Guy Pearce’s Kiwi Dad
Yes, Guy is an Australian (he spent fours years on Neighbours to prove it), but his father was a New Zealander who tested planes for the Royal Air Force. Pearce, also Russell Crowe’s side-kick…
Tag Archives: Guardian (The)
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….
Stirling Effort
British energy companies are looking at the Stirling engine produced by NZ company WhisperTech. By 2025, 13m households in Britain could have their own little power station installed with this technology.
Flaming Fox
“It’s difficult to pin down Kerry Fox. For every film-goer who knows her as the murderous medical student in Shallow Grave, there’s another who remembers her as the dumpy author Janet Frame in An Angel…
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…
Learning from Grandma and the “Notorious” Truby King
A expectant grand-daughter ponders generational attitudes to child-rearing, musing on her grandmother’s strict training under New Zealander Truby King”: ” is the Aunt Sally for almost all post-war child-rearing books … His doctrines were adopted across the…
The Gould Standard
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waikato and former British Labour spokesman Bryan Gould offers his perspective on one of the most heated debates in British politics – the integration of European currency and urges Blair’s government to…
Superplonk
Is Cloudy Bay the new Champagne? “An utterly gob-smackingly gorgeous bubbly … Track down the 1995 vintage of Pelorus, from the Cloudy Bay bunch in New Zealand. A massive advance … this is one of the most…
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…
Just Add Soap and Hey Presto: 20m Geyser!
In the notes and queries section of the Guardian a reader enquires about the practice of putting soap down geyser spouts to stimulate eruption. Leo Pyle elaborates on the science of the practice by refering to…
Poetic shock tactics
An extensive Guardian profile of New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock that elaborates on everything from her OBE, the end of her muse, her relationship with Barry Crump (“New Zealand’s answer to George Best or…
Hallertau hops give organic beer a bite
Bateman’s a family owned organic brewery in Lincolnshire has joined the swelling ranks of organic beers with Yella Betty Bitter, brewed with organic chariot pale malt and Hallertau hops from New Zealand – “wonderfully…
Immunising Roadkill to Protect Livestock?
Imagine a countryside filled with possum traps, not designed to kill, but to entice the pesky pest in for a quick facial spray to vaccinate them against bovine TB. Hailing some edge thinking the Guardian writes: “It…
Guinness Peat Told to Bugger off and Have a Beer
New Zealand listed corporate raider Guinness Peat’s edge proved too sharp at Young & Co (Britain’s oldest brewery), after chairman John Young turned the screws on them using megaphone diplomacy. Despite having support from ‘A’ investors, private…
Rutherford and Oliphant: the Physics of the Affair
From tree-pruning to atom bombs, on the death of physicist Sir Mark Oliphant the Guardian remembers the contribution his friendship with Sir Ernest Rutherford made to Twentieth Century science, ” greatest personal triumphs in science came in…
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….
So Far – So Good
The discerning readers of the Guardian and Observer have voted New Zealand as their favourite long-haul travel destination. “It is the Caribbean and the English countryside, Antarctica and California, Sydney and Gleneagles all rolled into one….
Vodka and herb, a très moderne kiwi potable
The Guardian blows away the myth that herbs are restrained by the cooking pot and salad bowl and offers some herbal cocktails for the urban sophisticate, including herb-based martinis from Dick Bardsell and vodka…
Party-on in ‘one of the Hippest Cities on the Pacific Rim’
The Guardian reports that Auckland, ‘more like the Riviera than the outskirts of Polynesia’, is having a hard time coming down from the highs of the America’s Cup victory. All part of ‘a burgeoning café culture to challenge…
From the Edge to the (Medical) Centre: Kiwi Brings Tibetan Medicine to Chelsea
New Zealand born Christopher Hansard, is medical director of the newly opened Eden Medical Centre in London’s King’s Road. It aims to blend Dur Bon, a Tibetan form of medicine, with Western conventional and complementary systems.
Kiwi ‘Ghost of 68’ Asks if Secret Service Intelligence is an Oxymoron
Victoria University’s “frightenly radical” David Robinson gets accused of being ‘a red under the bed’ in a British Secret Service intelligence report, but questions whether a secret intelligence report means that the report is secret or that…
Campbell Hits Record Breaking Haka of a Round
“The New Zealand Maori produced a spear-waving, chest beating, lip-curling, foot-stompin’ 63 in the first round of the English Open here yesterday”. Cambell’s nine under par round created a new European PGA record – no one has…
Fine Wine
Kim Crawford Unwooded Marlborough Chardonnay 2000: “sprightly, with pure quince apple and tangerine-lime citric accents and bright acidity tamed by the process of malolactic fermentation”. Seresin Estate’s Pinot Noir and Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc make Bloomberg’s favourites of…
Kiwi Goes AWOL with Marvel of Medical Handiwork
After acquiring a new hand in a revolutionary operation, he was meant to lie back, take his drugs and recover. Instead Clint Hallam hit the US chat shows, spent 20000 pounds on another patient’s credit card, then…
Kiwi designed green house for the good life 2000
Brenda and Robert Vale, from Auckland University, have designed what has become known as the Autonomous House. Producing its own electricity and suppling its own water, it is the realisation of their design manifesto…
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…
Manimal Farm: Science’s Brave New World
New Zealand government researchers have developed a herd of super-producing cattle.
Rome with a View
Ridley Scott’s exhilarating and ferocious Gladiator brings the epic back to life. The movie is dominated by Russell Crowe’s towering Maximus, a man of intelligence, probity and Roman virtue. He’s the most virile presence…
The Hobbit; Or, There and Back Again…Already?
Currently being filmed in New Zealand on a mammoth 18 month shoot, the first film won’t even be released until Christmas 2001. Despite this the film’s official site is up and running. “Preview” footage…
The Race No Holiday for Club Med
New Zealander Grant Dalton, a winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race, is to skipper 110ft catamaran Club Med in ‘The Race’, a non-stop dash around the world starting from Barcelona on the last day…
Campbell Puts Merit in Order
“The Maori’s return to form shows it was no fluke the first time. Currently third in the order of merit, Campbell’s outstanding recovery is illustrated perfectly in the Maori proverb: “I te tu oho koe/ Hei…
Buttery New Zealand invention Spreads the word
As British consumers have become more concerned about food safety, Anchor has taken advantage of New Zealand’s clean, green image to promote its spreadable butter – a product invented by the New Zealand Dairy Board.
The Future is Kiwi
“Helen Clark met Tony Blair in Downing Street last month. Apparently he asked her lots of questions about her flying start in government: let’s hope he was taking notes”. New Zealand’s Labour government looked upon as role-model…
Even Better than the Real Thing:
When Ridley Scott wanted to recreate the Colosseum he stayed well clear of Rome, preferring to leave the real Colosseum to the tourists. Instead he used computer imaging and sets in Malta and Surrey….
Wine Wine Wine
New Zealand corks are popping all over the place: Imperiale of Goldwater Estate Waiheke Island Caberet/Merlot 1990 to be auctioned at Christies (price estimates US$2400–$3800), NZ wine featured in the Guardian and at Marks and Sparks.
The Battle That Broke Two Nations’ Hearts
85 years on, thousands gather before dawn to pay tribute to the thousands of Anzac troops who died fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula.
Get it right mate – Theroux undone by Stead detective work
“This week the London Review of Books prints a long investigation by the poet CK Stead into a lunch party at Naipaul’s house attended by Theroux and a New Zealand couple Stead happens to…
“When all at once I saw a crowd”
Fleur Adcock gives poetic tribute to bard of the Lakes On the 150th Anniversary of William Wordsworth’s death, New Zealand-born poet Fleur Adcock has been chosen to unveil a plaque amongst the Easter daffodils…
Colette Dinnigan Brings Down-under Chic to Chelsea
Designer Collette Dinnigan is bringing a slice of Sydney chic to the Northern hemisphere, with the opening of her Chelsea store, the first outside of downunder. You may find you have to fight off…
One for the connoisseurs: Kiwi crime writer weaves a seductive web of existential anomie
New Zealand crime-fiction writer Chad Taylor makes a big impact on Guardian reviewer Maxim Jakubowski, “Shirker: a fascinating and obsessive novel from New Zealand with shades of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy…” …
Famed Wartime Pilot Irving “Black” Smith
Invercargill born Group Captain Irving Smith, famed for his courage and low-level precision bombing raids during WWII, died on Feb 16. Irving Smith: May 21 1917 – February 16 2000
Kiwi Sweeps Up Aftermath of War in Kosovo
John Flanagan, a colonel from New Zealand, who heads the UN’s mine action coordination centre in Kosovo. “They [Nato} may have intended to drop six bombs on one target and four go off somewhere…
Three wishes for the World
On the eve of International Women’s Day Thinkers from the four corners of the globe, including a New Zealand women’s rights and healthcare advocate, offer their visions for enriching the economic, educational, social and emotional lives of their…
Child Superstar Anna Paquin’s Vampish Turn
Anna Paquin has got something tucked away in her closet: an Oscar … becoming the second-youngest Academy Award winner is a tough act to follow.
Russell Crowe: Inside Story
Playing a 52-year-old tobacco company executive in The Insider is all in a day’s work for 35-year-old Russell Crowe; giving up the smokes is not.
Vaccine Hope for Epilepsy
University of Auckland… A vaccine that protects against the effects of epilepsy and stroke has been successfully tested on animals.
Who are you? What the Audi ad says about you
The wakeboarder depicted is a chap called Gavin Broadbent, who is New Zealand’s wakeboarding champion. The ad was filmed in the Tasman Sea off the west coast of NZ.
Natural Born Thriller
Adrenalin junkies flock to the adventure playground of the world for a big fix of bungee- jumping or white-water rafting. David Davies settles for a gentler approach to Godzone country.
Great Balls of Lightning: A Lucky Find
Two New Zealand scientists report in Nature today a more down-to-earth explanation for something that has been puzzling physicists for hundreds of years.
