News
New Zealand Listener
Driven to distraction
The car door closes with the gentlest of clicks, the vacuum-like silence entombing them a welcome relief from the relentless roar of the wind outside.
5 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Hatches and despatches
Commentary - The Good Life
3 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Best local laughs
Unforgettable sitcoms on the telly.
1 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
The wives of Tamanuitera
Ma lives in Raumati, a 45-minute drive from the city.
6 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Racing a deadline
A transition plan for the end to greyhound racing in New Zealand has yet to emerge, raising fears for the future of the dogs.
8 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
A spinning world
Watching icebergs can not only send imaginations off on tangents, it once set in motion a whole new science.
5 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Best on telly
From sweeping epics to domestic nightmares, the year in television didn't lack for big ideas or ways to rattle viewer expectations. Here, RUSSELL BAILLIE and RUSSELL BROWN offer their picks for the top 10 dramas, along with the best in local comedy and documentaries.
5 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Best of the big screen
Listener film reviewers SARAH WATT and RUSSELL BAILLIE name their top 10 of the year, with a guide to where you can find them.
4 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
ADORABLE BIG FRUIT LOOP
Auckland author and Listener contributor Nicky Pellegrino on her rescue greyhound, Harry.
3 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Up onto the roof and down again
Each summer, we commission nine of Aotearoa’s finest writers to tell us a short tale. This year’s theme is distraction. Here are the first three.
5 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Doing it our way
Despite the cloud hanging over local TV, meaningful NZ programmes were there for the viewing in 2025.
2 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Old Dagg, new flick
The daughter of the late John Clarke has followed her memoir of her father with a documentary about the man who became a comedy icon in two countries.
7 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Age of entitlement
As the annual round of backslapping - and backbiting - for new year knights and dames approaches, PAUL LITTLE looks at our honours system and whether it merits a polish up.
10+ min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
You wouldn't read about it
Let someone else 'celebrate excellence', we'll be over here saluting the dipsticks and dropkicks of the year. BEVAN RAPSON unveils our list of the country's most dubious achievements of 2025.
8 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Depth of feeling
Abbreviated versions of music and stories are an insult to both composers and audiences, writes Ian Ferguson.
2 min |
December 27 2025 - January 9 2026
New Zealand Listener
Hum dinger
The year's NZ music books have a high-volume encore.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Slap the slop this summer
2025 was the year Al slop oozed into every corner of the internet. I'm taking the summer to go cold turkey.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Shelling out
Eggshells are a great source of calcium, but think again if you're contemplating adding them to your diet.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Heavyweight division
Mark Broatch checks out the year's best coffee table books.
3 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
As bad as it gets
Veteran filmmaker wide of the mark in dated political comedy drama.
1 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Inspect a gadget
The 10 best tech upgrades of 2025.
4 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
To absent friends
A search of Listener issues from ages past reveals the lack of classy wines was long lamented.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
That thinking feeling
Far from being emotionally driven, gut feelings can help us to make the best decisions, says a US expert on entrepreneurialism.
9 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Diamonds in the rough
In a year in which our usual sources of sporting pride stumbled, some unlikely heroes sparkled.
7 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Thai up
Rocker Jimmy Barnes and wife Jane deliver seasonal recipes with an accent on Southeast Asia.
4 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
You should have been there
It was a year of wonderful performances but fewer wonderful concerts.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Lives in a holding pattern
Syrian refugees who fled civil war are increasingly unwelcome in the countries that took them in. But they face going home to renewed violence and a devastated economy.
10+ min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Flake news
Yes, those denigrated as 'snowflakes' do tend to be more liberal and likely to see injustice in the world.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
The broken man
It was an unseasonably hot afternoon. Driving, listening to the radio, I complained to the dog about a verbal solecism I kept hearing: the justice system is “broken”. The health system is “broken”. It’s a very basic word to apply to complex situations. If a surgeon announced, “My patient is broken,” you'd think it was language worthy of a toddler.
2 min |
December 20-26, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Something in the air
Polymath author and adventurer Simon Winchester on his 'grasshopper mind' and current fascination - the wind.
8 min |