In this issue

Is the BA dying? what we aew losing as students shun traditional arts subjects
the drift, how aotearoa lost its political bearings
Kevin Ireland, a moving tribute to poet from an old friend

Matters of the heart

Igor Felippe’s groundbreaking research into blood pressure has meant sacrifices and challenges

5 mins

Arts & minds

Pressure on students to qualify for careers has seen the BA degree take a battering – but the results may not be as intended.

10+ mins

State of inertia

It’s the time of the Great Centrist Drift, writes Danyl McLauchlan, an era of “lost opportunities and gradual failure driven not by ideology but a lack of it”.

10+ mins

'Nowhere else to go'

In 2012, Max Rashbrooke spent three weeks living in a Wellington boarding house, writing about the experience for the Listener. The place he chose, Malcolm’s, has since closed and Healthy Homes legislation has come into effect mandating insulation and heating standards for all residential properties including boarding houses and hostels. We are republishing Rashbrooke’s story from 2012 in light of the Loafers Lodge fire that killed at least five people on May 16. Loafers Lodge is not Malcolm’s, but it also housed a community of vulnerable people. A decade on, Rashbrooke’s experience still resonates

9 mins

Kevin Ireland 1933-2023

Graeme Lay remembers his long-time friend and colleague Kevin Ireland, writer, poet, translator and wit.

6 mins

Tried & true

Greek grandmothers take food writer Anastasia Miari into their homes and share their time-perfected recipes.

5 mins

Mental block

Our vulnerabilities to disease and death can provoke reactions of “Eww!”

2 mins

Mission control

The need to regulate artificial intelligence is becoming urgent and Europe is well out in front on this.

3 mins

Going viral

An engaging examination of microbial diseases and their far-reaching impacts on human history.

3 mins

Out of the shadows

How two spooks and a chip shop owner helped broker peace in Northern Ireland.

4 mins

The city as a stage

A young acting troupe fights to stay alive in a fantastical Elizabethan London.

2 mins

A wing & a prayer

A child convict crosses boundaries amid the birth throes of colonial Auckland.

2 mins

Death takes a toll

A woman who comforts the dying struggles to connect with the living.

2 mins

History in the making

Bustling novel packs in 100 years of life and action in NZ and abroad.

2 mins

Hail to the Chief

How Matu Ngaropo has survived and thrived as George Washington in the musical phenomenon Hamilton.

4 mins

Platforms for change

Wellington’s Kia Mau contemporary indigenous arts festival has become an agenda-setter for other arts events.

4 mins

Read all stories from New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener Magazine Description:

The New Zealand Listener is New Zealand’s highest-selling and best-read current affairs magazine. Each week the Listener brings you the latest commentary and insight from award-winning writers and columnists.
An energising read, full of witty insight and award-winning investigative journalism, this is the magazine that has been setting New Zealand’s agenda since 1939.