An Audience with Jonah Lomu
Rugby great Jonah Lomu – who had sixty-three caps as an All Black and is the Rugby World Cup all-time top try scorer – was in Lomond, Ireland in November to meet with fans…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Gemma New on Gender Equality in Contemporary Music
New Zealander Gemma New, associate conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and director of the Lunar Ensemble, talks with Bachtrack’s Meg Wilhoite about the question of gender equality in the world of new…
Wellington’s Craft Beer Scene Big Business
How such a small city consumes such quantities of liquid we may never know, but with 50 per cent of New Zealand’s craft beer consumption going on in the capital, it’s little wonder a…
Great All Black Returns to Where It All Began
Richie McCaw returned to where his career began in Dublin for his 124th Test on 23 November, and, just like in that debut game where New Zealand were 21-7 down just after half-time, it…
Kiwi Women Lead Cultural Renaissance
Once upon a time New Zealand cultural values were based on the unholy trinity of rugby, racing and beer. Then the marketing concepts – clean and green; 100% Pure – were added to the…
NZ Public Institutions Trustworthy
New Zealand has been declared the least corrupt nation on earth, equal with Denmark. Rounding out the top four are usual Scandinavian suspects Finland and Sweden, according to Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index….
Kiwi Exchange Student Makes His Mark on L.A’s Football Fields
One of the stars of Venice High School’s football team this season is seventeen-year-old New Zealand foreign-exchange student James Cherrington. The 6-foot-1, 97-kg Cherrington has six sacks—or Quarterback tackles—playing defensive end for the Los Angeles…
Wine for the Discerning but Diet-Conscious
New Zealand has announced its intention to become the world’s leading producer of “lifestyle wines” – those with fewer calories and lower alcohol levels – for the discerning but diet-conscious drinker. The government has decided…
Island Paradise Enticing Auckland Urbanites
“Waiheke Island is now the go-to holiday home destination for wealthy New Zealand urbanites … with the west coast draw the most punters, in particular the beaches near the island’s main town Oneroa and…
Williams Takes Player of the Year Award
New Zealand forward Sonny Bill Williams, 28, has been voted rugby league’s International Player of the Year, the first ever non-Australian to take the award. Williams was reduced to tears when his team-mates performed an…
Air New Zealand Plane Gets The Hobbit Dragon Decals
An Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 that the Weta Workshop team in Wellington have fitted with a 54-metre long image of Smaug the dragon from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was unveiled yesterday…
From Gibbston to the World – Brennan Pinot Noir a Champion
Sean Brennan’s painstaking approach and his belief in the Gibbston sub-region has brought Central Otago’s famed Pinot Noir to the world, with Brennan Wines’ B2 Pinot Noir 2011 scooping five awards and being named…
Creativity Before Celebrity
Lorde has suddenly become quite famous, but in reality the 17-year-old kiwi just wants to stay out of the world of smoke and mirrors like other young popstar of today. “It’s still pretty weird,” she…
Enabling Teens to Learn Through Responsibility
Fulbright scholar and Victoria University senior lecturer Dr Barrie Gordon was in DeKalb, Illinois this month giving a presentation to students at Northern Illinois University on a teaching model, which is aimed at helping…
Marathon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Twelve years ago, New Zealand-born endurance athlete Janette Murray-Wakelin was told she had six months to live after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, she’s in the midst of running a marathon every day…
Maori to NY: Let our People Sleep the Sweet Slumber
Pressure will be mounting on the American Museum of Natural History in New York to return sacred Maori remains to New Zealand after USA Today gave prominence to the issue of toi moko (tattooed…
How do NZ Teams Get out of Jail?
The last seconds, last-gasp victories by the Kiwis and All Blacks at the weekend have prompted English writers to wax philosophical about fine lines and the nature of success. Make no mistake, both the…
New Zealand wins ‘Best Country’ at the 2013 Telegraph Travel Awards
At the Telegraph Travel Awards in London earlier this week, New Zealand won the coveted ‘Best Country’ category. More than 75,000 people voted on 15 different categories, making it one of the most authoritative and…
Wairarapa Pinot Noirs Outdoing the Best
Martinborough has perfect growing conditions for producing award-winning Pinot Noir, with soil and climate closely resembling those in Burgandy, France. The Telegraph’s Cameron Wilson signs up for some tastings with Wairarapa local Sue McLeary…
White Island’s Bubbling Features Ever-Changing
The most memorable sighting of New Zealand geothermal activity for the National Post’s Maryam Siddiqi was on a trip to White Island, “an active volcano that contains all of those belching, bubbling features, and…
Catton Reflects on Books That Have Shaped Hers
Award-winning author New Zealander Eleanor Catton, 28, whose novel The Luminaries won this year’s Man Booker Prize and this month, Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award, reflects on the influences that have shaped her as…
One of the World’s Top 99 Greatest Investors
Sir Ron Brierley has been included in Swedish hedge fund manager Magnus Angenfelt’s book, The World’s 99 Greatest Investors, which will be released in Australia later this year. The New Zealander is named alongside many…
Ice Telescope to Reveal Secrets of the Universe
27 November 2013 – University of Canterbury scientists are using a telescope pointed at the earth’s interior over 2000m below the surface of ice in Antarctica to study tiny particles in the hope of…
Wales a Team Invigorated Thanks to Gatland
Under the coaching direction of New Zealander Warren Gatland, the Welsh rugby team has “changed beyond all recognition”, according to Wales forward Ryan Jones. Gatland was at the helm of his 100th career Test…
Exciting Caramel Flavours Cooked Up in Tokyo
“A defining sense of optimism and curiosity took Mockasin and his then band, The Mockasins, to London in 2006, where, despite running out of money very quickly, their initial style of…
Alone It Still Stands
The All Blacks are like a vampire – “you have to stick two stakes through the heart at the crossroads to make sure they are dead and buried,” says John Breen. The proud Irish…
She’s a Huge Fan of Her Mother Jane Campion
Alice Englert, the actor and daughter of New Zealand screenwriter, producer and director Jane Campion, talks choosing passion over cash and whether her mum makes sexy films with the Guardian’s Alex Godfrey. She’s only 19…
New Zealand Stun England in League Semi
The Rugby League World Cup 2013 semi-final, which saw New Zealand defeat England 20-18, portrayed the game “at its finest”, according to the Telegraph’s Paul Hayward, who was witness to England’s “devastating defeat” in…
World Rally Car Driver Hayden Paddon Has Sights Set on next Year’s Races
26-year-old New Zealander Hayden Paddon drove a modern generation world rally car at the Rally de Espana in Spain last month, making him the first New Zealander to do so. The car Paddon was driving…
New Zealand Continues to Beat Australia with Smarts
25 November 2013 – Auckland is the only New Zealand city, and the first of four cities from Australia and New Zealand, to make Fast Company’s list of ‘The 10 Smartest Asia/Pacific Cities’. To decide…
Skjellerup to Make a Stand For Equality
New Zealand speed skater, Blake Skjellerup, intends to throw the spotlight on Russia’s anti-gay propaganda laws if he is selected to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympic in Sochi, which would also make him…
Sportswear in the new Hunger Games film designed by a New Zealander
New Zealand-raised Anjhe Mules is the designer responsible for the sportswear worn in the new film from the critically acclaimed Hunger Games trilogy. Mules’ London-based clothing line, Lucas Hugh, was discovered by the film franchise’s…
Air New Zealand Brings Passengers to Middle-earth
Air New Zealand’s latest short-film sees the airline embrace the magic and whimsy that comes with Middle-earth, with airline crew and airport ground staff sporting features that might only be found in Tolkien’s fanciful…
Vogue Spies Twenty Seven Names
Street fashion blogger and Vogue Australia style blog contributor, Xssat, took a visit to Wellington-based label twenty seven names, to take a look at the brands 2014 autumn/winter collection and to find out a…
New Zealanders Stand Up to Rape Culture
Over the past weekend, thousands of people in New Zealand took to the streets to protest a culture that doesn’t take rape seriously. The public backlash has intensified over the past few weeks since…
How US Soccer is Helping the NZ Game
In the US, football is called soccer and the major tournament is Major League Soccer (MLS), which has its own website. In a recent fascinating feature-length post, the website highlights how the “MLS fingerprints…
By the Pricking of my Bubbles …
The Reserve Bank’s new loan value ratios restricting bank mortgage lending has, it’s fair to say, got a mixed press back home. But internationally, the policy initiative is generating excited commentary about the correct…
‘NZ Story’ Toolkit Unveiled
Hobbits, yacht design and international celebrity chef Peter Gordon join the obligatory mountain peaks and coastal visas in a new toolkit of material designed to allow New Zealand businesses to tell a consistent story…
Welsh to Kiwi: Protect us from the Tongans
The old canard about dangerous and illegal play by Polynesians is getting another airing in the British press ahead of Wales’s match against Tonga at the weekend. Assistant coach Shaun Edwards, who as a…
World’s Best Team?
Ahead of the All Blacks-England test, Independent rugby correspondent Chris Hewett proposed that “Richie McCaw and his team are beginning to look like something more than merely the best rugby union team…
Kennedy’s Last Seconds Captured by NZer
A Kiwi’s photographs capturing the last second before the assassination of President John F Kennedy in Dallas have been discovered in storage in New Zealand – and are now gracing the front cover of…
Joel Little on Lorde and Opening Doors
Starting his music career as a member of pop-punk band Goodnight Nurse in the early 2000s, kiwi Joel Little is now becoming one of the most in-demand producers on the planet after producing Lorde’s…
Mark Wigley’s Experimental Genius
Mark Wigley, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), has announced that he would step down from his position at the end of the academic year, in June 2014. Wigley,…
Kiwi Duo Grabs Attention of Billboard
Hot on the heels of Lorde’s success, Auckland pop-synth duo Broods are making a positive international impressions of their own. The brother-sister duo, made up of Caleb and Georgina Nott, have worked closely with…
All Blacks Victorious over England
The All Blacks had an eight point victory over England on the weekend, keeping their perfect season intact. The New York Times’ Huw Richards wrote of the match that the…
New Zealand to Phase in Shark Fin Ban
The New Zealand government has agreed to a full ban on shark finning, though fill implementation of the ban won’t happen for another three years. The Wall Street Journal reports that it is already illegal…
Driving the Kiwi Economy
Many strange things are used to measure economic growth and decline: the lipstick economy, the horse-trading economy, the Playboy economy (curves in recession, skinny in boom times) and even underwear, as Fed chairman Alan Greenspan…
NZ Farewells World Cup Dream
New Zealand football fans have a black sense of humour honed by decades of disappointment and only leavened by occasional World Cup success. So, the joke doing the rounds – “Want to hear something…
Tua’s Klitschko Goal for Ustinov Fight
A shot at one of the world heavyweight champion Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladmir, is the tantalising goal for David Tua, as he prepares for Saturday’s fight against giant Ukrainian, Alexander Ustinov. The Klitschko’s…
New Zealand a Great Place to Start-Up
New Zealand is sitting amongst the top ten most prosperous nations globally, according to the Legatum Institute’s 2013 Prosperity Index rankings. Placing fifth, on a list otherwise heavily populated by Scandinavians countries, New Zealand sits…
Vogue Writer WOWed by New Zealand
Vogue Italy contributor, Stefan Siegel, made the most of his recent visit to New Zealand for the World of Wearable Arts, deciding to use the time to get know the country’s landscapes, towns, and…
Prime Minister Gives Low-Down on Queenstown
Prime Minister John Key provided The Telegraph with a guide to New Zealand’s adventure capital, Queenstown recently, describing the town as not only picturesque, but offer a full range of options for visitors. Key described…
Cometh the Hour…
Nathan McCullum’s job when he got on strike in the final over against Sri Lanka was dauntingly simple: smite 17 runs from the final four balls delivered by Rangana Herath. That’s a boundary a…
Lorde and Lydia Ko Named Time’s Most Influential Teens
Kate Sheppard would be proud. 120 years after New Zealand women gained the right to vote before any other country, two young New Zealand women have become the top two most influential youths in…
Cold, Hard Cash Works Better than Welfare
Giving money directly to the poor is one of the best ways to raise education levels and lift people out of poverty, a study by the University of Otago shows. Development economist Dr Sarah…
Portrait of a Leader
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples features in a photographic exhibition featuring portraits of Tangata whenua, including Sharples. Sharples was stunningly captured on film by British photographer Jimmy Nelson, who was touring the world recording…
