Youth Voice
Wellington’s youth council is part of the international phenomenon of youth engagement, pushing youngsters into leadershipand decision making roles.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Law-man
The New Zealand state schooling system set Jolyon Maugham on the path to barrister-hood in London – a profession he describes as “a great intellectual challenge”.
Robber Robbie
That’s “my intellectual property on his shoulder,” says leading haka specialist Pita Sharples, referring to the tattoo sported by Brit singer Robbie Williams.
Burn Out
Earth hits the nadir of its orbit in summer – the mere 147 million kilometres between us and the sun mean New Zealanders face “extreme” ultra-violet levels.
Hunter Becomes Hunted
Diving for crayfish off the Coromandel, British diver Peter Fuller was hooked by a passing fisherman: “the idiot was rigged for marlin but caught me,” said Fuller, still nursing the hand he was hooked through.
Anzacs?
New Zealand voice in Sydney Bernard Lagan dissects the question of Federation with Australia: “It is unlikely that what modern New Zealanders most define themselves as – a nation of Pacific peoples – could have come…
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.
Demon Cricket
New Zealand giant wetas – also known as “demon crickets” – are among the most exotic animals at London Zoo.
Born Free
New Zealand organisation has succeeded in liberating Sonny the chimp, a former performer with Ridgeways Circus. He has been reunited with his brother Buddy in Zambia.
Never Say Die
One of Briton’s most popular MPs before being expelled from the Labour party for communist sympathies, New Zealand-born John Platt-Mills is still a practicing lawyer at 94. “Is there anything else he wants to achieve? ‘Yes, I’d…
Scots Bemused
“The strangeness of New Zealand is brought home to us the very first night of the tour. We’ve just bought our first round in a bar in Paihia, when this Maori guy rolls up to us…
Window Rescue
Christchurch window-cleaner Brent Harrington’s rescue provided a spectacle for 200 cheering tourist after his pulley-operated platform malfunctioned, stranding him outside the fifth floor of the BNZ.
Is That a Wallet in Your Sofa or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?
After 57 years apart US marine Chuck Herrler was reunited with his wallet, courtesy of Wellington woman Louise Alliston, who noticed a strange bulge in the arm of her second-hand sofa.
Federate or Die?
“It is likely that the New Zealand situation will become so critical in the early years of this century that support for political union will rise rapidly.”
Chathams Hungover
“We blew our budget last year and walked away with a huge headache, but we had a lot of fun,” says Chathams man Robin Preece, predicting a quiet New Year for the first place to see…
Roaring Fun
“In Australia and New Zealand, long ago, it was called a ‘bull roarer’ and used to scare away evil spirits; Native Americans made it hum during rain ceremonies; South American fisherman swirled it over rivers to…
Backwards Into the Future
“The past is not found in the days gone by, but in the days that sit in front of us,” says Moana Jackson, stating the Maori view of the past during the opening address…
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.”
Kiss Off
Don’t pick the mistletoe – it’s endangered, but you can take a chainsaw to the holly – a noxious weed.
Bombs Away
Foreign Minister Phil Goff has ruled out allowing high-level nuclear waste to travel through New Zealand waters.
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.
Wildlife Sting
Flora and fauna around the world are competing against introduced animals – New Zealand’s kaka is losing the battle over food sources to wasps, but island sanctuaries are a success story.
Lost Boys
Les Blanchard found his long-lost brother in New Zealand – now he searches for the lost families of others.
Fatter But Fitter
New Zealander’s average weight is increasing, but so is the general fitness of the population.
Privy Decision
Attorney-General Margaret Wilson flags the government’s intention to abolish the right of appeal to the British Privy Council, instead creating a highest right of appeal based in New Zealand.
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…
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.
It’s Shirley, Isn’t It?
The Shirley Convention 2001 is expecting “500 Shirleys from across Australia and New Zealand”.
Nuclear Protest
ANZAC protest flotilla to confront Tasman-bound shipment of nuclear waste in early 2001.
Brash Blueprint
New Zealand’s Reserve Bank is a model for a proposed independent committee of economic advisors in Britain.
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”.
Figuring It
Britain’s Chief Statistician, New Zealander Len Cook is “in the hot seat” over the accuracy of official figures.
Benefits Suspended
New Zealanders, the group with the highest rate of employment in Australia, will lose the right to benefits under new immigration restrictions.
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.
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”.
Peace Keeping On
New Zealand peace keepers will remain in East Timor for an extra twelve months, until May 2002.
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…
Hotel NZ Disgrace
The New Zealand, 235 Main St, Vancouver – one of the ten most troublesome establishments in the city.
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…
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…
Ozone in Godzone
Having suffered under the hole, New Zealand should be among the first places to feel the benefit of ozone regeneration.
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.
Tom the Pole
Stationed in New Zealand in 191, Irish Navy-man Tom Crean managed to get a place in Scott’s Antarctic expedition.
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.
Divine Edge
“It’s not often you are greeted at the door of the Coliseum by a bleach-blond New Zealand Benedictine monk, but this was merely the prelude to a slightly surreal tour of Frank Matcham’s venerable old building…”
Spiritual Edge
Colonel Margaret Hay of the Salvation Army accepted The Times Preacher of the Year award with humility: “It just goes to show that God does use the foolish and the weak to do his…
Can the Kiwi Economy Fly?
A contrary view: “recent claims that New Zealand’s economic experiment has failed, and that it therefore needs to change course, do not stand up”.
