
Nations that try to bury painful episodes in their history are destined to remain dysfunctional until the past is confronted, says New Zealand-born anti-apartheid activist Michael Lapsley.
Brash Blueprint
New Zealand’s Reserve Bank is a model for a proposed independent committee of economic advisors in Britain.
Robbie Not Guilty
Too guilty to keep a Ferrari sports car, but OK with flying his New Zealand tattoo artist to Glasgow to create his tenth tattoo…
Figuring It
Britain’s Chief Statistician, New Zealander Len Cook is “in the hot seat” over the accuracy of official figures.
Go Native?
A beer ad showing beach babes “going native”, (doing a haka), has been withdrawn from British TV after being branded insensitive and racist.
Peace Keeping On
New Zealand peace keepers will remain in East Timor for an extra twelve months, until May 2002.
Benefits Suspended
New Zealanders, the group with the highest rate of employment in Australia, will lose the right to benefits under new immigration restrictions.
Download a Friend
Auckland-developed virtual faces read your email in your own voice. Download for free at lifeFX.com.
De-mining for Peace
New Zealander Greg Lindstrom co-ordinates the de-mining operation in Lebanon. “There’s a peace dividend to all this,” he says. “Clearing minefields means that people can come back to their lands”.
Dot.com Dream
Kiwi Victoria Davies is among the silicon dolls burnt by the dot.com crash. She’s now on a $100,000+ salary, but has less confidence in stock options, “I don’t look at it as my ticket to being…
Nobel Award
New Zealander and Nobel laureate for Chemistry, Dr Alan MacDiarmid, receives his award from His Majesty the King of Sweden.
Beery Good
“Beer makes people more sociable in an increasingly unsociable world. Beer, particularly for the Aussies, is something of an icon, so I’m very well aware of the responsibility,” says Scot Gordon Cairns, the man taking New…
Ideal Burglar
“If you wanted an ideal burglar, we could give him a reference. You never know he’s been in,” says Ron Hancock of the crook who’s broken into his Lake Rotoehu holiday house twenty times in the…
Into Africa
“These flying doctors, as they are sometimes known, were the inspiration of Wood, Sir Archibald McIndoe of New Zealand and Tom Rees of America. They perceived that the only way to cope with casualties and sickness…
Because It’s There
Slovenian Davo Karnicar, the first person to ski down Everest, now plans to slalom Aoraki (Mt Cook).
Scottish
“The evening’s most accomplished performance comes from the New Zealand tenor Ian Storey, whose Pinkerton is sung with rich and fluent tone and acted with a rare warmth and understanding.”
Creamier, milkier, safer
New Zealand butter has much lower concentrations of dioxin than Australian, European and American products.
Neill at home
“It’s good to get back to New Zealand and Australia to make a film because I feel more at home in that part of the world,” says Sam Neill, now on screen in Aussie…
Vertical Exhilaration
NZ-filmed and directed Vertical Limit goes public. The scenery scores universal acclaim: Ottawa Citizen, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, ctnow, entertainmentnewsdaily, National Post, Chicago Tribune, the Star, Washington Post. Scott Glen battled Mt Cook, the…
Avalanche Warning
IT staffing company Avalanche plans to open a branch in New Zealand. The attraction? “English is a native language … and there is a first world infrastructure”.
Hotel NZ Disgrace
The New Zealand, 235 Main St, Vancouver – one of the ten most troublesome establishments in the city.
Xmas Cheer
Montana Wines, New Zealand’s largest winery, have swallowed Corban’s, creating a company that will produce 55% of New Zealand wine.
A Plague on Both Your Houses
“All the studies that have been done in New Zealand show that the sentiment ‘a plague on both your houses’ motivated the majority who voted in New Zealand’s 1993 referendum … in practice, MMP in New…
Moral Turpitude
“My eye always goes back to that sad and sinister little word at the beginning of the list: what the hell is “turpitude”, anyway? One immediately thinks of child molesters, satanists, and men who do funny…
Still singing
Dame Kiri scotches retirement rumours. Her agents are “actively seeking engagements and opportunities well into 21 and beyond”.
Soldier Five
New Zealand courts give ex-Bravo Two Zero patrol member Mike Coburn the OK to publish his memoir of the mission behind Iraqi lines.
Skin Tight
Based on iconic Dennis Glover poem ‘The Magpies’, Gary Henderson’s Skin Tight is a play with “spare beauty and competitive power”.
Coutts Coming
The Swiss syndicate headed by Russell Coutts has been cleared to challenge in 2003, after doubts about the legality of the entry.
Ozone in Godzone
Having suffered under the hole, New Zealand should be among the first places to feel the benefit of ozone regeneration.
Moko on Film
Jillian White’s Moko, a short documentary featuring the first contemporary man to wear moko, included in Sundance 2001. Felicity Morgan-Rhind’s short Donuts for Breakfast, is also on the programme.
Virtual Success
Virtual Spectator, the New Zealand company behind the America’s Cup graphics, plans to revolutionise the way all sport is viewed, allowing spectators to view reconstructed plays from every angle.
Tom the Pole
Stationed in New Zealand in 191, Irish Navy-man Tom Crean managed to get a place in Scott’s Antarctic expedition.
Walk Over
Kiwi apprentice jockey Michael Walker: one season; a record-breaking 131 wins; “probably the greatest thing to happen to racing for a long time”.
