Kiwi Life

Kiwi life

25 November 2023 9:00 am

Given the UK’s Rishi Sunak sacking Suella Braverman for saying what many others would feel – that the police were…

Kiwi life

11 November 2023 9:00 am

It’s almost a cliché to say that 15 March, 2019 was a black day in New Zealand’s history; in fact…

Kiwi life

28 October 2023 9:00 am

Elections are always hard fought. But for most New Zealanders to be so desperate to throw out Jacinda Ardern’s original…

Kiwi life

24 June 2023 9:00 am

They closed the schools for several days recently in the small New Zealand town of Opotiki. A gang leader had…

Language

24 June 2023 9:00 am

A Speccie reader has asked me for the origin of the expression ‘mumbo jumbo’ – and there turns out to…

Kiwi life

1 April 2023 9:00 am

Climate catastrophe? Follow the money Because of the importance of the claim that CO2 has the potential to cause considerable…

Language

1 April 2023 9:00 am

Australian journalist Miranda Devine (currently working on the New York Post) has drawn our attention to a new word ‘totting’.…

Language

4 March 2023 9:00 am

When US President Joe Biden addressed Congress and gave his ‘State of the Union’ address he was (at times) greeted…

Kiwi life

4 March 2023 9:00 am

To be an award-winning commentator, the late Alexander Cockburn held, you really need to have a bit of a thing…

Kiwi life

26 November 2022 9:00 am

The long march reaches its destination. Looking back, we can see that things seemingly happening overnight were part of that…

Language

26 November 2022 9:00 am

It’s that time of year again – when dictionaries around the world start announcing their ‘Word of the Year’. And…

Kiwi Life

13 November 2021 9:00 am

A government in jackboots A recent headline echoes the current mood of this now fed-up country, with Sir Russell Coutts,…

Kiwi Life

30 October 2021 9:00 am

Lorde vs Lana People who live in glass houses really shouldn’t get changed with the lights on. Doubly so, one…

Kiwi Life

2 October 2021 9:00 am

A crisis by design It is increasingly sad, so many New Zealanders saying they would leave – if they could…

Kiwi Language

2 October 2021 9:00 am

A tech company claims that anti-vax and anti-lockdown rallies have been ‘astroturfed’. Which means? Well, ‘AstroTurf’ was the world’s first…

Kiwi Life

10 July 2021 9:00 am

One of my goals over the coming months is to watch an entire rugby game for the first time in…

Kiwi Life

12 June 2021 9:00 am

Of the various little stories about the rather wonderful Joni Mitchell in her early years, my favourite concerns Leonard Cohen.…

Kiwi Language

12 June 2021 9:00 am

A friend of mine recently sent me a notice from a big law firm announcing the introduction of ‘Gender Affirmation…

Kiwi Life

6 February 2021 9:00 am

Dear Australia, I would like to formally offer an apology on behalf of New Zealand. I have no authority to…

Kiwi Life

23 January 2021 9:00 am

When I dice a chilled cucumber along with a couple of tomatoes, toss them together in a bowl with a…

Aussie Lingo

23 January 2021 9:00 am

Have we flogged the word ‘spirit’ to death? Or, rather have politicians, emptied it of all meaning and turned it…

Kiwi Life / Language

5 December 2020 9:00 am

David Cohen I often used to ask myself what the ultimate secret is of playing great chess, and I suppose…

Kiwi Life / Language

21 November 2020 9:00 am

Amy Brooke Once you have paid the Danegeld… We seem to have ingrained in us a sense of fair play,…

Kiwi Life

10 October 2020 9:00 am

Once upon a time here in New Zealand, when political dinosaurs still roamed the earth, Prime Minister Keith Holyoake startled…

Kiwi Life

3 October 2020 9:00 am

It’s true what they say about ill winds. The coronavirus pandemic was a perverse blessing for New Zealand Prime Minister…