It’s Raining (Flying) Men
Britain’s RAF, looking to fill vacancies, sees the disbanding of the combat wing of the RNZAF may be a wind-fall.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Drawing Blood
David Low: outsider, radical, New Zealander. Last century’s greatest political cartoonist.
Not Thick-skinned Enough
Rugby players who feel invincible because of protective clothing are more likely to be injured than their non-padded co-players says Otago study.
Who’s a Clever Kea Then?
The kea outscores gibbons in intelligence tests. “There was definitely learning going on,” says Rachel Johnston who administered the avian IQ tests.
In Over His Depth
Sam Neill stars as the ingenious and courageous Lt. Commander Charles “Swede” Momsen in New England submarine drama Submerged.
Captain Cayless
Sydney laments 22-year old Nathan Cayless’s decision to follow his Maori heritage home and captain the New Zealand league side.
Swinging Fortune
Michael Campbell hits an astonishing ten under par round in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open, briefly overshadowing Tiger Woods. But, Campbell commented “It’s nice to lead, but I would rather be leading after the fourth round than after…
As Good as New?
Age should be no barrier to going under the surgeon’s knife: 85 year-old patients come out of surgery as well as 65-year old patients according to Auckland researcher Dr Falah Haddawi, who believes the elderly are…
Jack Off?
Should New Zealand drop the Union Jack and opt for the Silver Fern as a more unique and marketable symbol?
Subterranean Stars
Caver Dominic Casciani admires the beauty below the surface: “In New Zealand I have splashed through cave water, prompting microscopic glowing to light up the cave ceiling like a second zodiac”.
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 …
Godzone country
US-based Kiwi hunk Keith Urban keeps pulling the accolades, most recently, Best New Male Performer at the American Country Music Awards in Nashville.
Driving Miss Dotty
New Zealand truck driver Neil Russell found two damp felines (Dotty and Smokey) clinging to the underside of his lorry when he pulled into the Chelsea Flower Show.
Goodbye Xena
Xena, shown in 120 countries, focus of fan-mania and Star Trek-like devotion, comes to an end. “We tried to take people on journeys that you won’t go through in your real life,” says Lucy…
Too Smug?
New Zealand is making an official effort to cultivate Asia-literacy, but are individuals are unjustifiably smug in their attitudes to Asia?
Toasted!
Wellington artist Maurice Bennett toasts fine art – his latest piece, the Mona Lisa, took 2124 slices.
Auckland Attractions
“I fell madly in love with Sydney and I thought, ‘I don’t have to live in America!’ My wife was already in love with Melbourne. Then we visited Auckland and it became our compromise. It’s the…
America’s Cup Lead-up
Update on the preparations of the American and British Challengers for the Louis Vuitton cup in October next year.
Campion cuts Kidman
New Zealand director Jane Campion nabs red-hot Nicole Kidman for upcoming In the Cut.
Election Aid
New Zealand will provide personnel, technical and funding assistance to ensure Fiji’s up-coming elections run properly.
Sharing the Wealth
Former New Zealand PM now WTO head Mike Moore writes on spreading the gains of free trade to the world’s least-developed countries. Also, Moore warns against bully-boy tactics.
Law Lord Retires
Lord Cooke of Thorndon, the man whose decisions changed the face of race relations in New Zealand, retires from the Privy Council. “Lord Cooke’s achievement in being appointed as a law lord on his retirement as…
Eye Candy Off Antigua
“Circulating everywhere are professional crewmen and women-nearly all of whom seem to have blond hair, flawless physiques and charming New Zealand accents. They are constantly on the prowl for a better berth.”
Deeply Convincing
New Zealand screen-techies Deep Video Imaging are nearly ready to bring their 3-D PC screen closer to market. “People have tried like crazy to get the illusion of depth and the closest you could have is wearing…
Dozing at the Wheel
42% of drivers involved in crashes are affected by lack of shut-eye according to research done by the Wellington School of Medicine Sleep Investigation Centre.
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.
Magic Lives On
Six years ago the Black Magic team completed their historic 5-0 sweep of the America’s Cup.
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.
Insurance Chart for Safe Passage
Former New Zealand Shipping Company employee John Richardson’s 1979 The Merchant’s Guide to Documentary Problems has guided thousands of marine insurance under-writers through the shoals of incoterms, bills of lading, letters of credit and other tricky areas…
Calling Australia
Telecom New Zealand’s major stake in Australia’s 3G mobile network is just the beginning according to Telcom CEO Theresa Gattung.
Tiger Captured
Tiger Woods is a definite starter for the New Zealand Open next January at Paraparaamu Beach.
Funny Farm
New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research thinks something funny is going on with cow dung…
Tests Blow Up
Were New Zealand troops used as nuclear guinea pigs? Australian lawyer thinks yes, Government asks the tough questions. Also, New Zealand Government refused to allow testing on Kermadec Island.
Lording it at Cannes
Which was hotter – the Rings preview or the bash after? Twenty minutes of Rings footage had seasoned critics standing to applaud; the party, complete with sets shipped from New Zealand, was the one ticket…
Buzz From Cannes
“This will be the biggest movie of all time” – John Rhys-Davis in National Post preview and cast interviews; Rings “hottest show at Cannes” in The Age; BBC reports “gargantuan bash”;…
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…
World Music
The BBC’s Radio4 celebrates International Dawn Chorus Day by listening to the world wake up via some aural ornithology; singing the sun up is the enchanting “Nightingale of New Zealand” – the Tui.
Fusion Capital
The Independent takes a tour through the capital’s cultural collage: fusion cooking, Te Papa, cafes, Mansfield, transexual MPs, colonial history and Pacific awakenings, and finds in the cosmopolitan brew that “It is hard to know which flavour…
Running Man
Adrian Blincoe, promising young NZ middle-distance runner, helps the Villanova Wildcats to a historic victory in the Men’s Distance Medley at the NCAA Penn Relays.
Global Warning
Kiwi LSE economist Robert Wade, tracks the winners and losers in the big-stakes game of globalisation and stirs debate with new thinking: “Growing inequality is analogous to global warming. Its effects are diffuse and long-term ……
Phil’s Crazy Club on Oprah
Kiwi Phil Keoghan chats with the first lady of US TV about how “passion became his purpose” after a near-death experience as a 20-yr old. Talking Oprah through a group bungee, dinner atop a…
Donovan puts a hit on Roger
Inflation may have lowered the stocks of ex-Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors, but his new lease on life as an aging hit-man in NYC Kiwi director Brendan Donovan’s “Here” has helped the film…
Wellington or Dunedin?
Is Wellington wonderful or should you skip the capital for the joys of the deep south?
Crowe’s Anzac
Stan Wemyss, Russell Crowe’s Grandfather, was a soldier and cinematographer – a key influence on the star.
Captain Cloud
“Captain John Hercus used to be a banker. He used to be a skier. He jumped ship twice from the corporate world to return to his real passion. Sailing. He wandered, sometimes, lonely as a cloud….
Marathon Mania
The Times previews the mania of marathon running and the annual London race with a history of jogging and the Kiwi who changed the way the world thinks about running. In advocating that “running is not only…
Anzac Spirit
“In late April 1915, John Davis, a young New Zealander uncertain even of his own age, stepped off a small boat on the shores of Gallipoli. Moments later he slumped, apparently lifelessly, into the sea.” Two…
RNZAF to the Rescue
The Royal New Zealand Air Force wings its way to Antarctica to rescue sick workers.
Returning the Gaze
Early European explorers of the Pacific created a cult of the South Seas – Sir Joseph Banks, for example, had his portrait painted wearing a Maori cloak over his European dress. Now the Pacific refocuses the…
Bert Sutcliffe Retires
Bert Sutcliffe, New Zealand left-handed batsman “of the highest class”, joins the “Gentlemen of Heaven XI” – a player fit to share a wicket with the late Don Bradman. Sutcliffe was “a superlative cricketer and a very…
Tests of Nationhood
“If you asked a random person how one can tell China and France are different nations, almost every test they would probably offer-language, culture, race, religion, cuisine, origins – would fail to distinguish the…
Have mint-sauce, will travel
New Zealand lamb, herb-crusted and juicy, makes the menu at Bangalore’s “Globetrotter’s culinary festival”.
