Orwellian irony

Our thinking about one of the 20th century's best-known writers is being challenged by the 'smelly little truths' Anna Funder uncovered about George Orwell's marriage.

Good Lord, he was scandalous

Lord Byron still fascinates 200 years after his death, but more for his bohemian lifestyle than his poetry.

Stars in their eyes

Debut novel a heady mix of grief, astronomy and love.

Mirren's mirror on Meir

Dame Helen talks about playing Golda Meir, Israel's iron lady, during a pivotal chapter in the controversial politician's long career.

Silence is golden

Dog and robot tale a five-star gem.

Still screaming

Pearl Jam's 12th album proves the senior statesmen have what it takes after 33 years.

Morning songs

On a recent early and glorious Saturday morning - it was 4°C outside I let the complaining chickens out. Chickens never stop complaining.

Ode to old masters

The Polynesian sound and Auckland's ska-punk scene are remembered in new releases.

An age-old problem

Is our lifespan fixed, or might we be able to slow down or even abolish ageing? And what would we do if we could?

When Jim becomes James

'What would white people do to a slave who had learned to read?' This impressive reimagining of Huckleberry Finn seeks to find out.

A Wylde life

How a West Coast mechanic who lost a leg at Gallipoli ended up living in luxury on the banks of the Thames, rubbing shoulders with artists, composers and poets.

Friend or foe?

An ambiguous war memorial on the banks of the Waikato River raises confronting questions about what it is commemorating.

Branching out

A lexander Hamilton described the courts as the least dangerous branch of government.

A real head banger

We owe an incalculable debt to scientists but they could have done with a crash course in tact before laying their latest, inevitably disempowering, tranche of findings on us: intermittent fasting could kill you, they now tell us in their pitiless way.

Dying of the light

If the coalition sees any value in preserving balanced journalism, its lifeline might be a little late in coming.

Return of the queen

Beth Orton brings the personal songs of her career-reviving album to NZ.

Fanny, the musical

How do you turn Jane Austen into opera and why pick Mansfield Park, her most demanding novel? Composer Jonathan Dove explains his approach to Richard Betts.

Brought to book

He's rich, opinionated and believes in doing good for the community. Property developer Mark Todd is a study in contrasts.

'Why aren't you listening to me?!"

To really understand each other, our brains need to be in sync, says author Charles Duhigg. And, yes, there are ways to get on to the same wavelength.

The chips are down

It's a forecast no Irish person with a sense of history expected ever to hear again: a severe potato shortage looms.

Faces turned to the horizon

In a public library in Wellington, I said to the librarian, \"I'm losing my mind.\" He was a kindly young man, unfazed as he showed me what to do. He was so helpful my spirits began to rise.

A recipe for life

On the shelves here at Lush Places are fusty-smelling two old books. One is a green contacts book. Its cover is faded and the edges battered. The other is an equally faded maroon recipe book. It has a chunk out of the spine.

Familiar faces into the fray

The government’s new consultants and advisers have decades of experience between them, but do they also come with vested interests?

In tune with the times

What's a tune worth? Not as much as previously anticipated for Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the Guernsey-registered company that launched in 2018 on the promise of the song as an unbeatable financial asset.

Flights of fancy

Peter Walker cleverly weaves Arabian tales, early Chinese and Persian voyages, eccentric amateur fossil hunters and a colonialist hardman” into one intriguing story.

A sight for Sora eyes

OpenAl’s latest text-to-video tool takes AI to a new level but raises some troubling questions in the process.

My great admirer

Narcissism is characterised by a deeply ingrained sense of deserving respect - yet some narcissists lack self-esteem.

Off the gravel

The new album and tour by Delaney Davidson takes the Christchurch artist down a smoother road.

At the top of his game

After his big brother’s atomic bomb movie, Jonah Nolan blows up the world in Fallout, another milestone ina screen career he says he owes to reading the classics while living in New Zealand.

Now where did I put my keys?

Improving your memory is not about remembering more, it’s about remembering better, says neuroscientist Charan Ranganath. And sometimes, less is more.