Argument Success
The New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team carried their point, finishing sixth at the World Schools’ Debating Championships in Johannesburg.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Refresher Course
“New Zealand celebrates its National Day today. Situated in the South Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia, it is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It has an area of 27,534 square kilometers. Its…
Fit to Judge?
New Zealand research shows juries have “fairly fundamental” misunderstandings of the law in over 7% of cases.
Fly Away Nanny
Free trips home to New Zealand are among the perks offered to nannies in London’s tight market.
Top Two
Two New Zealanders – Fred Hollows and Whakatane-born Lindy Chamberlain – make it into the list of top 100 influential Australians.
In Search of Lost Crime
How can a society heal itself? Some places, like New Zealand, opt for compensation for victims, a strategy that can be divisive. Europe prefers legal redress and Africa, Latin America and Asia favour commissions of inquiry….
Death Deluxe
John Bougan’s Auckland Memorial Park will provide anything “within reason, and within moral and legal bounds and the Building Act”. One customer has already requested a $150,000 building to house himself and his Rolls Royce.
Girl Power
Women leaders are where it’s at says the The Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasian leadership conference.
Diversionary Tactics
Victoria’s government is using New Zealand’s successful diversion scheme to “break the cycle of crime” for young offenders.
Midsumma Dream
New Zealander Nigel Higgins is the man in charge with making Midsumma, Melbourne’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender festival, the queen of events.
Get out of the Water…
8 people, 21 of them in serious trouble, were rescued or ordered out of the water on a single day after unusual currents hit the Bay of Plenty.
Facelift, Mate?
Face peels and face-lifts are hot in rural New Zealand – sun-burned, nuggetty farmers are twice as likely as city-dwellers to put themselves under the plastic surgeon’s knife.
Brain Gain
“We’ve made the decision to go home, and I urge other New Zealanders to do the same. Let’s stop helping the economy of a country where we’re not welcome,” says Phillipa Hawkes, packing to come home following…
Christmas in Auckland
“Then Christmas dinner – Polynesian style – got under way, accompanied by the sound of guitars and the laughter of girls, flowers in their hair, dancing the hula, the siva and the tamoure.”
Go Babies
Two babies per woman is the minimum for population stability – New Zealand, Iceland and the US are the only wealthy nations reproducing at or above replacement rate.
Lost Boys
Les Blanchard found his long-lost brother in New Zealand – now he searches for the lost families of others.
Tom the Pole
Stationed in New Zealand in 191, Irish Navy-man Tom Crean managed to get a place in Scott’s Antarctic expedition.
Deported to the Colonies
London’s had enough of Generals Sir Charles Napier and Sir Henry Havelock, but their New Zealand namesakes would be proud to have them.
Habitat for Humanity
Global Village volunteers spend holidays helping some of New Zealand’s least-fortunate citizens.
Vowels of Allegiance
The Kiwi vowel slur might be a solidarity mechanism, adopted to make late-arriving, open-vowel enunciating Poms feel uncomfortable. Give us fush or give us duth.
Circus Ribbons
Wellington performers staged a twelve hour festival in support of international White Ribbon Day, organised to raise awareness of violence against women.
Grief Vultures
“At a conference in Auckland, New Zealand, Dr. Simon Wessely called for an end to grief counselling, which he denounced as ineffective and even voyeuristic, tossing counsellors with otherwise-humdrum lives into the same dreaded category as ambulance…
Orphans of Poland
Schoolteacher Krystyna Skwarko survived the death camps of Stalinist Poland, fleeing to Persia and eventually resettling in New Zealand with her two children and 700 Polish orphans.
Wave of Light
National Children’s Memorial Day is dedicated to families mourning a child. The event is marked by twenty-four hours of candle light, starting in New Zealand.
Geeks Downunder
“Geeks have a great chance Down Under” states the Economic Times. This, and other such headlines, are drawing high-skill immigrants to New Zealand where “living conditions are definitely better than elsewhere”.
Versatile Machine
Pakistani engineers have developed a “bed shaper cum seed drill”, and are exporting the all-purpose agri-tool to Uzbekistan thanks to New Zealand sponsorship.
Balibo Five
Investigations are being renewed into the killing of five journalists (including New Zealander Gary Cunningham) during Indonesian’s invasion of East Timor twenty-five years ago.
New Zealand Pride
Not as bursting with hubris as the Algerians, don’t think we’re as great as the Greeks, not as frank in our appreciation as the French, but we’re in the top twenty countries that inspire pride in their…
Late News
The New Zealand-based Afghani terrorist plot to blow up the nuclear reactor during the Sydney Games may not have been so threatening after all…
HRH Touchdown
The Queen will visit her farthest-flung domain in October, 2001. Her visit will provide “an opportunity for New Zealand to mark the impending Golden Jubilee of the Queen’s Reign”.
Kudos for Kiwis
Messages of thanks and congratulations poured in from all over the world in response to New Zealand’s decision to take the Afgan refugees. “By accommodating our homeless and stranded children and mothers, New Zealand…
Licensed to Squirt
A unique initiative has seen New Zealand kindergartens offering “licences” for toy guns in a bid to instil the “use guns responsibly” message in youngsters. Police have tacitly endorsed the scheme, but will not…
Brain Gain: Happy Consultants Flock In
On-island media has been hyping the “Brain Drain”, but check out the opposite story: “Last year, a few of my friends from Gujarat migrated to New Zealand. They are very happy. I was thinking to procure…
Temping: A Permanent Way of Life
“Temping” is a phase in the life of many young Kiwis, but some, like Tracey Ward who is profiled in this article, are beginning to see it as a flexible, stimulating career in itself….
Xena Fights Child Abuse
Xena Princess Warrior has launched a real-life crusade against child abuse in New Zealand. Using her profile, Lucy Lawless has begun a national campaign to raise money for child protection agencies.
Kiwi to Protect London Children
Moira Rayner has been appointed Director of the newly formed Office of Children’s Right’s Commissioner for London. She is a New Zealand lawyer with international experience in the field of children’s right’s.
Terrorist Reaction
Rumours of New Zealand-based terrorist cells targeting the games in Sydney have been around for a while. Last week New Zealand police discovered a lounge in Auckland piled high with maps of Sydney and…
Beefsteaks Ruled by Women
Women currently fill the highest offices in New Zealand. Some people find this rather incongruous. “…this progress might be thought a bit of a shock for a country famous for beefy rugby players, not…
NZ-born Leader of Australian Welfare Reform
New Zealand-born Stuart McClure, an ex-Franciscan priest from Mission Australia is chairman of Australia’s Welfare Reform Reference Group, charged with leading improvements to the Aussie Welfare system that was once widely believed to be…
Edge Affirmation from Elaine Showalter
The Princeton University feminist icon and scholar writes on effect of globalisation on national identity: “If one is an expatriate from, say, New Zealand”, as American Political scientist Daniel Bell notes, “one can click…
Cyber-policing
In Porirua, New Zealand, the thin blue line has turned into the thin blue URL in the fight against crime. Police have decided to enlist the use of a website as a way to…
Edge Theory from Miami
A Kiwi in Miami offers a defence of the urge to retain national identity and pushes the New Zealand edge: “I met my American husband in my homeland where he lived many years and gained citizenship……
NZ Victim of Black May Massacre
An official inquiry has only just been launched into the infamous Thai massacre where Kiwi Brendan Mahoney was almost killed eight years ago. He was staring up towards Bangkok’s democracy monument on a balmy…
Silence is Regulated Golden
Not doing a great deal to dispel the stereotype of the loud-mouthed ocker, an article on the art and science of noise in the Sydney Morning Herald looks at the menace of noise pollution,…
Pass the Budder
The Guardian explores the new linguistic imperialism and the effects of media on language: a New Zealand researcher has found that, under the influence of programmes like Eastenders, increased glottalisation of the dialect has occured….
Fcuk Judge Graffiti
Singapore is in uproar over an advertising campaign for a British clothing company that uses a certain four-letter word, yet as the Straitstimes reports, judges in New Zealand have been scribbling it on their folders for…
New Zealand Edges into the Top-twenty, but Gives Women a Fair Go
For the seventh consecutive year, Canada ranks overall as the best place in the world to live according to the UN Human Development Report 2000. New Zealand is in twentieth place behind Austria, Ireland…
Kiwi Bomb Victim Determined to Rebuild His Life
Gary Reid, whose body was devastated by a nail bomb explosion at the Admiral Duncan Pub (London) last year, vows to recover fully and without malice, “I am looking forward to getting an artificial…
Edge Explorer Revised and Revisited by Aussie Historian
Tony Horwitz revisits the James Cook legend and Cook’s Star-Trek echoing logbook, “I have gone farther than any man has been before me, as far as I think it is possible for a man…
Innovative Computer Mapping to Curb Crime
New Zealand police are, introducing a high-tech solution to beat burglaries. They are using a NZ$6million computer-mapping programme to allow police to zero in on burglars’ homes as well as break-in hot spots, said…
Home and Away: Taking the Edge to London
“If you are passionate about where you come from, working abroad can provide the ideal opportunity to promote your native country.” The Times profiles Anna Kensington who promotes NZ Tourism in London. Anna considers…
Bugger the #*!@&! Domain Names
A ban on seven deadly words deemed too offensive to register as part of a domain name has been lifted in New Zealand. Deciding that a censorship role didn’t fit in with their purposes,…
Détente New Zealand Style
The New Zealand-China Friendship Society is determined to double its efforts to promote friendship and exchange between the peoples of China and New Zealand the People’s Daily reports. Chinese Consul in Auckland, Zhao Xianling said…
Lies, Dammed Lies and … Number Crunching
New Zealander Len Cook, a man with a reputation for plain speaking is intent on making sure the numbers stack up when he takes over as head of the Office of National Statistics. He…
Six or Sex? Looks Like Fush and Chups Hasn’t Affected Kiwi Males’ Performance in Bed
In an extensive new study by Shere Hite (the author credited with fuelling the sexual revolution) it was found that “in the English-speaking world Australia generally lagged behind New Zealand on the sex-scale ……
