Miracle Reading
Reading Recovery, developed by New Zealand’s Dame Marie Clay, means results at a Toronto Public School where staff “watched miracles unfold” after the programme was introduced.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
First class performance
New Zealand student Geoff Pinfield gains a first class degree and the inaugural Simon Callow prize for Theatre Criticism at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Financial Future Rosy
Finance Minister Michael Cullen optimistic about New Zealand’s economic future despite the global slowdown.
Maori Leader Born
July 3 is the anniversary of the birth of Maori leader and MP Sir Apirana Ngata in Kawakawa, 1874.
Hogg Headed
New Zealand-born and educated scholar and teacher James F. Hogg appointed to head Western State University College of Law.
Writing With a Cause
Working for international NGOs appeals to journalists as “an honorable route forward”, including former New Zealand reporter Brendan Parry, now working for Amnesty International, where there is “a huge amount of recognition if you do good work”….
Trickster Wasp
Newly discovered New Zealand parasitic wasp creates a whole new insect family – Maamingidae, named after the Maori word for trickster, because it has taken so long to come to light.
The New IT Kiwis
“We should be treating any skilled, IT-qualified immigrant to New Zealand like gold,” says Auckland Regional Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett.
Healthy Holiday
Allergic to mold? Your best holiday destination is “a snow-capped New Zealand mountain above the Pacific” where the elevation, snow, and ocean breezes kill dust mites and mold.
Bach Symphony
Design/style bible Wallpaper scours the globe to compile a directory of the best architects to pick if you’re thinking of home improvements and includes the “sparklingly clear vision” of edge architects Fearon Hay. Inspired…
Clean as a Whistle
New Zealand comes up smelling of roses, second equal behind Finland in the world anti-corruption rankings.
Out of the Roo’s Pouch
New Zealand’s continued “innate patriotism and pride” make a political merger with Australia unlikely, but economic convergence is welcome says foreign minister Phil Goff.
Another Shade of White
Bridget Jones not withstanding, the reign of Chardonnay is over – Sauvignon Blanc is the white of the moment, and Marlborough’s “peppery, citrus driven” offerings have set the contemporary standard.
Intimate work
New Zealand actress Kerry Fox generates massive buzz for her award-winning work in Patrice Chereau’s Intimacy, based on the metro-culture sex and angst stories of Hanif Kureishi. For Fox, the film was about “braving…
International Peak
New Zealand-born Rhys Millen drives over the competition, posting a record-breaking 11 minutes, 58.53 seconds in the 79th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Landing the big one
Turner New Zealand baits the hook for US seafood buyers with on-demand video demonstrations by celebrity chefs and NZ-fresh fish delivered to the door. Not only is Turner’s food the finest gourmet offering,…
My brilliant career
Jurassic action hero and “rugged individualist” Sam Neill gets the NY Daily News career review: “tall, handsome, fiftyish, New Zealand accent”. And Neill wonders at the anonymity despite the star turns: “people will come…
The new girl
Emily Perkins is “an adventurous writer” whose recent novel, The New Girl is an “ambitious work, rich with creative tension”, and a “huge leap” for a writer whose first two books met with critical…
Sandwich Wars
How do Americans explain the antipodean phenomenon of Vegemite? “It looks like a mixture of kangaroo poop and old motor grease, but it doesn’t taste as good as either.”
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…
Emily’s choice
British-based New Zealand writer Emily Perkins sat on the all-powerful all-girl jury for the Orange Prize, Britain’s major literary award for women only. Also, Perkins comments on the double jury battle of the sexes controversy…
Well Crafted
New Zealand-born Alice Beatrice Waymouth was a noted silversmith, enameler and jeweler. Her daughter Judith Hughes, now 89, is “a cabinetmaker and designer who reached the top of a male dominated profession” and was dubbed “Miss Chippendale”…
Crackers Rowers
Former New Zealand representative sailor Dominic Mee and his best buddy Tim Welford are half way across the Pacific in a rowboat named Crackers.
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…
Where Everyone Gets Some Shares
400 store managers at the Warehouse Group are to receive share options with a total value of $184 million, but Australian managers, working in newer, smaller stores will miss out.
Jolly Jodphurs
“Suave, tanned and wearing tight white jodphurs,” New Zealander Peter Grace is Britain’s best polo coach, teaching the rich and trendy to swing mallets and retain a firm seat at Ascot Park Polo Club.
On the Up
A low dollar, good tourism revenues and buoyant international prices for our primary commodities are leading New Zealand towards an unexpectedly strong export-lead recovery, including a $95million current account surplus. Also, “It was a boomer,” says UBS Warburg…
Nearly There
“In principle, we are just about there. I want it and everyone wants it,” says former NZ-PM, WTO head Mike Moore, confirming his work on bringing China into the WTO has nearly reached its conclusion. …
Fairytale victory
Kiwi co-directed Shrek is “a computer-generated miracle. Based on William Steig’s 28-page book, the film puts forward the most marvellous case for the craziness of repressing fairytales since Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods.” But,…
Penguins Pegging Out
Global warming, along with over-fishing and oil-spills, threatens penguin populations around the world says University of Otago penguin biologist Lloyd Davies.
Hot Shit!
Renewable Energy Corporation, powered by New Zealander Paul Williams’ organic waste energy generation technology, signs to put power-plants next to pig farms in North Carolina. The plants will gasify pig manure and burn the gas to…
AIDS Action
New Zealand’s health minister Dr Annette King calls on the world not to neglect the small island nations of the Pacific in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Dame Kiri in Greece
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, “a woman with an exotic beauty and – beyond any doubt – an absolutely stunning voice” who “personifies the modern version of a diva most completely” talks about her roles,…
Carbon Up
New Zealand’s carbon emissions rose 22% in the 1990’s, almost certainly putting Kyoto targets out of reach.
On the Defensive
The debate continues over scrapping the Air Force. Is it an example to the world or peacenik idealism?
Free Farming
New Zealand leads the world with a fully deregulated agricultural sector – but big players like the US still protect and subsidise farmers, talking the free-trade talk but not walking the walk.
Rat Attack
New Zealand rat predatation expert Mike Bell called in to save the puffins of Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel.
Private Worries
New Zealand’s privacy laws touted as an example for Australia to follow in protecting the rights of its citizens and mesh better with EU legislation.
Survivor 3: The Holiday
Survivor 2: The Australian Outback has tourism spin-offs for New Zealand in South Nevada.
Rollerskating Don
Oxford’s “Rollerskating media don”, Kiwi Ngaire Woods is a classroom pioneer using team game and corporate learning strategies in her International Relations MPhil classes.
Fe-mail, He-mail
Gender can’t be hidden, even in faceless e-communication according to research by Tamar Murachver of Otago University.
Cartoon Commies
Cartoons from New Zealander David Low’s (“the greatest cartoonist of the twentieth century”) “Russian Sketchbook” on show alongside high-profile Russian cartoonists in the first exhibition run by Britain’s new Political Cartoon Society.
Try whistling happy birthday
Today in history: alongside the anniversary of the patenting of barbed wire and Custer’s last stand, it’s also the day Tim Finn was born in Te Awamutu.
Edge to Travel TV
US Travel Channel radically overhauls its image with “a new TV spot showing skate kids mountain-boarding down a sheep-studded slope in New Zealand”. “For the first time, the excitement and feel of a commercial really matched our…
Best Beaches
New Zealand Beaches: solitude, expanse, beauty. The best. “At the back of the beach was a huge whale vertebra, bleached and scoured by the surf. I took a break on a huge log facing the sun,…
Kitchen Cleans Up
Kiwi Shelly Kitchen squashes the opposition, taking out the YTL Women’s Open title. The win was the second in a row for Kitchen, also the winner of the Singapore Open.
Russell cooking
Russell Crowe’s Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts hots up Texas barbeque with proceeds going to the city’s Settlement Home for troubled youth. As well as being a New Zealander and an Australian, Crowe has…
Ata Rangi’s Stunning Achievement
The Martinborough vineyard wins the Pinot Noir international trophy for the third time with a “beautifully balanced, seductive wine.” NZEdge brings you the press release of this impressive feat.
World food
What does an Irish pub in Miami serve to go with the Guinness? New Zealand lamb, cooked Mediterranean style!
Fractured fairytale
“It’s not often you can say an animated feature’s rich in subtext, but much-acclaimed fractured fairytale Shrek fits the description… beneath striking visuals and a classic hero-princess-villain story arc, there’s a frothy adult undercurrent…
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.
Market in (3D) Sight
Prototypes of New Zealand-based Deep Video Imaging’s revolutionary actualdepth monitors are due to be built by early next year.
Lucky Pig
New Zealand Kune Kune pig Grunty, former star of British programme Pig at the Ritz, currently resident at a farm in Wellington, southwest England, saved from slaughter after being declared free of foot and mouth.
Finn forum
Neil Finn at the Forum: “It was magic. It was intimate, it was funny. And above all, reverential”. Also, Finn in Sydney.
Big Dollar Boys
New Zealand energy family the Todds become the first New Zealanders to make the Forbes 500 list of the world’s wealthiest people, coming in at 490 with a net worth of US$1 billion.
